Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1505509
If you are a technical or operations leader suffering the operational inefficiencies of a broken media supply chain, you've probably concluded that moving work- flows to the cloud is the solution. Migrating from an on-premise configuration will no doubt future-proof your technology platforms, but it will also require a change in your financial model. It's a big shift techni- cally and strategically for your company, and you know too well that convincing your Chief Financial Officer (or whoever is in charge of the purse strings) will not be an easy feat. WHAT DOES YOUR CFO CARE ABOUT? Increasing revenue while cutting costs, obviously. For any company in the media and entertainment (M&E) business, accelerating monetization is big right now. Any means that unlock the value of your compa- ny's content faster will get a thumbs up from the CFO. This includes enabling easier content licensing and sales - something that, in our experience, gets limited attention but is a strong selling point when negotiating budget with your CFO. One of the best approaches to enabling sales is to centralize content libraries and provide a simplified view of versions within titles. Also, working with ex- isting systems to ensure that sales contracts auto- matically create distribution orders, for example, will improve time-to-profit on licensing deals. GETTING BUY-IN FROM FINANCE ON THE IDEA Moving your media supply chain to the cloud will bring in the operational effi- ciencies needed to enable new business opportunities and future technology integrations. It will also introduce benefits that respond to most CFO's concerns: • Transparency across media supply chain operations thanks to the strate- gic use of data. • Enhanced collaboration and media management: the cloud breaks op- erational silos, automates manual processes and brings the friction-free collaboration required to scale your business. • Leverage existing investments: being able to monetize content librar- ies is key, and a media supply chain in the cloud is the absolute best approach. • A bonus addition: leveraging cloud infrastructure can put you on the path to sustainability. However, as the DPP's 2023 predictions indicated, your CFO will be particularly interested in sustainability measures that make financial sense. So, with all that, surely you'll convince your CFO? Well, not quite! WHAT DOES CLOUD MIGRATION COST? Running a media supply chain in the cloud blindly, without the right configu- ration and controls, can be very expensive. This is especially true in media and entertainment, where video files are large, and tasks like transcoding or QC'ing in the cloud can blow the budget. Luckily, you can help your CFO understand the reasons cloud costs spiral out of control: usually it comes down to overprovisioning, idle resources, and inefficient usage. In M&E, one of the main costs is around egress: moving large files around from one storage location to another. It is important to monitor cloud storage, computing power and costs daily, as they can increase or decrease with usage. MANAGING CLOUD COSTS IS POSSIBLE! A critical mistake that drives companies to massive cloud overruns is taking a lift-and-shift, cloud-hosted approach rather than investing in a cloud-native platform specifically designed for operational efficiencies. Choosing a solution that requires a dedicated team with the right expertise to customize it will leave you with expensive coding just to implement simple workflows. At Ateliere, we realized that was not the right approach from the beginning. With no suitable solutions in the market, we developed a new paradigm for the industry in our Ateliere Connect platform, making sure it was cloud native and CFO-approved! We can now bring our years of expertise implementing supply chains to provide your company with best practices on how to keep cloud ex- penditure in check. Our flexible SaaS business model allows CTOs and CFOs to track costs regularly and take action before they spiral out of control. IT'S TIME TO MAKE YOUR CASE While the technical advantages of a media supply chain in the cloud are essen- tial for you and your teams, CFOs, CMOs, and CIOs have different perspectives and priorities on how to run the business. At Ateliere, we know you need to build a story that speaks to their needs. To learn more about Ateliere Creative Technologies' cloud-native management platform and the benefits of cloud cost optimization and predictive analytics, go to ateliere.com. HOW TO SELL YOUR CFO ON INVESTING IN A CLOUD-NATIVE MEDIA SUPPLY CHAIN SPONSORED CONTENT