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Over the past two years, we at Wistia have spent a great deal of time helping businesses effectively use web video. We continue to be amazed at the innovative ways people are using web video to help their companies. The vast majority of these companies, surprisingly, are not media companies: they’re businesses that incorporate video into their sales, marketing, or training to help scale those processes more efficiently.
Here are a few of the more interesting examples we’ve seen recently of companies putting video to work:
Selling Large-Scale Autonomous Robotic Systems
As it turns out, giving potential customers a demo of autonomous robots at work tends to be a pretty effective selling tool. But finding the time, budget, and resources to arrange live demonstrations can be challenging. This is the problem that presented itself to a company we started working with recently. The company’s solution was to privately share videos of the robots with prospects. The solution allows prospects to receive customized presentations, including videos and documents that are relevant to their needs. Sales reps are able to interact with more prospects at once and focus on prospects that are actually interested, rather than those that are casually looking.
Training Corrections Officers to Use GPS-Monitoring Bracelets
This company was launching the next version of its GPS-monitoring product and looking for a new way to quickly train a few thousand of its customers. Previously, it had relied on live web meetings to educate customers, going through multi-hour training sessions. Now, it records screencasts and shares the resulting videos with several thousand corrections officers in need of training. Each officer accesses a private collaborative area to view the videos and ask questions on his or her own schedule. The company has significantly reduced training expenses and freed up instructors’ time to answer questions that benefit all trainees.
Casting International Theatrical Shows
Casting people for multiple productions that require 50 to 100 performers of various types from around the world is a major challenge. One company facing this logistical challenge turned to video for the answer. By recording auditions held around the globe and privately sharing the video with casting directors, it has been able to turn a coordination nightmare into a competitive advantage.
Medical Device Product Development
When developing a new medical device and the associated surgical procedure, every extra day in clinical trials can represent millions of dollars in lost revenue. One of the first companies we started working with has been able to speed up its development process significantly by putting video of clinical trial procedures on the web. As procedures are completed, the videos are immediately uploaded and shared with doctors and engineers all over the world (previously, they were mailed on DVDs). With web video, not only has the company been able to shorten the review process, but it has been able to bring more medical experts into the conversation. It has reduced iteration time for both product and procedure, shaving days off their time to market.
The above are just a few of the interesting ways companies both large and small are using video on a daily basis. Are you thinking about or already using video in a new and innovative way to help your business? If so, we would love to hear about it. Feel free to leave a comment or contact us at Wistia directly.
