Today, without realizing it, most organizations create “custom” solutions internally with their databases, online sharing systems, and other tools. This helps them meet some of their needs. However, implementing a DAM solution can actually adapt to very specific constraints and suitably meet the real needs of the organization. This was notably the case with RTE (Réseau de Transport d’Electricité, France’s electric grid operator), whose very specific request went well beyond the usual scope of usage for a DAM system.

A technician in front of an electricity pylon carries out maintenance on the RTE network

As part of a major project for managing assets in the RTE electric grid, several users requested the use of a professional digital media library tool for managing photos of RTE’s assets. It was a project solely responding to internal needs. “The main users, spread all across France, are mostly people working on the ground to analyze equipment and prepare to do work on it”, explains Thierry Calando, project manager in RTE’s IT and Telecommunications Division. “The digital media library must also enable sharing for the purposes of evaluation, analysis, and training”.

As such, the project involved integrating a custom digital media library solution and interfacing it with the company’s geographic information system (GIS) via a mapping tool. What was the goal for RTE? To optimize preparation for operations by its workers, facilitate decision-making in real time, and enable sharing of feedback between workers while making it quick and easy for them to describe their media via RTE’s GIS, a specialized tool that the workers are already familiar with and know how to use.

These items are also searchable in the media library using the search engine or by searching directly on the map. The Ephoto Dam solution also helps RTE secure its management (storage, searching, viewing) of media and “facilitates the sharing of information,” says Thierry Calando.

This type of project proves that DAM solutions are capable of meeting very specific needs and that custom solutions allow Ephoto Dam to adapt to the specific requirements of different businesses. The preference for custom solutions goes hand in hand with increased requirements for support, services, and development. That means an opportunity for software publishers and service providers to showcase their skills and set themselves apart from their competitors.