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How Kollective Solves for Hybrid Work

CMMA Blog

How Kollective Solves for Hybrid Work

In our previous article in this series, you learned about the difficulties of hybrid work as laid out by Microsoft’s study on the effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers. Microsoft’s researchers found that businesses need to adopt flexibility in their operational models and equip themselves with the technology to enable efficient collaboration and communication in hybrid work environments.

In this article, we examine why ECDNs are critical for enabling the hybrid workplace and explore how Kollective’s ECDN Platform and advanced analytics offer businesses an edge over other ECDN providers.

ECDNs Deliver Reliable Communications to Hybrid Offices

In hybrid work environments, collaboration and communications are more important than ever. Achieving a consistent user experience for high-quality video regardless of where employees access streams is essential to ensuring messaging is received and workflows remain productive. ECDNs address these concerns, delivering flawless communications to remote and in-office employees, facilitating collaboration between teams, and keeping employees engaged.

Without an ECDN, the benefits of communication platforms like Microsoft Teams cannot be fully realized. As more companies adapt to this new model of work, those who do not equip themselves with the proper technology risk falling behind the competition.

Dependable Stream Quality

Over the course of the pandemic, workers have grown accustomed to high-quality video streams that most in-home networks provide. With fewer people in the office, many businesses have reduced their bandwidth needs. As more employees begin returning to the office, corporate networks are primed for failure. Company meetings with large viewership; including All-Hands, trainings, CEO addresses and more, can create strain on networks, resulting in jittery streams, buffering and a failed live event. This often leads to low levels of employee engagement and delays essential messaging, reducing output and creating potential bottlenecks.

Happy Leadership

Businesses dedicate lots of time, money, and manpower investing in high-quality streaming events. As such, CEOs expect them to be executed flawlessly. Live events and one-to-many communications performed without an ECDN have a high-risk of overloading your corporate network. Unsuccessful and failed events will set your business behind, resulting in operational delays and frustrated leadership.

Effects on Business Applications

With companies directing more of their critical applications to the cloud, corporate networks have become a lifeline for most businesses. Simultaneous video requests without an ECDN can rapidly overload a network, causing mission critical applications (e.g., financial systems, sales tracking, project management tools) to fail.

Scaling Live Events

Enterprises with large amounts of bandwidth, but no ECDN still struggle to deliver live events at scale without suffering issues to their network, stream quality or both. We have witnessed that even a low percentage of in-office employees watching simultaneous streams can wreak havoc on networks. ECDNs offset this load, enabling businesses to deliver live events and VODs securely at scale to their global workforce.

How Kollective’s ECDN Solves for Hybrid Work

Kollective is the only ECDN platform to offer a comprehensive delivery solution: Agent-Based Peering, Browser-Based Peering, and EdgeCache. This suite of solutions, the logic that connects them, and the unified analytics they provide, set Kollective apart from other ECDNs. The Kollective Platform provides best-in-class coverage, and when combined they address an array of use cases your business is likely to encounter during day-to-day operations. Let’s explore how the Kollective Platform addresses the essential concerns of hybrid work.

Complete Coverage

Henry Ford famously said, “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, working together is success.” Enabling teams to work together is one of the main goals of Kollective’s ECDN platform. Consistent communications that are free of delays are key to replicating in-office collaboration. This is the primary focus of Kollective’s ECDN: we provide reliable coverage regardless of your network’s complexity. Kollective’s solutions are easy to test and can be implemented in minutes. Kollective is also the only platform on the market to connect peering and caching technology through intelligent logic. This allows our solutions to communicate with each other to determine the most efficient content delivery method each time a request is made.

China and Remote Locations

Any company with regular business ties to China understands the headaches caused by delivering content through the “Great Firewall of China.” Kollective’s new EdgeCache solution helps alleviate this by essentially bypassing the firewall. By placing one of Kollective’s EdgeCache virtual applications inside of your network in China, users no longer have to request content from outside the “Great Firewall of China.” Instead, they can source live video and video on-demand (VOD) directly from the EdgeCache. This reduces the load on your internet gateway and more effectively delivers content to your workforce.

The same is true of remote office locations, like oil rigs or manufacturing plants. Kollective’s EdgeCache keeps your offices connected and informed, regardless of location.

Real-Time Analytics and Business Intelligence

Businesses have had to constantly assess and adapt their hybrid work strategies since the beginning of the pandemic. Kollective’s advanced analytics platforms, Kollective IQ and Kollective Free Analytics, supply the telemetry leadership needs to understand the current state of hybrid work across the enterprise. They also provide the intelligence required to determine the best solutions moving forward. Learn Kollective’s real-time analytics can benefit your hybrid strategy here.

Accelerate Your Hybrid Work Strategy With Kollective

Kollective provides best-in-class support to customers no matter where they are in their video journey.

  • Not ready for an ECDN? Try Kollective Free Analytics to determine whether your communications strategy could benefit from an ECDN.
  • Need help developing a video strategy? Contact our EVS team for a free consultation.
  • Need help getting started? Kollective offers 24/7 global support through our in-region and in-language teams.

The post How Kollective Solves for Hybrid Work appeared first on Kollective Technology.

To view our Partner blog, click here

Microsoft Teams Live Events vs. Teams for Webinar vs. Teams Meetings with Overflow: Which is Best for Internal Comms?

CMMA Blog

Microsoft Teams Live Events vs. Teams for Webinar vs. Teams Meetings with Overflow: Which is Best for Internal Comms?

Today’s solutions for corporate communications are more robust than ever and Microsoft remains a top player by continuously innovating the Microsoft Teams video platform. New product features are amazing but can often confuse the end user. Do you know when to use a Teams Live Event vs. Teams Meeting with Overflow vs. Teams Webinar? The Enterprise Video Strategy (EVS) team at Kollective will help you navigate the best solution for your particular use case.

Microsoft Teams Live Events

Teams Live Events are an extension of Teams meetings that allows users to deliver video and other content to large audiences. It’s Microsoft’s primary one-to-many communication tool and is ideal for events where the host needs complete control of the content being presented – like a CEO Town Hall or All Hands Meeting.

In a Teams Live Event, presenters and producers handle sharing audio, video, or their screen with the audience and only one presenter can be active at a time. The audience can interact with presenters via moderated Q&A sessions or in Yammer. Attendees who are unable to watch the event live can view the recording after in Teams, Stream or Yammer.

Another benefit of Teams Live Events is that they fully integrate with enterprise content delivery network (ECDN) technology. An ECDN enables organizations to scale high-quality live and on-demand video behind the corporate firewall by optimizing bandwidth consumption. This is especially important for enterprises and small and medium businesses (SMB) with offices challenged by network capacity, remote locations and/or bandwidth limitations.

What are the Pros and Cons of Microsoft Teams Live Events?

Pros

  • Host up to 20,000 attendees through December 31, 2021
  • High production value
  • Equal access of features
  • Full ECDN functionality

Cons

  • Limited interactivity
  • Takes some training to understand how to use

When to Use Microsoft Teams Live Events

Teams Live Events remain the gold standard for large-scale, one-to-many communications. Choose to host a Live Event for meetings where audience interactivity is not necessary and executive polish is required.

Microsoft Teams Meetings with Overflow

While typical Teams meetings allow you to host up to 250 participants, Teams Meetings with Overflow expands that, now enabling up to 10,000 attendees to join your meeting. The first 1,000 users that join get to enjoy the same Teams Meeting experience they know and expect: they can share their own audio and video, view shared content, and interact in chat. Attendees that join after the 1,000-user capacity is met enter in view-only mode with reduced interactive capabilities.

View-only attendees cannot take part in chat or view PowerPoint Live files, or files shared using individual application shares. They are also not included in the event analytics, making it difficult to gain full insight into meeting performance.

The only way to know more about your Overflow attendees and their quality of experience is by deploying an ECDN. When used during a Teams Meeting with Overflow, an ECDN scales content and collects analytics for all view-only users.

What are the Pros and Cons of Microsoft Teams Meetings with Overflow?

Pros

  • Higher attendance capacity than a standard Teams Meeting
  • Collaborative environment
  • Easiest set up of Teams video solutions

Cons

  • No analytics collected on overflow attendees without Kollective ECDN
  • ECDN only scales Overflow viewers
  • Technical limitations

When to Use Microsoft Teams Meetings with Overflow

Microsoft Teams Meetings with Overflow should only be used when you require the same level of interactivity as a standard Teams meeting with over 250 users. If your network does not have the capacity to scale live video to 1,000 employees, opt for a Teams Live Event instead.

Microsoft Teams Webinar

Micrsoft recently released its new Webinar tool for Microsoft Teams. Designed to compete with top virtual event platforms, Teams Webinar offers many of the same benefits, including event registration pages, breakout room configurability and a dashboard that displays attendance data relative to registration details.

Teams Webinar does support ECDN functionality, scaling video for viewers behind the corporate firewall. An ECDN also supplies advanced analytics for all attendees, so you know who, what, where and when your Webinar was consumed.

What are the Pros and Cons of Microsoft Teams for Webinars?

Pros

  • Host up to 1,000 attendees
  • Registration page integration
  • Disable/enable cameras and microphones (globally or individually)
  • Configuration of breakout rooms before the meeting
  • Breakout room timers, room retention, and attendee reassignment
  • Dashboard displays registration and attendance data

Cons

  • Focused on external customer engagement, not internal use

When to Use Microsoft Teams for Webinars

Microsoft Teams for Webinars is best for meetings where you want a high-level of interactivity and tracking for up to 1,000 attendees. While Webinars can be used internally, it is especially useful for external communications and marketing activities.

Choose the Right Tool for the Task

To determine which option in the Microsoft Teams ecosystem is right for you, consider the purpose of your event and how you want your attendees to engage. For events where a high-level of interactivity is needed, consider Webinars or Teams Meetings with Overflow. However, for one-to-many communications and large-scale internal broadcasts, Teams Live Events will serve you best.

Learn more about Microsoft Teams video solutions and virtual event best practices from our team of experts. Sign up for a FREE one-hour consultation with Kollective’s Enterprise Video Strategy team. We will review your requirements, help you navigate the platform and help you choose the right Microsoft Teams video solution.

The post Microsoft Teams Live Events vs. Teams for Webinar vs. Teams Meetings with Overflow: Which is Best for Internal Comms? appeared first on Kollective Technology.

To view our Partner blog, click here

How to Optimize Your Network for Live Video in 60 Seconds

browser-based peering

If you want to deliver live video to all your employees but don’t want to invest in hardware, download software or purchase additional bandwidth, you need Kollective Browser-Based Peering. Our enterprise content delivery network (ECDN) is powered by WebRTC technology – that means all you need to get started is a browser.

Signing up for a free trial of Kollective is so easy, it can take as little as 60 seconds. Here’s the proof: 

 

Choose the right ecdn

When optimizing your network for live video, make sure you pick the ECDN that will scale with your business. Kollective Browser-Based Peering will help you exceed expectations for high-quality events by delivering buffer-free video to every employee, regardless of their location, device or bandwidth capacity.  

WHY KOLLECTIVE BROWSER-BASED PEERING?

  • Simplicity: Auto-provision your ECDN trial in 60 seconds. Kollective is the ONLY WebRTC solution that lets you sign up, choose your integration, configure it, and try it immediately – for FREE!  
  • Intelligence: Confidently deliver high-quality video streams. Our browser-based solution uses smart peering algorithms that tune to your network, delivering the intelligence you need – no agent required.  
  • Control: Scale live video to the network edge. From out-of-the-box configurations to advanced bitrate and playback controls, Kollective puts the power of peering in your hands.  
  • Analytics: Customize live events and network insights. Instantly see your aggregate performance metrics or dig into the data down to a single node or endpoint with Kollective IQ Analytics. 

STAY ON THE FOREFRONT OF ENTERPRISE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND SECURITY

With enterprise video gaining traction worldwide – it’s safe to say video communications are likely a focus of your organization’s 2021 digital transformation goals. Kollective makes it easy to save bandwidth and deliver high-quality video, whether your personnel are working physically distanced in the office, remotely or at home. 

In addition to saving your organization up to 99% of bandwidth, Kollective Browser-Based Peering is Secure by Design. Our ECDN uses standard web-based protocols with all data transfers encrypted and signed. We do not receive, store or process customer content, nor are we able to decrypt the source content.

MAKE SMARTER DECISIONS FASTER

Kollective IQ is the only enterprise-ready analytics and intelligence platform intuitively designed for the way you work. Whether you’re a network administrator, manager of a corporate communications team or a video producer, Kollective IQ is designed with intuitive workflows that simplify data exploration to help you make intelligent decisions, fast.  

In addition to standard network and event workflows, Kollective IQ lets you to choose which data sets you want to highlight. Create the custom dashboards, metrics and visualizations that align with your business goals and then save them for future reference.  

Kollective IQ makes it easy to package and send data when and where you need it. Easily automate your data imports with simple data export tools and database integrations, connecting Kollective IQ to the leading business intelligence platforms on the market. 

ADD KOLLECTIVE TO YOUR NETWORK

Now that you know more about Kollective Browser-Based Peering, it’s time to add it to your network. Sign up for a free 30-day trial.

The post How to Optimize Your Network for Live Video in 60 Seconds appeared first on Kollective Technology.

To view our Partner blog, click here

Wainhouse Research: Businesses Finding Fresh Applications for Live Streaming Video

CMMA Blog

Town halls and employee training? According to a recent survey by Wainhouse Research, these tried-and-true applications for live online video are quite popular. And these days, hyper-connected businesses are taking one-to-many video further. Much further. Read the full report here. In a survey of more than 1,000 executives, Wainhouse discovered that “employee training” and “executive

Read more

The post Wainhouse Research: Businesses Finding Fresh Applications for Live Streaming Video appeared first on Streaming Video Blog.

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Distributed Devices: Reaching The Edge In The Age of IoT

analytics

The world of work is changing. From cloud computing systems to remote working opportunities, technological innovations are becoming an integral part of our professional lives.

As part of this changing culture, businesses are increasingly contending with how to incorporate the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) into the modern office environment. Wearable technology, smart gadgets and intelligent lighting systems are just a few examples of hardware that IT departments will soon add to their internal networks.

But just like any other machine on a company’s network, it’s vital that these IoT devices receive regular updates for maximum security and functionality.

This presents a complicated problem for IT managers to solve — with the IoT bringing new operating systems, new update schedules and thousands of new devices into the workplace.

Given so many of these devices will operate at the edge of the corporate network, how can IT departments connect their IoT devices at scale and ensure they stay up to date without putting a huge strain on existing IT systems and network infrastructure?

To understand these concerns, and explore the future direction of enterprise content delivery, we at Kollective are pleased to announce the launch of our latest research report: Distributed Devices: How Today‘s IT Leaders Are Taking Their Businesses To The Edge.

This report draws on research from 270+ IT decision makers across the US and UK, providing insights into what companies must examine when integrating the IoT into their systems and the role that Software-Defined Enterprise Content Delivery Networks (SD-ECDN) will play in the future of Enterprise IT and IoT update distribution.

The post Distributed Devices: Reaching The Edge In The Age of IoT appeared first on Kollective Technology.

To view our Partner blog, click here