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Can Your Network Handle the Demand for Live Video?

CMMA Blog

It was only two months ago IT teams and network operators faced an unprecedented challenge: shifting entire workforces out of the office and into the home. As difficult as that was – rushing to implement collaboration tools, securing networks, etc. – we are again on the precipice of change: employees returning to the workplace.

As someone who works on the technical side, you might be thinking, “Why do I need to be concerned about that? It’s the facilities and HR departments who have to worry about things like social distancing.” Here are a few reasons why it matters to you too:

  • Not everyone will return to the office at once, or even for eight hours a day. Instead, this elastic workforce will be splitting their time, which means a continued reliance on videoconferencing platforms like Microsoft Teams to collaborate with peers.
  • The demand for video doesn’t stop there. Because the workforce is so widely distributed, corporate communications will continue to lean on live and on-demand video to share important messages at scale.
  • The future of work has changed – at least for the time being. Gathering in theaters and auditoriums for CEO Town Halls and All Hands meetings is an outdated practice. Because of social distancing, employees will instead stream Live Events individually from their desks, putting significant strain on your network.

Now, let’s dig into some insights from the Kollective network to add more color to the conversation.

The Rise of Enterprise Video

Each month since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, we’ve been pulling data on how our 135+ Global 2000 customers are using Live Video to communicate with their employees.

  • 90% of Kollective customers have used video to address their global organizations on the impact of COVID-19.
  • The total number of Live Events broadcast from the Kollective platform jumped over 50% from January to February, stayed roughly the same from February to March and in April, increased another 40% over the previous month.
  • From January to February 2020, the average number of Live Events per customer increased 30%. This contrasts with 2019, where there was virtually no change over the same two months. While we saw a slight dip in March 2020, the average number of Live Events increased by 45% in April.

Although I think the results speak for themselves, you may need a little more convincing. Check out these industry-specific charts highlighting the increase in Live Event broadcasts and unique user counts over the last calendar year – video events skyrocketed in Q1 2020.

Financial Services

Health Life Sciences

Manufacturing

Understanding the Impact of Video Streaming on Corporate Networks

As Live Video usage in enterprise organizations continues up and to the right, you’re going to see a greater impact on your corporate network. That’s because video is a bandwidth heavy medium and not all networks can handle the demand. Insufficient bandwidth for webcasting generally leads to buffering, jitter and in worst case scenarios, event failure.

For context, Live events created in Stream or “External app or device” produced Live Events from Yammer or Teams will get a fixed encoding profile, according to Microsoft :

  • 720p – 3.5 mbps
  • 540p – 2.2 mbps
  • 396p – 1.4 mbps
  • 288p – 850 kbps
  • 216p – 550 kbps
  • 192p – 200 kbps

What’s important to note is that video playback is not a static number and will change according to:

  • The video’s original resolution, bitrate and content
  • A user’s available bandwidth
  • Size of the player

You can estimate the impact video will have on your network by measuring and sampling the bandwidth of the content typically produced by your organization. Extrapolate that out across the total number of employees likely to view said content, and you can see how quickly the bandwidth required to stream video at scale adds up.

Offset Bandwidth Issues with an ECDN

The quickest, easiest and most cost-effective way to offset the bandwidth constraints caused by video distribution is to add an ECDN to your tech stack. An ECDN is software that allows businesses to deliver content at scale.

Kollective ECDN uses a combination of cloud-based centralized servers and distributed client software to empower organizations to achieve their digital transformation goals. We securely distribute high-quality video content across the enterprise without affecting business critical applications or user experience.

A browser-based peering, platform, also known as P2P, Kollective self-optimizes to learn a network’s topology, creating a mesh between viewing devices and intelligently routing data packets in real-time. By learning how to deliver live streams efficiently, Kollective ECDN ensures that no matter when a video is consumed or shared, bandwidth is automatically preserved.

Join Us for a Webinar: Is Your Network Ready?

If you want to learn more about this topic, I’ll be covering it in depth in Kollective’s new webinar, “Is Your Network Ready?” Join us on June 24th at 9am PST/12pm EST/4pm GMT. For those that can’t make it, an on-demand recording will be available to watch online.

The post Can Your Network Handle the Demand for Live Video? appeared first on Kollective Technology .

To view our Partner blog, click here

Prepare to Succeed: Microsoft Teams Live Events Best Practices

CMMA Blog

Do you know the difference between planning and preparation? Although interdependent, the two are not one and the same. For example, you can plan a live event , but being prepared to host it is another story. Preparation will save your event and enable your business’ communication continuation when things outside your control happen.

These are the Live Event planning best practices you need to know to guarantee a successful live event in Microsoft Teams.

Event Qualification

Before diving head-first into planning a Microsoft Teams Live Event, it’s important to ask the right questions regarding the what, who, when, where and how.

The What

Defining what kind of event you’re planning and what it’s supposed to look like is the first step preparing for a Live Event. Ask:

  • What style of communication does it require?
    • Is it formal, like a quarterly Town Hall meeting?
    • Is it an announcement of changes in retirement policies?
    • Is it an emergency all-hands regarding the Coronavirus global situation?
    • Is it a training/learning session?
    • Or is it more casual, more like a team-style meeting than an actual webcast?
  • What should go in it in terms of content and features?
    • Pre-recorded videos? Slides? Desktop sharing?

The Who

Just as important as the what, is the who. You can’t have an event without presenters and attendees.

  • Who are the speakers and where are they based or, where are they joining from?
  • Who are the attendees invited to this event and how many are they?
  • Are they spread globally, single continent, single country?

The When

Establishing an event timeline is critical to ensuring its success. In addition to setting a date, consider:

  • What is the preparation complexity?
  • Which resources are involved and what is their availability?
  • What is the budget availability and impact?

Remember, short timelines mean event planning is compressed into smaller window, which may result in higher risk. When possible, build in buffers to give yourself adequate time to prepare.

The Where

Where your Live Event is held, plays a significant role in how you choose to broadcast it. Is it:

  • On corporate grounds, benefiting from the corporate infrastructure?
  • External, in a convention center or hotel?
  • Do you have remote speakers and if so, where are they connecting from and how?

How you answer these questions will help determine what sort of support is needed to supplement your Teams Live Event.

The How

The how is shaped by the answers to all the previous questions and will enable you to assess several aspects regarding event preparation. For example:

  • Will you be using QuickStart or Encoder?
  • What resources are necessary to manage the event?
  • Can it be managed by a small internal team, or do you need to bring in a third-party vendor to help with planning and execution?

If answering all these questions seems daunting, remember, it takes a village to produce a Live Event. You’re not in this alone.

Define Roles and Responsibilities

Live Event roles and responsibilities

Just like a conference or tradeshow requires a team to make it work, so does a Microsoft Teams Live Event. As the event owner, it’s your responsibility to ensure you have the right people in the right positions for it to succeed. Here’s a quick list of actions to take to drive better alignment.

  • Check that event personnel have the appropriate license level or type
  • Get trained on Microsoft Teams Live Events – QuickStart or Encoder
  • Create and customize the actual event
  • Schedule and run practice events in advance of the real deal
  • Schedule prep sessions with remote speakers or dry runs
  • Draft and distribute info packs for remote teams involved
  • Prepare the end-user best practices
  • Agree on a schedule for the Network Readiness Tests (if you have the Kollective ECDN )
  • Set arrival and departure times for the resources involved on the day of the event
  • Decide success criteria
  • Schedule a post-event debrief

Getting everyone on the same page early, means fewer question marks down the line.

Testing & Documentation

Another essential component of preparing for a Teams Live Event is testing network readiness. It must be carried out regardless of whether you’re running a QuickStart Teams Live Event or Encoder with production crew. If using QuickStart, ensure all presenters are connected using the exact same set-up as they will on the day of the live event – same room, machine, lighting, microphone or headset etc. This will help you spot any issues or areas of improvement ahead of time.

During this time, it is also important to document any learnings; that include both mistakes and things that went well. Running live events is sometimes unpredictable and, despite all your planning and preparation, something completely unexpected might be thrown your way. Whether you use these notes for yourself or for helping a fellow communicator and event owner, the insights are invaluable.

Watch the Webinar on Demand to Learn More

Every Microsoft Teams Live Event is unique, which means the planning and preparation will vary with each. While you can develop guidelines to help guide your preparation for a Live Event, there is no set blueprint to ensure success.

To learn more about the ins and outs of Live Event planning and preparation, watch our webinar, Live Events in Microsoft Teams Made Easy.

The post Prepare to Succeed: Microsoft Teams Live Events Best Practices appeared first on Kollective Technology .

To view our Partner blog, click here

Insights from the Kollective Network – Updated with April 2020 Data

CMMA Blog

As COVID-19 takes hold around the world, global enterprises are leveraging technology to stay connected to their workforce and keep them informed. Over the last couple months, Microsoft Teams grew from 20 million daily active users to 75 million, highlighting the importance of real-time communication in maintaining daily operations. Enterprise Content Delivery Networks, like Kollective’s ECDN , play a big role in this as they allow businesses to scale the delivery of content across enterprise networks without increasing bandwidth or putting other critical applications on the network at risk.

At Kollective, our robust client list ranges from top airline and utility companies to leading pharmaceutical and auto manufacturers. This gives us deep insight into how enterprises across all business segments are using ECDNs to overcome the communication challenge presented by COVID-19. Here’s what we’re seeing.

Top 4 Kollective Network Insights

1. 90% of enterprises using Kollective’s ECDN have used video to address their global organizations on the impact of COVID-19.

2. The total number of Live Events broadcast from the Kollective platform jumped over 50% from January to February, stayed roughly the same from February to March and in April, increased another 40% over the previous month.

3. From January to February 2020, the average number of Live Events per customer increased 30%. This is in contrast to 2019, where there was virtually no change over the same two months. While we saw a slight dip in March 2020, the average number of Live Events increased by 45% in April.

4. From January to March 2020, Live Events engaged 67% more employees across organizations, coinciding with greater adoption of collaboration tools.

The Key Takeaway

Although our network data tells a number of interesting stories, the most compelling is the rise of live video. Within a week of social distancing measures taking effect, businesses identified the need for real-time communication and switched to live video. As a result, the content reached a wider audience and had higher engagement.

In these challenging times, global enterprises are leveraging modern workplace tools to keep their organizations moving forward through better communication and collaboration. Live video is proving to be an asset for communicating real-time information and engaging the global workforce.

To see how Kollective’s ECDN can benefit your enterprise business, sign up a free 30-day trial.

The post Insights from the Kollective Network – Updated with April 2020 Data appeared first on Kollective Technology .

To view our Partner blog, click here