Industry Perspectives: The New Era of Corporate Communications

It’s no secret that easy and effective collaboration among teams is critical to achieving and maintaining a competitive edge. And while there is no shortage of technologies to achieve this goal, none are as immersive as video. The technology fosters an ideal collaboration environment that operates in real time, accommodates large or small teams, and provides rich-media interactions. But don’t just take my word for it.

Industry giants such as eBay, Microsoft, and Dell have led the pack in leveraging video to decrease the time it takes to deliver strategic messages, provide training, and enhance employee and partner experiences. Others are eager to follow in their footsteps. Check out these actual quotes from companies Qumu recently spoke with:

—"Podcasts are dead. It’s downloadable video now."
—"We want a YouTube-esque content management interface—make it as easy as YouTube."
—"Demand for video is expanding across the company."
—"We produce more than 1,200 videocasts per year."

Such feedback simply reaffirms what we’ve known all along: Enterprise video is the next big thing in corporate communications.

A variety of factors can lead to the emergence of video within an enterprise, from an increase in globally disparate teams and rising gas prices to environmental concerns and increasingly mobilized work forces. Video enables companies to quickly improve their operations while minimizing the impact on their IT infrastructures.

In the case of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), a global supplier of microprocessors and graphics solutions for the computing industry, a multibillion-dollar acquisition served as the impetus. Video helped ensure that global executive and department communication was effective. It also took center stage in the efforts to integrate two distinct corporate cultures.

Valued at $5.4 billion, AMD’s acquisition of ATI Technologies in October 2006 marked the second largest semiconductor acquisition in history. The new company boasted 17,000 employees in more than 30 sites around the globe—from Sunnyvale to Shanghai and Massachusetts to Milan.

AMD’s leadership quickly realized it would need to take bold moves to improve employee alignment and collaboration. The team needed to find a new way to communicate globally, break down existing silos, and get the two companies working as one team.

Video seemed like an obvious choice to Dave Kroll, vice president of global communications at AMD. "With Generation Y coming into the workplace and advancements in social media like YouTube, Facebook, and blogging now pervasive, we knew video could enable and encourage participation in new, more meaningful ways," he says. "Video adds depth to communications that simply can’t be achieved with written or audio formats."

For example, communications that formerly occurred only through formal reviews or email distributions can now be achieved with spontaneous sessions. These "brief bursts" by executives or managers are used to quickly and easily deliver messages to teams around the globe. Because video encoding is not required, they can be completed and distributed within minutes.