Get Onto My Cloud: Remote Production Tools Are Used by 90% of Video Professionals

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Cloud production and remote editing are now a universal part of content creation, yet the impact on workflows risks being undermined by widespread use of inefficient methods, claims a new survey.

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Carried out by Caretta Research and sponsored by cloud editing tools developer Blackbird, the survey suggests that 90% of video professionals have adopted cloud production and remote editing in their workflows, with collaborative working and client review and approval as the top use cases.

Significantly, 58% expect cloud working to increase post-Covid.

However, most remote editing is still implemented using “old-school, inefficient and slow workflows” — with 65% of users moving original high-res media files around the internet to support remote editing workflows.

Many others are moving proxy files, or remoting back to an edit workstation in a facility, “a model that is wasteful of expensive resources,” says the report author, Caretta Research’s co-founder and MD, Robert Ambrose.

“From our experience talking with hundreds of industry professionals, we’re seeing a distinct shift from cloud-enabled workflows to cloud-native workflows. This study shows just that the flexibility of working remotely has unlocked new value and savings but has often been compromised by adapting legacy ways of working.

“We’re now seeing the adoption of workflows and tools that are optimized for cloud, avoiding the cost and security issues of constantly moving content around.”

Blackbird of course has a vested interest in this finding since it claims its cloud native technology is less demanding on needing to send high bit rate data back and forth across the internet. This is a more efficient use of bandwidth, it maintains, doesn’t require any dedicated hardware other than a standard workstation and internet connection, and reduces the carbon output.

Users who’ve adopted cloud video workflows and remote editing recognize a number of important operational and financial benefits. Top of the list is the ability to work faster: freed from the constraints of being in a particular facility, users able to work flexible are more productive. In turn this translates to cost efficiencies, an important benefit for most users. Additional benefits of cloud workflows ranked highly by users include access to more powerful features, and more-resilient operations, avoiding dependency on physical locations and on-premise infrastructure.

Users of cloud-native tools are far more likely to use them for fast-turnaround workflows, concludes the report, including creating clips and highlights for digital platforms and social media, and managing real-time editing of live content like sports.