The DPP reports on the business-critical aspects of change

A number of its essential conclusions around software and cloud services match well with the IABM impact report, also recently released. 

For the DPP report, available to employees of its member companies, the organisation set out to track media companies that have moved to software-defined, cloud-dominated eco chains. It identifies the wider implications of an undeniable trend.  

It also appears that coronavirus has helped to accelerate interest in SaaS. The enabler of the document was the Amdocs Media company Vubiquity, while the author of the report is DPP managing director Mark Harrison.  

Harrison said: “One of the mysteries of next generation supply chains is that some media companies say they are impossibly hard to adopt, while others have gone ahead and done it. 

“The industry has gone down two separate paths, but if the experience of the pandemic brings it together, the implications will be profound,” he added.  

Asked if the report implied a greater awareness of carbon footprints post pandemic, Harrison observed: “That is all part of a more complicated set of post Covid-19 responses. I will give some prediction on this in a May keynote.” 

Darcy Antonellis, the CEO of Vubiquity, added: “Remote working and cloud-based workflows have suddenly moved from ‘roadmap’ to ‘business critical’.” 

Harrison has built the report around input from media execs with supply chain modernisation experience. Credited corporations include ITV, Facebook, A+E Networks, ViacomCBS, WarnerMedia, and Walt Disney Television. 

One key finding is that while the vendor market has been slow to adapt to the needs of media empires, companies along the next gen supply chain have a strong focus on efficiency and agility. They also have a detailed understanding of their costs. Readiness to take on changes to business models was found to be more vital than technology.