v R video communications the foundation for enterprise mobility
executive summary Video at the heart of mobility In order to meet the advanced requirements of an enterprise, mobility must be taken to the next level with rich content and video at its core. 1 2 3 As organisations strive for more effective ways to interact and engage their target audiences, the mobility agenda has taken centre stage. A major emerging trend is how to incorporate video to power the mobility agenda. There are three key elements to consider: The use of video-based communications is growing exponentially throughout the corporate world. Leading organisations have started to view their video content as a strategic business asset that can power the process for continual innovation in order to interact more effectively with customers, partners and colleagues, reduce operational costs and shorten time to revenue. There is an explosion in the use of mobile devices. For example, in 2001 there were 750,000 mobile subscribers and by 2011 there were roughly 5 billion subscribers. Mobile devices have made the transition from being a secondary device to being the primary device. (Accenture CIO Mobility Survey 2012). Mobile devices are everywhere and used by everyone. This pervasiveness creates opportunities to make employees more productive, engage with customers in a more targeted and personalised manner, and streamline collaboration with partners. So, what we have is rich content and target audiences who are all equipped to access and consume the content. Let s face it, mobility has become a fundamental part of businesses. In this always on... always connected world, creative and innovative communications are essential for capturing the audience s attention, driving business and securing competitive advantage. 2
executive summary The converged communications economy The challenge facing the enterprise is how to deliver innovation by leveraging multiple technologies. Organisations all have to consider how advances in the technology landscape can be combined and exploited for business gain. For instance, how can organisations take advantage of video, the cloud, software as a service, and mobile technologies? Interestingly, the enterprise already has to address the use of mobile devices as everyone has them whether the enterprise has supplied them or employees use their own on a bringing your own device (BYOD) basis. This new converged communications economy is all about integration, collaboration and enhancement of technologies rather than the introduction of yet another business application. This allows for rationalisation and consolidation of systems and expenditure as well as reduced ongoing operational costs. All of this in the context of simplification of business processes and greater organisational cohesion. Summary With the ready-made, mobile infrastructure you can leverage your video content now. The good news is that many of the core elements are already in place. The key is how best to combine and integrate them to drive tangible business benefits. For example, organisations already have video content and mobile devices are in everyone s hands (customers, employees and partners). By starting with enhancing your business communications you will achieve a quick win that will drive your overall mobility strategy whilst delivering tangible business benefits. 3
mobility in the enterprise Mobile devices have made the transition from being a secondary device to being a primary device. 78% of Leading CIO s place mobility in their top 5 priorities 38% put it in their top 2 priorities. Accenture CIO Mobility Survey 2012 Mobile devices are everywhere and used by everyone. This pervasiveness creates opportunities to make employees more productive, engage with customers in a more targeted and personalised manner, and streamline collaboration with partners. Mobility has become core to every industry. It is transforming business relationships, improving communications, improving productivity, streamlining costs and improving business processes. Making your business communications mobile is no longer an option. Today s mobile users your customers, your business partners and your employees expect interaction with you at their fingertips. Mobility is such a strategic topic that it influences how you run your business. For example, in a recent survey, 78% of leading CIOs place mobility in their top 5 priorities with 38% placing it in their top 2. All in all, in the wake of the mobile evolution, enterprise mobility has taken a new form and importance. Enterprise mobility is becoming increasingly important as businesses attempt to leverage mobile technology to enhance their communications. As enterprises adopt mobile, the right communication tools are necessary to simplify enterprise mobility. 4
mobility in the enterprise 2.65% Computers Smartphones Tablets 0.35 UK - Click through rate June 2012 5.67% UK - Cost per click June 2012 0.15 4.37% 0.30 Computers Smartphones Tablets Businesses are finding that their customers are increasingly accessing their communications from mobile devices. According to Marin Software s Online Advertising Q2 2012, mobile devices are also showing a higher CTR (click thru rate) compared to desktops, as well as delivering lower CPC (Cost per click). In other words, if you really want to ensure that your messages and corporate communications reach your intended audience make sure it s accessible from a mobile device. By delivering your messages using video (rich media) you can expect even greater CTRs. This also means that your message will be delivered in the context intended and with maximum impact and clarity. By combining video with the ability to access it from any device you will dramatically improve communications processes across virtually every functional area. In the sales and marketing process, for example, this will mean that you can reduce the cost of campaigns, improve the follow-up process, increase sales productivity, shorten time to revenue and increase overall marketing effectiveness. It is essential to be able to integrate these functional capabilities (video and mobile) into your existing infrastructure. There s no point trying to re-invent the wheel when you have perfectly good existing systems CRM, email management etc. The approach should be one of evolution rather than revolution. With a little advanced planning video and mobile communications can be seamlessly integrated with your organization s existing business systems and processes. Rapid deployment is achievable with minimal disruption. The bottom line is that video is at the heart of your mobility strategy offering tangible ROI in very short timeframes. 5
some facts about mobile Mobile technology is enabling employees to serve customers faster and more efficiently Mobile innovation has had a significant impact on the B2E space. Mobile devices (smartphones, mobiles, tablets etc.) are revolutionising how people work globally. With mobile subscribers outnumbering PC Internet users by nearly 4 to 1, companies are moving quickly to leverage this technology trend in the workplace. The charts on this page depict the tremendous growth in the number of organizations embracing mobile devices and solutions. The explosion of mobile devices can be seen in all industry segments, from financial services to life sciences (and everything in between). Global mobile device shipments to the Enterprise 2009-2014 60 Millions of units 50 40 30 20 10 0 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 All mobile devices Smart phones Source: VDC Research 6
some facts about mobile Chief Sales Officers are constantly seeking new and imaginative ways of reducing sales costs, driving new business and improving customer service levels. They are rapidly equipping customerfacing teams with mobile devices and are looking for practical applications and sales tools to exploit the investment. By combining video and mobile capabilities, and integrating this into the CRM system, the customer engagement processes can be rapidly and efficiently transformed. This enhancement to the existing sales process can be extended to embrace marketing - thereby facilitating exemplary levels of collaboration. Another practical use of video - to power mobility - comes with corporate communications. A major global IT service provider used the power of video (in conjunction with mobility) to communicate an acquisition to its global workforce. This corporate, global communication process which would have normally taken 2-3 weeks - was achieved in just 68 hours. This approach has now been introduced as a corporate communications standard and viewing figures and effectiveness are all monitored using comprehensive statistics. Whichever target audience you are addressing customers, colleagues and partners video should be at the heart of your mobility Is your company using or planning to deploy enterprise mobility solutions to support frontline and/or mobile workers? Currently using deployed solution 40.2% Planning to deploy a new solution Planning to evaluate a new solution No current plans to evaluate or deploy solution within 24 months Evaluated solution, but did not deploy Not sure/don t know 20.7% 14.1% 12.0% 6.5% 6.5% Source: VDC Research 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 7
video and mobility - considerations Putting the pieces together Using video communications in isolation will yield positive results but organizations can do so much more. Across the communications process there are a number of foundational components - that should be considered strategically and in combination - in order to achieve remarkable results and power the innovation agenda. These foundational components are as follows: Video asset library Bring all of your video and rich media assets together into a single library and ensure that it is accessible from anywhere. Ideally, you should use a cloud-based approach as you want to minimise systems and support costs. Content creation Organisations typically do not have a standardised approach or formula to creating video content. Wherever videos are created in-house or by third party specialists, there is rarely a corporate standard applied to the creation process. Videos are often created as one-offs rather than following a formalised, structured and standardised approach that incorporates business rules and governance. We are not talking about style guides here such as logos and look and feel we are exclusively focusing on the development and creation process. As an example, start thinking about how video content can be created with a view to re-purposing and multi-use. The principle here is to extend the useful life of video content and maximise the ROI for the resulting assets. For example, when creating videos think about how they could be segmented into mini-clips (like the chapters in a book). This will provide you with a flexible content library of full and mini video clips that can be combined to create more bespoke content for specific purposes. 8
video and mobility - considerations Putting the pieces together... continued Integrating video into existing systems You don t need to re-invent the wheel here but you have to consider how your video assets will integrate to your existing business systems. If you don t you simply introduce yet another system into your infrastructure and place an additional, unwelcome burden on your users. The focus should be on simplifying and enhancing existing systems so that user adoption rates are maximised. The most obvious areas where video (and mobile) functionality can be integrated are with existing CRM systems and email management systems. Content distribution In order to utilise your video assets you need to establish how this content will be distributed to your target audiences (customers, colleagues, business partners and stakeholders). What are you going to use to distribute your video-based messages? Email, SMS, social media, websites, etc. You should also establish how best your users can personalise the video messages. Content mobilisation When you send video-based communications it is essential that you acknowledge that your target audience may be accessing them from mobile devices. This key element is often over-looked and results in undelivered messages and a significant impact on the effectiveness of your communications potentially resulting in missed opportunity and lost revenues. The message is clear. Ensure that video communications can be accessed from any device PCs, tablets, mobiles and smartphones. 9
vcreate R video communications the foundation for enterprise mobility Author: Mark Whitehouse Director, Positive Image Positive Image Limited Positive Image House 25 Victoria Street Windsor Berkshire SL4 1HE 44 (0)1753 842248 10