Struminger interviewed by KM World magazine

This article from KM (Knowledge Management) World magazine was published in September 2009. They interviewed me as part of a overview of how several companies are using digital asset management (DAM) systems, and particularly how UNICEF is managing rich media assets like video.

The lessons we learned at UNICEF from the global roll-out of the digital asset management system are consistent with our current best practices for technology projects. We see the same issues of process and technology adoption all the time in other projects at UNICEF, as well as many other clients. I can’t emphasize enough that technology is insufficient alone to support process change in an organization… and the adoption that is so critical to success in introducing a new system requires more than just good project management. It requires art, diplomacy and good stakeholder involvement across the organization. Because UNICEF is a large decentralized and global organization, and because we were involving partner organizations and different UNICEF divisions in different time zones, we used a facilitative approach to stakeholder involvement.

I think I can include a brief excerpt here with attribution… link to the full article follows at bottom:

UNICEF had tried several approaches to DAM, including developing its own software, but usage of the systems had been limited. “One of the lessons we learned in our early attempts was that the way in which we rolled out the system was critical,” says Struminger. “We knew we needed a good software product, but better software alone is never the answer. We also needed to facilitate adoption by involving stakeholders.”

– Excerpted from “DAM takes on many roles” by Judith Lamont, Ph.D.
Posted on KMWorld.com on Sep 29, 2009