Organization need an enterprise video platform to scale and grow their video operation.
Shooting and editing videos is just the first step of a video strategy.
Uploading, storing, and sharing videos can be complex, especially for enterprises and organizations using multiple videos.
More videos mean more bandwidth and this is where video hosting platforms become invaluable for an enterprise.
Enterprise video hosting has multiple more features than platforms like YouTube can provide.
For a start, uploading videos to YouTube means you lose the right to your video material which can have serious implications under certain circumstances.
Enterprise hosting platforms will only recommend your videos, allow you to customize your video player, offer more in-depth video analytics and better security with encryption and domain-lock, amongst many other benefits.
The best video hosting platforms have easy-to-use interfaces and have compatibility with all types of devices and browsers. These video platform for business have video analytics tools to measure how well your videos are doing and Video SEO tools to help viewers find videos on search engines.
The best enterprise video hosting platforms offer video API access, adaptive bitrate streaming, integration with other business tools, customization options and much more.
Manage and host all digital assets in one place
The more videos you have, the less likely it is that a free video hosting platform will work for you.
Many of the free video hosting platforms don’t have the organizational features of professional video hosting services. Free video hosting also don’t offer the software solutions powered by machine intelligence that can help enterprises to unlock the knowledge previously trapped in large, unwieldy video files.
Free video services are used by billions of people all over the world and weren’t created to solve specific business problems.
Enterprises use video for so many purposes today, internal communications, demos and product releases, sales pitches, training and much more.
For this reason, using an enterprise video platform as the cornerstone of enterprise operations is important as video hosting offers organization all the functionality they need to grow.
Better organization
As enterprise video libraries grow larger, it becomes more difficult for employees to find the on-demand videos they need to access unless they are well organized. If you can’t group, tag, and sort your videos, you can’t use them effectively.
A video hosting platform helps enterprises to better organize their video and digital assets with digital asset management (DAM).
Control from one dashboard
An enterprise video hosting platform is a reliable, secure, and fast solution that allows you to manage all your digital assets such as videos, podcasts, images and docs from one place and across platforms, regions and teams.
Your digital assets can be available in many places and you can control them easily from one place.
Easy uploading
Using an enterprise video solution means you can easily upload any number of files directly to a selected gallery and edit the metadata. Your audience can even send user-generated media directly to your account so you can moderate and publish it.
You can also record video directly from a mobile device or webcam to create personalized videos to publish online or send via email.
Automatic transcoding
Your video hosting service will do all the heavy lifting of uploading videos automatically, compressing them if needed and automatically transcoding videos to make them viewable across all devices.
It is definitely worth investing in video technology platforms that can make the content look good on all devices and browsers.
Easy sharing
Mobile video sharing tools help with distributing long, heavy video files. The recipient doesn’t have to waste time or disk space as there is no file to download.
With a few simple clicks, a video is out there, fully responsive and with no need to download it.
Access to templates
You can create video galleries, podcasts, slideshows and more if you have access to video templates in different styles. You can customize your multimedia presentations with full control over their appearance and content.
Other factors such as security and privacy options, speed, API access, and analytics are imperative when it comes to effective video asset management.
Enhance your digital assets
In-video calls-to-action, pop-ups, and lead generation forms offer extra functionality and increase interaction.
Cincopa offers various video marketing tools, including lead generation, SEO, marketing automation, calls-to-action and thumbnail email video embeds.
Screen record on any system by using Cincopa’s RecTrace, add voiceover and use annotations, calls-to-actions, SEO, chapters, and more.
Video lead generation forms offer more conversions than static forms and you can choose where you want them to appear.
Drive conversions with customizable video calls-to-action inviting viewers to sign up to your newsletter, download content, or get in touch.
Automatically generated closed captions for videos. Embedding closed captioning into live business video can significantly enhance its value.
Using video chapters to divide up video content enables views to easily find the content they want most. You can also create a structured video list and mark out key points.
SEO tools enable you to help with ranking. Include keywords in titles, descriptions and captions of your videos.
Customize your video player
By adding your own logo or watermark to a media player, you can showcase your brand and make it fit your corporate style without needing any coding skills.
Adding custom URLs can make your multimedia a great source of traffic.
Monetize your videos
Video ads offer a good monetization option when you have full control over their placement, appearance, and performance. This isn’t indiscriminate advertising with little control over ads associated with your content.
You can place ads pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll. Optionally, you can allow viewers to skip ads after a few seconds.
A video paygate API means you can hide part of your content and make it only available to subscribers. With subscription video monetization, you can predict recurring revenue. Pay-per-view is another monetization option.
To increase your views and ad revenue, you can place a video player and galleries on partner websites.
You can also publish videos from your video hosting platform to your YouTube channels so you can monetize on social media.
Integration
You don’t want to keep your videos in silos and not connected to other business systems you use.
When you can integrate your videos with your other marketing tools and apps, this allows you to run more comprehensive campaigns and have a better return on investment (ROI).
Viewership data can be exported and combined with data from other applications, such as customer relationship management (CRM) solutions and leveraged to create richer data sets that help to determine whether viewership correlates with the desired results.
Integrate with Zoom, HubSpot, Slack, Moodle, MailChimp and many other platforms to enhance internal communication, run effective email campaigns and much more.
Publish
Distribution of live streams and video-on-demand (VOD) is possible across different corporate networks. Broadcast live and share your dedicated URL on social media platforms.
Save a live stream and edit it to use as Video on Demand (VOD) for your viewers that they can view from anywhere, at any time, and on any device. With Linear TV, you define the time and place to view content.
An OTT (Over the Top) platform uses technology to deliver high-quality video and audio content from a central dashboard to many streaming devices via the internet. The OTT dashboard interacts with multiple consumer applications supported by different types of media streaming devices, such as Roku TV, Samsung TV and Android TV.
Monitor
Unless you monitor the performance of your videos with video analytics, you have no idea whether they’re supporting your business goals.
By monitoring performance, you can learn more about your audiences and their preferences. You can control access by implementing privacy protection measures and analyzing performance in real-time to see who watches what and when.
It is very important to have robust tools for tracking what employees are watching and, to the extent that it’s possible, matching viewer data with relevant performance metrics.
Leverage your internal communication channel better with video solutions
Distributing videos with a company is often more complex as internal messaging could contain confidential information. You may need to protect your videos by using features like restricting who can view them.
By using a video platform for the business, you can use internal communication to interact with your colleagues within the organization.
With enterprise internal communication use live and on-demand video to build and promote your company’s culture, live stream key events like product launches and team meetings, onboard customers and much more.
Personalized video messages
Personalized video messages will engage employees far more than emails.
You can introduce new hires, send updates, etc. and see who watched video messages.
Knowledge sharing
Allow experts within your organization to easily record and share their knowledge with others.
Creating video playlists tailored specifically to training goals is possible. Many people who watch business videos on a daily basis say that on-demand video archives offer them a valuable storehouse of enterprise knowledge.
Build your own internal video portal
Some video hosting platforms allow you to build your own internal video portal.
Upload, manage, search, share and offer on-video social collaboration easily with an internal video portal.
Deliver live and on-demand content to any device from anywhere. You control who has access to view specific videos or for the whole portal by requesting user names and passwords.
Create an immersive and dynamic learning environment for onboarding employees and potential customers.
Keep your sales team up to date with information about new products or features. They can watch on-demand videos and record their own video pitches. Employees can use screen recording to make videos to help with knowledge sharing.
Grant user permissions
When many individuals across the organization use the platform, they will need different levels of access. Various security tools allow you to provide access and authorizations for teams so they can collaborate, upload and publish videos.
When you invite more members to your account, you decide what access level you assign to them and at any time, you can add or remove additional members knowing that all teamwork is secure and safe.
Scalability with Video Hosting
If you want to accommodate many users and allow them to view videos at the same time without losing quality, you need the platform you use to offer scalability.
As your use of digital assets grows, the video platform should scale to accommodate this.
With a video platform, scalability applies to various elements, such as the ability to handle more web server requests and accommodate for more video storage.
When you evaluate different video platforms, you should ask how they scale – both on-premises and in the cloud.
If they can scale out easily and dynamically based on demand, this can be crucial to your success. Many elements have to come together to deliver high-quality video in an enterprise.
1. Hosting platforms can replicate your videos across data centers around the world, which means they can be available in many countries at once. Video hosting platform make use of CDNs (content delivery networks) to do so.
With many people working remotely, organizations need to have a way to deliver quality video to different locations. With servers based globally, users can receive videos from servers located closest to them, which offer high-quality viewing with no buffering.
2. As the adoption of video increases, organizations need networks that are able to distribute video to all employees.
Video webcasts, particularly when distributed live, can consume substantial bandwidth. This can cause data traffic jams on business networks if they’re not implemented using the right distribution solutions.
They can even hinder other network-dependent applications that are critical to day-to-day operations, such as exchanging emails or sharing files.
3. Platforms with a robust set of open application programming interfaces (APIs) make it easier for organizations to adopt new uses of video by plugging into the video-platform infrastructure they already use.
You need to use platforms that make scaling easy when video adoption grows. They must support the integration of new applications that put video to work in new ways in day-to-day enterprise activities.
4. Data scalability: You need a video hosting platform that offers a lot of flexibility in the number of videos you can have and how they are displayed.
Growth with Video Hosting Platform
1. Streaming technology platforms are making it easier than ever before to use video for online training, employee meetings and a range of collaboration applications.
Video is perceived by many employees as a valuable tool to enhance the quality of business communications. When business communications are enhanced, this increases productivity and ultimately improves the bottom line.
2. Videos can increase more engagement than text messages or emails. Some videos will work better than others depending on the team or department viewing them and studying analytics will reveal which ones work best in which circumstances.
Using the right video at the right time can be crucial to promoting employee growth and customer satisfaction. Customers can receive the right videos at various stages of the customer journey, such as explainer videos at the top of the funnel and in-depth how-to videos much further down the funnel.
3. Viewers of online events incorporating videos can pick up on facial expressions, body language etc. and this can change how they receive and perceive corporate messages.
When prospective customers identify with corporate values, they develop more trust and this can influence their relationship with an organization and future loyalty.
4. For presenters, a video platform offers better ways to connect with an audience and deliver a message in a more meaningful way.
It provides viewers with the type of contact they need when they don’t have in-person communication.
Security and Video Protection with hosting platform
One-to-many video is implemented by organizations who want to enhance communication among employees but all the benefits associated with using video can evaporate if the use of video technology introduces new risks.
More videos mean more security risks and protecting against the risks requires shielding the corporate network and controlling access to video content.
- Prevent unwanted video downloads and access to source code by using Right Click Protection. Empower videos created by teams with encryption to prevent download.
- Secure viewer access to private videos using custom passwords.
- Apply single sign-on (SSO) settings that ensure private videos created and shared by internal users can only be viewed by other employees within that same organization. This means end-users need to remember and manage fewer passwords and usernames for each application. It saves them time and reduces the chances of phishing attacks.
- Enable Domain Lock to make sure your video assets only appear on specified websites.
Video Analytics with Video Hosting Services
Video hosting platforms that also function as social media networks offer some analytics but they aren’t the in-depth analytics marketing and sales teams can really make use of to significantly improve their campaigns.
Generally, the more specialized the platform, the more advanced the video analytics.
Advanced video analytics allow you to view user locations, IP addresses, viewing time, average engagement, the platform being used, and first and last view dates. See who watched a video, when they watched, and which parts they watched again or skipped.
Video heatmaps show you how engagement changes while viewing. You can group your statistics by video file, web page, country, and domain.
Having access to details like this allows you to improve your video content to make it more effective. You can nurture and track your automated marketing campaigns based on viewing data and engagement level.
How to broadcast and leverage three tech solutions: Live Streaming, VOD and Linear TV
Live streaming and video-on-demand (VOD) are both OTT (over-the-top) methods that deliver content through an internet connection instead of cable or satellite. Linear TV refers to TV video and audio streamed over-the-air, through satellite or cable.
Live streaming
In 2019, individuals consumed 1.1 billion hours of live streaming and its popularity just keeps growing. Live streaming allows you to communicate with video at scale and in real-time. You can reach out to local and global audiences to broadcast conferences and events, convey announcements or clarify company policies.
Live streaming happens at a specific time and creates a sense of immediacy and authenticity. When organizations can make events available for widespread attendance online, it can significantly broaden their reach.
The only limitation to live streaming is the server capacity of the streaming service you’re using. Buffering of a live stream makes watching difficult for viewers and it is important to offer them a high-quality feed.
Adaptive bitrate streaming ensures that live streams are delivered at the highest usable quality for each user. They look good on all screen sizes and even adapt to the speed of a user’s internet connection to ensure a good watching experience.
Video-on-demand (VOD)
VOD is rapidly increasing as internet speeds become faster and mobile devices have more power.
Once a live stream ends, it can be saved and repurposed for future use as VOD. Video-on-demand offers the convenience of being able to watch from any device at any time and from anywhere.
Media controls give viewers the option to play, pause, rewind, and fast forward. This is very helpful, especially when learning online, as this allows everyone to learn at their own pace and when it’s convenient to them.
Enterprises often create an entire video library of resources that are accessible to employees who can leverage them for training, marketing, sales and many other purposes. They may be used for training teams in different departments and for internal communication.
Linear TV
Today, a number of enterprises run live, linear TV channels as it’s more affordable and accessible to do so than in the past.
Viewing linear tv type of content is more passive with little interaction besides changing channels.
Measure and quantify the success of streaming
As an enterprise’s investment in streaming capabilities increases, it becomes important to measure and quantify its success.
The use of data to quantify and justify the return on investment generated from using video in the workplace may lead to additional spending on the technology.
Organizations that use live streaming platforms should consider that their video needs are likely to increase over time and choose forward-thinking platforms that are unlikely to become obsolete over time.
Conclusion
Today’s enterprises need simple, smart and scalable ways to put video into the hands of the right people at the right time.
Not all enterprise video hosting are created equal and enterprises need to choose video hosting solutions carefully to ensure they offer the capabilities and features they require. They should also look to those that can scale as their use of video grows.
