Video in the Enterprise Ecosystem
Sep 12, 2014 5:15 PM, By Vern Hanzlik, Executive VP and GM of Qumu
A successful employee engagement solution
The use of video for employee engagement is skyrocketing. A recent Ragan Communications study found that 71 percent of companies are producing videos to communicate with employees— and three-quarters of those companies plan to increase their use.
The complexities of capturing, managing, delivering, and viewing business video are vast. Companies using video for employee engagement are live-streaming events, recording executive briefings, and boosting collaboration of distributed employees, while mobile employees are recording ideas and input on the fly—and the list goes on. These videos must be delivered to devices of choice, including laptops, smartphones, and tablets. To really optimize work outcomes, users must be able to discuss, tag, share, comment, and apply their applications to the integrated video.
It’s critical to choose the right solution for your client, providing easy implementation of company-wide video use into the existing ecosystem without bringing the network to its knees. Enterprises need a solution that is secure, with the ability to measure outcomes so video efforts stay on track. Most of all, the system must deliver an outstanding user experience or no one will tune in.
With all these requirements, it’s no wonder enterprises are looking to video integration specialists to figure it all out! They need someone who understands, and can manage, the inherent complexities of video, someone who can wring the most out of every dollar invested and ensure their network is safe and ready for all video initiatives.
The Basics
First, keep in mind the basic elements of today’s successful enterprise video solution:
Create/Capture: The solution should empower users to create their own videos and accept multiple video formats, from a variety of sources, and handle live broadcasting or storage for later broadcast or on-demand viewing.
Employee-generated Content Upload: Today’s video-rich world sees video creation outside the studio and democratized to all employees.
Management: Video has value over time, so centralized control and management of video assets and related media, within the context of enterprise IT standards and practices, is critical.
Publishing: An enterprise video solution should be capable of delivering to email and syndication (RSS) feeds while also being able to place content on its own portal or integrated within the enterprise’s existing employee portal.
Distribution: An enterprise video solution should leverage both public and behind-the-firewall CDNs simultaneously, and provide a hybrid approach if needed. Plan for stream splitting, hierarchical delivery, and other network intelligence solutions to eliminate bottlenecks and negative network impacts.
Experience: Your solution should include capabilities for ratings and reviews, clipping, sharing, and promoting interesting content. Live communications functionality should allow for audience polling, Q&A, and incorporating a conversation feed.
Reporting: Accurate reporting on viewer statistics is critical to ensuring your client’s content is reaching the intended audience.
Today’s Cloud Solutions and Why Video Platform Partners are Critical
A video platform vendor’s partnerships with platform providers, such as Citrix and SharePoint, are critical to leveraging the power of enterprise video through a network ecosystem. Keep in mind all of these components of a successful video employee engagement solution when choosing the right vendor. You’ll give your clients the best of both worlds: collaborating with video—the richest medium—in the context of their day-to-day social and collaborative environment.
Vern Hanzlik has spent the last 20 years building and growing enterprise software and service companies such as TEAM Informatics, Stellen, and Sajan Software before joining Qumu in 2012. He holds a BS degree in business administration from University of Wisconsin-Stout.
