Scale and Security For Enterprise Live Streams

Companies already have video conferencing solutions that they use for meetings, so there is some confusion around the need for a live streaming solution. I’m frequently asked, “What’s the difference between live streaming internal events and standard video conferencing platforms?”.

Differences between live streaming and video conferencing

The answer lies in how these two solutions perform for events such as Town Hall and All Hands meetings. Video conferencing solutions allow two-way communication, but struggle to cope with the load of large meetings. Hence, event organisers might only hold audio calls, low quality video calls or limit the number of attendees.

In contrast, live streaming is a one-way broadcast, which is powerful for companies to rapidly communicate with all employees, whether at one site or across geographies without compromising on quality. For corporates and multinational companies with thousands or hundreds of thousands of employees, live streaming is the most effective way to communicate at scale. What makes live streaming powerful is that it:

• Enables the broadcast of multiple qualities, ranging from 4K to mobile 240p for delivering the optimum video experience for each viewer depending on their internet connectivity and bandwidth availability. If you’re curious, this is called Adaptive Streaming.
• Maintains the desired video quality of the live stream as the concurrent viewers scale from hundreds to thousands and even hundreds of thousands.
• Allows interactivity with viewers through Live Chat with Moderation as well as Q&A functions.

If your company is preparing for growth, is growing rapidly or has already grown to over 1000 employees, I recommend that you consider live streaming as the tool to broadcast internal meetings across the company given its performance benefits. Further, the detailed insights into viewer data that StreamShark is able to provide is neither captured nor offered by video conferencing solutions. Read on for more on securely live streaming.

Security of confidential live streams

The largest concern enterprises have is regarding the security of their live streams and I’m always asked, “How do we ensure the security of our confidential live streams?”.

The primary risks that have to be managed are unauthorised access to your company’s live stream, and making sure the right people have access to the stream.

We prevent access by unauthorised parties and enable security audits for live streams delivered through StreamShark by:

• Providing a range of Digital Rights Management (DRM) options.
• Authorising access to the encrypted live video content according to the company’s access control list and group memberships therein through integrations with the company’s Single Sign-On (SSO) provider such as Okta, OneLogin and G Suite.
• Providing real time statistics and deep insights into viewer behaviour.

Not all live streaming providers are created equal and if you are considering live streaming for your company, it is essential that you find the right provider who is deeply committed to ensuring high reliability, scalability and security for your internal events.

If security of meetings is a key area of concern for your company and you’d like more information, do reach out to us for a chat.