Why Content Creators Shouldn’t Settle for Outdated Legacy Workflows
In today’s digital age of productivity apps, it’s shocking just how many publishers are still using outdated workflows and legacy systems to manage their video content. I’ve talked to content studios that still track production schedules on manually updated spreadsheets, and others that are still locked into clunky legacy systems designed before the advent of OTT. Some smaller content providers may not have any real workflow system at all. All this stands in stark contrast to the advanced technology these same companies use to create and distribute their content externally.
In most cases, publishers are well aware of the downsides of these inefficient workflows. They know that the time spent updating these workflows and disparate systems could be better spent applying insights around revenue, distribution, engagement and performance to optimize their production process. They simply don’t realize that better automated solutions exist — and that those solutions aren’t actually difficult to implement.
A truly state-of-the-art workflow solution is one that streamlines and automates processes and aggregates and facilitates smoother information-sharing within multiple departments of a company. A solution of this caliber should have three major characteristics:
1. The solution kicks in the moment content is created.
Today’s most advanced workflow solutions start much earlier in the media life cycle than traditional content management systems — further upstream in production after a camera captures content. Each raw content asset can immediately be ingested, encoded and tagged with metadata. This creates an asset record in a supply chain management system that serves as a single source of truth, and is managed across multiple workflows. As the asset flows through different departments to be worked on, its metadata remains associated with it. Having workflow automation allows for efficiencies in coordination across different functions — like publishing, distribution, syndication and monetization — creating a streamlined content life cycle (and, of course, it’s a key part of a successful end-to-end Content Intelligence System, too).
2. The solution is customizable to individual companies, and also to individual departments.
Every content publisher, from large to small and everyone in between, deserves a workflow system that works efficiently and specifically for them, but a truly streamlined workflow solution wouldn’t stop there. Large media companies will have several departments (production/post-production, marketing, social media, editorial, etc.) that each have their own specific workflows. A good solution should be customizable for each publisher as well as for each department within that content publisher. It should take specific complex tasks performed by each one and break them down into smaller, more manageable tasks, which brings me to my next point.
3. The solution automates repetitive tasks.
A key feature of a supply chain management and workflow solution is that it should automate the repetitive tasks that all content publishers have. For example, if publishers want to turn monetization on for their content today, they might have to manually do that for each piece of content within their current system. But a more efficient workflow solution would allow them to turn on monetization for multiple assets in batch via a workflow tool for changing ad configurations. This saves time by automating while also removing the element of human error from repetitive tasks.
The way video content is created, distributed and consumed has changed, and it’s vital that content providers’ workflow systems keep up. Our Verizon Media Xperience Studio service, our Content Intelligence System (CIS) — already has this state-of-the-art workflow solution. Within our flexible CIS, the MX:Orchestration component provides workflow automation that can be customized for each publisher’s unique needs.
Contact us for a demo of the Verizon Media Xperience Studio today.
