Hello again, Bamboo Nation!
Today I get to talk to you about a product with a very high “cool factor”: SharePoint Video Library. I really like this product and, as a young business professional, it’s easy for me to get excited about it and what it represents for the enterprise.
One of the coolest things about being a tech writer at Bamboo is the unique perspective that I gain from working with our products. In many ways, my position lies somewhere in the gray area between customer and developer. I get to work with the extremely talented engineering team, which brings you products such as SharePoint Video Library, and the amazing support team that helps you use those products and tailor them to suit your needs. I also get to witness the incredible process of concepts turning into finished products, and then see those products put to use in some pretty awesome ways. Seeing the hard work that goes into the entire journey has given me a newfound respect for every piece of software I see on store shelves.
On the flip side, it's my job to anticipate how you, the customer, will want to use our products and to explain how to do that through our Online Documentation. Because of this, I often get a taste of what you find helpful and what you find frustrating. That is why I find tools like SharePoint Video Library to be so amazing.
Out-of-the-box, SharePoint features the ability to host multimedia files such as video and audio files, but it doesn’t really go much further than that. With technology rapidly advancing to the point where almost anyone with a smartphone can create professional multimedia content, it's important for SharePoint and other enterprise software to dynamically handle such content in a way that makes it accessible, informative, and, yes, even fun. Multimedia applications are an important part of any business, and the professionals who make use of them need to be able to access them quickly and efficiently.
In my opinion, the coolest thing about SharePoint Video Library is the media player. SharePoint’s Asset Library only allows you to host files for download. Anyone who’s tried to download video files before, though, can tell you that it’s almost never a simple matter of downloading and playing your video or sound file. Often, you have to hunt for the right media player program or codec and, if you’re on a company computer, you may not be able to install said software without IT approval, which slows down the process immensely. SharePoint Video Library’s built-in media player can take care of that for you. With support for all of the major audio and video formats (AVI, WMA, MP3, WAV, etc.), not only will it upload and host your media files, but chances are you can play them back or embed them in a Discussion Board Plus thread or team site with no messy installs to manage. It even automatically creates thumbnails and metadata for your files on the spot, so users can see a quick preview of your video as well as important statistics, such as file size, video length, and file format.
This product is big news. Anyone who has a social networking profile already knows how helpful and fun media sharing can be; there's no reason why that experience shouldn't translate to the business world. There is no limit to the number of applications you can find for media sharing. For example, say you are trying to troubleshoot an issue with your company’s software product with a customer in a different time zone. Phone support and remote access would be inconvenient at best. Why not ask your customer to upload videos of their error using a screen capture program or even a smartphone? When you're done troubleshooting the issue, you can upload your own videos or audio instructions for a solution for a seamless support experience, rather than engaging in a tedious game of phone tag.
The creativity that you can exercise with this product doesn’t end there, though. Your enterprise can deliver fresh multimedia advertisements, product information videos and audio recordings, and be able to keep customers up-to-date on your enterprise’s latest offerings without high advertising costs. Internal employees can share a wide range of resources, from training materials to recreational videos. SharePoint Video Library gives you the power to take full advantage of your multimedia content.
When I was a freshman in college, a little website called Facebook was just starting out. Eight years later, I find that online social networking is becoming a norm, rather than an innovation. Businesses will naturally migrate toward models based on the social networking concept that utilize features like multimedia sharing and enhanced communication features. SharePoint Video Library is a powerful tool that represents all of the amazing things that can be accomplished when modern technology is paired with innovative and productive minds. At Bamboo Solutions, we fully embrace the idea that moving forward means sharing and collaborating in a way that is both efficient and fun.
Try SharePoint Video Library with a free 30-day trial today!
P.S. Be on the lookout for the upcoming version update for SharePoint Video Library, which will add even more great features to the product.
Posted
Feb 02 2012, 09:30 AM
by
Jeff Kim
Jeff Kim is a member of the technical writing staff at Bamboo Solutions. As a tech writer, he has helped to create and update the online documentation for many Bamboo products, such as Community Central, Chart Plus Web Part, Password Change Web Part, and more. Jeff also manages a wide range of articles on the Bamboo Knowledge Base, editing and creating content as needed to help provide information to our community.
Starting in January of 2012, Jeff began a series of product-focused blog entries from the perspective of a tech writer and newcomer to SharePoint, entitled "A SharePoint Newbie's Take...". With these blogs, Jeff aims to further customer understanding of Bamboo products, as well as his own.