Looking for an enterprise video platform? There are many things to consider, and there are some very crucial elements to make sure are included before you make a decision.
During our recent Haivision Media Platform webinar, our vice president of product management talked about a few things that are really important when assessing an enterprise video solution for your business.
In that time he broke down five very significant things that you should make sure your enterprise solution has, and today we’re sharing them with you in greater detail. Read on to find out more!
1. Your video needs to be broadcast in high quality
Every video you share on your portal; every town hall that you broadcast to your employees; every HR training video; absolutely every video that you make available to your staff has to be high-quality video.
It’s no longer okay to have small, pixelated videos, even during live events like all hands meetings. Imagine starting to work for a new business, and you’re told to watch a town hall meeting on a webpage that has a 320×180 window with a low-quality video stream.
You can’t quite make out the CEO as he talks about how well the company is doing, and the plan for the future. Do you believe him? Are you convinced that the company is doing well? How’s your morale?
Make sure that the enterprise video system you choose for your business is capable of broadcasting high-quality video to all of your employees.
2. Your enterprise video system should accommodate schedules, not dictate them
We live in a digital world where many people who work in tech can do their job from almost everywhere.
In the same way that your CEO should be able to send and answer emails from anywhere in the world while they’re away on business, they should also be able to broadcast high-quality video from anywhere in the world.
The reality is that people still travel. Deals must be signed, hands must be shook, meetings must sometimes be held in person. And while on the road, it may be time to deliver an executive address to all employees.
Your enterprise video system shouldn’t dictate your executive’s schedule. The system should accommodate it by being flexible enough to allow people to broadcast to their employees no matter where they are.
3. You need the right admin tools for security and accessibility
Powerful admin tools are key to ensuring that your enterprise video solution is a success.
Administrators will need to be able to set user permissions (not everyone should see every video), monitor the system (who’s been watching what — what videos perform well, or not so well?), and make sure that everyone is seeing the content they need to see.
Let’s say you’re an admin who manages 1,000 set-top boxes. You might need to be able to change what’s being viewed through these devices on the fly, or change those screens to an all hands meeting when it’s being broadcast.
You might want HR videos in the break room, and the latest ad looping in the lobbies. Whatever the case, your admin needs to be able to manage these screens quickly and easily.
4. You need an easily manageable content library
If you’re going to use video effectively, you’ll need someone to manage your content. They may not be involved in every step of video production, but once on-demand corporate videos are ready to be seen by your employees, someone needs to be able to manage all of the content.
Your content manager should be able to:
- Upload video
- Record streams
- Curate content
- Schedule events
- Feature and suggest important content
The other really important part of managing video content is making it easy for viewers to find what they’re looking for. Your enterprise video system should allow you to tag content with metadata. What does this look like?
The metadata will contain keywords related to the content on the video. This would ensure that people who are searching for specific content are able to find those things quickly and easily. And voila, your videos are reaching the right people.
5. You need a user-friendly viewing portal
What makes sites like YouTube and Netflix successful? Content is a major factor, of course, but the ability to browse content and find what interests people is a big part of their success.
It’s no different when we’re talking about an enterprise video solution. You still need your staff to be able to go through the content you need them to see in a way that’s simple and easy to understand.
This is where your combination of a simple user interface and searchable metadata work to make sure your users get an excellent user experience.
As Steve Krug, author of Don’t Make Me Think, says, “If something requires a large investment of time—or looks like it will—it’s less likely to be used.” This is why an intuitive viewing portal is so important. You’re putting a lot of effort into making your corporate videos, so make sure the people who need to see them can find them quickly and easily.
Enterprise video is all about usability
It may sound obvious, but the most important aspect of an enterprise video solution is usability. Can everyone from the IT person to the A/V pro, and from the video producer all the way to the viewer get the most out of the platform without requiring months of training?
Enterprise video is an investment, and you’ll be investing time in video production—time you don’t want to spend teaching people how to use something, or trying to figure out where a specific function is.
Make sure that your enterprise video platform is easy for everyone to use, and you’ll start seeing the benefits before very long at all.
