The transition to IP is complex, but a few simple considerations can help you avoid some rough spots along your journey. We’ve created this shortlist of advice based on our experience guiding customers into the IP realm. Take a look and see if any ideas change your thinking or address a challenge you haven’t yet tackled.

Plan the Migration Itself

You’ll spend plenty of time mapping out signal flows and looking at network design, and obviously both of those things will be critical to the success of your transition to IP. But ideally, your definition of success includes maximizing uptime and continuing operations in a way that support your own business and the services you provide to others.

If you’re dealing with numerous technology “islands” or “silos,” you’ll find it more difficult to maintain service availability and assurance. Looking both at your architecture and at your team, plan for how you’ll keep both up and running as near as possible to their full potential.

Prepare to Leverage Device Intelligence

Once you move your operations into the IP realm, every element — cameras, receivers, displays, software, and more — becomes addressable and intelligent. Because devices can automatically be identified, classified according to its capabilities, and authenticated for use on the network, you’ll want to ensure that you’re getting the benefit of these new capabilities.

Workflow automation is where you’ll likely benefit most, with a significant reduction in manual oversight and intervention yielding both time and cost savings. Remember that robust management layers and policies for handling content and data play a key role in optimizing workflow efficiency. From there you’ll be better prepared to manage media flows with agility and tailor the audience experience.

Ensure That Content and Data Are Working for You

Once you’ve migrated to IP, you can access more data and be more effective in analyzing that information. With more flexibility in handling audio, video, and data flows, you can more easily adapt your offerings for audiences in new and different markets. Whether you substitute different language tracks and captioning, use richer data to enable in-depth searches, or employ metadata to enhance commentary and on-screen graphics, you can more effectively address viewers’ desire for more engaging content. These are just a few examples of the many opportunities afforded by IP.

Broadcasters’ migration to IP is changing the way content is created, delivered, and consumed. There will be bumps in the road throughout your transition, but if you plan and implement thoughtfully, your IP framework will support richer programming with greater interactivity and personalization that appeals to viewers.