How the Screencastify Support Team Uses Video

As hybrid work environments have become almost ubiquitous in recent years, how employees work and create has changed. Using asynchronous video to collaborate and engage employees is a needed tool to ensure business is running smoothly.

We talked to the Screencastify Support Team about just how valuable asynchronous video has become to their daily lives!

Five key areas of video use 🎬

When taking a look at how to best incorporate asynchronous video into their work, the support team at Screencastify identifies several important areas of use:

1. Creating short videos, or GIFs, that are included in knowledge base articles for external users.

2. Submitting bug reports from internal or external clients.

3. Sharing how-to videos with users.

4. Making video demos of found bugs that can be shared with the engineering team.

5. Recording team meetings for team members who are out of the office, so they can catch up when they return.

Katie Callahan, a member of the support team, notes that using asynchronous video to make demo videos to share with users makes it easy to answer a question they have.

“I find it’s sometimes difficult to get across exactly what I’m saying through text sometimes,” she explains. “And people don’t always read everything you write in an email.” Sharing an asynchronous video, however, that shows the steps of a process, for example, users can know and see exactly what to do, and where to click, very clearly.

Related: See Katie demonstrate how Screencastify uses its Submit tool to support users in the video below!👇

Asynchronous video benefits the user as well in these situations, she notes — being able to submit a screen recording showing the support team the issue at hand is a lot more helpful than submitting a help ticket with a one-sentence description of the issue that is happening on their end.

In that case, Callahan says, “I’ll send them a quick link, and they can click on that link, submit a recording, I can review it, and then I know exactly what the issue is.”

It’s incredibly valuable, she adds, for helping expedite the process of fixing the issue. “Without those video submissions, it can be a longer back-and-forth trying to figure out what’s actually happening. I feel like with asynchronous video I can help solve cases more quickly.”

Asynchronous video for feedback and efficiency 🚀

Sharing feedback through asynchronous video has also proven to be a valuable resource. When a manager asks for feedback, for example, it’s often easier and vastly less time consuming to create a video rather than typing out a lengthy email to cover all the necessary points.

Callahan adds that she’ll pull up a specific topic her manager asked her to review, and use the screen recording and edit features as necessary to walk through her review and provide feedback. And with customers spanning multiple time zones, screencasting with asynchronous video can ensure more efficient workflows.

“Since we do have customers in all different countries,” Callahan says, “it can be difficult sometimes to schedule video calls with people who are in Australia, let’s say.”

In these situations, she encourages clients to record videos or use the submit tool to submit videos to discuss issues or questions. “It makes things much more convenient,” she says, “when you can’t just easily hop on a call.”

She adds that depending on the customer base, the client may not have time in their day to do a video call. Teachers, for example, have students in front of them all day; submitting a video during their planning period and not having to worry about scheduling a call is a benefit for those roles that are pressed for time.

Related: See Screencastify customer experience specialist Maria demonstrate how we use GIFs!👇

Asynchronous video for internal collaborations 🤝

While Callahan encourages external clients to submit videos when they have a question or issue, she notes that using asynchronous video with internal team members is equally beneficial.

When working with the engineering team, for example, rather than typing out an issue — which opens up the door for missed information or misinterpretation — they can watch a video Callahan has recorded, where she has the Developer Console open while running tests, so they can see firsthand any errors that might be popping up.

“That’s important to them, and they can see into the back end of any errors.” Without asynchronous video, not only getting her issue across would entail myriad and tedious screenshots, but the videos can be linked to bug cards that are created for a library of documentation and what is being worked on.

Using video for internal and external support

Our support team has shown just how valuable asynchronous video can be, both for internal and external clients. Try Screencastify free today to see what a difference it can make in your organization!