Eyes on the Enterprise: (Not So) Instant Karma

Today, we can unequivocally say that the technology works. When a user clicks on the "play" button of an online multimedia player, the expectation is that he or she will see a good quality video stream without the buffering issues of yesteryear. And in the vast majority of cases, that user’s expectation is met, regardless of the format in which the content is delivered.

Clearly, concerns about the reliability of the technology are melting away. In a survey of 1,209 corporate executives conducted by Interactive Media Strategies in 2007, only 1% of respondents said that the primary barrier to the deployment of online multimedia is that the "technology is not ready for the mainstream."

So, you ask, what is the biggest barrier to the deployment of online business multimedia? Among companies that have yet to deploy online multimedia, the single most referenced factor keeping them from implementing the technology is that there is "no need, no use" for the technology in their day-to-day business communications. Overall, 24% of respondents from companies that have yet to deploy online multimedia essentially say that they have no productive use for the technology.

Let’s put it another way. Nearly a decade after the grand Victoria’s Secret marketing webcast experiment, this industry continues to wrestle with the problem of convincing executives of the value of multimedia for enriching online communications.

Back then, the corporate spirit was willing, but the technology was simply unable to deliver the goods. Today, the technology is more than capable, but that corporate will to experiment with web video, so strong a decade ago, has disappeared. Businesses have barely scratched the surface in leveraging the multitude of ways that online multimedia can be used to communicate with partners, prospects, and customers.

Why is this the case? Like I said, it must be karma.