2020 was a very good year for companies positioned to meet the surge of telework due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Video and collaboration tools went from being a luxury to a necessity in a matter of weeks. Going into 2021, with concerns about the virus still heightened, there is increasing demand for employees to work from anywhere. This is the new normal for many organizations worldwide, and this version of normal leverages more video and collaboration tools to communicate effectively. Even the few companies that return to the traditional office structure will have to use a hybrid environment making a reliable video component for meeting spaces a must as there will always be people working offsite.
One company to benefit from this surge is Qumu, a leading provider of SaaS-based enterprise video solutions. The shift to remote work and virtual events has increased demand for Qumu’s capabilities from large-scale live streaming to video on demand (VOD) to video content management and increased security. As a result, usage of Qumu’s Cloud video platform grew 450 percent during 2020. One Qumu client went from 3,000 remote video users to 50,000 over the course of a weekend. Experiencing the benefits of remote work firsthand, and through clients, in late 2020 Qumu chose to transform their own office structure for their global teams to work from wherever, forever.
Changing Times, Consistent Innovation
Not only has the rapid adoption of telework impacted how work is executed but also how it is managed. “Qumu Cloud enables decentralized enterprise management,” states Qumu CEO, TJ Kennedy. “Multiple asynchronous videos can be produced and distributed via VOD to the entire company. As a result, strategic updates can be shared with all employees regardless of where they are in the world and get the same information they would if everyone was in one office building.” Additionally, the ability to quickly scale communications makes Qumu’s solutions a beneficial alternative to traditional all-hands meetings that might have taken hours to set up in the past. Subsequently, the content can be uploaded for easy distribution to everyone in the company, even accessible on a mobile device. “We also have the analytics and reports that, at the executive level, can show how many people watch the video, how much of the video was viewed, or at what point did they drop off,” Kennedy continues.
“All of these metrics can be used to change how effectively communications is performed at every level of the business”
Making a permanent move away from in-person work also means accounting for the office environment’s intangible elements. The gap has to be filled for what used to be water-cooler talk and organizational meetings. Qumu has met the need with live video that includes live Q&A. “Honestly, I’ve gotten more interaction using this method than in person,” explains Kennedy. “Another thing we’re doing is having the different functions of the company leverage VOD daily as well. For example, our marketing, sales, and IT teams will put out companywide messages on what’s going on in their respective areas. The focus is not just the CEO but the different functions of the organization and how they can boost visibility and communication with VOD in a way that might even be better than being in the office.”
EVaaS For All
With the need for quality enterprise video as a service (EVaaS) solutions Qumu is focusing on making those tools accessible for more companies. It’s increasingly essential as strategic video content management allows for content to be repurposed for websites, internal training, and various other ways. Prioritizing EVaaS solutions is no longer an option for any sized organization.
“One of the things we’re doing is making our capabilities accessible to midsized enterprises in the 5,000 to 50,000 employee range and even smaller companies that have fewer than 5,000 employees,” Kennedy says.
“We’ve had companies with as few as twenty people come on board this year and leverage Enterprise Qumu Cloud for customers with large scale video needs. For example, one creative agency uses our platform to deliver reliable live video and VOD that their large clients expect for highly visible campaigns and events. And that includes having the analytics to show results. Our focus is addressing the needs of all enterprises as our platform is flexible enough and our offerings are priced to where enterprises of any size can use them”
Qumu’s VOD and content management solutions allow organizations to break away from 90-minute town halls that occur twice a year. Now shorter content can be produced more frequently with specific messaging to engage everyone in innovative ways that are more digestible. Not only has this more succinct format seen greater traction and better adoption, but it also speaks directly to employees versus formal presentations.
Meanwhile, large-scale events are as important as ever and easier to execute. A large manufacturing company now uses Qumu’s video platform for conducting not only CEO broadcasts, but also multi-presenter virtual events, requiring seven concurrent live video streams. The shift to conversational content and dynamic, more frequent engagement on all levels is a change that will position every enterprise to move into the future together, even with coworkers thousands of miles apart.
