Jérôme Vial iWedia Business development director
What are the main challenges facing the media industry right now? The fragmentation of channels delivering media is massive for the legacy players. This is true for both technology and content providers, as well as distributors. The audience is being bombarded by more platforms and providers outside the traditional industry as we know it. The media is a vast group of actors, and all actors are being ‘disrupted’ at their own level. Though, I would say that operators have the biggest difficulties to overcome.
Tell us your hopes for 2022. To see technology efforts focused on bringing truthful and trustworthy media services to all who should have access to them. And that we hold accountable those who use technology to spread fake news and misinformation. What are the three most useful pieces of technology for your business? In our field, we rely heavily on Android TV software in order to build solid entertainment ecosystems for our customers. Additionally, we thrive in
hybrid delivery environments, and are now looking at extending our services to incorporate connected devices (IoT) – and bring additional customer services to digital TV delivery. If you could invent any technology, what would it be? Probably an instant fact-checking news tool. Without it necessarily being a moderator with the capability to remove content, it could provide audiences with a percentage of credibility to the news being shared.
Yucel Timur Pebble Director of operations
What are the main challenges facing the media industry right now? The component shortage has been something of a challenge. This, coupled with longer delivery timescales thanks to new shipping regulations, has kept the operations team on its toes. That said, it’s a great problem to have, with a high volume of projects underway. The team have pulled together to find new ways of minimising any impact on the customer. After careful consideration, and following a staff survey which sought the input of the team, Pebble took the decision to move permanently to a remote working model a few months ago. Over 40% of staff were already remote workers, and during the various lockdowns – when this was forced – we successfully designed, delivered and commissioned more than 230 systems remotely in 2020 alone. Upgrades, support and training all continued virtually, too. But becoming a remote company is not the same as simply continuing to work from home, as we did during lockdown. We have therefore implemented a formal policy, recently recruiting a head of remote to help us
fully and intentionally transition to a 100% remote operation. We’re finding that customers continue to manage the challenges of hybrid workflows, between on-premises and the cloud, while still working with legacy SDI devices. Tell us your hopes for 2022. To continue supporting broadcasters as they adapt to compete with new entrants in the video media space. And provide solutions that enable a seamless transition from SDI to IP, or moving to hybrid SDI/IP workflows. We have plans to expand our cloud playout solutions, to continue showing broadcasters that we can be their expert partner. Our trajectory of continued growth will also see us expanding into new geographies, offering a wider range of payment models to match user needs. What are the three most useful pieces of technology for your business? In addition to obvious hardware like laptops, computers and phones, we rely heavily on certain online technology. Microsoft Teams is a must-have
communication tool. It is the best way to keep connected with colleagues virtually and conduct large team meetings where documents can be shared easily. In being available as an app, it has been most useful for attending meetings outside of a normal working-from-home environment. Since we are moving to become a 100% remote operation, the importance of Teams cannot be underestimated! There’s also intrigue around what is actually behind that blurred background, or the element of surprise when a random cat walks across the screen! Since we design awesome software to automate channel playout, we rely on a talented team of software developers and product owners. And to share knowledge amongst the team, Confluence is the go-to platform for ideas, workflows and system updates. Like many businesses, we use Salesforce to keep clients up to date as opportunities evolve and progress. It helps us work with customers to shape a solution that’s right for them. If you could invent any technology, what would it be? As an innovative software company, we could invent any technology – and we’re working on some exciting developments. The secret is to match what the market wants and solving customer pain points. Our growing R&D team are fully committed to an exciting programme, which we look forward to sharing in the coming months and years!
BECOMING REMOTE IS NOT THE SAME AS SIMPLY CONTINUING TOWORK FROMHOME
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