If any industry understands the opportunities and challenges of remote work and collaboration, it’s media and entertainment (M&E). Research shows that the global M&E storage market is expected to reach nearly $18 billion by 2027. Factors like the rise in 4K, 8K, and even 16K UHD and the increased demand for video content have rapidly advanced cloud-based post-production solutions to meet these exponentially growing needs.
There’s also quite a bit of hype around the cloud—and when and where to use cloud storage.
But often missing from the conversation about IT procurement of these technologies is the role of creative directors and their teams, the very people responsible for bringing this content to life. At Resilio, we know that creative directors can be just as tech-savvy as their engineering colleagues, especially when it comes to cloud file storage solutions.
In this post, we cover the top four truths creative directors know about cloud-based post-production and the technologies they interact with every day. We also discuss why more and more leading studios and creative agencies trust Resilio with transferring, distributing and synchronizing their largest, most business-critical assets.
Let’s get started.
#1: Technology advances make creative work easier than ever before
With so many technology providers charging Hollywood premiums, many people assume that only the biggest media and entertainment organizations have access to the latest and greatest solutions. And using the cloud can become expensive fast. The reality is companies of all sizes, even small to mid-sized creative agencies, need to level their technical playing field.
Creative directors and teams no longer need to cobble together business plans of consumer cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox, which were not designed to host large, high-value assets up to 8K.
Modern enterprise B2B cloud storage solutions are purpose-built for fluid scalability. Yet the challenge of reliably and optimally synchronizing assets with the cloud should be easy and work with your existing workflows:
- No more overnight batch syncs. All creative directors and their teams need is a decent internet connection to easily transfer terabytes of data super fast.
- No more organizational silos. Enterprise-grade permissioning allows teams to collaborate with each other, but also with contractors and freelancers outside of their organization.
- No more butt-in-seat culture. Businesses are global, and the technologies they use should support a remote, distributed workforce, regardless of their file storage or transfer needs. Unlike proprietary clouds that lock their customers into their offerings, leading providers enable real-time collaboration, using any cloud from any location.
The best technologies on the market don’t have to equate to the most expensive. Creative teams at media and entertainment companies of all sizes can access and afford simple yet sophisticated solutions like Resilio Connect.
#2: You don’t need to work in IT to care about security
It’s safe to say that creative directors and post-production teams work with some of the most privileged intellectual property, protected under the strictest non-disclosure agreements. This includes corporate branding packages for the largest entertainment companies and the development of film, television, video games, and other media.
Because of the sensitivity of the data and the confidentiality required of all parties, security is of the utmost importance. Creative teams need to own and control their data on their own machines. Accessing cloud storage can be unreliable, depending on your network. And accessing cloud storage over public networks such as WiFi also poses security risks, which is why creative agencies are often prohibited by their clients from using it.
The best file delivery and storage solutions understand the M&E industry inside and out and offer built-in, end-to-end security features to protect digital assets:
- End-to-end encryption. The platform creative teams need should encrypt large, high-value assets both at rest and in flight.
- Built-in security. Data should be protected across any internet connection, without requiring VPNs or third-party services.
- Protection without the pain. Creative teams work quickly and highly collaboratively, so any tool they use should be secure without sacrificing speed and ease of use.
It’s important to point out that the cloud is not an all-or-nothing proposition. Some organizations want to use their cloud of choice on a project-by-project basis or leverage object storage as part of their post-production workflow.
Advanced technologies like Resilio Connect offer flexibility for using any cloud and mix of on-premise and remote resources. They serve as hybrid cloud storage gateways, extending on-prem file servers and remote desktop storage to the cloud with universal file delivery. This means M&E businesses are protected against ransomware, data loss and other security risks.
#3: Creative directors need a seat at the table when it comes to IT procurement
Creative directors and their teams may not be typically the primary stakeholders to procure new technologies, but they’re often the power users of them. The biggest mistake IT buyers can make is not consulting the very people who produce the projects that necessitate such data-intense tech.
And it doesn’t take a long conversation with creative teams to learn they have strong opinions about cloud-based post-production and what they expect from technology providers:
- Seamless integration. The last thing a creative director needs is the stress of connecting a new tool to the rest of their tech stack. The right solution should integrate with all major cloud storage systems, virtualization platforms, and workspaces. And because it already connects with their existing infrastructure of choice, that means zero headaches for IT as well.
- Rapid disaster recovery. Tragedy strikes when data is lost, so file-sharing solutions must provide scale-out, omnidirectional and cross-region replication. This makes it possible to move files at full speed over any network, irrespective of latency and network quality.
- Stellar support. Nobody wants to work with a faceless vendor. Technology providers should offer dedicated customer support to serve as trusted partners, from implementation to onboarding and beyond.
When creative directors are actively involved in technology purchasing decisions, both post-production and IT teams are better off because of it.
#4: Technology is as much of an emotional purchase as it is operational
Cloud storage providers that serve the media and entertainment industry all boast the benefits of faster, easier synchronization of large assets. But what is not as natural of a selling point but just as important is the peace of mind creative teams receive, simply by knowing a file transfer will complete when they need it to.
Here are just a few examples of why IT procurement is an emotional decision:
- Wow-worthy workflows. Creative directors are the first to attest that just having the ability to work on files and sync them at the same time is a productivity game-changer.
- Teamwide reassurance. Redundancy can be an important strategy, but when assets are automatically synced across all machines, manual backups become a thing of the past.
- Notable network effects. It’s just math: the more machines you add to a project, the faster everything becomes. With the right solution, creative work becomes more like drinking from a fire hose than a broken dripping faucet—in the best way possible.
Every competitor will describe their cloud storage solution like a Kanye song—harder, better, faster, stronger. But only the best alternatives can make people happier, improving the emotional well-being of creative and IT professionals alike.
More Collaborative Creative Work With Resilio
When factoring in the boosts to productivity and morale, there’s a reason why Resilio is at the top of creative directors’ technology wishlists. Resilio allows post-production teams in media and entertainment to work with anyone, from anywhere, faster and more efficiently than ever before.
One unique differentiator of Resilio is its transparent selective sync (TSS), which allows you to browse, download and sync objects from the cloud in real-time or on-demand. This means you can access only the files and objects you need at that moment in time, wherever you’re located. The big benefit is efficiency: You only download and sync what you need from the cloud.
And on top of that, when you consider that Resilio is more cost-effective than legacy data transfer and file collaboration solutions, the true value of its benefits is priceless. To see exactly why creative teams get giddy about Resilio, reach out and schedule a demo today.
