DPP – A Step into the Unknown
Having only recently become members of the DPP group, after meeting their wonderful CEO, Mark Harrison at IBC a few months previously, I really didn’t know what to expect as we walked into the etc. venues building near Liverpool Street in Central London.
We knew that there would be some big broadcast industry players, and were expecting some interesting topics and good networking opportunities with current and future clients, but I was honestly, even with such lofty expectations, seriously impressed.
After having attended thought-leadership events for more than 30 years, and even hosted my own (hands up if you remember the old Sport and Technology event at BT Centre that ran for a few years in the noughties! (didn’t think so), it is so difficult to match succinct, articulate, thought provoking presentations to the relevant broad audience. DPP did this with aplomb. Mark and his CTO, Rowan de Pomerai, began as they meant to carry on – they made the audience of hundreds of broadcasters and vendors feel at ease, by entertaining and enthusing, relaxing the conversation to be open and communicative, and giving every broadcaster (a very strictly policed!) 15mins to talk about their key concerns and areas of focus over the past year and indeed the year to follow. This format meant that for those, like me, with a sadly diminishing attention span, that I was thoroughly engaged and could listen to the honest and revealing presentations.
As for the thought of the day(s), there was no doubt that among the 25+ broadcasters from across the globe, AI is one of the key focuses for nearly all. Of course. It is now the practical implementation that is interesting – whether it be metadata, workflows, scale, or more, AI permeates through all and will, when used correctly, become an ever more important part of our business and personal lives.
There was a lot of chat of current economic and geo-political negative influences on the businesses of our biggest broadcasters, with much discussion about how we can maintain innovation, whilst facing diminishing returns on certain revenues, and rising costs. This is of course where the correct vendors come in, and where we already help some of the bigger broadcasters right now. By outsourcing certain projects, it means that our clients can mitigate risk, take our expertise and experience, whilst their own development teams can learn on the job as we enhance their capabilities and train as required. As a project-based company, we also hand over the IP and code at the end of project so the broadcaster will own all the hard work provided.
I have deliberately kept the summary of the subject matter brief and broad as the event is exclusive and no press are allowed, the speakers were more open than many events I have attended and therefore we felt special in the audience as we were let into some of the more difficult challenges of our time. The event proceeded for two days, the time went quickly, with much to ponder over, and many good people met. We are already pleased to call ourselves members of DPP, and look forward to many more events, to the research conducted around them, to the collaborative innovation I can already see that permeates through the broadcast industry members.
