2015 Global Enterprise Video Webcasting Product …...platform that cater to live and on-demand...

2015

2015 Global Enterprise Video Webcasting Product Line Strategy Leadership Award

BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH

© Frost & Sullivan 2 “We Accelerate Growth”

Contents

Background and Company Performance ........................................................................ 3

Industry Challenges .............................................................................................. 3

Product Line Strength and Customer Impact of MediaPlatform ................................... 4

Conclusion........................................................................................................... 6

Significance of Product Line Strategy ............................................................................ 7

Understanding Product Line Strategy Leadership ............................................................ 8

Key Benchmarking Criteria .................................................................................... 8

Best Practice Award Analysis for MediaPlatform .............................................................. 8

Decision Support Scorecard ................................................................................... 8

Product Line Strength ........................................................................................... 9

Customer Impact ................................................................................................. 9

Decision Support Matrix ...................................................................................... 10

The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best Practices Awards ..................... 11

Research Methodology ........................................................................................ 11

Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching, Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices ................................................................................................................. 12

About Frost & Sullivan .............................................................................................. 13



Background and Company Performance Industry Challenges

Webcasting has become a must-have, oftentimes business-critical feature in enterprises

around the globe today. For any large enterprise with a geographically dispersed

workforce, webcasting is seen as a tool that helps not only to save cost but also to train

workforces, communicate with employees and partners and create efficiencies within

organizations. Video, both live and on-demand are thus becoming increasingly adopted by

enterprises.

Several technology vendors have identified the business opportunity that resides in

webcasting platforms and over the years have launched their own webcasting solutions.

Apart from the traditional vendors in the space like VBrick, Qumu and Haivision,

companies like MediaPlatform, TalkPoint and Kontiki have had success in this market.

Companies with traditional core competencies in other areas have also played in this

space- for example, video conferencing giants like Cisco and Polycom, virtual events

companies like ON24 and INXPO, online video platforms like Brightcove and Kaltura.

As a result, the enterprise video webcasting space is both crowded and dynamic. A

number of different vendors offer a variety of different solutions- while some vendors

provide point solutions that enable enterprise IT departments to stitch together home

grown offerings that leverage existing infrastructure and end points, other vendors

provide end-to-end platforms that power all parts of the workflow from ingest to delivery

and video management.

For many customers, this market fragmentation is confusing. The sheer number of

vendors and the comparison of product and pricing models, and integration capabilities,

usually make for long sales cycles. For vendors, market education is an important priority

and the messaging of competitive differentiation is critical. Companies that invest in this

and not only have a great product but also significant market and mind share stand to do

well in the market should they constantly evolve to meet changing customer

requirements.

On a broader scale, demand analysis suggests that enterprises would like a single

platform that cater to live and on-demand video requirements, for communication with

internal (employees) and external stakeholders (customers, suppliers, investors,

partners). Cloud solutions and hybrid models are hugely popular because of flexibility and

scalability considerations. Also, enterprises globally have a declining tolerance for building

and fostering multiple different business relationships to solve different parts of the same

problem. Consequentially, there has been an ongoing wave of convergence- where in most

vendors in the markets are building out platforms to include all the above mentioned

capabilities.



Another key challenge in this market is that enterprise IT departments usually have

limited budgets. And video is often a second class citizen in many enterprises. Even where

they are not, few organizations truly devise enterprise wide video strategies. Therefore,

even when budgets become available, they are diverted for upgrades to existing document

based systems or more widely adopted video conferencing systems. The buyer ecosystem

as a result comprises of enterprise departments looking for a solution- once the

departments are satisfied with the experience, it is adopted by others, and eventually

there is a push for widespread enterprise adoption. Simplified pricing models that are

more palatable for the enterprise customer are key in this environment.

Scalability, reliability, security and high-quality continue to be the most important

requirements in this space. These solutions typically have high visibility because of their

use by enterprise C-suite members. Networks and outdated enterprise technology

continues to be a challenge, and vendors who can navigate this quickly and with precision

have a competitive edge.

Product Line Strength and Customer Impact of MediaPlatform

Breadth

Founded in 2005 and head quartered in Los Angeles, California, MediaPlatform offers the

webcasting market a fully integrated platform that empowers enterprises to webcast live

video as well publish on demand content. Several large global organizations with

geographically dispersed workforces use the MediaPlatform solution for their internal as

well as external communications. Fortune 500 companies like Adobe, Facebook, General

Motors, and Ericsson form part of MediaPlatform’s clientele.

MediaPlatform has two products, the enterprise video platform PrimeTime and the

enterprise webcasting solution WebCaster, which form part of its fully integrated offering.

To aid with delivery, the company also provides an eCDN product known as MediaPlatform

SmartEdge. WebCaster, in particular, is used by companies for live and rich media

webcasts. The product includes a number of interactive features such as Q&A, polls,

surveys and the ability to insert pre-recorded video.

MediaPlatform offers its customers full deployment flexibility. Enterprises can choose from

an on-premises, hybrid or cloud deployment option. Only a handful of vendors in the

space truly offer this. The hybrid model where in the management of the application is left

to the cloud while the delivery still remains on-premises and behind the firewall forms a

large part of MediaPlatform deployments.

MediaPlatform has been early to identify the trends leading up to the evolution of the

enterprise video space. As mentioned earlier, customers today largely prefer a single



platform for their live and on demand video needs. Deployment flexibility, interactivity,

reporting and analytics are also very important features to have in a webcasting solution.

From a product line perspective, MediaPlatform’s solution is second to none in this market.

Scalability

Navigating a large enterprise’s network, in order to deliver a scalable, reliable, high

quality, live webcast is one of the biggest challenges for webcasting vendors across the

board. Enterprise networks and infrastructure are often outdated, and many are not multi-

cast enabled. Smaller, sometimes newly acquired offices do not have the necessary

infrastructure. The increasing instances of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and

telecommuting requires webcasting vendors to offer mobility and ways to reach remote

workers.

MediaPlatform’s SmartPath technology gives the company a distinct edge on its

competition. SmartPath enables enterprises to manage live webcast distribution across all

types of corporate networks in a flexible manner. Depending on network capabilities in

different parts of an organization, SmartPath evaluates the enterprise network, segregates

it and mixes and matches different technologies like multicast, P2P, HTTP streaming,

mobile streaming to deliver the webcast out to the entire organization. This helps

MediaPlatform to scale webcasts in challenging situations. For example: enterprise wide

events like town halls, all hands meetings, large departmental meetings etc. For

Accenture’s annual Sustainability 24 event earlier this year, MediaPlatform WebCaster was

employed to webcast to 70 countries over a 24 hour period.

Technology Leverage

The SmartPath technology detailed above is MediaPlatform’s single most compelling

differentiator from a technology perspective. It solves the live distribution issue for

organizations of all sizes.

Whether it is an on-premises or a cloud deployment, security is the topmost consideration,

right next to scalability. The enterprise security features of the product are another key

differentiator. MediaPlatform tackles secure transit by employing best practices for

encryption across the board, be it HTTP or RTMP traffic. Access control protocols help

control authorization to view, edit, and download content. MediaPlatform also has

permission mapping with the enterprise SAML system - this enables the company to easily

manage and maintain permissions across thousands of employees through the centralized

directory.

In order to extend the platform and enable widespread video adoption within enterprises,

MediaPlatform integrates with several popularly used enterprise communication and

collaboration platforms. Its SharePoint integration, for example, allows a live webcast to



be viewed within a company’s SharePoint portal. MediaPlatform also integrates with Jive

and Yammer, the two most popular enterprise social networks. Live webcasts can be

shared and viewed on these platforms, and the comments and conversations on the

MediaPlatform webcast are viewable within the social networks as well.

To enable its enterprise customers to leverage existing infrastructure investments, the

MediaPlatform solution is also integrated with several video conferencing units. Through

standards based SIP, MediaPlatform is able to integrate with Cisco, Polycom and Tandberg

end points among others. Feeds from video conferencing end points can be ingested into

MediaPlatform and broadcasted out to large audiences.

The MediaPlatform solution can also integrate with Winnov lecture capture solutions that

are widely used in K-12 and higher education organizations. Where WebCaster is used for

external communications and lead generation, the solution is integrated with SalesForce

and marketing automation software Eloqua to streamline the lead communication process

to CRM applications.

Brand Equity

Since its founding in 2005, MediaPlatform has been focused on the enterprise video

segment of the market. Some of the world’s top brands and organizations are

MediaPlatform’s customers. Technology companies like Facebook, business service firms

like Accenture, Ericsson and Ernst & Young, financial services firms like Charles Schwabb,

and several other large global organizations like Dow Chemicals and General Motors are

clients.

Close to 65% of MediaPlatform’s revenues come from North America, and the United

States is the single largest market for the solution. MediaPlatform is also gaining traction

in Europe and Latin America. MediaPlatform’s sound product line and early customer

successes in North America are helping the effort as the company scales to other

geographies.

Conclusion

MediaPlatform has been early to identify the direction in which the enterprise video

market is headed. The company’s solution is a fully integrated platform that enables large

global organizations to deliver and manage live webcasts as well as publish to on demand

content. MediaPlatform’s SmartPath technology gives the company a significant

competitive edge. The technology empowers the largest and most dispersed organizations

to enjoy scalable, reliable high quality webcasts as it helps to navigate even the most

complex enterprise networks. Even though the value proposition of webcasting is

powerful, the technology is yet to reach widespread enterprise adoption. MediaPlatform’s

integrations with a slew of popularly used enterprise technologies help extend video



webcasts as well as on demand video into other avenues such as collaboration platforms

and enterprise social networks. With its strong overall performance and future oriented

product line strategy, MediaPlatform has earned Frost & Sullivan’s 2014 Product Line

Strategy award in the Enterprise Video Webcasting Market.

Significance of Product Line Strategy Ultimately, growth in any organization depends upon customers purchasing from your

company, and then making the decision to return time and again. A full, comprehensive

product line that addresses numerous customer needs and preferences is therefore a

critical ingredient to any company’s long-term retention efforts. To achieve these dual

goals (customer value and product line strength), an organization must be best-in-class in

three key areas: understanding demand, nurturing the brand, and differentiating from the

competition. This three-fold approach to delivering Product Line Strategy Leadership is

explored further below.



Understanding Product Line Strategy Leadership

As discussed above, driving demand, brand strength, and competitive differentiation all

play a critical role in delivering unique value to customers. This three-fold focus, however,

must ideally be complemented by an equally rigorous focus on building a superior and

comprehensive product line.

Key Benchmarking Criteria

For the Product Line Strategy Leadership Award, we evaluated two key factors—Product

Line Strength and Customer Impact—according to the criteria identified below.

Product Line Strength

Criterion 1: Breadth

Criterion 2: Scalability

Criterion 3: Technology Leverage

Criterion 4: Features

Criterion 5: Supply Chain Reliability

Customer Impact

Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value

Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience

Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience

Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience

Criterion 5: Brand Equity

Best Practice Award Analysis for MediaPlatform

Decision Support Scorecard

To support its evaluation of best practices across multiple business performance

categories, Frost & Sullivan employs a customized Decision Support Scorecard. This tool

allows our research and consulting teams to objectively analyze performance, according to

the key benchmarking criteria listed in the previous section, and to assign ratings on that

basis. The tool follows a 10-point scale that allows for nuances in performance evaluation;

ratings guidelines are illustrated below.

RATINGS GUIDELINES



The Decision Support Scorecard is organized by Product Line Strength and Customer

Impact (i.e., the overarching categories for all 10 benchmarking criteria; the definitions

for each criteria are provided beneath the scorecard). The research team confirms the

veracity of this weighted scorecard through sensitivity analysis, which confirms that small

changes to the ratings for a specific criterion do not lead to a significant change in the

overall relative rankings of the companies.

The results of this analysis are shown below. To remain unbiased and to protect the

interests of all organizations reviewed, we have chosen to refer to the other key players in

as Company 2 and Company 3.

DECISION SUPPORT SCORECARD FOR PRODUCT LINE STRATEGY LEADERSHIP AWARD

Measurement of 1–10 (1 = poor; 10 = excellent)

Product Line Strategy

Product Line

Strength

Customer

Impact Average Rating

MediaPlatform 9.5 9.5 9.5

Competitor 1 9.0 8.5 8.75

Competitor 2 8.0 7.5 7.75


Criterion 1: Breadth

Requirement: Product line addresses the full range of customer needs and applications

Criterion 2: Scalability

Requirement: Product line offers products at a variety of price points and functionality

levels

Criterion 3: Technology Leverage

Requirement: Demonstrated commitment to incorporating leading edge technologies into

product offerings, for greater product performance and value

Criterion 4: Features

Requirement: Products offer a comprehensive suite of features to serve customers at

multiple levels of functionality, ease of use and applications

Criterion 5: Supply Chain Reliability

Requirement: There is sufficient control over the supply chain to ensure availability of key

components and thereby the availability of products in the product line

Customer Impact

Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value

Requirement: Products or services offer the best value for the price, compared to similar

offerings in the market



Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience

Requirement: Customers feel like they are buying the most optimal solution that

addresses both their unique needs and their unique constraints

Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience

Requirement: Customers are proud to own the company’s product or service, and have a

positive experience throughout the life of the product or service

Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience

Requirement: Customer service is accessible, fast, stress-free, and of high quality

Criterion 5: Brand Equity

Requirement: Customers have a positive view of the brand and exhibit high brand loyalty

Decision Support Matrix

Once all companies have been evaluated according to the Decision Support Scorecard,

analysts can then position the candidates on the matrix shown below, enabling them to

visualize which companies are truly breakthrough and which ones are not yet operating at

best-in-class levels.

DECISION SUPPORT MATRIX FOR PRODUCT LINE STRATEGY LEADERSHIP AWARD

High

Low

Low High

Cu

sto

mer I

mp

act


MediaPlatform

Competitor 2

Competitor 3



The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best

Practices Awards

Research Methodology

Frost & Sullivan’s 360-degree research

methodology represents the analytical

rigor of our research process. It offers a

360-degree-view of industry challenges,

trends, and issues by integrating all 7 of

Frost & Sullivan's research methodologies.

Too often, companies make important

growth decisions based on a narrow

understanding of their environment,

leading to errors of both omission and

commission. Successful growth strategies

are founded on a thorough understanding

of market, technical, economic, financial,

customer, best practices, and demographic

analyses. The integration of these research

disciplines into the 360-degree research

methodology provides an evaluation

platform for benchmarking industry players and for identifying those performing at best-

in-class levels.

360-DEGREE RESEARCH: SEEING ORDER IN

THE CHAOS



Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching, Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices

Our awards team follows a 10-step process (illustrated below) to evaluate award

candidates and assess their fit with our best practice criteria. The reputation and integrity

of our awards process are based on close adherence to this process.

STEP OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES OUTPUT

1 Monitor, target, and screen

Identify award recipient candidates from around the globe

Conduct in-depth industry research

Identify emerging sectors Scan multiple geographies

Pipeline of candidates who potentially meet all best-practice criteria

2 Perform 360-degree research

Perform comprehensive, 360-degree research on all candidates in the pipeline

Interview thought leaders and industry practitioners

Assess candidates’ fit with best-practice criteria

Rank all candidates

Matrix positioning all candidates’ performance relative to one another

3

Invite thought leadership in best practices

Perform in-depth examination of all candidates

Confirm best-practice criteria Examine eligibility of all

candidates Identify any information gaps

Detailed profiles of all ranked candidates

4

Initiate research director review

Conduct an unbiased evaluation of all candidate profiles

Brainstorm ranking options Invite multiple perspectives

on candidates’ performance Update candidate profiles

Final prioritization of all eligible candidates and companion best-practice positioning paper

5

Assemble panel of industry experts

Present findings to an expert panel of industry thought leaders

Share findings Strengthen cases for

candidate eligibility Prioritize candidates

Refined list of prioritized award candidates

6

Conduct global industry review

Build consensus on award candidates’ eligibility

Hold global team meeting to review all candidates

Pressure-test fit with criteria Confirm inclusion of all

eligible candidates

Final list of eligible award candidates, representing success stories worldwide

7 Perform quality check

Develop official award consideration materials

Perform final performance benchmarking activities

Write nominations Perform quality review

High-quality, accurate, and creative presentation of nominees’ successes

8

Reconnect with panel of industry experts

Finalize the selection of the best-practice award recipient

Review analysis with panel Build consensus Select winner

Decision on which company performs best against all best-practice criteria

9 Communicate recognition

Inform award recipient of award recognition

Present award to the CEO Inspire the organization for

continued success Celebrate the recipient’s

performance

Announcement of award and plan for how recipient can use the award to enhance the brand

10 Take strategic action

Review reprint and banquet opportunities

Coordinate media outreach Design a marketing plan Assess award’s role in future

strategic planning

Widespread awareness of recipient’s award status among investors, media personnel, and employees



About Frost & Sullivan

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and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's

Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined

research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation

of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages almost 50 years of experience in

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2015 Global Enterprise Video Webcasting Product …...platform that cater to live and on-demand...

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