Out of 1,512 corporate executives, 81% describe online video as an effective tool for communicating work-related information. That’s an undeniable movement toward video within the enterprise… but what are they using it for? What manner is video being deployed that executives are seeing value in?
This article spotlights prominent enterprise video use cases to explore inside your own company. It also highlights major case studies for several of them for further inspiration.
If a downloadable version, focusing just on use cases, is preferred, download Using Video for Internal Corporate Communications, Training & Compliance white paper.
- Internal training and enablement
- Employee spotlights
- Town hall meetings
- Onboarding
- Department updates
- Compliance training
- Event coverage
- Employee generated content: UGC
Internal training and enablement
For many, training and enablement are one of the primary use cases for corporate video solutions. The benefits are often related to scale and cost savings. A lot of traditional training involved flying in experts and/or required travel for a large amount of personnel in order to conduct courses at a central location. This is not only costly, but also runs into personnel issues. For example, what happens in regards to employees on vacation during this time or if a new hire is brought on board just a month after one of these sessions?
Conducting this over video, though, offers a chance to mitigate much of these costs. Rather than tie up employees with travel, they could attend live streaming training sessions. These sessions would still offer a time for feedback, through Q&A and other engagement models, while also providing the ability to be re-used as on-demand content. The latter is crucial, as 36% of executives cited this as one of the top two reasons for investing in on-demand technology in the first place.
See how Herman Miller engages its sellers with live video while saving half a million dollars annually:
Employee spotlights
Recognizing employee contribution, in any form, can be incredibly valuable. It can lead to a happier workforce and also employees that might stick around longer. This, naturally, can pay dividends long term, as hiring a new employee carries with it an average cost-per-hire of $4,129 according to a report from the Society for Human Resource Management. Furthermore, 68% of HR professionals vouched that recognition programs were effective for reducing turnover as well.
Now recognition can, and should, take a variety of forms. From one-on-one positive feedback via a supervisor to being name dropped during a company outing. Ideally, it should leave a lasting impression, which is where video comes into play. By creating a video format that routinely recognizes employees, managers and human resources can get creative to make the employee being highlighted feel that much more honored. In addition to leaving a better impression, an on-demand version is also something that a recognized employee can revisit later, hopefully continuing that feeling of accomplishment.
Town hall meetings
Town hall sessions offer a valuable moment for key leaders to share their vision. When done right this can embolden employees while giving them a clear sense of direction as well. Now all-hands meetings can be costly when done in person, although this provides the opportunity for two-way discussions from employees. The latter is something that is key with these venues, as it gives certain employees access to higher or even the highest level of leadership in the company that they might not otherwise have an oppurtinity to interact with.
Naturally, this is where video comes into play. These town hall meetings can be streamed, lowering costs for all-hands sessions while giving employees the ability to ask important questions through live Q&A modules.
See how SolarCity takes this concept to the next level with SolarCity TV, reaching over 5,000 employees per event with live Q&A done through IBM:
Onboarding
There is debate on how long the onboard process should last. Human Resources: Executive has an article with countering view points. In it, Michael Gretczko, a principal at Deloitte, says onboarding “should be spread out over months, if not a year”. On the other spectrum, Rephael Sweary, president and co-founder of WalkMe, states that onboarding should take as little time “as possible”. The outlining lesson, though, is that current onboarding processes need improvement.
Video is only a part of that aspect, as it can enable elements of the onboarding process to be scaled. So employee “A” might go through a process that is heavy in video to help train and introduce them to the work culture. In addition, employee “B” could then go though the same process, scaling this aspect. Companies can also gauge what parts are working best, swapping out courses that aren’t as effective while keeping other elements the same.
Department updates
New product launching? Major offering update? Maybe a change in marketing’s focus?
Broadcasting department updates has several benefits over other approaches. One is that it can include engagement opportunities. This can range from live audience polling for video, getting a quick heartbeat from the audience that could direct the presentation, to something more involved like audience Q&A. The latter makes attending more valuable for individual employees, as it gives them a chance to air comments or concerns they might have in response to the department update. In addition, an on-demand version of the update would also be available, so people who were out or want to check it again are given that option.
Alternatively, this can focus on just broadcasting and archiving select team meetings as well. This way additional time commitment from key staff members isn’t required, while the value of activities already being conduced is increased.
See how Roland aligns global teams and more, allowing video to aid in internal comms and also marketing activities as well.
Compliance training
The legal landscape that companies operate in is frequently evolving. Enterprises have crafted, and continually update, compliance training programs intended to educate employees on laws and regulations, while also briefing employees on company policies.
Video has long been a major component of compliance training, being more engaging than text only alternatives. Like a lot of video use cases, the advantage with doing this over video is being able to affordably scale. Secure video hosting and viewer tracking also help to restrict content to intended audiences while also being able to validate that employees completed content, including data like when the video was accessed and how much was watched (completion rate).
As a pro-tip for companies exploring using video for compliance training, a strategy is to break these up into small segments. The reason for this is that as new regulations come out or policies are updated, content has to be changed to reflect this. So if things are in smaller segments, this might mean only a small segment or two has to be updated rather than having to rehaul an entire course video.
Event coverage
Trade shows can be exciting, as can company events. Covering these activities through internal video gives an option for a larger perspective. Was a trade show booth or presence particularly noteworthy? Sometimes a video tour can say so much more than just a few pictures.
On the company event side, a staff retreat can be nice to highlight with some video as well. This can reinforce hopefully team building activities that took place, while also giving a chance to bask in some of the fun the staff had. Alternatively, was your company involved in charitable activities? Documenting this can also better highlight volunteer commitments from employees and showcase some of the positive impact these are having on the community at large. In the case of the latter, a highlight version can also be created, one that could have the potential to be external facing as a PR effort to bolster goodwill toward the brand.
See how Salesforce broadcasted their Dreamforce event, although this was with an external focus in mind to draw additional attendance.
Employee generated content: UGC
UGC (user generated content) presents several benefits for enterprises, letting them improve archives of internal content by accepting submissions. These benefits can range from giving easy access to subject experts in a non-disruptive manner to fostering creativity through personalization.
Also, just because users can submit content, doesn’t necessarily mean everything is shared equally. An advantage of having more content is being choosy, so only highlighting the most useful UGC. Note that the keyword there is highlight, as this doesn’t mean that other content is deleted outright but that it simply doesn’t have to be highlighted in the same manner as the better content that is created.
Summary
There are a large number of enterprise video use cases out there. These can help train and better employees, to just engaging staff and placing them in a better position to feel good about where they work at and the direction the company is headed. Not all use cases are applicable to every company equally, but some of these could be a great fit for your organization.
Already using a video solution for internal comms? If so, register and watch this Video Best Practices for Your Internal Communication Strategy webinar.