Qumu Survey: Mobile Video in the Workplace Leads to ‘Employees Gone Wild!’

Qumu, www.qumu.com, the leading business video platform provider, today announced the findings of its June 2011 survey of 2,510 Americans aged 18 and older, conducted online by Harris Interactive. The survey found that a majority of online Americans (64%) are watching online videos, Men are significantly more likely than women to say they have ever watched any kind of online video while at work (53% vs. 34%, respectively) . But while 17% of all online Americans have watched online company videos at their work, that’s not all they admit to watching. The most popular choice was news clips (25%) followed by viral videos (15%), videos posted on social networking sites (12%), sports events/sports clips (11%), television shows (9%), full length feature films (4%) and other online videos (3%).

A majority (61%) of online Americans agree that companies should allow employees to use whatever mobile device they choose for work related tasks, like reading email and viewing company videos, which introduces a number of challenges to the networks of American companies, since a 90 second video clip is 700 times larger than the average email and there are over 30 combinations of video formats to support for mobile devices. However, only 9% of online Americans believe employees are “very aware” of what kind of effects watching online videos on their mobile devices at work have may have on the speed and bandwidth of their company’s wireless Internet network (if that is how the online content are being accessed). Half of online Americans (50%) think employees are at least somewhat aware of these effects of online video in the workplace.

In fact, it seems having mobile devices have made online Americans think that people take risks with what they do online (on their mobile device). Almost three out of four online Americans (74%) believe with mobile devices, people will do things they would not normally do on their work computer. Those activities include:

• 52% - Look for another primary job
• 47% - Visit an online dating website
• 46% - Look for a side job
• 37% - Research embarrassing illness/condition
• 33% - Shop for lingerie/underwear
• 20% - Investigate plastic surgery options

A majority of online Americans (63%) believe that during work meetings, people “sneak-a-peek” at their mobile device. The favored methods online Americans believe that others use to catch a glimpse of what was on their handheld included:

• 47% - Hiding their mobile device under the table
• 42% - Excusing themselves to go to the restroom
• 35% - Hiding their mobile device in their folders/notebooks/papers
• 9% - Pretending to tie their shoes
• 8% - Creating a distraction

On the other hand, 37% of online Americans didn’t think “sneaking-a-peek” was necessary –they thought people would just look at their mobile devices in plain view.

While corporate leaders may be concerned about employee uses of online video and how it can impact the company’s network and productivity, video cannot be shut out. Nearly all online Americans who watch online videos (88%) like something about watching online videos, with a majority of 18-34 year old men (70%) and women (76%) favoring it for its convenience. Online Americans who watch online videos also cited other positive aspects of video including how it is easily shared on social networking sites or email (36%), they are engaging and memorable (25%), they afforded more privacy than watching something on TV (14%) and they made context easier to understand through facial expressions (9%).

To help companies adapt to the challenges posed by video, social media, and mobile use, Qumu announced a technology breakthrough that enables video content to be centrally managed while enabling video to be embedded in virtually any business application, portal or mobile app. The Qumu Video Platform released today includes both the Video Control Center 6.0 and its sister product VideoNet 2.0. The Qumu Video Platform enables the enterprise to manage, organize and securely distribute live and on-demand video to each desktop and every mobile viewer, such as iPads, iPhones and Android devices.

“Qumu knows the future of business depends on video being consumed anytime, anywhere,” said Ray Hood, CEO of Qumu. “While the results of our survey may seem amusing, we at Qumu don’t condone that behavior and we give Enterprises the tools to manage the workforce. Not only can the Enterprise determine what videos employees can watch at work, they can also monitor when vital content like training material and company addresses have been watched. That way, the Enterprise can ensure everyone is on the same page.”

To thank the people who ensure video in major companies run dependably and smoothly, Qumu is debuting today a video homage to the IT and system administrators. Award-winning video game art director and filmmaker Jerry O'Flaherty imaginatively casts the enterprise as a metaphorical spaceship whose very survival from imminent destruction depends on the quick-thinking of its IT administrator. You can watch the 90-second clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZJTqL9NpUU.

About Qumu

As the leading business video platform provider, Qumu is the control center for all things video. We empower organizations to better engage and inspire employees, improve productivity, and reduce costs.

Video is pervasive – it appears in all business applications and is consumed on all devices. The largest Fortune 500 companies depend on Qumu’s video platform to capture, manage, and distribute live and on-demand content with total reliability and security. Regardless of audience size, viewer device, or network configuration, Qumu simply makes video work. Only Qumu delivers the Freedom to work with existing infrastructure; the Power to reach everyone; and the Control to do it right.

Visit www.qumu.com

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive via its QuickQuery omnibus product on behalf of Qumu from June 24-28, 2011, among 2,510 adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Curtis Sparrer at Grayling Connecting Point.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words “margin of error” as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6789938&lang=en