Streaming Media - 2008 Industry Sourcebook - (Page 36) integration of online audio and video into presentations at least once a week. As companies put online multimedia to work, their first thoughts still turn to using the technology to streamline internal communications. Among companies that have deployed online audio and video technology, the two most frequently deployed applications integrating multimedia are executive presentations and employee training. Sixty-five percent of all companies deploying online multimedia have used the technology to deliver executive presentations online; 64% have deployed the technology for employee training. Historically, online multimedia has uniquely addressed the communications challenges that large companies face in distributing information to far-flung networks of employees. Web audio and video provide a forum for large company leaders to communicate directly with a global work force on a cost-effective basis. As a result, today’s enterprise multimedia sector is largely tuned to address the internal communications needs of these large corporate customers who have illustrated the most willingness to invest in online audio and video capabilities. And while the emergence of video has attracted much attention in the deployment of these applications, it’s important to remember the continuing role being played by online audio in the enterprise multimedia story. Currently, 43% of companies represented in IMS surveys report that at least half of the webcasts they produce integrate video. Given the industry’s increasing focus on promoting and marketing video-enriched solutions, this percentage underscores just how much room video deployment has yet to grow and the relative importance that audio sustains the current enterprise online multimedia market. Indeed, only 9% of companies surveyed report that their complete schedule of webcast content is produced with integrated video. Put another way, this means that 91% of companies using online multimedia in 2007 are deploying “audio-only” webcasts— and that these audio webcasts can make up a significant portion of a firm’s webcasting activity. Whether a company is developing online presentations incorporating audio or video, one common theme emerged across the 36 STREAMING MEDIA INDUSTRY SOURCEBOOK 2008 board during the past year: Successful implementation of this technology requires more than just good content-creation tools. Beyond Content Creation and Delivery As the volume of webcasting activity in the corporate sector increases, leading users are recognizing the need for sophisticated tools to track viewership patterns and manage archives of online multimedia content, says Buinevicius of Sonic Foundry. “Some executives are still a bit naïve about the complexity of technology that is required to make all of this work,” Buinevicius says. “You have a lot of complexities that arise when you want to reach 100,000 employees with a rich media presentation.” And the complexities grow particularly large when companies develop large libraries of on-demand multimedia content that they want to make available to employees at the click of a computer mouse. While many companies historically have linked the use of webcasting with the distribution of executive presentations and training on a live, real-time basis, the size of online libraries of prerecorded content that can be accessed online continues to grow. Simply put, a growing number of organizations are creating too much multimedia content for their own good. Growing libraries of online multimedia content make it increasingly difficult for executives to find a specific piece of information—or even a relevant presentation—when they are looking for it. A disjointed multimedia archive is the equivalent of a library with books scattered on the floor and no system for cataloging information so that it can be traced quickly and efficiently. So consider the plight of companies accelerating the pace with which they are implementing online multimedia. Among organizations that are deploying online multimedia, 15% report that they have cumulative archives of more than 500 hours of multimedia content that are actively available on their corporate networks and readily accessible. Another 19% of companies surveyed say that they have created cumulative content archives of between 100 and 500 hours of corporate presentations and meetings. The sprawl of business multimedia in the workplace will only worsen over time. The http://www.ivtweb.com http://www.ivtweb.com
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