Video communication keeps staff informed, connected and motivated – and it should be just as easy as sending an email.
User friendliness
Video is without question a must-have for corporate communications teams in all industries as well as education. In the age of YouTube, with viewers watching hundreds of millions of hours every single day, video is now the default way people consume information. Comms professionals fully understand the power of video to convey all types of messages, from CEO townhalls to department meetings to training sessions.
But what is the best way to get your staff or students to watch the content you need them to see? Most comms teams rely on an in-house system linked with their intranet or a public site such as YouTube. However, introducing a dedicated internal ‘corporate YouTube’ will make video communication easier and safer, giving comms professionals full control of the content, look and feel of the user experience, while helping to build a better sense of community in your organisation.
This three-part series explores what you should look for in an enterprise video platform. Part 1 focuses on user-friendliness. Your corporate YouTube should be…
Simple to use
Have you ever bought one of those all-singing-all-dancing juicing machines? You probably used it regularly for a few weeks or months before you got out of the habit. Even though you knew juicing was good for you, it just took too much time to set up, prepare the ingredients, clean up, etc. It’s the same with a video communications system.
If any link in the content creation / editing / publishing / viewing chain is weak, it simply won’t get used. Ideally, you want something that makes it extremely simple for non-technical users to to create, view and edit content without having to rely on any input from external companies or other internal departments such as IT.
People are used to watching videos on all types of devices, at all hours of the day and night.
Compatible with all devices, live and on demand
People are used to watching video when, where and how they want to. If they are limited to viewing something on a certain type of screen, such as their PC, or at a certain time, it’s just not going to happen. There are always distractions and important phone calls. But ‘if you build it, they will come’ – or rather, if you make relevant content easily streamable on demand to all types of devices, your viewers will watch it. This is important not just for staff based in remote locations or working from home, but also people commuting or dipping in and out of work. For so many companies and individuals, the traditional boundaries of offices and ‘office hours’ simply no longer apply.
Free to operate
You also want a product that is free at the point of operation, both for content creation and viewing. Any fee-per-use, no matter how small, will create issues and delays around budget approvals, etc. A zero cost-per-use enterprise video product makes it practical for anyone to make use of it, truly enhancing two-way engagement at all levels of an organisation, and across all departments. (That being said, it’s important to have customised access controls in place, both for viewing and administration – more on that in Part 2.)
Summary
So, in Part 1, we’ve explored why an enterprise video solution must be simple to use; fuction live and on demand, on all types of devices; and be free at the point of operation.
Be sure to check out Parts 2 and 3, where we’ll look at customising your solution and ensuring scaleability, security and reliability.
We hope this information is useful to you. If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you! Email me at jamie.cunningham@encodedmedia.com or click the chat button on the left side of the screen.