When we talk about “optimizing the media supply chain”, at first the meaning may seem obvious: applying the optimal set of resources needed at any point in time to complete the work required at each step in the supply chain, from ingest to distribution. In short, optimization is making the whole operation run as efficiently as possible while getting the most work done.
But, for M&E companies, full optimization is an enterprise approach that delivers compounding value as more steps across the supply chain are virtualized, automated, and instrumented.
In this white paper, we look at how optimizing infrastructure through three phases – increasing efficiency, utilizing intelligence, and leveraging new agility – yields compounding value that turns your supply chain into an engine for business growth.
Having joined SDVI just over a year ago, I thought that now would be a good time to reflect on this new world of media supply chain management. When I first worked in broadcast operations in the early 90s, I was already deep into the world of media supply chain management.
We didn’t call it that, of course. I worked in the Traffic department. We ordered material from our suppliers. Physical tapes turned up. We transferred them to Digibeta transmission tapes. We made low-res proxies (VHS!) and sent them to language service providers who returned floppy disks with the subtitles. We barcoded the tapes and entered the timecodes into Odetic terminals for playout via robotic automation systems (very cutting edge!). A senior manager told me within weeks of my starting work as a tape librarian that tapes would be obsolete within 5 years (he was off by about 15 years).
So back to the here and now in 2023 and, based on what I’ve seen over the last year, I strongly believe that we are on the brink of another seismic change in media supply chain management in a way that will transform the broadcast and content production industry in the same way the shift from tape to file did.
It’s become obvious that, for broadcasters and content producers delivering media, managing the supply chain efficiently is essential. Being aware of deadlines, sourcing material, and creating and distributing the product on time is pivotal to the success of the company. Miss a deadline or skip a task and you risk your star show not going to air or poor-quality video or audio being transmitted. Making this process more efficient is in the DNA of every good Media Operations team, and the use of intelligent decision making to increase agility is central to their day-to-day processes. Orchestrated media supply chain management takes this accepted task-based approach and moves it in a more strategic direction.
Transformation to a more connected and orchestrated supply chain ecosystem enables broadcasters and content producers to quickly anticipate opportunities and address challenges and risks before they arise. This month, I share my experiences with the business transformation that comes from a well-orchestrated media supply chain in the blog.
As soon as a Deadline Alert is enabled, Rally will monitor the silo for pending deadlines, based on the “Pre Deadline” value. When an Asset with a deadline crosses the defined deadline threshold Rally will trigger the Notification Preset and an alert will be sent.
Rally Support Portal users can find detailed articles on Notification Presets and Deadline Alerts in Rally Knowledge Base via the Support Portal. For more information please reach out to your TAM.
New in Rally
Even More Job Scheduling Enhancements
Over the past quarter, SDVI has completed a variety of updates that make the Rally media supply chain management platform even more intuitive and efficient for content preparation and delivery. The most notable of these is an update to the framework used to build user Rally front-end applications and user interfaces, which in turn has allowed SDVI to make enhancements — new features and behaviors — that benefit operators working in virtually every area of the Rally Core application.
One of these new features is a timeline view in the Rally supply chain visualizer. In addition to the default supply chain visualization, this timeline view can be used to quickly show the relative duration of jobs and also to visualize start times, especially when steps run in parallel.
Learn about more of the many enhancements resulting from our Rally framework update in our latest Rally Updates blog.
Application Spotlight
DeepVA is a highly scalable, secure, and easy-to-integrate AI platform that provides enterprises with AI infrastructure and easy-to-use tools to bring video AI and audio AI anywhere it’s needed. Six DeepVA services are available through the Rally Application Services Market:
- Deep Media Analyzer enriches video, audio, images and streams with powerful metadata using state-of-the-art AI services.
- Deep Model Customizer simplifies AI customisation with a powerful no-code AI platform, dramatically reducing training time, costs and IT resources.
- Deep Collector collects regional training data and is fully automated.
- Deep Indexer indexes the face or voice of an unknown person to enrich video, audio, images and streams with unique clustering using state-of-the-art AI.
- Deep Explorer enriches video metadata with important background information to create more engaging content, improve video recommendation engines, and significantly reduce editorial costs.
- Deep Generator is a toolbox of generative AI capabilities, including a state-of-the-art SDR-to-HDR function that adds value to the SDR footage in your archive.
Learn more about the full spectrum of best-in-class tools in the Rally Application Services Market.
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