Streaming Marvellous, but Are British Businesses Ready for the Video Boom?

Date/Time Stamp: January 21, 2009

Highlights:

With 88 per cent of enterprise organisations using video or rich media on a regular basis, 71 per cent see information technology (IT) challenges associated with its deployment, according to a new survey by Cisco.

Unified communications, which brings together text, voice and video communications tools into a single integrated system while driving productivity benefits, is also challenging IT departments. More than a third of the respondents (39 per cent) cite unified communications as a high priority for their organisation in 2009, but only 24 per cent rate it as easy to achieve, creating a performance gap of 15 per cent.

The demand for and expectations of video are growing with business users, driven by increasing consumer use. Gartner predicts that around 20 million people worldwide will be subscribing to Internet-based TV services by the beginning of 2009, up 64 per cent in 12 months, while eMarketer predicts that advertisers will move their marketing budgets into the online video space this year. These signs point towards a change in how content is consumed, and a greater demand for video, which many businesses are not ready for.

In the current climate, using video conferencing, collaboration and unified communication tools is one way CIOs can deliver against increased productivity and innovation objectives - whilst also providing a reduction to an organisation's carbon footprint.

Cisco commissioned the independent survey of 500 IT departments across the UK and Ireland in late 2008.

Key findings:

Streaming media is generally popular. Overall, 88 per cent of the respondents use rich media on their Web site and network. Of the 12 per cent that don't, 6 per cent have included it in their medium to long-term plans, while 34 per cent are considering it, but 60 per cent are not considering it and have no plans to introduce it.

Video is nearly ubiquitous in some sectors. The use of media-rich content is growing, with 94 per cent of IT and technology companies using it on their network or Web site, closely followed by 93 per cent of construction and manufacturing companies, and retailers.

More than half place importance on delivering new-media content. Fifty-eight per cent of the respondents believe it is important or very important for their networks to handle video and rich media. IT and technology companies are the sector that sees this ability as most important, at 67 per cent, followed by construction and manufacturing, and retail, both at 57 per cent.

Public sector is lagging. A quarter of public sector organisations have no video or media-rich content on their Web site or network.

Money is an object. Budget was the biggest obstacle to achieving unified communications objectives for 37 per cent of the respondents. A lack of resources (31 per cent) and of the necessary skills (28 per cent) also hampered efforts.

Photo:

Andy Brocklehurst, business transformation manager at Cisco UK and Ireland

Using video conferencing/WebEx

Quotes:

Andy Brocklehurst, business transformation manager at Cisco UK and Ireland

"Having spent time in the shadows due to issues over performance and quality, video is now coming to the forefront in business and consumer communications. You only have to look at the growth of YouTube or On Demand TV to see the level of expectation when it comes to video delivery. Such demands are causing organisations to evaluate and implement video to dramatically enhance communications within their businesses, whilst at the same time virtualising their teams, to reduce travel costs and office space."

Andy Brocklehurst, business transformation manager at Cisco UK and Ireland

"However, if 2009 is to be the year of the video, many organisations still have a performance gap when it comes to its delivery. As the demands for using video and deploying unified communications increases year after year, organisations need to prepare their networks to deliver the desired content at acceptable levels of quality. This will ensure that business-critical communications remain robust, as ever-increasing requirements are placed on the IP network."

Geoffrey O'Byrne White, CEO from Dublin based CityJet comments about its use of video for internal communications

"With the expansion of CityJet's routes from London City Airport this year, we felt we needed an innovative and dynamic medium to keep in touch with our employees in various cities throughout Europe.

An in-house team creates the content, covering topics such as company news & events, training videos, employee interviews and profiles. The content is then securely transmitted over the network to the video portal. Additionally the videos are instantly displayed to all the business units via 40-inch plasma screens at CityJet's offices in Dublin Airport, London City Airport, Charles de Gaulle Airport and at our engineering centre in Dublin. Information that might have taken days or weeks to disseminate can now be viewed on screens at all our operating locations within seconds.

The first programme aired on 25th January last year. One year on, we have produced more than 130 videos in house, amounting to more than 15 hours of programmes. Our Video Portal has certainly allowed us to do this effectively & immediately whether our staff are in an office, in another country or even at home."