NEWS

Self Service vs Managed Service

by | Nov 19, 2021 | Blog Post

Progress within the broadcast industry is driven by multiple factors. These might include; changing consumer trends, technology advancements, changes in the commercial landscape, diversification of skills, knowledge and expertise of those working across the sector – or any combination of the above. Add to that the ever-increasing prevalence of remote, cloud and IP workflows, and it is clear that the scale of opportunity in our industry has never been greater. 

As a vendor, we have noticed a shift in the services and solutions that our customers and prospective customers are seeking. To address this, we have tailored our offering so that everyone we work with can access all the benefits of integrated IP and hybrid broadcast workflows. This allows customers to implement solutions in a way that is best suited to their own operations and technical capabilities. 

Adapting the approach to suit a variety of workflows and requirements, means that IP delivery can cater for a wider segment of the industry. It also helps customers respond to a changing broadcast landscape and maximise the growth opportunities that cloud-based delivery brings. 

Let’s look at the two overarching workflow strategies for IP broadcasting:

Self Service

For many organisations, especially those in the production space, it is likely that there are in-house engineering and technical staff who are extremely competent with one or more broadcast workflows. These same organisations are also likely to deal with many different productions and, regardless of the content, the process is generally repeatable. From booking satellite transponder space, to liaising with rights takers to confirm entitlement credentials – the component parts of the workflow are the same every time.  

Given the shift to cloud-based methods, the likelihood of having in-house encoding, transcoding and IP transport knowledge is also increasingly high. Cloud service providers such as AWS offer these as component services, but what has been lacking until now is access to a clear-cut, broadcast-centric, familiar and repeatable workflow for IP distribution.  

What broadcasting teams have been missing is an on-demand solution that is immediately available, whenever and wherever it is needed. With the right infrastructure as a service, customers should be able to sign-up, present content, create stream variants and then route one-to-many or many-to-many IP feeds, to global receiving partners. Rather than being locked into proprietary hardware, these customers should be able to bring their own encoding equipment and operate as independently as possible.  

In many cases, organisations already have the knowledge they need and simply want to access the efficiencies of the cloud and on-demand infrastructure to get the job done. In this instance, we recommend using our Livelink self-service platform, to deliver live sports, events, and productions with customisable monitoring and expand on demand environments. Find out more about becoming the architect of your own content delivery here.

Managed Service

It’s important to recognise that within the complexities of broadcasting, there isn’t a one size fits all approach – self-service isn’t for everyone. Where broadcast workflows aren’t as familiar, or where processing and transcoding options aren’t well understood, customers should be able to tap into a deep technical understanding. By leveraging IP experience and protocol expertise, customers can get the support they need to transition to cloud-based delivery. It’s vital that those who are new to this technology benefit from a network which will allow them easier global access to content delivery destinations. 

But IP expertise and cloud-based infrastructure aren’t the only considerations. Organisations moving to an IP delivery approach will often need to make changes to their hardware set-up. In these instances, it’s crucial that they are advised on the right broadcast-grade hardware, to avoid costly outlays on kit that doesn’t meet their requirements. At Cerberus Tech we only offer best-in-class solutions and don’t compromise on hardware quality. That means tailoring our recommendations to suit you rather than having any proprietary restrictions. This is to ensure that Livelink feeds are compatible downstream and broadcastable at the desired specifications. 

The complexity created by a multitude of options available for distributing content can be overwhelming even for large organisations. Customers may need to deliver complex feeds with complete global routing and scheduling control. Opting for a managed service outsources that complexity, enabling customers to adapt to any requirement with cloud and protocol agnostic infrastructure. Find out more about live IP delivery with no compromises here.

The Choice is Yours 

As with all broadcast workflows, issues occasionally arise with IP delivery. The difference with next-gen technology is that if things don’t run according to plan, confidence is quickly eroded. Organisations seek refuge in the familiarity of traditional workflows that they know inside and out. But very often, the root cause of issues with IP deliveries can be boiled down to one of two sources. Firstly, the use of non-broadcast grade or proprietary/single-purpose equipment and secondly, a lack of protocol understanding. 

The reality is that IP workflow knowledge varies significantly across the industry. Given the vast opportunities for audience growth and cost reductions, at Cerberus Tech, our overarching goal is to ensure that all content owners can easily access these benefits. That means customers shouldn’t meet unnecessary blockers, along the path to cloud-based delivery. With this in mind, our Livelink solution was purpose built to offer both self-service and managed service options. 
Whether you choose to replace your existing workflows or augment them with a hybrid approach, Livelink will enhance your operations. Whatever your set-up and whatever your requirements, our team can support your content delivery aspirations. Get in touch to find out more.