How is Wedia developing a low-carbon Digital Asset Management solution?

When a company is concerned about how its activities affect its carbon footprint, it cannot overlook the part its reliance on digital technology plays in contributing to this. In this way, it becomes crucial to consider stakeholders such as suppliers and partners in order to choose actors who are also committed to reducing their impact. Wedia is engaged in this drive for environmentally-focused digital action and is dedicated to developing a more robust, sustainable, and efficient Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution to help its clients reduce their environmental footprint.

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As the impacts related to the digital sector intensify, Wedia strives to make its solutions as environmentally friendly as possible. Media storage, as well as distribution, archiving, and management, carry a significant carbon footprint. That's why, while seeking to optimize its key features for creative and marketing teams, Wedia supports its clients' digital sobriety approach with a solution focused on reducing its adverse effects on the environment. Olivier Grenet, CTO at Wedia, outlines the three technical axes that support a digital sobriety approach.

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Which DAM functionalities contribute to reducing your impact?

1st axis: Optimized content search

Wedia’s DAM search functionality allows marketing teams to quickly and accurately find the visuals they need. By presenting the exact visuals to the right person, the DAM helps avoid creating or recreating visuals (photos, videos, etc.) that have already been produced, such as through a photoshoot or a filming session.

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"We avoid unnecessary photo or film shoots by quickly analyzing what is available in the right format using an intelligent search engine. It's a 'Google-like' search to analyze the photos we have already taken."

The user then has access to visuals that accurately match their query and can use them to create new content from what already exists.

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This search function has also been optimized to limit energy consumption related to data transfer:

"When a user browses the interface and scrolls through the media stored in the DAM environment, the visuals are initially displayed in very low resolution. They are lighter, use less data, and will only be downloaded in high quality if the user hovers over them."

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Indeed, it is not necessary for media to be available in the highest resolution when a user is in the search phase. Only once the right media is identified can it be downloaded in high resolution which reduces the need for storing heavy files.

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2nd axis: Adaptive distribution

The distribution of media across multiple channels and devices has an impact due to the amount of data and bandwidth required, which is energy intensive. For example, formats like 4K or 8K, which are high-resolution videos, are heavier, more energy-intensive, and require more infrastructure compared to videos with lower-resolution formats. As global data traffic increases rapidly each year, one may question the real utility of viewing ultra-HD images or videos on smartphone screens.

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With Wedia's DAM solution and its Media Delivery module, your media is automatically distributed at the appropriate resolution, regardless of the device used. This means content dynamically adapts to the network specifications, bandwidth, and screens on which they are viewed. This avoids energy waste caused by high-definition content being viewed on small screens.

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"We aim to distribute in the most compact format possible, both on computers and on the website."

This adaptive distribution functionality offers a double advantage: the viewing experience remains optimal for the user, and energy and cost waste are minimized.

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3rd axis: The power of generative AI

Generative artificial intelligence (Gen-AI) is an innovative tool that can assist you in content creation. The image generation tool (with video capabilities coming soon) allows you to produce original content based on existing images. Artificial intelligence can generate new variations, avoiding the need for physical photo and video shoots, which significantly reduce the heavy footprint of such sessions, particularly due to the transportation of people and equipment.

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For example, with 3D technology, it is possible to create an "artificial" photo shoot by reconstructing scenes in 3D:

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"For instance, one of our clients, in collaboration with a 3D agency, conducts their shoots using assets sourced from Wedia’s DAM and is able to create a virtual environment. There's no need to waste resources on specially built sets for the shoot that would later be dismantled. Remarkable visual achievements can be accomplished."

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It follow then that on the same platform, you can generate original visuals within seconds that match your input, providing you with immense creative possibilities.

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What's next?

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Wedia aims to go even further and continues its optimization efforts by experimenting with a Web Performance Management tool. The goal is to provide data to obtain real-time visibility into the software's functioning and the carbon footprint associated with its data consumption.

As this project is still in the testing phase, a dedicated article about our carbon emissions reduction approach will be available in the near future, stay tuned.

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