Many people believe that attending an online event live, such as a company town hall webcast, will offer the same viewing experience as watching a World Cup qualifier soccer match online. However, the reality is that the two experience are extremely different due to the inherent complexity of hosting live video streaming behind a corporate firewall, which typically only provide a single path to the Internet. If the network isn’t properly configured for streaming video, the number of potential problems increases exponentially.
Even live events outside of firewalls can be problematic. Streaming optimization firm, Conviva, estimates that 15-30% of all video consumption on the internet involves some sort of bad experience, with live streaming suffering the most.
Within the enterprise environment, many leaders leverage webcasting as a critical component to align employee direction with company performance and successes and challenges. Enterprise content management and distribution platforms serve as a mechanism to manage networks and user experiences on the day of the event. This includes mitigating streaming lapses and enabling tracking and post-event archiving. Failure to plan for all variables can transform the smallest hiccup into a full-blown disaster. In today’s connected society, anything short of perfection will guarantee a barrage of audience complaints on social media and degradation of brand integrity.
In this four-part blog series, I will examine prevalent pain points that hinder an organization’s ability to provide a consistent, reliable and secure end-user experience, as well as common points of failure. Specifically, I will address:
- Planning and assessment best practices
- Insight into best practices that detail what works and why
- Strategies for content recording, archiving and tracking