accenture content and the cloud

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Content and the CloudHow cloud computing will help the broadcastand entertainment industry innovate, adapt,

and achieve high performance


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The transformation currently underway

in the media market is as profound and

impactful as the reinvention of the

music industry by Apple. In that scenar-

io, a nontraditional player leveraged an

innovative platform to drive incredible

change. Apples iPod device and iTunes

delivery system set a standard that

captured consumers and completely

altered the business model.

The banking sector in the final decades

of the 20th century stands as another

example. In that industry, electronic

capabilities brought new trading

techniques on the business side, while

ATMs and online access freed consumersto conduct transactions on their own

schedule. The business model dramati-

cally changed and continues to be

built around that electronic platform.

From a broadcast perspective, similar

changes accelerated by cloud comput-

ing may soon inspire the same type of

disruption and open doors for fierce

competition. The industry faces a

number of intriguing challenges that

can be addressed by cloud technologies:

Viewers are consuming content

through a wide variety of channels.

Television, PC, mobile, tabletthe

proliferation of devices demands a

more flexible business model that

can recoup revenue from a highly

segmented audience.

Because of the focus on consumer

access, the digital value chain is beingturned on its head. The power that

used to lie with distributors is now

owned by content producers, further

disrupting the delivery model.

Technical requirements are changing;

content providers and distributors

alike need scalable IT solutions to

keep pace. With millions of users

demanding an entirely new level of

capacity, current IT infrastructure is

simply not up to the task.

Adapting to a new environm

speed and innovation. Compa

more computing power to im

workflow, business analytics

input customer feedback into

and service cycles.

Cloud computing creates a plat

which companies of all sizes ca

pete on storage, distribution of

content and computing capaci

business solutions. In the face

new challenges, it enables com

to apply a new set of dynamics

launch them into a leadership

Just as important, sitting idle w

others test the technology will companies on the sidelines as c

tors capitalize on the tremendo

potential offered by the cloud.

There is a power shift occurring in broadcasand entertainment, as consumers now live ian on-demand world and content producersare stealing the spotlight from distributors.New device, delivery, and workflow technolooffer opportunities for high performancecompanies of all sizes to take the lead, andcloud computing is poised to make an impa

by supporting the next round of breakthrou

Content and t


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Content and

1 Not just blue-sky thinking: Cloud computing and the digital supply chain , C. David Wolf, Thomas Van de Velde,

Ross Sonnabend, Accenture Point of View, 2009

its most basic level, cloud computing

ows usersfrom consumers to con-

nt providers to distributorsto obtain

mputing capabilities through the

ternet, regardless of their physical

cation. Computing clouds are in

sence online, supersized data centers

ntaining tens of thousands of servers

osting web applications. Cloud services

om raw infrastructure to complete

siness processes can be purchased

rough web interfaces and turned on

d off as they are needed.

oud computing is still in early stages

t has the potential for rapid, wide-

read adoption as executives across industries begin to understand its

plications. The list of providers is also

owing, with players like Amazon,

Google and Microsoft leading the field

and other entrants like salesforce.com

focusing on specific business functions.

Using the cloud, computing resources

can be acquired faster and less expen-

sively than through traditional hardware

procurement. The cloud can scale up

and be put in play in mere minutes,

as opposed to the months it takes to

procure and configure hardware needed

to process peak data loads. The avail-

ability of nearly unlimited infrastructure

resources means that a digital supply

chain can adapt much faster to changes

in demand.

In addition to low cost and ease of

access, a cloud computing platform

improves the customer experience

and workforce productivity; companies

can focus on managing content and

business operations and let the cloud

provider handle hardware maintenance,

upgrades and other issues that

accompany running a data center.

Workflow and analytics solutions

also become more easily managed, as

software and computing power can be

supplied by the cloud, allowing workers

to gain access to enterprise enabling

software anywhere, anytime. This hides

complexity from the customer, shifts

the operational and risk burdens to the

cloud provider and brings significant

infrastructure savings made possibleby scalable utilization of the cloud

(See Figure 1).1

Customers risk & cost

-house operated platform Cloud operated platform

i

i li

l i i li l i

gure 1. In-house operation vs. Cloud operation

l l l SoftwareOperating System, programs

Hardware

CPUs, storage, switches, cabling, memory

Physical facility

Electricity, cooling, floor space, security

The Power of the Cloud

Content and the Cloud


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Four reasons that cloud will make animpact on broadcast & entertainmen

The 2009 Accenture Global Content

Study surveyed industry executives who

pointed to a common conclusion: future

revenue growth in the multi-device

world depends on delivering the right

quality and genre of content to the right

consumers over the right platform. This

requires, firstly, deep customer insight to

develop and target offerings across the

relevant delivery channels; and secondly,

the ability to serve those channels at

low marginal cost.2

These two needs can be directly

addressed in the cloud, giving companiesa low cost option to achieve high perfor-

mance goals. With this in mind, there

are four key reasons that broadcast and

entertainment will innovate and grow

with cloud computing.

1. Consumers demanddigital freedom

Consumer need is a clear driver for cloud

adoption. Viewing habits are changing

from month to month, and the delivery

methods are constantly advancing to

keep pace. With new distribution

avenues forming the primary source of

future revenue growth, business leaders

believe the channels most threatened

by change are traditional television,

print and retail (see Figure 2). In

contrast, online portals, streaming,

social media and eCommerce are the

least threatened.3

The assessment reflects tangible trends,as mobile devices and PCs become more

ingrained in everydayand everynight

use. This constant connectivity is a

crucial area of evolution that under-

scores the need for cloud. People are

more and more frequently accessing

content via networks, which translates

into an increase in IP usage that requires

greater hardware access.

In fact, as broadband connectivity at

home becomes a standard for most U.S.

households, consumers are calling for

more flexibility in concurrent viewing

options. People want content available

on multiple platforms and through any

devicewatching television in one room,

gaming in another, and listening to

online radio in another demands a

centralized system and an upgrade in

IP-based processing that can only be

efficiently achieved with cloud technology.

2. Businesses need the cloudphysically to accommodatecontent demands

Broadcast and entertainment companies

are well aware that consumers are now

calling the shots. With digital demandthat rises and falls in unpredictable

cycles, distribution demands are surpass-

ing realistic hardware capacity. This is

particularly evident in the case of User

Generated Contentespecially video

whose storage requirements dwarf

professionally produced content. At the

same time, the task of reformat

content, whether from analog t

or for a new digital distribution

is a time consuming manual ta

could be automated with the r

amount of on-demand comput

Social networking and online e

yet another area that battles ag

bandwidth during processing a

width peak usage. Online comm

become active in waves around

such as Fantasy Sports drafts a

Facebook holiday photo posting

more harrowing, an update in s

network privacy setting option

millions of people reconfigure s

settings in their online commu

changes touch their many cont

the demand for computing pow

explodes exponentially.

Cloud computing is uniquely suaddress these challenges, as its

for use model allows clients to

add or subtract server units fro

account; in times of significant

they need only to ramp up thei

space to meet demand for com

power.

Traditional TV

Retail

Print 43%

40%

1st choice 2nd choice 3rd choice

2 This time, its personal: Engaging and interacting with consumers is the content industrys new battleground,

the Accenture Global Content Study 2009, Mark Vernocchi, David Wolf, James Scott, Ross Sonnabend. Accenture 2009

3 Ibid

Figure 2. Which is the most vulnerable distribution channel used by consum

access content? (Choice ranked in top three.)

Content and tntent and the Cloud


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Content an

e business response to consumer

mand is giving rise to a repositioning

the value chain. A chain that used to

ly on giants of the industry to bring

edia from the cinema, to DVDs, to

y per view is now flipping around to

mphasize on-demand access. Content

oviders that can use inexpensive

eans to provide viewers with real-time

thorization and high-quality, fast

livery will ultimately gain the trust

the user communityand with that

ust, a great deal of leverage to control

arket share.

. Businesses need the cloudo compete on analytics

addition to helping with storage

d delivery, cloud computing opens a

teway to improved business intelli-

nce and workflow. By providing more

mputing power as needed, the cloud

ables companies to gather intelli-

nce on the fly and adapt to findings

st as quickly. This application should

rn high consideration from marketing

ecutives, as according to the 2009

ontent Study, over 70 percent of inter-

ewees believe that robust consumer

ta capabilities are an enabler of

mpetitive advantage.4

ch deep customer insight will pave

e way to a higher success rate in

pturing and retaining viewers; tailor-

g advertising and content is a complex

ocess made simpler in the cloud.

ustomers that can more easily locate

hat they want to watch translates intotisfied viewers who are likely to return

the distributor, presenting a win-win

tuation from the back end all the way

rough the viewing screen.

Analytics also play a critical and practi-

cal role in interacting with consumers

in a real-time environment. Ratings and

usage trends provided by consumers

provide immediate direction for the

relationship. For example, online radio

leader Pandora has secured a devoted

following in large part because of its

ability to track user behavior and provide

playlists that closely correlate with

demonstrated musical tastes. This model

is fully dependant on aggregating and

analyzing user feedback, a task that calls

for significant computing power supplied

by the cloud. In a similar vein, ApplesGenius feature for iTunes takes a snap-

shot of listener selections and sends

the information to the cloud. The results

return to the listener in the form of a

specialized playlist that reflects the

data. While these applications provide

advanced functionality for listeners,

they also provide the basis for a ccurate

sales recommendations of songs and

products.

4. Workplace and consumerinnovators are seeking anaccelerant in the clouds

One of the most intriguing benefits

of cloud computing is the incredible

flexibility it offers to players of any size.

Early users will surely center on storage

issues, but this could quickly evolve into

a hybrid model that enables experimen-

tation with limited risk and reduced

time to market. For companies that

are more interested in pioneering newbusiness strategies, the cloud provides

a platform to invent, test and roll out

innovation to the marketplace.

At a minimum, the broadcast and

entertainment industry is ripe for the

move of current workflow applications

to a software as a service (Saas) model,

in which players large and small can

access needed applications via the web

as they need them. In a traditionally

fragmented industry, using a shared

resource is an ideal approach for large

firms that have employees spread across

the country and boutiques that are

working on a limited budget.

Using the additional freedoms opened up

by cloud can also inspire innovation tocreate new software suites that provide

competitive advantage. For example,

demands on distributors are exploding

with the development of devices on

which consumers can view content.

Adjusting content to meet widely

varied formatting requirements calls for

tremendous manual labor, but cloud

computing boosts the development of

new applications that can help automate

the process and can be accessed from

any online location. A world of possibility

will be open to companies that capitalize

on technology to complete tasks using a

better, faster and cheaper solution.

Looking to the future, cloud technolo-

gies will provide a forum for established

companies and startups alike to engage

in healthy competition for the next big

thing. Remember, Apple was not in the

music business before iTunes.

4 This time, its personal: Engaging and interacting with consumers is the content industrys new battleground, the

Accenture Global Content Study 2009, Mark Vernocchi, David Wolf, James Scott, Ross Sonnabend. Accenture 2009

Content and the Cloud


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Companies are already feeling the pull of

cloud computing, but recognize that an

immediate wholesale shift is unlikely.

Business leaders should take a few steps

to be certain that cloud is the right fit:

Appoint a cloud leadershipteam

Driving change across an organization

requires a concerted, coordinated effort

that should be led by a team of both

business and IT leaders. The team should

be fully briefed on the objectives of test-

ing or implementing cloud, the scope of

the process, the benefits expected and

clear deadlines. Once in a position to take

action, communication can be a ggressive-

ly pushed to individual stakeholders and

the broader organization to ensure com-

plete buy-in.

Understand the size of theprize and the immediatepriorities

Cloud computing has potential to disrupt

the industry and individual businesses,

both positively and negatively. The team

should develop a position on how the

technology will impact business. From a

strategic standpoint, that means consid-

ering how cloud can create new business

opportunities, new competitive rivalries,

new channels to market and how the

technology can accelerate existing needs.

On the tactics side, companies should

assess where the cost savings will be

gained, how business processes will be

enhanced and how technology will be

streamlined and standardized.

Identify candidate processes

There may be too much change associat-

ed with a move to cloud computing to

contemplate making a wholesale shift.

Companies need to understand which

changes are going to have the most

profound impact and prioritize isolated

initiatives based on business benefits,

difficulty of migration and associated

investments. Selecting the right processes

to test in the cloud requires an internal

check to identify non-core processes that

are ripe for technical automation and can

be run in the cloud.

Keeping data private and secure is a key

issue and should be given strong consid-

eration during the selection process.

Protecting assets that are uploaded to the

cloud is the single more pressing concern

for broadcast and entertainment execu-

tives know the consequences of poor

security; lost or pirated content translates

into a significant loss of revenue.

Users must sort out what level of control

they have over assets that enter the

cloud. Some vendors provide reasonable

assurances and use internationally

accepted practices for holding data.

However, organizations should still

engage in threat modeling to determine

the real versus perceived risks. For

example, a company that takes on sole

responsibility for protecting assets should

ensure its cloud provider accepts some

level of liability while data is in its control.

Analyze demand cycles

With the business operation identified,

companies can then profile how their

operations change during peaks and

valleys of consumption. For example, the

year-end holiday season may bring more

media distribution demand, providing

an opportunity to expand use of cloud

computing instead of overbuying hard-

ware to service that narrow window.When putting together a business case,

cloud technology should be able to signif-

icantly improve the operation in terms of

manpower, hardware and ease of use.

Test at peak times

Leaders should tap into the high-demand

period to test a minor operation with a

cloud provider. From a cost perspective,

companies can then extrapolate

results to gauge the impact on

systems and active business per

For example, the ABC television

Extreme Makeover, Home Editio

enced sizable spikes in website

for each of its unique episode p

Sites regularly crashed and the

required over 100 servers durin

periods and 50 to 60 updates p

prevent prolonged outages. Wh

computing was implemented, se

automatically scaled to accomm

peaks and valleys of demand, e

the need to dedicate significan

er and energy to future spikes.5

The broadcast and entertainme

tion shows no signs of slowing

release of the iPad, a Netflix de

Nintendo to stream video throu

consoles and the rapid advance

technology all typify the rapid r

new options.

Industry shifts that address the

evolutionary pace are already a

as evidenced by the recent inclu

Content Delivery Networks (CD

major cloud providers. CDNs all

faster, front end delivery of hig

width items such as professiona

duced content. By adding this f

companies like Amazon (with C

and Microsoft ( with Azure) are

their ability to offer their cloud

ability to deliver high quality co

quickly, while delivering conten

less frequently in less expensive

scale areas of their cloud data c

Staying agile amidst these chan

critical for large or traditional d

while the even playing field pro

cloud computing presents trem

opportunities for young innovat

every pocket of the industry and

customers it serves, the cloud h

potential to support a new era o

and distribution.

Taking steps towards cloud computin

5 TV Web Site Opts For Cloud Servers, Information Week, October 30, 2009

Content and tntent and the Cloud


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Copyright 2010 Accenture

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are trademarks of Accenture.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management

consulting, technology services and

outsourcing company, with morethan 181,000 people serving clients in

more than 120 countries. Combining

unparalleled experience, comprehen-

sive capabilities across all industries

and business functions, and extensive

research on the worlds most success-

ful companies, Accenture collaborates

with clients to help them become

high-performance businesses and

governments. The company generated

net revenues of US$21.58 billion for

the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2009.Its home page is www.accenture.com.

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