With more than 19,000 employees across California, including its corporate teams and home-based employees, as well as over 2,700 affiliated physicians in clinics and hospitals, Sharp HealthCare wanted to revitalize its internal corporate communications and education capabilities through video.
The construction of the new Sharp Prebys Innovation and Education Center (SPEIC) created a community hub for enhanced collaboration, innovation and lifelong learning, and marked a prime moment to transform the health system’s broadcast AV capabilities in partnership with Fluid Sound. The organization needed an advanced, user-friendly set up that facilitated hybrid functionality, enabled live broadcasting with high production value, and offered seamless communications.
With four acute-care hospitals, three specialty hospitals, three affiliated medical groups, and extensive headquarters with medical simulation labs, a 375-seat auditorium, and four floors of conference facilities, Sharp HealthCare needed the right technology to connect across its dispersed employee base, including its leadership. Alongside a broader goal to broadcast its medical advancements and innovation externally, the organization needed to rethink its approach to video streaming, along with its entire live video production strategy linking all Sharp HealthCare sites and beyond.
Enter TriCaster® and NDI® for internal collaboration
Sharp sought a solution to achieve broadcast-quality production for employee communication and education activities, ranging from town halls and community events to training sessions and leadership communications.
“When you’re a large health care organization, communicating effectively across a broad range of constituents can be challenging. When you remove that requirement to have everyone in one room, on one day, at one time, and you have the ability to bring someone in from any location or organization, it’s one of the most exciting features,” says Don Courville, CTO at Sharp HealthCare.
With the support of Fluid Sound, Sharp HealthCare’s new 100% NDI® IP-based audio-visual workflow has connected employees with ease, regardless of where they are located. Colleagues unable to attend meetings in-person can easily join from anywhere in the world using a web browser on a computer or via a smartphone using an NDI Remote link. This has been vital in connecting leadership and employees, with immediate success brought by a new virtual coffee talk event with the CEO and COO in a virtually intimate setting.
At the heart of this new workflow lies a TriCaster®, Vizrt’s most powerful video production system, based within the control room at Sharp’s new 375-seat auditorium. TriCaster® enables the straightforward integration of remote participants via Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, FaceTime and more. A single operator can switch between and blend multiple feeds such as presentation slides, live audio and video streams from ten remote-based participants, live video NDI-enabled cameras in Sharp’s medical simulation labs, and more, to create a broadcast-quality hybrid production.
Any of these feeds can be external to Sharp, coming from anywhere across the globe, or fed directly from another location within the organization. For the first time, Sharp can also include direct video streams from state-of-the-art spatial computing tools such as Apple Vision Pro, supporting first-person perspective medical demonstrations to be broadcast to an auditorium audience – and to those tuning in online.
Seamless switching from the TriCaster has also enabled creative takes on town halls and employee communications such as HR updates and executive meetings. With TriCaster’s LiveGraphics capabilities, Sharp can integrate animated titles, looping effects and add presenters with green screen to improve audience engagement and increase retention of the content presented.
Broadcasting medical expertise to the world
Having recognized the success of TriCaster® and NDI® for internal communications, transforming simple collaboration into full-scale, high-quality broadcast events that increase employee engagement, Sharp looked to further boost their return on investment by using the technology to forge deeper connections with external audiences.
Within months, Sharp solidified its position as a global health care innovator by facilitating large-scale hybrid events, utilizing the solution’s remote presenter capabilities to incorporate participants in person and virtually, reducing the travel costs associated with bringing presenters on site.
With TriCaster, Sharp is now broadcasting these events to thousands across the globe. Sharp’s TriCaster installation facilitates straightforward live streaming to the web with broadcasts, and recordings, taking place in High Definition and 4K Ultra High Definition.
And, with TriCaster’s integrated video servers, those in control of production can facilitate playback, replay and live editing without the need for any additional hardware. This has enabled Sharp to transform their Executive Board meetings, with these conferences being live streamed, recorded and available as high-quality clips for the very first time.
