Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a tool for tech giants. In today’s digital landscape, AI is transforming the way that all businesses work, sitting at the center of digital transformation. Bynder’s latest State of DAM report revealed that 41% of organizations have either fully integrated AI or are in the process of integrating it within their DAM systems, showcasing how AI is becoming a key priority for organizations managing large digital libraries.

Bynder’s AI-powered DAM platform is at the forefront of digital transformation, having implemented AI into its platform back in 2016. With Bynder, organizations can better keep up with the speed of today’s demanding need for highly personalized content. With the help of generative AI, natural language processing (NLP), agentic AI, and other AI technologies, businesses can easily discover, tag, and repurpose content with remarkable speed and accuracy.

Let’s dive into the role of AI in digital transformation and how AI-powered DAM is turning once-manual tasks into scalable workflows.

Key takeaways

  • Digital transformation refers to the ways businesses use digital technologies to enhance their processes and workflows and create a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.
  • Today’s digital transformation is driven by AI, enabling smarter decision-making, automation, and new ways to use data to create more personalized content experiences that convert.
  • DAM plays a critical role in modern digital transformation by helping businesses organize, discover, and repurpose content efficiently, especially as content libraries grow.
  • Bynder’s industry-leading AI-powered DAM enables businesses to use AI search solutions and agentic AI to maximize asset value and position themselves to get content to market faster, maintain compliance, and compete more effectively in a content-driven world.

What is AI in digital transformation?

Digital transformation is the process by which businesses use digital technologies to enhance and modify their processes and workflows. Digital transformation isn’t only about adopting new technologies, like artificial intelligence and cloud computing, but also requires a cultural shift where innovation and continuous improvement become core to how an organization operates.

The history of digital transformation dates back to the 1980s when businesses began using computers and basic software systems to replace paper-based products. The 1990s brought the rise of the internet, which led businesses to go online, opening an entirely new world of digital customer channels. In the 2000s, technology underwent another transformation with the advent of cloud computing, and again in the 2010s through the rise of social media. Each of these technological developments had a major impact on the way we do business.

Today’s digital transformation is ongoing and is largely driven by artificial intelligence. Businesses are transforming the way they do work with AI tools like:

  • Machine learning
  • Natural language processing (NLP)
  • Optical character recognition (OCR)
  • Generative AI
  • Computer vision
  • Agentic AI

The evolution of AI in DAM

The evolution of DAM closely follows the evolution of digital transformation. Today’s DAM platforms sit at the heart of an organization’s martech stack. AI-powered DAM solutions like Bynder serve as a system of record and integrate with legacy systems to help organizations take control of their growing content libraries. But modern DAM goes beyond simple storage. Bynder’s DAM supports faster collaboration, brand consistency, and personalized content delivery with AI-powered solutions like speech-to-text, visual search, and natural language search. Here’s a closer look at where DAM started and where it’s going:

  • Early 2000s: At the outset of the 21st century, DAM served as a basic solution for storing and organizing digital assets. It was an on-premise solution first used by broadcasting and publishing companies to store and manage their large video and image libraries.
  • Mid-2010s: Bynder was the first to introduce AI into DAM in 2016. Early AI-powered DAM offered the ability to support auto-tagging using computer vision. Bynder’s numerous time-saving features use AI to digitally transform creative teams and improve workflows.
  • Early 2020s to present: In 2023, Bynder acquired EMRAYS, an emotion analysis service, which led to the development of Bynder’s AI Search Experience offerings, including Face Recognition and Similarity Search. More recently, in 2025, Bynder introduced AI agents, allowing teams to automate complex workflows. With AI agents, DAM users can solve problems of content management that were previously impossible to tackle, including content use cases across enrichment, transformation, and governance. Today, DAM is a strategic advantage, drawing on LLMs and agentic AI to help businesses create impactful content experiences that drive tangible business results, from increased conversions to mitigating risks at scale.

Discover how DAM went from a simple storage solution to a content powerhouse

The role of AI-powered DAM in digital transformation

The role of AI-powered DAM in digital transformation cannot be overstated. Today’s digital landscape infuses artificial intelligence into businesses’ essential daily tasks by:

  • Automating repetitive tasks: Historically, repetitive and tedious tasks put a major strain on a business's workload. Users can now automatically resize images for different platforms, identify duplicate assets taking up valuable storage space, or tag assets with metadata upon upload, freeing up hours of marketers’ time.
  • Centralizing content for easy access: AI-powered DAM serves as a system of record for all digital assets. It transforms the way businesses store and retrieve essential assets, making them easy to discover and use.
  • Making smarter asset decisions: AI’s predictive capabilities can help businesses analyze asset performance and business engagement, highlighting assets that resonate best with specific audiences to help deliver more targeted campaigns that convert.
  • Boosting security and compliance: AI can automatically review all materials for safety, security, and compliance, flagging potential issues for human review, and saving significant amounts of time while improving accuracy.
  • Transforming content management: With DAM powered by AI, content becomes easier to organize, retrieve, and reuse, increasing efficiency and boosting ROI. With solutions like speech-to-text and image similarity search, a video editor can search for every clip where a specific product is mentioned, or a content manager can retrieve visually similar assets without relying on metadata. Previously, this type of intuitive search was not possible.
  • Accelerating time-to-market: Enhanced workflows and improved discoverability enable teams to get content to market faster, allowing them to keep up with the high demand of our digital world.
  • Enables personalized experiences: AI-powered DAM systems help teams deliver the right content to the right people at the right time, supporting omnichannel and personalized marketing campaigns. For example, Bynder’s AI agents can be trained to modify, resize, and transform existing assets into stunning, high-performing content optimized for different channels and audiences.

Learn more from Scott Brinker on content operations in the age of AI

Key benefits of AI-powered DAM in digital transformation

DAM serves as a key player in digital transformation, enabling businesses to keep up with today’s high demand for highly personalized content. Read on to learn the key benefits of DAM powered by AI for digital transformation.

Intelligent search and discovery

Bynder’s AI for digital asset management features AI-powered search capabilities to enhance content discoverability. Within Bynder’s DAM sits a range of AI-powered tools, including:

  • Face Recognition: After tagging a person with their name once in a picture, facial recognition search uses AI to instantly scan images in the DAM to identify their faces and retrieve additional content featuring that person. This enhances content discoverability by making all assets featuring that person searchable by their name.
  • Similarity Search: With image similarity search, AI retrieves visually similar images that evoke the same look and feel as a target image while eliminating the need to rely on metadata or tags.
  • Search by Image: AI enables users to input an external image URL to identify similar or exact images already in the DAM, thereby avoiding the purchase of duplicate or similar stock images.
  • Text-in-Image Search: AI scans and extracts text from images, such as logos, labels, and packaging, to improve content discoverability without having to remember filenames or metadata.
  • Natural Language Search: Thanks to NLP, AI can understand natural human language, so DAM users don’t need to learn specific naming conventions to search within DAM.
  • Speech-to-Text: AI automatically generates transcripts for video and audio files in over 100 languages, making these assets easily discoverable.

Bynder’s AI-powered search solutions are proving valuable for a range of organizations, driving impactful business results. Take BDA.inc, for example. Using Bynder’s Face Recognition solution, BDA.inc was able to tag 22,000 employee photos with their names 27x faster, freeing up 104 hours that their team could then use for more important business initiatives.

Automated content workflows

Automated tags save time by reducing manual tagging needs and improving content discoverability. AI automatically generates relevant tags upon upload, which can be used later for content retrieval.

Bynder’s AI-Assist, available in the Content Workflow module, enables teams to use generative AI and transformative AI to generate copy, extend or shorten texts, check spelling and grammar, and translate text into different languages. This solution features numerous safeguards, including the ability to enable/disable AI on the project, user, and workflow levels. Additionally, every piece of content created by AI is highlighted in purple, making it easily identifiable.

Improved brand consistency

AI agents are capable of performing tasks to achieve business goals. Agentic AI is implemented into every stage of the content lifecycle in Bynder’s AI-powered DAM.

AI agents ensure brand consistency at scale, enabling customers to configure agents tailored to their specific content workflows and needs. For example, an agent generating asset descriptions can be tasked with following the brand tone of voice or industry terminology when creating the descriptions.

Similarly, AI search solutions, such as Similarity Search, allow users to find visually similar images to ensure consistency across campaigns without creating duplicate content across multiple channels.

Enhanced operational efficiency

AI solutions in DAM reduce manual work, allowing for faster time-to-market for campaigns. For example, Natural Language Search enables DAM users to search for assets using natural language, similar to the way one would naturally conduct a search on a search engine like Google, without needing to understand metadata or tagging taxonomies. As a result, users can find the assets they need instantly, remain productive, and get content live faster.

Duplicate Finder at Upload and Duplicate Manager both allow users to maintain a clutter-free DAM to save on storage space by identifying and removing duplicate content in the DAM. Plus, AI Agents, like generative and transformative AI agents, speed up content production time without compromising brand guidelines or compliance.

Increased content governance

AI agents can identify and flag web assets that expose the organization to potential business risks, such as non-compliance, legal issues, brand misalignment, or ethical concerns. By enforcing brand guidelines and compliance rules, organizations protect their brand reputation, avoid legal penalties, and maintain customer trust.

Additionally, AI search capabilities, such as Search by Image, help users stay informed about usage restrictions and expiration dates to maintain control over their content governance.

Greater content ROI

Bynder’s AI Agents automate complex, multi-step workflows, enabling organizations to deliver faster and more effective campaigns. That leads to more leads, more conversions, and more money saved. Paired with Bynder’s AI Search Experience capabilities, including Search by Image, Similarity Search, Text-in-Image Search, Natural Language Search, and Face Recognition, organizations can promote greater asset reuse and repurposing. For enterprise clients with thousands of assets, it can be easy for content to be overlooked or forgotten. Thanks to agentic AI and AI-powered search solutions that facilitate better asset discovery, users can identify underutilized assets and avoid the need to develop new ones.

Look at Siemens Healthineers, for example. Siemens Healthineers is saving €3.5M+ in costs annually thanks to the volume of assets that can be continuously reused and repurposed, rather than needing to buy new assets externally. Bynder also made sharing content 70% faster than before, whether it’s for social media or their website, serving as their trusted solution for connecting digital assets to all marketing channels.

Discover how Siemens Healthineers saves €3.5M+ annually using Bynder AI Search Experience

How to implement AI-powered DAM for digital transformation

Your organization can benefit from digital transformation through AI-powered DAM. Here’s how teams can implement this technology:

  1. Conduct an internal audit: An internal content audit to understand the types, volume, and formats of assets you’re managing to identify existing bottlenecks and evaluate the current digital maturity of your existing DAM or file organization solution.
  2. Define goals: Next, take time to understand what you want to accomplish with AI-powered DAM, such as faster time to market, increased brand compliance, or enhanced content personalization. Then, identify key users and their specific needs for a DAM system.
  3. Choose a scalable AI-powered DAM: It’s essential to find a DAM that grows with you, such as Bynder, and offers the solutions your team needs to meet your defined business goals. Consider built-in AI capabilities, integration options with your martech stack, and whether it supports enterprise-grade security and compliance.
  4. Train teams and integrate with your martech stack: Once you’ve selected your DAM, train teams on how to use it. Bynder provides a dedicated onboarding team to train your staff and provide ongoing customer support. Plus, Bynder DAM integrates with your existing PIM, CMS, and other platforms in your tech stack.
  5. Continuously measure ROI and optimize usage: Use Bynder Analytics to evaluate the effectiveness of your DAM and maximize ROI, focusing on key KPIs such as asset usage rates and time saved.

Overcoming the challenges of AI in digital transformation

Some of the top challenges organizations face when implementing AI for digital transformation include concerns over data privacy and security. According to Bynder’s State of DAM Report, the top three areas of concern regarding content governance are content quality control (55%), risk management (50%), and compliance (47%). With Bynder’s AI-powered DAM, humans maintain full control over their AI usage to ensure compliance. While AI solutions help organizations improve workflows, humans ultimately have the final say.

Keeping up with AI and digital transformation with AI-powered DAM

AI-powered DAM is a key driver in digital transformation. By automating routine tasks, enhancing content workflows, and making content easier to discover and repurpose, organizations can work faster and smarter to achieve business outcomes. Just as important, it gives businesses the ability to adapt and innovate with tools that ensure compliance in today’s fast-moving digital landscape. For organizations looking to get more value from their content, look no further than Bynder’s industry-leading AI-powered, human-approved DAM. Try Bynder today.

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