With over half (56%) of enterprise organisations regularly using video or rich media, half see IT challenges associated with its deployment, according to a new survey by Cisco.
Also challenging is unified communications, which brings together text, voice and video communications tools into a single integrated system to drive productivity benefits. A third (30%) citied Unified Communications (UC) as a high priority for their organisation in 2009, while 35% of respondents found meeting their UC objectives more challenging in the last 12 months alone.
The demand for and expectations of video are growing with business users, driven by increasing consumer use. Gartner estimates that around 20 million people worldwide now subscribe to internet-based TV services, up 64% in 12 months, and advertisers have begun moving marketing budgets into the online video space.
These signs point towards a change in how content is consumed, and a greater demand for video, which many businesses are not ready for.
Cisco Ireland commissioned the independent survey of over 100 IT departments across Ireland late last year. The findings show over a third (37%) of respondents believe it is important or very important for their network to handle video and rich media. Just 22% said video and rich media is not used on their network or website, with 14% considering it in their medium to long-term plans. Budget was the biggest obstacle to achieving UC objectives (48%), followed by skills (35%) and finally resources (33%).
Andy Brocklehurst, business transformation manager at Cisco Ireland and UK said: “Having spent time in the shadows due to issues over performance and quality, video is now coming to the forefront in business and consumer communications. You only have to look at the growth of YouTube or On Demand TV to see the level of expectation when it comes to video delivery. Such demands are causing organisations to evaluate and implement video to dramatically enhance communications within their businesses, while at the same time virtualising their teams to reduce travel costs and office space.”
He continues, “However, if 2009 is to be the year of the video, many organisations still have a performance gap when it comes to its delivery. As the demands for using video and deploying unified communications increases year after year, organisations need to prepare their networks to deliver the desired content at acceptable levels of quality. This will ensure that business-critical communications remain robust, as ever-increasing requirements are placed on the IP network.”
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