ROUNDGLASS DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT

THE CHALLENGE

RoundGlass had acquired multiple wellness companies with assets scattered globally—some on hard drives in garages. Five disconnected systems (Getty Media Manager with limited seats, Frame.io, Vimeo, Box, Cloudinary free version) created bottlenecks preventing departments from accessing assets needed for content creation. Engineers had "Frankensteined" free Cloudinary beyond its capabilities, creating system problems. No consolidated storage, no standardized workflows, no global accessibility. Siloed startup organization with limited budget and resources for asset management infrastructure.

MY ROLE 

Initially embedded with Cloud team, later moved to Shared Services: 

• Conducted comprehensive needs assessment across all departments understanding workflows, pain points, and requirements
• Evaluated multiple DAM systems, recommended and secured approval for Cloudinary enterprise solution integrated with AWS storage 
• Architected headless DAM solution allowing internal AWS asset storage while leveraging Cloudinary's management capabilities 
• Engineered system implementation including migration from Getty Media Manager to Cloudinary 
• Uncovered and resolved engineers' "Frankenstein" free version usage that would have broken enterprise implementation
• Designed user personas, libraries, metadata standards, and permission structures 
• Developed training programs for asset upload, retrieval, and system administration
• Partnered with Cloud department on technical migration and AWS integration 
• Worked with Shared Services staying aligned with evolving organizational needs and reporting progress

THE STRATEGY

In a startup with limited budget and competing priorities, I needed to prove value quickly while building sustainable infrastructure. My approach:

1. Understand each silo's actual workflows before prescribing solutions
2. Select headless DAM (Cloudinary) leveraging existing AWS infrastructure to control costs
3. Uncover hidden technical debt (Frankenstein system) before it derailed implementation
4. Build self-service capabilities reducing dependencies
5. Design user experience making adoption easy despite limited training time
6. Focus on cross-functional collaboration in siloed organization. 

THE EXECUTION

• Vetted multiple DAM systems against organizational needs, costs, and technical requirements 
• Discovered engineers had exceeded free Cloudinary capabilities creating conflicts; resolved technical issues enabling enterprise implementation
• Partnered with Cloud team engineering, overseeing migration of all Getty Media Manager assets to new Cloudinary/AWS architecture
• Designed and implemented user personas, library structures, metadata taxonomies, and permission systems 
• Configured direct Getty integration enabling asset licensing and ingestion through single platform
• Created training materials and conducted sessions on upload protocols, retrieval workflows, and system administration
• Built cross-functional partnerships across Studio, Marketing, Design, Cloud, and Shared Services teams 
• Reported progress to stakeholders, including CEO, navigating limited budget and competing organizational priorities

THE IMPACT

• Eliminated content bottlenecks enabling departments to access assets needed for creation without seat limitations 
• Built globally accessible infrastructure consolidating scattered global assets from acquired companies (including remote locations in India) into searchable system 
• Enabled direct Getty integration allowing licensed asset purchase and automatic ingestion streamlining workflows 
• Achieved positive user adoption - teams found system intuitive with good user experience
• Trained users to successfully upload and retreive assets demonstrating self-service capability
• Identified and resolved hidden technical issues preventing enterprise implementation failure 
• Established foundational system during year-long implementation