As video becomes increasingly popular, Microsoft has launched a business video service called Microsoft Stream. It will provide companies with a way to share video internally, bringing the same capabilities that consumers have enjoyed with the likes of YouTube and Vimeo.

This is not a new avenue for Microsoft as it already offers a business video service called Office 365 Video, but this service and Microsoft Stream will ultimately be merged. “Microsoft Stream builds upon the learnings and success of Office 365 Video, and over time the two experiences will converge, making Stream the de facto video experience in Office 365,” said James Phillips, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Business Intelligence Products Group. During the preview stage of Microsoft Stream, there will be no impact for existing Office 365 users.

We look at how your organization can get started with Microsoft Stream and its features, as well as the future plans for the business video service.

Getting started with Microsoft Stream

If you are interesting in signing up for the free preview of Microsoft Stream, head over to the Microsoft Stream site and include your business email address.

Once you have signed up, you can start adding videos using drag and drop capabilities. You can either start a new channel or contribute to an existing one based on a specific group, topic or team. Add a searchable description and relevant hashtags and you are good to go. Anyone in the organization will be able to add videos to Microsoft Stream.

Features of Microsoft Stream

In addition to everyone in the company having the ability to upload videos, employees are also able to engage with the content by liking or commenting on their favorite videos, sharing videos via email and embedding them in the company’s web pages.

The video content on Microsoft Stream is accessible at any time on any device. However, secure application access is enabled by Azure Active Directory, ensuring sensitive company information remains secure. Video accessibility can be open to the public or restricted to only your organization, specific groups in the company or remain private for you only.

Microsoft Stream – looking ahead

Microsoft believes that video can be “transformative in the workplace” so over time Stream will include a variety of additional features.

• Live streaming: In addition to video on demand, Microsoft Stream will also offer live streaming of video content in the future.  
• Integrate Stream with other business apps: Microsoft also wants to leverage video across various business apps, including SharePoint, PowerApps, Microsoft Flow, and more.  
• Face detection and audio transcription: Microsoft ultimately wants to use deep search and enable employees to search content within a video, using capabilities such as face detection and audio transcription.
• IT management features: IT will be able to monitor and remove content, assign video, and channel access, manage what content is viewable by certain groups in the business, etc.
• Microsoft Stream APIs: Developers will be able to make use of the Microsoft Stream APIs and create custom apps for the video service that will be available in AppSource.

Image via: Microsoft Stream