Qumu Speech Search - Finding that 'Phrase that Pays' on a Business Video

None of us can imagine how we could function without SEARCH; however, particularly when it comes to business insights, it may surprise you that a new study from enterprise video communications provider Qumu says that 74 percent of all the business knowledge in a company is spoken in meetings and on video rather than written down.

You read correctly. Upwards of 74 percent of some of the most valuable business knowledge, even if it is captured, is hard to find and use. This not insignificant hurdle in obtaining important non-written business knowledge in its original and complete context has now been overcome.

The release of the Qumu study is in support of the announcement that its flagship Video Control Center product now has the capability to search for the spoken words within a video or a series of videos from any computer or mobile device. This is something that commands attention, and is likely a harbinger of the future.

The survey says

In December, Qumu surveyed 250 corporate executives to see how they felt about the value that could be derived from being able to use spoken word search of their video. As the infographic shows, there is recognition that a lot of important information is not written down and that there would be enormous value, particularly when it comes to video, which is increasingly used not just for remote conferencing but for internal meeting recording, of being able to search videos based on the words used in them.

Find it fast, how it works

Imagine that you had an important meeting via video conference with colleagues from all around the world that lasted several hours. You all remember a cogent discussion where critical points were raised, and rather than seeing if everyone’s notes jibe, you want to be able to find that part of the session ASAP. Qumu’s speech search can make that happen. 

How so?

Speech Search features include:

• Speech Search indexes the audio sounds made within all videos and allows any word or phrase to be searched
• Individual videos can be searched for a spoken word or phrase
• Multiple videos can be searched at the same time
• Approval workflow rules can search for certain spoken words automatically
• Multi-channel searching within the video portal allows both speech and text to be searched simultaneously

"The new Speech Search capability enhances our customers’ ability to find and share knowledge across their enterprise,” said Vern Hanzlik, executive VP and general manager of Qumu. "With every spoken word from videos being indexed automatically to a federated knowledgebase, employees get access to more information assets, increasing their productivity. Knowledge management is an important part of every enterprise, and adding the full value of video to their repositories is critical.”

 “As more enterprises adopt video for corporate communications and training, and the volume of content continues to grow, being able to search by what you hear is becoming increasingly important,” added Melissa Webster of IDC (News - Alert).

I have noted in other articles in the past few months, some trepidation about making predictions based on previous prognostications that “this will be the year of business video,” that span over two decades and obviously were a bit premature. 

That said, there are reasons to believe this will be that year. The perfect storm of economic conditions, technology riding the cost curve on the device side, the proliferation of IP networks that can provide a quality experience, and the consumerization of IT which is driving video consumption through the roof on BYOD devices (streamed and interactive) and leaking into enterprise are conspiring to make this prediction one that looks right.

Qumu, a Rimage company based in San Bruno, California, has provided good food for thought on two fronts. First, they have identified a need that clearly exits. Second, they have a solution that I suspect we will look back in the not too distant future and go, “how did we ever get along without it?”