It seems like everything is available “in the cloud,” from CRM platforms and storage to engineering design tools and games. Even video platforms exist as a cloud application – see YouTube (News - Alert) as the biggest public video cloud example.

YouTube is great for sharing videos of your pets and kids. But do you really want your corporate sales training videos on YouTube? What about that product demo you created for a top prospect? Of course not.

So what are the options for creating, storing and managing large amounts of video content without taxing your corporate network if it’s not YouTube? Answer: It’s the YouTube experience without all the YouTube risks.

If you’ve done your homework, you’re aware that there isn’t just one type of cloud. To decide which version of the cloud fits your organization best, it’s important to assess all the possible ways video will be used. Stop and think about where video is – or will be – used in your organization in the long term. Many companies are still using the one-to-many video model for marketing and HR purposes, but trends are leaning toward a create-your-own model for all levels of the organization. Companies that are fairly progressive at adopting new technologies could be looking at “video as the new document” in the near future.

Organizations planning on using video solely for marketing externally to customers might find the public cloud to be the most efficient option – again, think YouTube as the example. There are very few security concerns when sharing these types of videos.

When videos need to be kept internal, public clouds do offer configurations that allow users to securely upload, transcode and share videos to multiple platforms where they can be viewed by a specific group of individuals. However, depending on the complexity of viewing access rights, setting up many different user-access groups can be tedious.

Organizations leaning toward multiple video applications, such as live streaming, external streams, on-demand training or do-it-yourself video production, should look at a hybrid cloud solution. A hybrid cloud is a combination of on premise company infrastructure working together with a cloud based video service to distribute content.

With this setup, companies have the security of an internal system with the flexibility of the cloud. It also transfers the bulk of video traffic off the enterprise network, ensuring that large amounts of video won’t erode network performance.

The easiest way to guarantee usability, flexibility and security is to leverage an enterprise video platform. When choosing a hybrid cloud platform provider, look for the following features:

• Multi-Tenancy – Allows you to set up and configure a cloud platform almost instantly and for a “domain” to automatically generate a social video portal that can be skinned. Settings for encoders and distribution options can then be defined.
• Private Cloud – An alternative to multi-tenancy, a private cloud instance does not store your company’s video assets and data on the same server with other companies’ information.
• Automated Workflow – Supports automatic transcoding of video content into multiple formats and bitrates, and moves submissions to an approval and publishing workflow.
• Access Control – Provides identity management that supports SAML for single sign-on.
• Mobile Video – Ensures videos can be played on all iOS, Android (News - Alert) and Windows smartphones and tablet devices.
• Scalability – Scales up or down automatically to meet your needs. Video naturally creates spikes in usage when users are connecting to a live-streaming event or when an email promoting a newly posted video on-demand program goes out.
• Reliability – Delivers reliability and failover on all levels with clustered application instances and the capability to add new instances on-the-fly.

Don’t forget to audit all your video viewing devices. The last thing you want is a robust library of videos that no one can view. A good enterprise video platform will automatically transcode video content into all the multiple formats required, with no extra work on the content creator’s side. Mobile compatibility is one aspect you can’t take lightly. Your company’s videos need to be accessible from any device, anywhere to truly give viewers a quality experience and to help boost adoption of the technology.

Also consider integrating a video platform with any existing enterprise portal. For example, companies already sharing information over an intranet with Microsoft SharePoint, Oracle WebCenter or IBM (News - Alert) WebSphere Portal will want to make sure video can be easily accessed and viewed through these programs.

Video is a great way for companies to engage with employees and build a culture of collaboration. However, as with most technology, if it’s not deployed in an effective manner it can become more of a hassle than a valuable tool. Keeping these considerations in mind when selecting a video solution will help you make a smart investment for your organization.

About the Author

Vern Hanzlik, general manager of Qumu, has spent more than 20 years building and growing enterprise software and service companies. Most recently, he served as president, EMEA and member of the Board of TEAM Informatics, a global enterprise solutions and technology company. Prior to that, he co-founded Stellent (News - Alert), an enterprise content management software company that was acquired by Oracle in 2006 for $440 million and became the basis of Oracle’s WebCenter offering.

For more information on Qumu’s enterprise video platform, please visit www.qumu.com.