Digital transformation is the integration of digital technologies into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how that business works.

Video is core to digital transformation.  It changes the status quo when it comes to communicating internally with staff and externally with partners and customers.

Video Content-as-a-Service (VCaaS) makes video accessible to all. It reduces cost, reduces the time it takes to get content to market and increases revenue opportunities.

If businesses and enterprises want to truly embrace video at the heart of their organizations, then the following 8 principles should future-proof processes while enabling speed and scale.

1. Video is a collaborative business

Creating professional video content is complex. From a 1-minute product video to a 2-hour movie, there is one workflow that is core to creation and often forgotten – collaboration, review and approvals.

Collaborating on content was traditionally done in an edit suite with an editor. That is no longer the case. We can now do this remotely – even on a smartphone – making it possible to accelerate the production process.

(Note: on average, a one-minute professional video takes 12 days to get to market – Adobe)

2. Video content should be secured

Video content created by organisations is normally subject to commercial objectives (studio movies, product descriptions, advertising, etc) and/or privacy regulation (CCTV, HR, training, safety, etc).

We need to secure content on-premise, in the cloud, and in transit. Audit logs should allow content owners to track the details of content lifecycles.

(Note: more than 1 billion personal medical images and videos were made public last year)

3. Avoid the BIG HIT when managing legacy technology

You may already have a DAM (digital asset management platform), a MAM (media asset management platform) a PAM (production asset management platform) a CMS (content management system) an ECM (enterprise content management system) or another 3-letter acronym. And the thought of bringing on new technology fills you with dread.

But what if:

• You integrated with the existing tech stack to get moving quickly
• Roll out the new system incrementally without having to suffer the pain of a “big hit”
• Use simpler tools so that more employees can manage the content
• Scale your operations to be able to deliver video content to new channels from a single point of truth
• Ultimately shutter the systems that you no longer need

4. Service infrastructure needs to be modular

Content management is changing daily. It is no longer possible for organisations to manage large monolithic infrastructures along with siloed services – it’s simply not scalable.

To future-proof your technology roadmap, new infrastructures should be cloud-native, API-orientated solutions that orchestrate micro-services and are able to be containerised on-premise.

The separation of content from the presentation layer is key – it means with APIs you can deliver the same content to multiple platforms without duplication.

5. Support new channels of distribution

Content is distributed everywhere, by multiple types of organisations and for multiple reasons. The number of channels, devices and methods of using video is expanding rapidly.

Content management solutions need to support all “tier 2” customer interactions including:

• Sales
• Social
• Apps
• Partner networks
• In-store experiences
• Immersive experiences like AR and VR
• …and much more.

6. Content systems need to support the developer and business users

Developers are able to access APIs or services that allow them to maintain a “single point of truth” for the content while making it possible to easily develop new channels of distribution.

Business users have easy access to a “single pane of glass” that allows them to easily manage content across multiple channels without needing specialist training or audio-visual qualifications.

7. Use AI and Machine Learning to reduce complexities

Standardisation of video formats will not happen any time soon. Compression, frame rates, pixels, codecs – working with video is more complicated than other file types.

New developments in AI mean that we are automating and optimizing many mundane technical tasks (like transcoding). By automating these tasks, we are expanding video management within organisations to less technical employees creating efficiencies.

We use AI and machine learning to analyse video content to allow the automatic development of subtitles, image recognition, compliance and other solutions that make it easier to search and find content.

8. Digital Transformation includes embracing video

By 2021, 90% of global organisations will rely on system integrators, agencies and channel partners to design, build and implement their digital strategies. Currently, less than 1% of eCommerce sites are video-enabled whereas virtually all social is now video.

Organisations use video for everything from Marketing to HR, Product, Corporate Communications, Training and much more. It is no longer the role of the IT department or if you are lucky, the audio-visual department to manage video content. Everyone who operates a PC, laptop or Mac can manage video just as they would images or word documents.