Financial services groups will lead the way in braodcasting over the Internet, according to Internet developer James Agnew.
Financial services groups will lead the way in braodcasting over the Internet, according to Internet developer James Agnew.
Agnew, the chief operating officer of ID Media Multicast, will tell this week’s Financial Services Dot Com conference that financial services groups will ini-tially use Webcasting technology for training purposes but will quickly extend to other areas of communication.
“Financial institutions and more forward thinking corporations will most likely lead the initial push into this field in Australia,” he says.
“These companies will be positioned to provide a complementary service to their already established business to business and employee training applications of streaming media.
“Corporations in the more mature Internet environments continue to find new and effective ways to employ streaming media. Some examples include annual general meetings, analyst interviews, company reporting, in-house employee product training and conferences.
“The finance sector is a leader in this field, due to both the frequency of time sensitive announcements and the need for companies to be seen and heard. In this respect, the Internet provides an overwhelmingly superior medium to deliver an-nouncements faster and more cost effectively than any other, and to the widest possible audience.”
Agnew says US companies have seen past the gimmick perception of audio and video over the Internet.
“Whilst in the past many have regarded Webcasting as a gimmick rather than a commercial enterprise, we have seen substantial involvement in the US by virtu-ally all of the Fortune 500 companies through Webcasting elements of their busi-ness,” he says.
He says streaming, or what is often referred to as Webcasting, cybercasting and netcasting, has had limitied applications in Australia due to poor connection speeds. However, he says this burden is becoming overcome with reduced costs for high-speed or broadband connection.
“In the near future, many Australian companies will incorporate an element of Webcasting into their operations,” he says.
“In the interim, there remains a real opportunity for those corporations with high speed Internet access operating an Intranet and/or Extranet to take advan-tage of the business developments and technologies in the fields of internal and external corporate communications.
“With public demand for broadband through cable modem access growing rapidly and other broadband technology roll outs planned by telecommunications companies over the coming year, the demand for streaming media in this country will grow exponentially.”
