Conversations with IT departments all over the world, although not as difficult as they used to be 10 years ago, are still awkward to have when it comes to talking about video. Enterprise video has been a heavy and hard subject to bring up historically, and yet is becoming a necessity across all sectors and platforms – and quickly too.

With cloud services and solutions, dedicated video streaming providers and far more accessible, evolving technology, long gone is the need for internal server distribution. Some professionals believe that there is still a sore remnant from legacy days when video could be a disaster for networks. It is worth arguing that the latest solutions have all but erased the problems in encoding, end transmission and packaging.

Industry experts and insiders often come across hesitancy in broaching the subject of video with IT departments and offer some ideas to help get the point across and at least open up a line of communication about it.

1.    Talk about network capacity and multicasting options

Nothing worries IT more than network capacity. Industry professionals know this and understand that IT is considering the impact of video over the hardware and security systems.

One industry expert believes the secret lies in having the network set up to deliver video with a well-designed architecture.  To follow the route of video events – originate internally - send out to the cloud service - bring it back in - distribute it around the network.

Some experts suggest that there are a couple of effective ways to do this:

Multicasting

Multicasting relieves the burden of handling multiple streams and is the most popular method of handling enterprise video. As multicasting is set up on a network and in simple terms, replicates a stream across the network, essentially giving the network a breather with just one stream.

Experts also warn that capacity can be cumulative and careful calculations, research, advice and planning is always beneficial in the long run.

Cache-type servers

With advances in technology in the past decade, it is now much easier to run caching servers virtually. Experts suggest that this can limit the bandwidth successfully in situations where there are multi-site operations using the bandwidth simultaneously to pull a stream, effectively managing the bottleneck areas of the network.

2.    Introduce standards

With video being used on a daily basis in many companies and situations today, it makes sense to push for standardisation across entire businesses. Conflicting platforms can lead to headaches for IT departments, yet standard practices would be a solution.

The modern, even low-tech office environment probably uses video for internal and external messaging and communications, conferencing, compliance and for training - to name just a few.

Standard practice would eliminate the risk of conflict across competing video delivery services, according to some experts, who feel that this could be serious if fragmentation leads to an inability to support video at scale.

3.    Approach the risks of moving to the cloud

Some industry experts are still wary of the cloud, despite its popularity, growth and ease of adaptation, and believe the risks are still too high in terms of some of the ‘exposures that would exist on shared servers.’

Until some professionals can be convinced that the data is being fully protected, both virtually and physically, they suggest a consideration of hybrid solutions and a gradual move to cloud technology and platforms. This, many feel, will help to minimise risks, particularly if distributors move non-critical services first.

4.    What happens when enterprise video gets popular?

Another concern lies in the implementation of streaming video when it starts to get busier. All industry professionals agree that this will happen. Some companies find that the use of video often filter down from top-level management, who will then recommend the best tools and video to the team, and so on. It is fair to expect that a couple of video events per month can quickly turn into several a week.

Some experts recommend outsourcing video production when it begins to take off. This will vary according to company and sector, but it can prove to be a prudent move to outsource live webcasts, for example, as a professional company will also manage and measure the work.

Another idea is to seek out existing talent among the current teams, and consider an investment in internal training. Whatever happens, many industry professionals believe that it is too late to ignore video, and it is now that IT departments and companies must deal with the risks and understand the opportunities in a such a fast-paced industry facing enormous growth.

The Streaming Company works closely with clients to deliver on-brand solutions for corporate and conference video, e-learning and training, live events, webcasts and more. Find out more about our video solutions, or talk to us today and let us take the hassle out of your video discussions.