According to a panel of CEOs, the media industry needs to work together to address issues around sustainability and deal with any workflow conflicts through innovation.
Speaking at last week’s Media Tech Sustainability Summit, Ian McDonough, CEO of Blackbird, encouraged media technology vendors to measure their carbon data and share it with the wider industry, so that “everyone can get on the same page and get a better picture”.
“Any conflicts that occur around workflow can be addressed through innovation,” he added. “If you can innovate with the philosophy that it is carbon efficient, that’s a massive step forward.”
McDonough encouraged fellow vendors to work with like-minded companies in order to “create a movement and create serious change.”
“Change is coming, but it doesn’t come on its own, it needs to be given a real hard push,” he added.
EVS CMO Nicolas Bourdon agreed with McDonough’s sentiment, telling the audience that the company has begun evolving its products, putting in place tools that facilitate monitoring power consumption, as well as educating its customers on how to use its products.
“All aspects of remote operations have been accelerated with the pandemic,” added Bourdon. “More and more of our customers are using our products and solutions in a fully remote environment. We have a dedicated team working on educating and training our customers to work in those kinds of environments.
“That means that progressively there is an evolution in the global offering of the company from production and solution to services, and accompanying our customers in this transformation. I like to say we are a little bit like a transforming partner,” he added, “our customers have challenges, but also they are looking at reducing their impact and reducing their consumption in terms of electricity and we have to help them in evolving the way they work.”
Working with customers is also a focus for Broadpeak. Jacques Le Mancq, president and CEO of Broadpeak. He warned the audience: “Time is flying,” he said. “There is an urgency to this and so we’re really focused on that.”
Finally, Erik Hauters, founder of automation platform Tinkerlist, encouraged companies to invest in the right people as they move forward with their sustainability goals. “Investing in the type of people you want to hire, people who have the right mentality, and letting them work from wherever they want is really important,” he said.
