Will COVID Accelerate Cloud Adoption? Certainly, Say Broadcast Engineers

The impact of the pandemic is accelerating broadcasters' desire to take advantage of cloud-based technologies to deliver new workflows.

That's the view of the head of broadcast technology at one of the Gulf region's leading broadcasters.

On the next episode of the Making the Media podcast, Mohamad Fares from Qatar TV speaks to host Craig Wilson about how they are assessing and deploying the cloud where it fits for their organization.

"COVID was a very big catalyst, because I can't think of any other situation where we could have adopted these technologies so fast. And then in the same fashion that that would [be] over...the span of a few weeks."

Security is also critically important when considering cloud options, which has prompted close working between departments.

"We had to work with our Information Security department to make sure that we provided that platform in a secure manner, in a safe manner. In a manner that—I don't want to say eliminate, but reduce[s] the risks to our internal network and to the end users who are accessing that network from home."

In the episode of the podcast, he also says that he has to balance the desire to be innovative with the reality of maintaining a full 24/7 operation. "Honestly, to me the biggest fear is the balance. You want to stay ahead of the curve, but at the same time you don't want to be too early an adopter that you know you may take a misstep and then decide that, 'Oh no, we have to roll back. This probably was not the best use of our time and our money.' To me this is this is the biggest concern."

You can hear the full interview on the next episode of Making the Media, available on Monday, April 19.