HITS

By Jeetu Patel, SVP of Platform and Chief Strategy Officer, Box –

As M&E undergoes digital transformation, the opportunity is greater than ever before to deliver customized content and experiences to audiences everywhere on every device. The rise of digital entertainment is transforming how M&E companies do business today. It’s not just that people are watching content on their mobile devices, but everything about how they consume content is changing. From 30-second silent videos on Facebook to binge-watching behaviors due to new streaming options, consumption patterns are radically changing around entertainment.

But with this opportunity comes the risk of security breaches that can cost millions in lost revenue and priceless brand reputation loss. Managing the rapid pace of digital transformation while keeping content secure requires a modern content management platform.

With the proliferation of new content delivery platforms, the industry needs to start thinking about how it can optimize for the fact that three billion people are on the Internet. A media company’s customers are no longer just people who go into theaters or listen to the radio or buy CDs. Its customer base is actually every single person in the world, and they can be reached instantly. What does this mean for current business models and investment into technology and processes that will protect M&E companies’ most valuable asset, their content?

As digital media usage grows, so does need for security

According to PQ Media Global, consumer digital media usage worldwide grew by 12 percent in 2014, driven by double-digit gains in time spent online, mobile and other digital media channels. These fast moving new delivery platforms have challenged M&E companies to reevaluate and improve the way content is created, managed and distributed. We used to think that security was something that only financial services firms, insurance companies and healthcare institutions were focused on. However, protecting the data is of utmost importance to M&E companies given that content is the core intellectual property and monetization vector.

Security aside, navigating the globalized world of M&E, with an ecosystem of vendors and applications, and ensuring that the right people have the right access to the right content is another challenge unto itself. Teams struggle to find a single source of truth when it comes to content. Employees want to create and collaborate on the go, distribute data globally, and review content on their personal mobile devices, while IT wants a greater sense of control over fragmented solutions. There is a need for a solution that breaks down barriers between departments, empowers teams to share content securely no matter where they are in the world and enables businesses to get products to market faster.

Developing new workflows, systems, processes and policies across both traditional and digital platforms as well as managing new organizational infrastructure is necessary to keep pace with the speed of technological innovation. Securing assets from inception to delivery, while keeping them secure is more important than ever.

Companies now require a robust platform to help M&E professionals in the production process, the management of digital assets, and the handling of media releases to transform the way organizations leverage and adopt IT solutions for the digital age. Cloud technology can power these shifts toward digital entertainment.

Cloud technology supports productivity gains

In almost every industry where this type of profound modernization has taken place, massive productivity gains have emerged. More products are released, projects are completed far faster, relationships with customers tighten, new business models emerge, and additional profits are generated.

In financial services, where customers demand online experiences and companies must stay within strict regulations, companies have managed digital transformation through leveraging a secure cloud platform to manage and store sensitive financial information. In healthcare and life sciences, organizations are developing cloud-centric applications to manage access of sensitive clinical information for clinical investigators via highly secure portals and to provide secure sharing of medical documents for patient referrals, allowing treating physicians to gain access to a complete view of the patient’s medical record history. In the legal industry, firms are leveraging digital content management capabilities to build end-user mobile applications that allow customers to access, edit and submit legal documents.

As the media and entertainment industry continues to embrace its digital transformation, new distribution models are emerging that fundamentally shift the way that organizations create, collaborate and deliver its most valuable content to their ecosystem. Forward-thinking leaders in film studios and television networks are already embracing these opportunities and are building on cloud platforms to distribute film and TV content to affiliates, theaters and customers across the globe, while music labels are building digital libraries to distribute music to radio stations and release new albums to the world.

And while the first step of digital transformation is using the cloud to deliver content, the next step is leveraging these new platforms to engage more deeply with audiences. It’s not enough just to release and distribute content, these film studios, television networks and music labels need to keep the story going and market their products and brands through continued engagement, building customized applications to connect with their audiences through new digital experiences.

With technology and security at the center of this evolution, there lies limitless opportunity for the media and entertainment industry to reimagine the creative process end-to-end and unlock new supply chains and avenues for customers to experience entertainment.

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