Google's new business video tool
Last week Google made big news when it launched Chrome, its new web browser. In a blog post on Sept. 3, the New York Times pointed to the potential death of the search toolbar, thanks to Chrome. But while Chrome is an interesting new development in the browser wars, I don't think it will have any major effects on digital marketing, at least not immediately.
Google also put forth a quieter launch last week -- its new Google Video for Business as a part of Google Apps. It's meant to be an enterprise solution that allows companies to share videos internally. Some of the suggested uses are corporate announcements and internal training. I could also see it being used for sharing of best practices and video newsletters. Because it's made to be secure from the prying eyes of competitors and the public (unlike posting videos on YouTube where a video is accessible to the world), Google Video could enable companies to accelerate their use of video internally.
According to the Google Video for Business site, "no large files or complex infrastructure" are required. It looks like the new product works similarly to YouTube works for mainstream video -- just a simple upload of a video file and it's available within your company. This type of simple, turnkey solution might make sense for smaller companies, and maybe even the smallest of mid-sized companies. But I'd expect the vast majority of bigger enterprises already have streaming servers in place to host videos. Google Video for Business isn't anything new or wonderful for them -- in fact it might even be a step backwards because it forces companies to sacrifice control. Only videos of a certain size are allowed, so big videos won't work. And on top of that, if you're not using Google Apps across your company, you can't share across your company. Since I doubt the market penetration of Google Apps among midsized and large companies is very big, Google Video for Business won't gain significant adoption in this market segment.
If you're a smaller company that's already using Google Apps, the new Google Video for Business offers some great tools for pushing the adoption of video across your company. If you're already considering deploying Google Apps for other reasons, the addition of video support might be another minor attractive feature as you're making your decision. But outside of these two situations, I don't expect Google Video for Business to win over too many people.
Google also put forth a quieter launch last week -- its new Google Video for Business as a part of Google Apps. It's meant to be an enterprise solution that allows companies to share videos internally. Some of the suggested uses are corporate announcements and internal training. I could also see it being used for sharing of best practices and video newsletters. Because it's made to be secure from the prying eyes of competitors and the public (unlike posting videos on YouTube where a video is accessible to the world), Google Video could enable companies to accelerate their use of video internally.
According to the Google Video for Business site, "no large files or complex infrastructure" are required. It looks like the new product works similarly to YouTube works for mainstream video -- just a simple upload of a video file and it's available within your company. This type of simple, turnkey solution might make sense for smaller companies, and maybe even the smallest of mid-sized companies. But I'd expect the vast majority of bigger enterprises already have streaming servers in place to host videos. Google Video for Business isn't anything new or wonderful for them -- in fact it might even be a step backwards because it forces companies to sacrifice control. Only videos of a certain size are allowed, so big videos won't work. And on top of that, if you're not using Google Apps across your company, you can't share across your company. Since I doubt the market penetration of Google Apps among midsized and large companies is very big, Google Video for Business won't gain significant adoption in this market segment.
If you're a smaller company that's already using Google Apps, the new Google Video for Business offers some great tools for pushing the adoption of video across your company. If you're already considering deploying Google Apps for other reasons, the addition of video support might be another minor attractive feature as you're making your decision. But outside of these two situations, I don't expect Google Video for Business to win over too many people.
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