Industry Perspectives: Video Communications During A Crisis
Many companies have deployed next-generation web communication methods, like online video, in an effort to leverage the Internet and rich-media to deliver a more engaging message. In a recent survey by Interactive Media Strategies, video was not only cited as the most engaging of communication elements, but it also had the greatest increase in it’s perception from 2007. Video allows CEOs to deliver an engaging, powerful, and memorable message to all employees with up to three times greater information retention than other media types, according to a Watson Wyatt Worldwide Communications study.
Video for Crisis Communications
With online video, executives can deliver consistent, emotive and memorable messages that can be replayed and reviewed by employees. Video can be used to engage and educate employees with the delivery of crisis management simulation, communication drills, or corporate advisories. Typical companies communicate far more often and more effectively to their employees in their larger locations. The team at the corporate office always seems to have an information advantage on the remote workers and the offices distributed across the globe. Effective use of video can democratize communications during a time of crisis and increase motivation and performance of the entire workforce.
Forward-thinking companies are already using video as a means of communication for training, advertising, or customer successes. But when it comes to a crisis, video is often misconceived as time-consuming or resource draining. However with the right tools, video can effectively be used for urgent communications—in time and with existing infrastructure.
Leveraging Existing Infrastructure for Video Delivery
Preparing for effective employee communications requires establishing organizational and technological infrastructure before a crisis occurs. Not addressing the inherent network requirements of quality video distribution will result in a poor user experience that can negate the benefits of video communications. Many companies deploy more hardware to handle the load on the global network, but this can be costly, take months to deploy and lack the scalability needed in a crisis. Also, infrastructure investments are typically skewed towards larger corporate offices, leaving smaller remote offices and workers even more disconnected than usual. A classic case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.
The right PC-based software solution, on the other hand, can offer a cost-effective and flexible alternative for video distribution. Some leverage distributed computing services, allowing companies to efficiently utilize large networks of existing machines for previously centralized tasks like video distribution. This can help equalize network load even in peak situations. Software can enable wide-scale simultaneous video on-demand, even to the outskirts of your workforce, without increased hardware expense or network threat. Software solutions can also give executives direct control when the message is sent and received.
Aligning an Organization with Video
Online video democratizes communications during times of crisis and improves business performance across today's global enterprise. Video can personalize a crisis for everyone; target the right message for the right team and unify people to learn, understand and move forward together.
With the right infrastructure in place, enterprises are able to deploy high-quality video on a scalable and cost-effective platform without impacting existing network infrastructure. Secured and engaging video messages are critical parts of an effective crisis communications strategy that is essential to morale and productivity. Effective crisis communications can make the difference between a company swimming together to rise above the situation, or one with uninformed, floundering workers bringing the company down.