At the start of my career in television,“delivering content” had very different connotations.
As someone who worked in a machine room, it wasn’t actually me who would deliver the content. Sure, I’d need to make sure the deck was set up and routed correctly, that the audio levels didn’t clip, and that there were no quality issues with the finished tape. I’d even have to make sure that the metadata (read: tape label) was correct. But I didn’t deliver the content.
When it was time to actually deliver the finished article, you’d hear the familiar noise of a motor scooter approaching the building’s reception, and a helmeted courier would whisk the tape away to wherever it was destined.
This was simple, but effective. Content got to where it needed to go and, provided I’d done my bit correctly in the machine room, got played out and was enjoyed by audiences.
Today, that world feels pretty unrecognisable. Files move at the speed of the internet via complex digital supply chains – measured in gigabytes per second, not miles per hour. And with increased volumes being produced and consumed, the challenge is no longer transportation: it’s orchestration, making sure the right content makes it to the right place, in the right format, ready for the scheduled license window.
All of this is where the visibility and traceability of your content distribution operation comes into play – with all of this content flying around the internet, you need to be sure of what’s happening. And, of course, with all of this dynamism comes a huge amount of complexity. But what matters most is not visibility of complex workflows and custom code logic, it’s visibility of progress and outcomes.
Rally Connect has been designed to simplify and streamline the content delivery process. Leveraging the
efficiency and agility of Rally supply chains with an ever-expanding library of endpoint templates, Connect gives you the power to take back control of your content deliveries.
With Rally Connect, the inner workings, at a code level, stay under the hood. We’ve worked hard to make sure you get clear, actionable visibility into every delivery. You’ll be able to see step-by-step progress of what’s happened, and – let’s be candid for a moment – what’s not happened.
One of the most important tenets behind this level of automation is being able to trust the system to get the job done and only be alerted when something’s not right, allowing your operations department to move away from reactive firefighting to proactive optimisation. Rally Connect has a custom “callback” system, meaning any notifications can be instantly pushed to wherever they need to go.
Of course, this level of automation also generates a wealth of data, which can be used to provide valuable insight into your content distribution pipeline. Exportable, consumable reports can be produced straight from the UI and shared with other business stakeholders for analysis. Instead of getting a concerned phone call 30 minutes before that tape is due to be aired, trends can be analysed and problems mitigated further up the supply chain before content has even been digitally delivered.
As your distribution footprint expands, so does the complexity. Rally Connect is able to offer something unique: the complexity is behind the scenes, whilst you maintain full control over schedules, exceptions and performance visibility. The end result? Faster time-to-live for new deals, predictable content deliveries, and actionable insights – with no motor scooters in sight.
