Choosing a DAM in 2026: what Gulf marketing teams should check

1 November 2026
Omnia Hassan

On 28 October, Sitecore announced that it has been named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Asset Management Platforms, published two days earlier. If you are choosing a DAM now, analyst research helps with the shortlist. The decision rests on narrower questions. Can your team find a file by searching in Arabic? Will an expired photo licence stay out of next month’s campaign? This guide covers what to check, how to run a proof of concept, and where SitecoreAI DAM fits for Sitecore teams.

What to check

1. Arabic metadata, search and right-to-left

Decide which fields need Arabic before anyone builds the schema. In Content Hub, a field’s multilingual setting cannot be changed after creation, so a late decision means new fields and a data move. Hold Arabic and English versions of a creative as linked assets, which Content Hub can do with variants.

Then test search hard. Arabic search should treat spelling variants as one word. Apache Lucene’s Arabic normalizer makes a good checklist: hamza forms on alef, taa marbuta and haa, alef maqsura and yaa, diacritics and the stretching character. A search for جدة should find جده. Test transliterations too: Jeddah, Jiddah, Jedda. Content Hub taxonomy values carry synonyms, which Sitecore describes as multi-language properties used in full-text search. Put the variants there.

Finally, check right-to-left display on every screen, with Arabic titles and mixed-language file names. In Content Hub, an Arabic interface is a portal language you add and translate.

2. Rights and licence expiry

Licences for photos, music, talent and stock often limit country, channel and period. A photo licensed for Saudi Arabia only must stay out of a UAE campaign. Record rights as data on the asset, attach the contract, and ask each vendor what happens on the end date.

In Content Hub, an asset is restricted once a rights profile is linked to it. It can then be downloaded only for an intended use that complies with the profile’s rules, or after a DRM administrator approves a request. A restricted asset cannot be reached through a public link, which returns a 404 error. That is what you want when a licence ends. It also means any live page still using the link loses the image, so replace those uses first.

3. Renditions for regional channels

List the formats each channel needs, from web and app to social, WhatsApp, outdoor screens and print, and check which the DAM produces on request. An Arabic layout is a separate design, mirrored and set in Arabic type. Treat it as a new asset linked to the English one.

Content Hub transformations resize and crop images through a parameter on the public link. They work on images only, and Sitecore does not recommend public links for video hosting. A public link with no expiry date never expires, and it cannot be limited to approved domains.

4. Approvals

Map who signs off an asset before it goes out: brand, legal, and an Arabic reviewer for any text in the image. Content Hub’s asset review moves an asset from Created to Under review to Approved, and a rejection needs a reason. If you need more steps, have Sitecore configure them during the proof of concept.

5. AI tagging in Arabic

A demo on stock photos proves little. Test AI tagging on your own images: Arabic text, local landmarks, national dress, your products. Prefer tagging grounded in your taxonomy: if each value has Arabic and English labels, an AI pick works in both languages, while free-text tags arrive in one.

Content Hub’s AI-assisted metadata enrichment suggests up to ten tags, values from taxonomies set in an AI profile, and alt text, which users edit before saving. It needs a Stream subscription, and Sitecore states: “Alt text is generated in English only.” Arabic alt text is still a writing task. SitecoreAI’s modern Media Library tags images on upload, with no settings to change, and skips video, audio and PDFs.

6. Integration with the CMS, commerce and CRM

The test: change an asset once in the DAM and see where it updates. In SitecoreAI, the DAM connector lets authors “browse, search, and insert digital assets”. Its interface can be localized, but it ships in English only. Sitecore also documents connectors for Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce. For other platforms, including a CRM, the Embedding SDK (March 2026) puts a Content Hub asset picker in your own applications. Check how rights restrictions reach each system.

7. Migration

Sitecore’s migration guidance sets the order: schema, then field mapping, then files. Clean values first: KSA, Saudi Arabia and السعودية in one field are three values to a search filter. Use a stable identifier, such as an external reference ID. Test a small, representative batch. Excel import fails on file URLs that need a login, so a private library needs an automated import. Add two checks of your own. Arabic file and folder names must survive, since they may be the only Arabic metadata an old library has. Licence records must move with the files.

8. Governance and ownership

A DAM decays without owners. Name them before you sign: a product owner in marketing, a taxonomy owner, a rights owner in legal or procurement, an Arabic language owner, and someone who manages agency access. Agree who may add taxonomy values, since each one needs two labels. In Content Hub, permissions come from user group policies, and taxonomies can also add security. Review both every quarter.

How to run the proof of concept

Real Story Group, a buyer-side analyst firm, advises building the shortlist from business scenarios. It then recommends a competitive bake-off between two finalists: two to four weeks, one vendor after the other, with your own team running the tests. AVP, a platform-neutral DAM consultancy, advises proofs of concept “using your own assets and real usage scenarios”, with weighted scoring and input from every team. Give each finalist the same script. Ours for bilingual teams:

Test	What to do	Pass if
Arabic search and display	Search product and place names in Arabic, with spelling variants, and in transliteration	Every variant returns the same assets, and Arabic displays right to left on every screen
Licence expiry	Load assets licensed for one country, ending during the test	Out-of-terms use is blocked, and you see what breaks on the end date
Renditions	Produce each channel’s formats from one master	Resizes need no designer, and language versions stay linked
Approval	Run brand, legal and Arabic review, and reject once	Every step and reason is recorded
AI tagging	Tag a sample of your own images	Tags you would keep, in the languages you need
Integration	Use an asset on a page and in an email, then replace it	Both update, or you know which do not
Migration and exit	Import a representative batch with metadata and licences, then export it	Nothing lost, Arabic intact

Where SitecoreAI DAM fits for Sitecore teams

Sitecore now markets its DAM as SitecoreAI DAM. Most documentation still says Content Hub, and one SitecoreAI page notes that its references to SitecoreAI DAM “also apply to Sitecore Content Hub”, so search for both. SitecoreAI offers “a single DAM experience per instance”, so you choose. The modern Media Library is built in, with tags and alt text on upload and public links with an availability period, in phased rollout. Content Hub carries the rights management, review, transformations and connectors described above.

Our rule of thumb: if the DAM mainly serves one website, start with the Media Library and test it on your Arabic images. If it serves several channels, agencies and licensed content, test Content Hub. For Sitecore teams, the Gartner recognition is a reason to shortlist SitecoreAI DAM. The proof of concept decides. Still on XP? Check connector support in our XP 10.5 guide first.

Planning a DAM proof of concept? Talk to us about a test script for your library. On Sitecore today? Start with the free Sitecore Health Check, and see how we deliver Sitecore in Arabic and English.

Frequently asked questions

What is SitecoreAI DAM?

It is the name Sitecore now uses for its digital asset management. Most of the product documentation still uses the name Content Hub. In SitecoreAI, each instance has one DAM experience: the built-in modern Media Library or Sitecore Content Hub.

Does SitecoreAI DAM support Arabic?

Sitecore’s Content Hub documentation covers multilingual fields, localized variants, multi-language taxonomy synonyms for search, and added interface languages. Its AI-generated alt text is in English only. Test Arabic search and right-to-left display with your own files before you decide.

Can a DAM stop teams using an asset after its licence expires?

It can restrict the asset. In Content Hub, an asset linked to a rights profile can be downloaded only for uses that comply with its rules, or after a DRM administrator approves a request, and its public links return a 404 error. Test what happens on the end date in your proof of concept.

How long should a DAM proof of concept take?

Real Story Group suggests two to four weeks for a competitive bake-off between two finalists, run one after the other, with your own team running the tests. Use your own assets, including Arabic files and licence records.

What should a DAM migration plan include?

Sitecore’s guidance sets the order: define the schema, map the old fields, then import the files, after cleaning duplicate values and choosing a stable identifier. Test a representative batch first. For Gulf libraries, also check that Arabic file names survive and that licence records move with the files.

Source and disclaimer. Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Digital Asset Management Platforms, Rene Cizio, Tia ES Zervas, Karen Lee, 26 October 2026. Gartner does not endorse any company, vendor, product or service depicted in its publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s business and technology insights organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this publication, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. GARTNER and MAGIC QUADRANT are trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates.

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