Functional Video – the Value Proposition for Business
Can video help infrastructure projects function more efficiently as well as reduce costs and improve worker engagement? The answer is not simply ‘yes’; it depends on how it is commissioned, priced, monitored and deployed.
Just as internal communications are a core part of the centre holding together the disparate parts of large and complex groupings, video is a way to reach all areas of a project. Given that it is the most consumed form of mobile content and is available across all devices, video is a powerful tool for servicing the functional requirements of large infrastructure.
But it’s best not to confuse the medium with the content.
Functional video can work well when well done but can be irrelevant when done badly. It can if given the resources, relay communications consistently, improve understanding, influence behaviour, globalise content and provide an indication via analytics of engagement.
Case studies and metrics provide strong evidence to support the capabilities of the medium as a demonstration and influencing tool.
Moreover, recording and analysing engagement data tracks the impact of content on key performance indicators such as productivity, employee satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Video Scripting for Nuclear
Take this example: It’s another busy day on the construction site with an apprenticeship programme starting and half a dozen contractors arriving for their general induction. The supervisor is running late. The rotation of trainers to deliver the induction is always a headache for the general manager and costly. Time is ticking. The induction PowerPoint that’s been updated several times is a patchwork of additional slides. And rather than a consistent script to accompany the content, the delivery is done by scoring off a few bullet points from individual, aged crib sheets.
This scenario is not uncommon on many large sites that have mandatory requirements for safety briefings on a weekly if not daily basis. Rationalising the way information is presented in this case, by commissioning a well-planned and genuinely engaging video to demonstrate expected behaviours, would simply give better outcomes.
This approach, using video as a communications medium, can be replicated across many of the HSE and HR functions required by infrastructure projects - recruitment, training, management updates, supply chain communication. These project wrap around services are specialist and expensive, but with innovative thinking and new technologies some workforce support can be re-designed.
Mendip Media on site at Hinkley Point C
Bylor at HPC took the leap in 2023 and invested in an immersive video training centre, which is now the core of its general induction. With thousands of workforce contractors and a large office-based staff, the training requirements to get hundreds of people onto the construction site in an efficient and processible way has been huge.
Although the initial cost of setting up the training centre was not insignificant, relative to the size of the workforce it is fractional. At the same time, managing the delivery of the training has reduced in cost, and because the content is visual and interactive, the organisation has seen impressive retention outcomes. This has had a positive impact on the Bylor workplace and has satisfied the Office for Nuclear Regulation, which required demonstrable improvements in site health and safety.
Video on Nuclear Location
It is true that upfront investment is required to embed this type of communication at the heart of a project, along with a commitment to creating realistic scheduling, distribution and video creation at a modular level.
But as those leadership teams that have looked to the future have discovered, over the lifetime of a project, well-planned functional visual communications make a measurable difference to team cohesion and general engagement.