Video content: it is taking over the world. Once the preserve of a few major television broadcasters, now even the smallest of organizations in the strangest of niches can find themselves with a whole library of AV and media assets: a library that can quickly become unwieldy and messy, if not managed properly. This is because managing AV assets carries with it its own particular sets of challenges. Media assets are - by their nature - much harder to sort, search and categorize than data or text-based files. Imagine knowing that last year you recorded just the right talking-head clip on subject X, but have 500 interview videos that it could be located within. Where do you start in trying to find it? The effort of searching manually is simply prohibitive, and so the value of the media asset is instantly lost.
Other complexities come from the sheer range of technical elements that come associated with audio and video; file format, codec, resolution, frame rate Not to mention the added concerns of data protection conformance, usage rights and access permissions. How do you check if Client A or Employee B is allowed access to Video Y, and what do you do when they need it in H.264 but you have it in MPEG2?
Now, one thing is for certain; as your media asset library grows, simply dumping it all into some hastily labeled folders and hoping for the best will not be sufficient. Indeed, not only does it fail to leverage the maximum possible value from your assets, it puts you in a position where you risk making expensive mistakes. Mismanagement can be costly. And this goes double for organizations who share their media assets with third parties - either as an incidental part of their work or as the backbone of their business model.
The need for Media Asset Management
If you are working in any depth with media, there is a reasonable chance you've already heard of MAM; Media Asset Management. For those of you who have not, a quick overview might be useful.
Simply put, a MAM is a place to store all of your media assets, combined with a GUI and platform that allows you - and potentially third parties - to access, sort, categorize and search them. It might also be combined with a range of tools that allow you to automate certain processes. Naturally, the sophistication with which any of these functions is achieved will vary between MAM providers.
Of course, as more and more organizations from a variety of different fields look to make more effective use of their media assets, the way in which they use those assets becomes more and more diverse. When Media Asset Management was the preserve of just a few high-level broadcasting firms, how they used their library was broadly similar, and so their management needs were fairly homogenized. MAM systems were much the same.
Now though, companies are varied in their needs. Even the very definition of a media asset' has extended beyond the conventional notion of AV media. Different businesses maintain diversified assets, in disparate databases, with varied workflows and complex interactions between stakeholders and assets. This means they have far more specific demands of their MAM - seeking a solution that is flexible, adaptable and configurable to their needs. And that's where VSNExplorer steps in.
VSNExplorer MAM: Third-party access and security
One of the most pressing concerns in the maintenance of media libraries is the fact that increasingly, a wide range of stakeholders need access to this data. These stakeholders might be within the business, working with assets remotely. Or they might be external clients to the business, with the business providing a hub' of media to its own extensive client base.
Managing media access for either of these types of users is not necessarily a straightforward undertaking; these stakeholders might be working with different systems, they may need the media in different formats or with different conditions applied to it, and they may have different access rights or security considerations.
We designed the VSNExplorer MAM with the idea of third-party access in mind. First and foremost, VSNExplorer can operate on an on-premise, cloud or hybrid cloud basis compatible with all major storage technologies, thereby centralizing media assets and facilitating access from anywhere in the world. Indeed, a focus on compatibility is really at the heart of VSNExplorer; this means high-level transcoding abilities to make media available in the formats needed, integration with major social media, OTT, VoD and WebTV platforms, and an open API so that third parties can easily integrate access to VSNExplorer into their own workflows.
On top of this, VSNExplorer maintains a sophisticated user management system that ensures that third parties have access to what they need, but are excluded from what they do not. Automation of user access in this way saves expensive and time-consuming headaches trying to manage the complexities of multi-party access, all with different negotiated contracts or security clearances.
VSNExplorer MAM: Tools for speed, efficiency and accuracy
Whilst traditional' broadcasters may have quite vocal demands about what they expect from a MAM, non-traditional users can often be surprised at just how much functionality MAMs actually have built within them. They often simply do not realize the scope that effective media asset management provides; making the whole process of media management smoother, simpler, clearer, faster, more efficient, and more accurate - often in ways they would never imagine.
The functionality of VSNExplorer is vast - and, crucially, customizable to business needs. But first and foremost, we have paid attention to making the core processes as robust and market-leading as possible. This means exceptional searchability driven by AI-supported metadata - a
