Printer Friendly Version

There is a renewed emphasis on corporate communication in many enterprises, brought on by corporate scandals, new compliance requirements and a lackluster economy. Whether it's keeping the troops informed of what is going on in the organization, providing a pep talk or explaining a new concept to a sales team, an increasing amount of this communication could be going to video in the coming years.

"There is a spectrum of communication tools out there," said Stan Woodward, CEO of Reflect Systems, a Dallas-based developer of rich media communications software. "There is a big need for a solution between e-mail and Web conferencing."

Woodward, who at one time was with Broadcast.com and ran the Enterprise Business Unit at Yahoo! once it acquired Broadcast.com, is hoping Reflect System has the solution to fit that need. The company's ReflectNet suite is an enterprise software package that allows content creators to create a live Webcast or training clip complete with audio, PowerPoint content and digital images; manage the content and users; and deliver it without a lot of the time, expense and energy that normally goes into video production.

The content could be a live address to an entire company or a short piece of learning content, and it can be kept on the company's intranet for future viewing. It doesn't even need a computer. The content can be pushed out to a plasma screen in a company cafeteria.

The idea behind ReflectNet began at Yahoo!, which was the largest commercial Webcaster in the world after it acquired Broadcast.com, hosting more than 700 events a day. But the Yahoo! system was a hosted, ASP-based solution, which appealed to organizations who didn't have the resources to purchase or manage software, but also left organizations who wanted to take the system inside their firewall without a lot of affordable options.

Thus ReflectNet was born. From inside the firewall it allows users to create content from anywhere and publish it to a central server. The entire system runs on a PC, and once it's installed, Woodward said it can be used in minutes. The system integrates with LDAP for management and it doesn't require its own server, or much of a staff. "We think organizations can manage this with one body," Woodward said.

Using rich content to reach employees may seem counter to a lot of what is going on in collaboration, where workgroups and chat-type applications are all the rage. But for reaching large audiences or providing content on-demand, video is carving out a niche.

Lawrence Orans, a senior analyst at Gartner, said he sees a growing demand for video content. "There are two drivers for video, and they are corporate communications and e-learning," Orans said. "The initial driver is usually the CEO."

Sometimes called "egocasting," the desire of a CEO or other executive officer to address the entire enterprise usually gets Webcasts into an organization. From there, certain divisions tend to adopt it, especially sales organizations that are often spread all over the world. In a manufacturing setting, for example, where not everyone has a PC and access to e-mail, Webcasts are a way to keep employees in the loop. A system like ReflectNet does not care what type of end device is used for viewing, so a plasma screen in the conference room works as well as a PC.

Sales departments can use Webcast content to train personnel live, or make a training video that can be accessed as needed. E-learning content that trains employees on software, safety procedures or HR initiatives can also be developed and stored so it can be viewed on-demand.

Orans said such content is also becoming more prevalent in retail organizations. Virgin Entertainment has signed on with Reflect Systems to not only stream content to its stores for customers to see, but also for back office training applications.

The ReflectNet suite, which is made up ReflectStudio, ReflectManager and ReflectEdge, handles everything from creation to delivery of the content in an integrated solution. Its usual start-up costs are in the area of $50,000, which might seem steep but is more affordable than continually getting satellite hook-ups or a complete staff to create and deliver rich content.

Cisco offers its Enterprise Video on Demand solution as part of what it calls its Full Services for Branch and Small Offices. Cisco has chosen a partnership model to bring together the pieces, such as using MediaPlatform software from Interactive Video Technologies for content creation and management.

Crushing Networks and Crashing Desktops?

Using rich content that includes video and audio is still considered taboo on many corporate networks. It is considered a network bandwidth hog, and it requires a PC with a certain amount of speed and the right software.

Woodward said that one year ago perhaps 70 percent of enterprise PCs weren't able to handle streaming content. He also estimates that most of the PCs that are not ready to handle such content are at home offices or remote locations, such as a manufacturing facility.

"One of the things that has hurt video and audio communication is fear among certain network administrators it will turn network upside down," Woodward said.

Gartner's Orans agrees: "Often times network managers say 'We don't want video on the network,'" he said. But most of the problems arise when it is not done well or the technologies used for delivering such content efficiently, such as enterprise content delivery networks, are not used.

To keep the IT staff happy, Woodward said ReflectNet requires no changes to routers, desktops, networks or security within the enterprise.

For those who prefer to keep such content outside the firewall, Reflect Systems also has a ReflectWeb hosted solution that Woodward calls a faster, cleaner version of the ASP system used at Yahoo!. But Orans cautions that hosted solutions are not as useful for reaching internal employees, but rather find a niche reaching the masses over the Internet. Nevertheless, hosted solutions are less expensive for one-time events, such as earning conference call, which Woodward said could be done for as little as $500 with ReflectWeb.