White Paper

Solving the Video Content Conundrum

MediaPlatform® 8383 Wilshire Blvd., #750 Beverly Hills, CA 90211 (310) 909-8410 www.mediaplatform.com info@mediaplatformcom

Copyright © 2010 by MediaPlatform, Inc.

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Introduction

What is a conundrum? A conundrum is a difficult problem to solve, a riddle, a complex challenge. It’s an apt word to describe what is occurring inside most large organizations today as they try to find the most sensible and economical way to manage online video assets. Video assets are proliferating in the enterprise, but the technologies for storing this content and making it readily available lag far behind its production. Lost in siloed content systems, these video assets can represent a waste of invested resources and a loss of knowledge for potential viewers. In response, many organizations have made a priority out of finding a better way to manage and utilize online video. Most viable solutions, however, seem to be either too expensive or lacking in functionality. The result is an enterprise video landscape replete with impenetrable silos, wasted resources, lost files, and potentially unauthorized or improper use of video assets. Indeed, this seems like a conundrum.

What can an organization do about its inability to manage its growing volume of video content? The answer might lie in the various new solutions that allow for corporate video to be more accessible, secure, and economical to deploy. This paper will offer one solution, MediaPlatform’s PrimeTime, which addresses the factors that contribute to the challenges of managing enterprise video content. PrimeTime is a portal-based video content management solution used by Fortune 500 clients to make video broadly accessible to users across multiple content repositories.

The Conundrum The video content management conundrum is a vexing problem for corporate leaders because there are so many contradictory factors involved. For example, there may be a great deal of online video content in the enterprise, but it’s usually hard to find and often lost in silos. People also expect to be able to use video when they need it, yet they lack the tools to gain access to the right content. The video content silos are nearly impossible to avoid but at the same time, are also extremely expensive to fix. It’s a tricky problem, but one with a practical solution. Before we solve the problem though, let’s first get a clearer idea of what is actually going on with corporations and how they’re managing their video content.

Corporations are steadily creating more online video for internal purposes, and the trend appears to be gaining in momentum. Interactive Media Strategies reports that 12% of large enterprises were generating more than 100 hours of video content per month in 2009, up from 9% in 2008. The number of corporations generating 25-100 hours of video jumped from 21% to 29% in the same period.1 To make a generous assumption, that means that a company might have amassed a 6,000-hour library of video since 2005. In the consumer public, video as a percentage of Internet traffic is projected to reach 91% by 20142. Corporate network traffic is likely to mimic the consumer pattern. Indeed, Gartner Research projects that 25% of content that workers see in a day will be dominated by pictures, video, or audio by 2013.3

As evidenced above, there will certainly be a surge in corporate video content, but tools to manage all that video content are significantly lagging in development. A Gartner survey revealed that while software for video content management is the fastest growing segment of the overall content management market, just 44% of enterprises actually have such a solution. In assessing the underlying drivers of this imbalance, it is necessary to look at three factors that affect the use of video in the enterprise: Audience and Experiential Issues, Technological Limitations, and Financial Considerations.

1 Interactive Media Strategies Executive Web Communications Survey, Q4 2009 2 Cisco Visual Network Index 2009 3 Gartner Data 2008

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Audience and Experiential Issues Information workers today expect video in the workplace. The popularity of sites such as YouTube and Hulu is driving an appreciation and interest in video in the office. As Whit Andrews, a Gartner analyst put it, “Consumerization has proven a force of unmatched potency in the past and the same will be true when it comes to the explosive spike in the popularity of consumer online video, fueling a similar interest in video within enterprises.”4 73% of the U.S. Internet audience is watching videos online at least monthly – about 90 million people.5 Like it or not, we are now seeing the rise of the “YouTube Generation” in the workplace. And we’re not just talking about young people. One of the people at MediaPlatform regularly receives YouTube links from his 86-year-old father! People in the workplace are expecting to interact with video content in a fun, universally searchable, social environment. They expect channels, instant playback, and the ability to write reviews.

Technological Limitations Set against the growth of video creation and demand for video in the workplace, most enterprises are now struggling with some serious technological constraints that would make this content easy to find and use. The most basic technological limitation stems from the tendency of large organizations to place video in discrete content silos. Figure 1 shows what can happen with video in a typical enterprise scenario. Video gets stored in a variety of systems, ranging from

dedicated Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems, which are usually intended for advertising and creative content to Content Management Systems (CMS), which are frequently deployed to enable document assembly and archiving. In addition to these, there are other means of video asset collection and organization in portal servers, network drives, and offline storage solutions such as DVD libraries.

Even if everyone had access to all the content silos in an organization, it would be a cumbersome affair. However, as often happens, access is uneven across the corporate environment. Lack of access is completely unintentional, but is most often related to security or licensing restrictions. Most DAM and CMS seat licenses are also costly, so it is not realistic to expect that everyone in the organization will be granted access to these types of systems. In addition to being expensive, DAM and CMS systems can be difficult to use so that even if people had access, they might not know how to properly use a FileNet or Oracle media repository. The result is overall poor access to content that might be helpful to the entire organization. What a mess! Despite this frustrating conundrum, it’s normal and natural for an organization to store video content amongst various silos. Different departments acquire content systems for their own reasons on their own timelines and budgets. When you factor in merger and acquisition activity, you can see how content can get even more dispersed and hard to find.

In some ways, mismanagement of video assets is no different than troubles facing many other classes of content. Every corporate information worker can relate to the frustration of not being able to find a

4 “Gartner Predicts that by 2013, More than 25% of the content that workers see in a day will be dominated by Pictures, Video, or Audio” 5 ibid

Figure 1 – Video content silos and uneven access amongst users

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spreadsheet or document in a complicated or poorly designed content management system. Video, which is already a second-class citizen in the CMS, suffers even more from the disaggregation of siloed content. Video files are big, so they typically get placed in storage solutions that are attached to core CMS solutions. This makes it tricky to put video content on par with more text-based content inside these solutions. New industry initiatives designed to combat content silos, such as Content Management Interoperability Service (CMIS) can help, but only if the video content has enough meta-data to make CMIS cross-CMS querying effective.

Enterprise search technologies such as the Google Search Appliance or Microsoft Search Server can crawl text-based content and create an orderly index out of even the most wildly disorganized CMS. Video content is not so easily crawled, given that most of its searchable terms are not manifested in text form. Difficult to search and inadequately indexed, a lot of valuable video simply gets lost in a CMS. And, if the content silos themselves are not accessible to enterprise search engines, which can occur when access rights block the enterprise search crawler, then the video content will be completely hidden. This is a more common problem than one might imagine.

Organizational and Functional Considerations

Even if there is a strong desire to make video accessible to a broad set of enterprise users, cost, as well as functional and organizational challenges make most options unpalatable. Traditionally there have been two basic approaches to making video content widely accessible, but each has its own problems:

- Building a custom video portal – Whether it is built from scratch, or on top of an established

corporate portal platform, a home-made video platform is likely to offer sub-optimal

functionality for users accustomed to the YouTube experience. Custom-coding the integration

between one portal and multiple independent video content repositories will also be

challenging and costly.

- Migrating all video files to a dedicated video content management system – This may seem

like an appealing concept, but the costs and complexity should give one pause. Media asset

migration is a close cousin of data migration, which is a notoriously painful process. Industry

research indicates that as many as 84% of data migration projects fail or suffer serious delays

and cost overruns.6 Migration also ignores the organizational and budgetary reality of most

corporations. If a business unit acquired a content management system, it will not readily

abandon it or pay for a share of a new one. On the enterprise level, if an entity has made a

commitment to a particular content management platform, such as FileNet, Documentum, or

SharePoint, it is a long-term relationship not likely replaced, even by a superior video content

management offering.

6 Bloor Research

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Business Consequences of the Video Content Conundrum Given the costs and challenges of making video more broadly accessible, it may be tempting to leave the video content problem alone, but there are business consequences for ignoring the issue. To appreciate what a lack of video access can cost a business, consider what’s going wrong when video cannot be discovered and shared across an enterprise.

Figure 2 is a social network map of an organization that contains four groups of information workers. Although each worker has some degree of relationship with everyone else through work and informal networks, certain key “connector” people, are champions at getting the different groups together. In a corporate social network, “connectors” are people who share information and enable knowledge to

flow across disparate groups. Their role is no less important in the dissemination of video content. With an effective video content management solution, the connector can easily share helpful video with their networks, enabling the content to reach broader audiences than they would if it stayed inside its silo.

Does it matter if video content cannot reach a large audience within an enterprise? The answer is yes, assuming the content is relevant. While the business may not be affected if only a small group can watch the annual Marketing Department softball game, there are a number of scenarios where inability to view video can have a negative impact on the bottom line.

The financial consequences of failed video sharing are similar to those faced in many knowledge management challenges. Loss of knowledge or

inadequate sharing of information can be expensive, no matter what medium conveys that knowledge. Video is a distinctive medium however, with a striking ability to impart knowledge with relative ease. To illustrate the financial impact of sub-optimal video content access, consider the following situations.

Sales Force Learning

A business with a 5,000 person sales force produces a video that can help a sales representative gain $10,000 in annual bookings. Due to ineffective video content management, only half the sales force watches the video. As a result, the company misses the opportunity to generate $25,000,000 in revenue. If the company can improve the viewing rate to 60%, it will realize a $5,000,000 gain in revenue. Table 1 shows the differential sales performance without and with video management.

Size of sales force 5,000 5,000

Penetration of video 50% 60%

Number of sales people who did not view the video 2,500 2,000

Sales increase enabled by learning video content $ 10,000 $ 10,000

Loss of sales increase due to incomplete viewing of video $ 25,000,000 $ 20,000,000

Delta $ 5,000,000

Table 1 – the impact of video content management sales force learning and resulting revenue

Figure 2 – Social network map of an organization, showing “connectors” who can enable video content to flow to key audiences across user groups.

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Losing the Manufacturing “Recipe”

In many businesses, including modern, high tech organizations, product manufacturing is more of an art than a science. As individuals with mastery of the manufacturing process retire or quit, the special “recipe” for making a product can disappear, often with serious financial effects. Table 2 shows how an increase in product defects, as a result of knowledge loss, can affect the bottom line. In this case, when defects increase from 1% of units manufactured to 1.5%, the company faces a $1,500,000 hit to the bottom line. Video content management is not the sole solution to this problem, but it does allow for the capturing and sharing of knowledge amongst workers. This is especially true if the access to the content is free from constraints, socially-based, and informal.

With Knowledge Capture

Without Knowledge Capture

Products manufactured per year 1,000,000 1,000,000

Return rate 1.00% 1.50%

Number of units returned 10,000 15,000

Gross margin per product $ 250 $ 250

Gross margin lost due to returns $ 2,500,000 $ 3,750,000

Cost for return handling (per unit) $ 50 $ 50

Return handling costs $ 500,000 $ 750,000

Total cost of returned products $ 3,000,000 $ 4,500,000

Delta $ 1,500,000

Table 2 – Effects of knowledge loss on product defect rates and resulting financial losses.

Two Plants, Unequal Productivity Rates

Two manufacturing plants producing the identical product often have different rates of productivity. This unfortunate but common situation can arise for many reasons. One big factor is a lack of best practices sharing between the two facilities. As many companies have learned, subtle differences in manufacturing practices can make a big difference in quality and rates of productivity. Table 3 compares two plants that make the same product, but do not share best practices. Plant A produces 500,000 units with 200 workers, while Plant B produces just 450,000 units with a staff of 210 with Plant A having a lower defect rate. In a simple income statement, shown at the bottom of the table, Plant A is generated a gross profit contribution $1,660,000 greater than Plant B’s. Comparing gross profit per hour worked, Plant A generates $25, while Plant B is at just $18.

Although video content management is not a magic bullet to solving this problem, a well-designed video management system can enable low cost, low friction knowledge sharing that will bring the best of Plant A’s practices to Plant B. If the plants are in different language regions, video will be the most effective way for the two groups of workers to share information.

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Plant A Plant B

Number of employees at plant 200 210

Hourly wage $ 8.00 $ 8.00

Hours worked/year 2,000 2,000

Total wages for plant/year $ 3,200,000 $ 3,360,000

Non-labor operating expense $ 2,000,000 $ 2,000,000

Total plant operating expense $ 5,200,000 $ 5,360,000

Number of products produced per year 500,000 450,000

Defect rate 1.00% 1.25%

Number of products sold 495,000 444,375

Revenue per product $ 50 $ 50

Cost of goods sold per product $ 20 $ 20

Revenue per plant $ 25,000,000 $ 22,500,000

Cost of goods sold $ 10,000,000 $ 9,000,000

Gross margin $ 15,000,000 $ 13,500,000

Plant operating expense $ 5,200,000 $ 5,360,000

Profit contribution per plant $ 9,800,000 $ 8,140,000

Delta $ 1,660,000

Profit contribution per worker hour $ 25 $ 18

Table 3 – Comparison of productivity in two similar manufacturing plants that do not share best practices.

Risk Exposure from Inadequate Video Content Management

Poorly managed video content can also expose an organization to risks and liability. Potential risks include improper use of confidential video and public disclosure of sensitive information contained in video. The impact on a business from improper usage could range from simple embarrassment to reputation damage or legal liability. In litigation, improper video management presents another risk in the electronic discovery process. Video recordings are considered electronic legal evidence that is discoverable in a legal matter. If the legal department cannot find video relevant to a legal matter, and that video is later revealed to exist or has disappeared, the corporation faces significant penalties and damages in court. Inadequate video management raises the risk that video evidence will be impossible to locate or retain, both of which pose serious legal liabilities under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

The Strategic Imperative of Knowledge Management

In today’s economy, only enterprises that can learn and adapt will be able to succeed in the long term. The best businesses emphasize learning and knowledge management on both the individual and organizational levels. Knowledge management is a broad discipline and video content is an integral part of capturing, preserving, and sharing knowledge across an organization. The inability to manage video effectively diminishes knowledge management, which in turn can negatively affect overall strategic capability.

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Solving the Conundrum with MediaPlatform PrimeTime The ideal solution for the video content management conundrum is one that combines several critical qualities:

“YouTube” type functionality, including reviews, sharing, and “Channels”

Controlled, secure access to all video content in the enterprise, no migration required

Searchable

Browser-based

Rich metadata

Reporting and analytics on system usage

Figure 3 gives a basic representation of video content management solution. Here, a portal-based application functions as a front-end user interface that links to multiple, separate content repositories. In contrast to the silos depicted in Figure 1, the video content management system makes video available to all users on a secure, access-controlled basis. Content stored offline can be loaded onto the system’s own storage so it can be fully searched along with all other content in the enterprise.

MediaPlatform’s PrimeTime solution offers enterprises the kind of functionality depicted in Figure 3. PrimeTime, used in the Fortune 500 to manage large, distributed video libraries, combines the “YouTube” type of experience with an architecture that enables video management without content migration.

As shown in Figure 4, PrimeTime’s portal interface provides users with a searchable, channel-based online location to experience corporate video. In addition to being able to create content, users can find, view, rate, and share video with their peers using this solution. PrimeTime can store uploaded video content but it can also point at multiple content sources. As a result, PrimeTime presents a single, unified interface for all video in the enterprise. Back-end security and administrative features, such as role-based permissions, also provide access control and related security.

Figure 3 – A portal-based video content management system can span multiple content repositories, making video available to a broad range of users on a secure, access-controlled basis.

Figure 4 – Screen shot of MediaPlatform’s Primetime video content management solution, featuring channels, search, sharing, and built-in viewing.

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Conclusion Finding the right solution to manage siloed video content in the enterprise is a challenging proposition. Although the issue may seem of secondary importance, the reality is that effective management of video content can have a positive impact on financial results and strategic capability. The opposite is also true. Limits on video access and sharing can hurt a business on many levels. To date, most solutions to the issue of video content silos have been economically and functionally unappealing. Now, the content conundrum is solved with MediaPlatform’s PrimeTime, a portal-based video content management system that provides a “YouTube” type of experience for the enterprise. PrimeTime makes video from all content repositories available to end users without requiring any migration. It is a cost-effective solution to a problem that was thought to be unsolvable. It enables true enterprise-wide knowledge management through secure viewing and sharing of video from all content sources.

About MediaPlatform, Inc. MediaPlatform, Inc. (formerly IVT) delivers best-in-class webcasting and media management technology to global enterprises and digital media producers. MediaPlatform’s webcasting software enables high-impact presentations for lead generation, corporate communications and training. The company offers organizations the ability to take advantage of scalable cloud-based computing, as well as on-premises deployment, to present and manage rich media. With media management tools built on its platform, the company helps clients derive long-term archive value from their investment in media content.

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