It’s estimated that this summer’s World Cup Final between France and Croatia was watched globally by around 900 million people. That’s not too shabby a number is it? What’s perhaps the most interesting part for the readership of this article is that 26% of the viewing audience streamed the final instead of watching it via a traditional television. Whether by their mobile devices, laptops, or things like PlayStations, this statistic illustrates the growth in live streaming video as a preferred method of delivering content.
When faced with the challenge of delivering live video across corporate networks, most of us don’t quite have the budget to deliver content that either FIFA or the major distribution channels for sports have, but with that said most of us are still faced with the challenge of ensuring that the live stream that we are delivering is not interrupted during particularly important events. Whether we’re talking about an annual fiscal review for shareholders, or a quarterly update for global sales people, the experience–both for the audience and the facilitator–must be smooth and seamless.
Whether you’re currently feeling frustrated by the state of your video delivery system, or you’re at the point of considering moving towards the use of video, here are some suggestions for you that will help you to deliver live content.
Find a vendor with a distribution agnostic approach
Adapting a distribution agnostic approach refers to adapting to a customer’s network setup without disrupting existing distribution technologies. In other words, not upsetting IT. Because every work environment is different, there is no one single streaming solution that works for everyone. This is especially true for certain industries that might be subject to regulatory policies pertaining to where content can be hosted. This is why it is important to have a distribution agnostic approach. The ideal technology will adapt to your specific network setup and work with existing distribution technologies.
Aim for the cloud
With different networks and various devices, including mobile, it’s important for organizations to find a way to manage the security efficiently. This is why many organizations are turning to a cloud based enterprise video solution. It supports streaming to multiple mobile devices and has the ability to reach any employee–whether they are in the office, or out on the road, or even in a hotel room. Most importantly, cloud based video technology has taken the load off the network.
Seek out business intelligence
It seems that there isn’t a product on the market that doesn’t offer business intelligence. And while that BI can sometimes translates to BS, in the video world it can be extremely valuable. Your solution should deliver immediate insight into things like who is watching your live video, who has responded to the latest polls, which departments are most engaged, whether your video is transmitting properly, or even whether there are streaming issues etc. Having this information may even allow you to achieve an return on investment.
Set up permission levels
Permission levels refer to the right people accessing the right content. This is especially important if some of your content is meant for an exclusive audience. Permissions can be easily automated through a single sign on and pushed out through Active Directory. This will help you assign attributes automatically, rather than one by one. Having permissions set up ensures everyone accessing your content has been authenticated. And more importantly, these security settings carry through regardless of where an employee attempts to access video content. Permissions can be assigned by location, department, or title.
Consider your on-demand audience
Even though your primary objective is delivering live streaming video content, it hopefully goes without saying that you’re going to want to save that content so that it’s available on-demand. You will definitely want to ensure that your video looks sharp every time it is downloaded. When selecting the best video format, consider using MP4 with an HTML5 browser as it offers a better user experience. Going this way allows users to skip forward in videos easily without crashing the system.
With the growth of enterprise video, it’s easy to lose sight of just how powerful a technology it is. But if you manage it correctly, and follow the above tips, you’ll be on the right path to ensuring the experience is optimal for both your network, IT, and your end users.