1. Put Users in the Driver's Seat
The Practice: Involve end users from day one, not just IT stakeholders.
Why It Works: Users who help design their new workflows feel ownership. They become champions instead of resistors.
Real Example: One major broadcaster brought QC specialists, editors, and archive managers into planning workshops. Result? 90% user adoption within the first month because "they felt like contributors, not victims of change."
Quick Implementation: Before writing any requirements, spend a week shadowing different user roles. Ask what frustrates them most about their current tools.
2. Think Partnership, Not Vendor Relationships
The Practice: Choose technology partners who admit what they can't do well.
Why It Works: No single vendor handles everything in modern media workflows. The best solutions combine specialised tools.
Real Example: A streaming service selected three vendors who openly collaborated - one for MAM, one for orchestration, one for AI analysis. Each focused on their strengths instead of trying to do everything.
Quick Implementation: Ask potential vendors: "What should we not expect you to handle?" Trust the ones who give honest answers.
3. Start Small, Scale Smart
The Practice: Launch with minimum viable features for one team, then expand.
Why It Works: Quick wins build momentum. Users see immediate value instead of waiting years for a "perfect" system.
Real Example: A post-production house started with basic media ingestion for one department. Within six weeks, other teams were asking to join because they saw the efficiency gains.
Quick Implementation: Identify your most frustrated user group. Solve their biggest pain point first. Use that success to fund and justify the next phase.
4. Design for Change, Not Current State
The Practice: Build flexibility into workflows, not just efficiency.
Why It Works: Media organizations face constant change - new platforms, formats, business models. Rigid systems become obstacles within months.
Real Example: A broadcaster designed their workflow to handle "any video format to any destination." When they launched a FAST channel six months later, no system changes were needed.
Quick Implementation: For every workflow you design, ask: "How would this handle a completely new distribution platform we haven't thought of yet?"
5. Communication Breaks More Projects Than Technology
The Practice: When stakeholders go quiet, sound the alarm bells immediately.
Why It Works: Most project failures trace back to communication breakdowns, not technical issues.
Real Example: A migration project stalled when the key stakeholder got pulled into urgent business issues. The vendor proactively escalated, brought in temporary project management, and kept momentum going.
Quick Implementation: Set up weekly 15-minute check-ins with key stakeholders. If someone misses two in a row, escalate immediately.
The Bottom Line
Technology will solve your technical problems. But successful MAM transformation solves human problems - making complex workflows simple, giving users tools they want to use, and creating systems that adapt instead of constrain.
The organisations seeing the biggest wins aren't necessarily using the most advanced technology. They're using the most thoughtful approach to change management.
Ready to transform your media workflows? Focus on your people first. The technology will follow.
