At NAB and InfoComm, vendors love to slap a “corporate video” label on the same broadcast tech they’ve always sold. But according to Eivind Sandstrand, founder and principal of Varde Media Solutions, that’s mostly marketing, not a real solution. In Episode 1, The Truth About Corporate Video: Myth or Fact?, of our new video series with Varde Media Solutions, titled “Debunking M&E Myths and Uncovering How Media Tech Partners Can Effectively Drive Business Value for Corporate Video”, Sandstrand sits down with OpenDrives CEO Trevor Morgan and CTO Alex Dunfey to debunk the “corporate video” myth and unpack what enterprise teams , from law firms to healthcare providers, actually need from their video technology.

Watch the full conversation below, or keep reading for the key takeaways and full discussion.

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/PI5buB8phgg?si=imaV060wzQh3HfPV

Key Takeaways

  • “Corporate video” as an industry category is largely a rebrand of existing broadcast tech, not a purpose-built solution, and enterprise buyers can tell the difference.
  • Enterprise buyers like law firms and healthcare providers don’t care about codecs, frame rates, or broadcast specs; they have entirely different business objectives.
  • The underlying technology needs (storage, access, distribution) often overlap with media and entertainment (M&E), but the packaging and user experience have to change for non-broadcast teams.
  • Vendors who don’t understand a customer’s actual business objectives are, in Sandstrand’s words, “trying to push a square peg into a round hole.”

The “Corporate Video” Myth

Sandstrand doesn’t mince words about how the industry treats this category: “Corporate video as it’s being portrayed at events like NAB and InfoComm is a complete myth. It doesn’t really exist.” His point: most vendors have “taken their tech portfolio and lifted it up and pivoted over to a new audience and slapped a new label on it and said, hey, this is corporate video”, without changing anything about what the technology actually solves for. He notes that while NAB reported 13% of attendees flagged interest in corporate video, his own walkthrough of every booth suggested the number of solutions actually suited to it was smaller still.

The distinction matters because the buyer’s priorities are completely different. As Sandstrand put it: “A law firm doesn’t care about what kind of codec you’re using. A healthcare provider doesn’t care about the frame rate or the storage capacity… They have other business objectives, and if you can’t understand what they are and your technology can’t address those, then you’re not in the corporate video business; you’re still in the media tech business trying to push a square peg into a round hole.”

Morgan, OpenDrives’ CEO, connected this to his own experience: early in his career, he watched a large optical networking company employ real post-production talent working toward specific outcomes rather than technical specs. “They did have very different outcomes than what we would see with our traditional M&E customers… it was about the product”—capturing something complex in a way that resonated with a very different audience than a broadcast crew would target.

Dunfey, OpenDrives’ CTO, agreed that the underlying technology needs often overlap with traditional M&E. Storage, access, and distribution are still required, but the packaging and user experience have to shift: “Maybe they don’t care about codecs, but they still care about [performance] while they’re doing whatever editing that they’re doing… some of the technical challenges that have been solved by data storage companies like OpenDrives… still need these solutions, but maybe they need to be packaged differently.”

About the speakers

Eivind Sandstrand is Founder and Principal at Varde Media Solutions, a consultancy and solution builder focused on enterprise video, and OpenDrives’ channel partner for this series. Connect with him on LinkedIn here. You can also visit Varde Media Solutions at https://vardemediasolutions.com/.

Trevor Morgan is CEO of OpenDrives, with a 30-year career in enterprise software and a role at OpenDrives since 2018. Connect with him on LinkedIn here.

Alex Dunfey is CTO of OpenDrives, overseeing product development across OpenDrives’ Atlas, Edge, and Astraeus product lines, plus IT, customer support, and product teams.Connect with him on LinkedIn here.

FAQ

Is “corporate video” a real, distinct technology category? Not entirely — much of what’s marketed as “corporate video” solutions today is repurposed broadcast technology with a new label, rather than tools built around enterprise business outcomes.

What do enterprise video buyers actually care about, if not technical specs like codecs or frame rate? Business outcomes specific to their industry, not broadcast-grade technical performance. A law firm or healthcare provider is optimizing for very different things than a news broadcaster.

Do enterprise and corporate video customers need completely different technology than broadcasters? Not entirely. The underlying needs (storage, access, distribution) often overlap. What changes is the user experience, packaging, and complexity level required.

This is Episode 1 of our series with Varde Media Solutions, Debunking M&E Myths and Uncovering How Media Tech Partners Can Effectively Drive Business Value for Corporate Video. Look out for more episodes here: https://opendrives.com/blog/the-corporate-video-series/.

See how OpenDrives’ Corporate Creative Solution is purpose-built for corporate video use cases.