Extended lockdowns and working from home during the pandemic have significantly affected viewing patterns . With Test & Monitor and network analytics essential to consumer QoE , have sector players faced additional challenges ? Euromedia found out from a range of players how they have responded , as well as continuing to enable their broadcaster and service provider clients to maintain market share and protect revenue .

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What challenges have extended periods of lockdown and WFH created ? How have these been met ? Accedo : We are very lucky to be a software company , which means we are already used to many of the tools we have come to rely on . As a global company , business has always been a mix of being with people and being remote . That doesn ’ t mean it hasn ’ t been a challenge but at least we already knew how to communicate remotely . The challenge was scaling that remote working mindset across the entire company . AWS : As businesses worldwide pivoted to a work-from-home model last year , our M & E customers followed suit , and though the transition has paid off , it initially proved an adjustment . At first , global lockdowns stunted many studio projects , but productions quickly figured out how to creatively leverage cloud infrastructure , including cloud-based content lakes , to resume work without jeopardising the health and safety of crews and creative teams . Harnessing the cloud , they realised how quick and easy it could be to make content easily accessible to creatives working from home . The pandemic and a move toward remote working , however , prompted more of the industry to test out cloud-based workflows . Bridge Technologies : There are two prongs to this question as we see it ; how lockdown and home working have impacted our internal operations , and how they have created external changes across a range of industries – altering the wider systems , infrastructures and paradigms that the broadcast industry operates within – and thus , impacting the way we ’ ve developed our products and the markets that they now cater for . We facilitated working from home and flexi-working for a long time before the pandemic , meaning that the mindset change needed for the transition was not overly burdensome . Interra Systems : Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic , it has been clear that many broadcasters and TV service providers had to initially deal with limited IT infrastructures and minimal access to their systems when working from home . If a video delivery system doesn ’ t function properly or breaks down , prompt customer support is important . Partnering with a technology provider that has responsive , remote-ready support and engineering departments is critical for emergency situations like the one we have experienced and are still experiencing now .