TikTok-style bite-sized videos are invading enterprises

The TikTok-ification of the corporate world is well under way, as more companies turn to video snippets to communicate information to employees and customers. But when it comes to user- and AI-generated content, the rules are different for companies than for casual TikTok or Instagram users — and enterprises need to move cautiously when implementing video-generation tools, analysts said.

“There is a definite rise in the use of short form, digestible video in the corporate workplace,” said Forest Conner, senior director and analyst at Gartner. That’s because video is a more engaging way share corporate information with employees and a better way to manage time.

“As the storytelling axiom goes, ‘Show, don’t tell,’” Connor said. “Video provides a medium for showing in practice what may be hard to relay in writing.”

Many employees would rather view short videos that summarize a document or meeting, analysts said. As a result, employees themselves are becoming digital creators using new AI-driven video generation and editing tools.

Software from companies like Atlassian, Google, and Synthesia can dynamically create videos for use in presentations, to bolster communications with employees, or to train workers. The tools can create avatars, generate quick scripts, and draw insights using internal AI systems and can sometimes be better than email for sharing quick insights on collaborative projects. (Atlassian just last week introduced new creation tools in its own Loom software that include AI-powered script editing to make videos look better; the new feature doesn’t require re-recording a video.)

In part, the rising use of these video-creation tools is “a reaction to over-meeting,” said Will McKeon-White, senior analyst for infrastructure and operations at Forrester Research. Many employees feel meetings are a waste of time and hinder productivity. As an alternative, they can record short contextual snippets in Loom for use in workflow documents or to send to colleagues — allowing them to get up to speed on projects at their own pace.

“I’ve seen this more in developer environments where teams are building complex applications in a distributed environment without spending huge amounts of time in meetings,” McKeon-White said.

HR departments are finding Loom useful for dynamically creating personalized videos while onboarding new employees, said Sanchan Saxena, head of product for Teamwork Foundations at Atlassian. The quickly generated personalized videos — which Saxena called “Looms” — can include a welcome message with the employee’s name and position and can complement written materials such as employee handbooks and codes of conduct.

“We can all agree there is a faster, richer form of communication when the written document is also accompanied by a visual video that attaches to it,” Saxena said.

AI video generation company Synthesia made its name with a tool where users select an avatar, type in a script, add text or images and can produce a video in a few minutes. Over time, the company has expanded its offerings and is seeing more business uptake, said Alexandru Voica, head of corporate affairs and policy at Synthesia.

Its offerings now include an AI video assistant to convert documents into video summaries and an AI dubbing tool that localizes videos in more than 30 languages. “These products come together to form an AI video platform that covers the entire lifecycle of video production and distribution,” said Voica.

Voica noted how one Synthesia customer, Wise, has seen efficiency gains using the software for compliance and people training, creating “engaging learning experiences across their global workforce.”

Looking ahead, video content as a tool for corporate communications will likely be adopted at a team level, said McKeon-White. “It’s going to come down to the team or the department as for what they want to do in a given scenario,” he said.

Enterprises need to keep many things in mind when including videos in the corporate workflow. Managers, for instance, shouldn’t force videos on employees or create a blanket policy to adopt more video.

They can be useful, but videos are not for everyone, said Jeff Kagan, a technology analyst. “One big mistake companies make is following the preferences of the workers or executives…rather than considering different opinions. Not everyone is cutting edge,” he said.

Companies shouldn’t jump on the video bandwagon too soon, McKeon-White said. If they do, they run the risk of overwhelming employees.

“You don’t want to suddenly have work scrolling through 30 hours of video,” he said. “If you are throwing videos onto a shared repository and saying, ‘Hey, go look at that!’ That sucks. That’s not good for anybody.”

There are also many security and compliance issues to keep in mind.

AI can now detect sensitive information, such as license plate numbers, addresses, or confidential documentation, without manually reviewing the video, Conner said. “Organizations need to ensure that any content making it out the door is scrubbed for sensitive information in advance of publication.”

And with the rise of generative AI, the problem of deepfakes remains a major concern.

The uncanny accuracy of AI video avatars creates risks for executives, where their likeness could be cloned from their available video content and then used in damaging ways, Conner said.

“This has yet to happen in practice, but my guess is it’s only a matter of time,” Conner said.