In part two of a two-part series, Mark Blair, VP of EMEA at Brightcove, reveals four reasons why your business should embrace live streaming video for internal communications and how your business can benefit from it.
Live streaming video has the power to convey messages faster and more effectively than any other communications tool – and not just to your customers or external audiences.
The use of live video – in conjunction with on-demand video – has, for many top companies, already become a day-to-day, critical-business necessity for internal communications, collaboration and workforce development.
So, how exactly are enterprises using live video streaming to communicate with their internal stakeholders – from employees to investors?
1. Internal communications
Internal corporate communication is critical to disseminating the information employees need in order to get things done. Beyond this, it’s essential for building relationships and trust, and maintaining corporate culture.
How does live streaming fit into this? Live streaming an ‘all-hands meeting’, for example, enables top executives to engage in two-way communication with employees in an authentic, human way. They can reach every employee no matter where they’re located – at headquarters, on the road, or in remote locations around the globe.
Live video enables dispersed teams to collaborate and share information in a cost-effective way, leading to higher engagement and a better understanding of the ‘big picture’. Dunkin’ Brands are a great example of this. They use live streaming to bridge the gap between their corporate HQ and remote employees, and to keep employees up to date with the latest company news and developments.
2. External relationships
Investor relations teams are using live video to stream shareholder meetings, which means more investors can participate and the company can save money on travel. Videos are also being created as a companion to earnings reports to share results and interpret complex issues in a succinct way.
In 2016, Warren Buffet, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, allowed his company’s annual shareholder meeting – dubbed “Woodstock for Capitalists” – to be live streamed for the first time. The meeting was previously only open to Berkshire investors, but when shown on Yahoo Finance, 17 million people tuned in for (at least part of) the meeting. This far exceeded the total attendance of the previous 51 years combined.
For franchised companies, live and on-demand video bridges the geographic gap between corporate staff and franchise owners around the world. Video not only communicates key business messages and complex information to field-based employees, but ensures that all franchises implement programmes and products consistently so a strong brand image is maintained, and product quality isn’t compromised.
3. Employee engagement and training
Expecting your workforce to gain expert knowledge on your products and services through written communication is old school. Training through video, either live or on-demand, allows you to impart large amounts of information quickly to hundreds or even thousands of employees, and at a lower cost than if individuals needed to travel to attend in person. Live streaming training provides the added benefits of immediacy when critical information needs to be shared, as well as interactivity between instructors and participants.
The IRS are a case in point. By switching from in-person to video training, they reduced training costs by 83 per cent and training travel costs by 87 per cent between the fiscal years of 2010 and 2013. The amount saved in training travel costs alone was reduced by $83 million in 2012 and 2013 (for the combined fiscal years).
Training isn’t the only aspect of internal communication benefiting from live streaming video. HR teams are using live video to attract globally dispersed candidates and reduce the time it takes to recruit them. Once hired, live and on-demand video enables enterprises to reduce new employee on-boarding time, and ensures employees can quickly gain perspective on company culture. It also allows HR teams to share information about benefits and compliance issues quickly and efficiently across the entire business enterprise.
4. Sales solutions
Using live and on-demand video to provide field sales teams with immediate access to business intelligence when and how they need it allows enterprises to reduce costs, increase employee productivity, and capture lost revenue.
Cisco estimated that every hour a sales engineer spent in front of a customer resulted in $500 of revenue for the company – by utilising video communications, Cisco was able to maximise the time that these individuals were in the field selling and reap the financial rewards.
Oracle has also seen benefits. By using video to power their sales kick-off meeting, rather than investing time and effort into staging an annual in-person event for its entire international sales force, it was able to save a massive $10 million.
Conclusion
Enterprises are using live streaming more frequently and in new ways to drive business results. It is recognised as a productivity enabler that makes communicating with both internal and external audiences more efficient and cost-effective.
By Mark Blair
VP of EMEA
(Read part one of the series Unlocking the brand value of live streaming here)