Media, innovation and productivity

By Tim Hughan

Tim Hughan of Altus Corp explains how simple, thorough and accurate file searching devices can improve efficiency in today’s technology dependent business world.

Despite millions of dollars spent on document management systems knowledge workers are still spending too much time looking for information. The simple fact is that the information they are looking for has not been captured. According to U.S Bureau of Labor statistics, most knowledge in any organization is conveyed informally, in meetings and web conferences, making its capture and dissemination difficult. This is especially evident at sales kick-offs or other events where attendees are fed a torrent of information to absorb. By the time the information is needed, most people cannot recall enough of what was said to be useful. Thus starts the endless process of employees searching through various systems for information that is no longer available.

The recent economic downturn has encouraged organizations to use more on-line tools such as Telepresence, video conferencing and web conferencing systems to share knowledge across the organization. Yet, the content of these meetings is not being captured in a way that can be used by the wider organization.  In addition, the growth in the use of MP4 video files in the Fortune 500 suggests that video is becoming a mainstay for enterprise communications, supplementing or even supplanting text as a tool for knowledge sharing.  Between 2006 and 2009 there has been a dramatic growth of 739 percent in MP4 files downloaded for internal use in fostering learning, training and sales enablement.

To address the problem of lost productivity from employees searching for information, innovative organizations are turning to media management systems to make rich media accessible to all employees. A leader in this space is Altus Learning Systems, which offers a SaaS-enabled video capture and management platform called vSearch. Altus notes the complexity of deriving value from the use of video data. "Until recently," says Altus CEO Ted Cocheu, "enterprise users had to wade through an entire video file, and in some cases find that the information they needed wasn't there. Altus makes it possible to search video files down to the spoken word or phrase, helping users find the nugget of information they need and eliminating the frustration of fruitless searches."

Altus serves over 20 Fortune 500 enterprises including Cisco Systems, NetApp and Oracle. Cisco joined forces with Altus to capture live events, web conferences and conference calls and shares the knowledge from those events with its sales force of 16,000 sales people in 87 countries. Recently, NetApp was recognized by CIO Magazine for its deployment of Altus vSearch in its sales and channel enablement efforts, earning praise as one of 100 innovative organizations that use IT effectively. In 2009, Oracle saved $10 million by hosting a virtual sales kickoff rather than bringing in employees and partners from all over the world for a 3-day onsite event. Oracle turned to Altus vSearch to capture and share all kickoff video presentations and sales tools. Paul Salinger, Vice President of Marketing at Oracle, commented, "Altus extends the shelf life of our content, making it easy to find information and create new assets from it. That's the advantage their tool provides to the Oracle sales force."

With tens of millions of iPhones, Blackberrys, Android and iPad devices being used in the enterprise, Altus recently introduced vSearch Mobile, which gives mobile users the same ability to browse, search, and play video and slide content as the desktop version, providing continuous and seamless access to corporate knowledge.

Biography

Tim Hughan, Director of Marketing at Altus Learning Systems, executes the company's product, services and company vision in all customer and product communications. Tim brings 15+ years experience delivering successful marketing programs for companies such as Apple, Hyperion (now Oracle), and Schlumberger. Tim earned a degree in Instructional Design from CSU Chico.