New team rises to the challenge of managing major media and entertainment projects
Digistor has announced the formation of its Major Projects Team to handle complex and large-scale implementations.
"We have been handling major client work for over 20 years, but today's projects are much more complex," said Digistor's Managing Director Andrew Mooney. "In response to this we've formed a dedicated Major Projects Team to focus the relevant experience and appropriate resources to be able to successfully deliver client projects."
The Digistor Major Projects Team is tasked with managing projects including large, multi-seat facilities, multi-location implementations, complex and high-volume media content management applications, and government/corporate upgrades and roll-outs. These projects typically involve considerable budgets and require detailed analysis and documentation, planned strategic implementation, human resource management and on-going support services.
It's critical our customers feel confident we have the required resources."
Andrew Mooney, Managing Director"
"It's critical our customers feel confident that we have the required resources and they are not just talking to sales reps. They now have access to our pre-sales planning, implementation, delivery and support team members throughout the lifecycle of the project to ensure its ongoing success."
The Major Projects Team is headed by senior sales consultant Matt Wood, pre-sales solutions architect Patrick Trivuncevic, and service delivery manager Jordan Tiburcio. Other company resources from the Services team are called into play as required.
Recently Completed Projects
Recently completed projects have included the deployment of new edit facilities and the training of staff for a major broadcaster across multiple states; implementing a new media asset management system for a government department; designing and implementing a new automated tiered workflow and storage solution for a non-traditional broadcaster servicing multiple departments; developing an in-house high-end VFX, editorial and finishing facility for a multi-national advertising agency and other projects of this ilk.
"Our Major Projects Team has a rich history in the media and entertainment space. This helps in the project design phase to step through proposed solutions and how these meet the business requirements. Customers often ask us to present different options to explore comparative functionality and price."
New Players to Digital Media
"We've seen new corporate players needing to manage digital media with increasingly complex projects so a more formal management process is required with a more structured approach," detailed Mooney. "As well as traditional broadcasters, we are now working with telcos, banks, advertising agencies and corporate entities that have high-end digital media requirements. Accordingly, these projects involve more legal compliance so it makes a lot of sense to keep everyone involved throughout a project."
Digistor's Major Projects Team aims to meet and beat customer expectations through detailed pre-sales planning processes where client needs are quickly identified and specifications are locked down. In this way, everyone involved in the project is very clear about what is involved as the actions, responsibilities and schedules are clearly defined upfront.
"Organisations approaching us for project work range from those without any in-house expertise to those that have employed a core team or key people within their organisation. Either way, they need to feel comfortable with what we are providing for the lifecycle of the project."
It's All About Workflows
"Today it's all about their workflows - so rather than simply supplying products we deliver integrated solutions. The complexity arises because of the way all parts of a system connect and 'talk' to each other. A prime example is Asset Management which has become increasingly important but there are many products in that field to choose from. We analyse the requirements and define upfront what is the most suitable solution so everyone is comfortable before deployment commences."
Today, it's all about workflows."
Andrew Mooney, Managing Director"
"The scale of work has a lot to do with the specific equipment configuration, setup and options. It can also involve custom coding or scripting to seamlessly integrate newly installed hardware with existing legacy systems. It is important to ensure clients understand the complexities of this type of work. Projects have the potential spiral out of control if you fail to consider the implications of integrating with existing infrastructure and workflows."
Technology Options and Vendor Support
"There is a whole range of topics and technologies that can apply to any project, at many levels, and new players in particular seek us out for guidance," said Mooney. "Considerations include data migration, security, disaster recovery and business continuity, support and training. Our experience in each of these areas is what our customers rely on for the successful setup, maintenance and future-proofing of their operations."
The Major Projects Team also works closely with product vendors and suppliers that can serve as technical partners during initial design and certification processes.
"Vendors often don't have the capacity to deal directly with customers so they engage with Digistor to provide detailed product knowledge to suit each project. In this way, we provide an end-to-end solution with the best products tailored for each workflow."
Cloud Solutions
"Cloud-based applications and operations are increasingly providing advantages for many workflows and there are numerous options to investigate and choose from. Clients can choose from implementing their own private cloud, using one of the many mid-tier local telcos or one of the large-scale multinationals."
Mooney points out that content creators also need to understand the fine-print to ensure they know what is happening to their data. In many cases content licensing requires strict security and data sovereignty that can be a legal minefield if not initially addressed and planned. The cloud can be used in workflows purely for file transfers or as a collaborative server where everyone is working from a central hub.
... we thoroughly collaborate with clients ..."
Andrew Mooney, Managing Director"
"So we thoroughly collaborate with clients to identify what are the best current and long-term solutions for their specific needs. The launch of our Major Projects Team is a big step up in our ability to give clients access to wider resources at a company level, from manager to post-sales support."
"At the end of the day the customers want a result so we need to ensure we have the expertise to deliver that from first conversation to sign off and then ongoing operational health. Other companies may concentrate on the technology, may not use project management teams or may hand projects over between their separate staff all of which can delay operations and lead to misunderstandings and problems."
"Our method is to keep everyone involved so we remain on target and keep on top of deadlines, budgets and the required engineering standards. Our Major Projects Team is an exciting development that has already led to several successful large-scale deployments."