Praney Mahajan
Customer-Focussed, Forward-Thinking, Goal-Oriented Technical Sales Professional | Digital Media Products
How We Kept Video Services Running Flawlessly During COVID-19
When the COVID-19 global health pandemic hit, many operators in the broadcast, cable, telco, satellite, IPTV, OTT, and post-production markets were not prepared. They didn’t have remote operations and workflow strategy set up in advance. Once lockdown and work from home scenarios became the new norm, establishing, managing, and working with such remote scenarios was a major challenge.
During this unprecedented situation, Interra Systems is helping broadcasters and operators ensure high-quality video delivery for major media companies around the world. Here are three insights we learned throughout this process.
1) Support and Engineering Need to be Remote-Ready
What we have discovered during the COVID-19 crisis, is that many broadcasters and TV service providers had a limited IT infrastructure and minimal access to their systems when working from home. If a video delivery system doesn’t function properly or brakes down, they need help. Partnering with a technology provider that has responsive, remote-ready support and engineering departments is critical for emergency situations like the one we’ve been experiencing.
At Interra Systems, many of us work remotely all the time, so we were ready with regards to having fast and reliable internet access, and correct WiFi router placement. Our customer service team is available 24/7, in all geographies, and that has stayed consistent throughout the entire pandemic.
How did we do this? Our IT team ensured that systems, file transfers, VPN, and network security were up and running seamlessly. Getting this done accurately in a short span of time helped optimize the operations of our support and engineering teams.
2) Automate Video QC Whenever Possible
The COVID-19 situation, in particular, has shown everyone how important automation is.
In this time, some post houses and video distributors started using our Interra Cloud Services — BATON (ICS — BATON), a subscription-based service for automated QC of file-based content. Running in the cloud, ICS — BATON allows content providers to reliably deliver premium on-demand content to platforms like Amazon, Hulu, and iTunes, with the utmost efficiency, speed, and cost savings.
For example, many of the individual content producers or small post houses lack technical know-how about Amazon delivery specifications. Through automation, ICS—BATON has helped media companies meet the complex video distribution requirements from the comfort of their home. Which brings us to our next point...
3) Gain Critical Flexibility With Software and Cloud Solutions
During COVID-19, we as an industry have seen that software- and cloud-based solutions offer unparalleled flexibility, agility, and simplicity, compared with on-premise systems. Those benefits have certainly become critical during the pandemic. Some media companies still don’t have physical access to their buildings, and vendors are unable to install products. Our software- and cloud-based solutions are providing increased accessibility and have simplified the transition to remote operations.
Interra Systems’ software suite of products supports quality control checks, compliance, monitoring, captioning, lip-sync detection, classification, playback, and more. Being software-based and cloud-ready, our tools and solutions can be used in the office, or at home, anywhere in the world to streamline content production and distribution.
During the pandemic, we’ve seen customers use our Premiere Pro plugin for BATON QC to optimize the efficiency of remote editing workflows in the cloud. Our BMP media player made remote playbacks easy. Our ORION monitoring system has been put to action in the cloud to ensure the delivery of error-free, superior-quality video. And relying on our VEGA analyzer tool in the cloud, customers have been able to debug media streams and ensure standard compliance and interoperability, with navigation down to the deepest levels of an encoded stream.
When you have a software and/or cloud solution, there’s no stopping you from keeping operations running smoothly.
A Recipe for World-Class Customer Service
Interra Systems is known for its world-renowned customer support. We are a global company with a network of over 30 channel partners. We offer 24/7 customer support for all geographies. By having remote-ready support and engineering teams, software and cloud-based solutions for video QC and monitoring, and by automating video production and delivery workflows, we’ve been able to keep video operations running smoothly, even during this very challenging time.
Take care and stay safe!
