If you are contemplating build versus buy for your live video platform, or just undecided on which one to pick, check out this 10-part video series.
My consulting projects these days tend to be in one of 3 domains:
- “We need more marketing exposure, and would like you to help us” (=marketing)
- “We want to talk about our strategy, differentiation and roadmap” (=product)
- “We want to make sure we’re building the product properly” (=architecture/development)
I like doing all of these types of projects simply because it keeps me interested. Especially since there’s no specific one that I like more than the others here. It does sometimes confuse potential customers, and probably doesn’t help me with “niching” or “focusing”, but it does give me a very wide view of the communications market.
I want to focus on the 3rd project type, the one where developers want assistance in making sure they pick the right technology, architecture the solution and get it to market with as little risk as possible, this is where things get interesting.
The first thing I do in such projects? Check for NIH.
NIH stands for Not Invented Here, and it is a syndrome of all developers. I know, because I suffer from it as well. Developers are builders and tinkerers. They like to make things work – not get them readymade, which is why when they have the opportunity of building something – they’ll go ahead and do it. The problem though, is that economies of scale as well as time to market aren’t in their favor. In many of the cases, it would be easier to just pick a CPaaS vendor and build your live video product on top of his platform instead of building it all from scratch.
There are many reasons why people go build their own video platform:
- They think it will cost them less in the long run (usually coupled with a feeling that the price points of the CPaaS vendors are too high and a dislike of paying per usage/minute and not a fixed fee)
- They have a unique scenario that isn’t quite covered by CPaaS vendors they tried out
- They want to own the video technology that they are using
- They need to run on premise due to their customers, regulation or any other reason/excuse
I spend some time uncovering and better understanding the reasons for the decision. Sometimes I feel they make sense, while other times less so.
Which is why when I sat down with Vidyo to think about an interesting project to do together some months back, the decision was made to put out a series of short videos explaining different aspects of live video platforms. I tried to cover as much ground as possible. From network impairments, through video coding technologies, through scale, devices and lots of other topics as well.
The purpose was to get developers and entrepreneurs acquainted with what is necessary when you go build your own infrastructure, and if you decide on buying a platform, to know what to look for.
The series is packed full with content. And I’d love to get your candid opinion of it. Check it out here: