AV in Government: Video Comes Of Age

AV Magazine 

Right across central and local government consumers expect information to be available on video. This demand requires AV solutions whenever government needs to communicate with citizens ad business organisations.

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Governments are very complex organisations comprised of multiple departments with different offices, plus international branches and representatives. They need to be able to provide information to citizens as well as to the businesses within their jurisdictions.

“Today, we see AV technology in briefing rooms and council chambers, from a live broadcast outside 10 Downing Street, to the top level conversations taking place in secure government bunkers,” says Jim Fitton, business development manager – Public Sector and Government at Crestron. “Wherever the need to share a message or a piece of content exists, our governments are using AV.”

Video solutions are particularly important to the state machinery. From summits between presidents to enhancing citizen engagement, AV solutions such as video collaboration, allow government bodies to conduct face-to-face meetings ideally resulting in improved coordination, faster decision-making and a help to those in greatest need. For example, services can be offered in different languages more easily and cost effectively, which becomes crucial in countries where immigrant communities are thriving.

“Real-time face-to-face collaboration is key for government organisations across the globe,” says Andrew Graley, Polycom, Director - Healthcare, Education & Government. “AV technology makes this possible while keeping costs under control.”

AV technology helps governments react and respond to crises and emergencies. A good example is the recent Ebola outbreak in Africa in 2014, which the World Health Organisation had to respond to on a global scale. Using Polycom’s solutions the WHO was able to get experts on the ground to quickly assess the situation and offer advice immediately.

AV solutions are also used in the justice system create to reduce the amount of time it takes to handle cases. “This helps reduce the costs and risks associated with transporting offenders and inmates between facilities such as prisons and courts,” says Graley. “Video collaboration technology also allows for witnesses to be interviewed remotely and, more importantly, for testimonies to be given from secure locations; which is often a key concern in difficult cases.”

Video content management has a huge part to play in the public sector, in terms of internal training for staff, but also as a resource library for citizens. National and regional governmental organisations can create video libraries of content with advice on healthcare, education, tax, finance and more. Many governmental services already record calls for due diligence and training purposes, as prescribed in the UK legislation.

“The increased use of video comms means that services need to record and store this content in a searchable way, like they would audio calls or emails,” says Graley. “This will become more prevalent in the future, as more services go digital.”

A broad trend driving change across the public sector is delivering on the expectation which consumers have for receiving information by video whether that is over digital signage or a more personalised environments like meeting room VC or IPTV in schools, hospitals or a government's own offices.

A case in point is Coventry City Council which last year deployed a signage and IPTV solution to deliver internal messaging, TV into communal and public spaces and a more modern approach to visitor communications. Fourteen screens with Amino STB players were implemented at the council’s head office with Tripleplay Services software used to manage bespoke content.

“Digital media is integral to people's daily lives; they see it in the high street, they interact with it on their phones, so when they go to see their local government why should that be any different?” argues Tripleplay marketing manager, James Keen. “Digital communication is a massive expectation among users which county councils are having to embrace.”

There are a few basic boxes that need ticking for any public funded solution.

Longevity means designing as much future proofing as possible into the initial concept, “as well as ensuring they are quick and easy to maintain, reducing or eliminating any downtime,” says Fitton.

Another is security, as required by parties often handling confidential documents. Indeed, governments are more than ever concerned about security and cyber threats. For instance, before RealPresence Centro became part of NATO’s operations, it had to be cleared as a secure solution and be integrated into its restricted network.

The Chinese government recently adopted new regulations requiring companies that sell computer equipment to its banks to turn over secret source code, submit to invasive audits and build so-called back doors into hardware and software, according to the New York Times. [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/29/technology/in-china-new-cybersecurity-rules-perturb-western-tech-companies.html?_r=0].

“This [type of demand] is fast becoming a trend as governments all over the world demand some form of monitoring control or open access to products,” says Shayne Thomas, global marketing for Peavey Commercial Audio. Apple's fight with US intelligence services to unlock the iPhone is another example. “If you do not comply, your products will be blocked from those territories. Now that free trade agreements are forcing companies to become more competitive this may further cripple foreign manufacturers but favour local companies which are more willing to comply with their own government’s security regulations.”

Another criteria is for AV systems to easy to use by unfamiliar users. In crisis situations this will include persons under extreme pressure.

“There are few integrators who are able to work at the highest level in this sector, due to the security and approvals required,” says Fitton. “Often these projects are not widely publicised, which keeps the work within a small group of pre-qualified contractors.”

Winning EU tenders

There has been a recent tendency to move away from running local competitions for tenders because of financial regulation in the public sector. Tenders are found either by the system integrators working with the establishment to create the RFP, or by the organisation advertising a tender on the relevant journals such as OJEU (Official Journal of the European Union).

At the same time, it is also becoming increasingly common for competitions to go on the national or the European tender framework where people are already signed up as a provider.

Graley's advice is that if you are not registered on a framework in your country that supplies into the public sector, then you need to be, and very soon. “If you feel you are too specialist and not big enough to go on a framework agreement then you need to partner with a prime contractor who is already registered.”

Westminster events venue

Government-owned venue, The QEII Conference Centre, prefers to be seen as a flexible centre available for a range of different clients (albeit a number of them still being public sector).

With 32 potential spaces on site the QE2 requires a substantial freelance labour force. It also hosts flagship events where heads of government attend a summit or a large sporting event, often led by a central government department. “The in-house team may only assist but our client chooses to use our links and network,” explains Deborah Jones, AV/IT sales manager & director AV User Group. “Ultimately, the public sector represents a quiet but powerful event sector.

“At one level we have a number of teaching organisations using the venue as a large training facility and they regularly book and use our AV in our larger 'classrooms' for 700 people,” she elaborates.

Other clients desire a 'stock' look: stage set with a coloured lighting wash, a little bit of branding, audio, PowerPoint (not always HD) and some digital services, such as social media.

“They require an efficient 'no frills' service,” explains Jones. “At the other end of the scale we might do a multi-day conference that uses the whole building with endless small inspirational seminars for every area within the civil service. They demand a huge amount of AV kit.”