Item: Gumlet
Rating: 10
Author: Christian Marriott

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We host video courses. There has been a trend for courses to be downloaded and distributed for free. We purchased Gumlet for their effective us of DRMS and Watermarking to protect our premium videos. This has not been financially viable on other platforms.

Second after testing the performance, we chose Gumlet for speed of delivery (no lag) of 4k video streaming.

Third, the administration of the video catalogue is much easier across multiple channels. This saves a little time, but helps to avoid publishing mistakes.

Fourth, although in early stages, the white labelled channels help to build our brand.

Pros and Cons

Securing Videos
Streaming Quality
Fast and helpful support
Branding

We would like more options to brand our channel pages
We would like video branching to add navigation for our marketing videos (but this is a request not an issue)

Most Important Features

DRMS
Water Marks
Branding
4K Video Streaming Performance

Return on Investment

Immediate savings on hosting from previous CDN
Increased member satisfaction from faultless delivery (so assumed increase in retention)
Reduce time spent administrating the system (small ROI for this but every little helps)
To my knowledge, no pirating of our training videos (priceless)

Alternatives Considered

Vimeo

I had limited experience of Vimeo and to be fair most video hosting outside of YouTube so my comparison is a little limited.

Gumlet is more cost effectively secure and provided a better 4K delivery performance - I can only comment on performance in the UK but I have to assume if it is good here, it will be good in most places.

If there was one area that Vimeo was better, the interface was simpler. That said, once we figured out Gumlet's admin screens, they were an improvement if you add any complexity e.g. multiple channels.

Maybe Vimeo is better for simpler scenarios.

Key Insights

Do you think Gumlet delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Gumlet's feature set?

Yes

Did Gumlet live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Gumlet go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Gumlet again?

Yes

Other Software Used

HighLevel, Certopus, Click Connector

Likelihood to Recommend

Scenario 1: Companies that own the rights to course material that need to protect from piracy. This is the number one reason for us choosing Gumlet. Scenario 2: Companies delivering 4k video who need consistent and smooth delivery especially if being shared in a live event like a webinar. We have not experienced any lag or had any awkward moments during live events - thank you for that Scenario 3: If you require white labelling for your video streaming to represent your brand. I can not think of a scenario that Gumlet is not appropriate for. However our scope of use is limited to delivering video courses and some marketing material. So this context should be kept in mind.

Users and Roles

3 - Our primary user is our technical lead (me). It is also used by marketing.

Support Headcount Required

1 - Technical lead (me)

Business Processes Supported

Secure Course Delivery
Reliable 4K Course Delivery
Embedded Marketing Material

Innovative Uses

We are moving towards using the channel as a goto for secure and free videos

Future Planned Uses

Multiple channels for marketing and free courses

Likelihood to Renew

We worked with Gumlet support during our setup and migration. But since then, we have not had any issues. Gumlet is very cost effective for our requirements e.g. DRMS used at scale. So, we are not considering other options.

Products Replaced

Yes - We replaced Vimeo with Gumlet to increase the protection of our course materials.

Key Differentiators

Other

Cost effective DRMS and Watermarking were the primary drivers for our choice. Although we did not do a like-for-like comparison with other CDN apps, the cost of the DRMS convinced us to make the move.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

In theory, we should have spent more time on the evaluation. But, in practice, we are really happy with our choice. So, nothing.

Support Rating

Support is a huge plus. Gumlet support has been very responsive when we have needed them and very helpful. Resolutions (I cant use the word fix as all issues have been at our end).. They are very patient

Gumlet Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response	None

Premium Support

No. We have not experienced any issues with regular support. I actually did not know there was a premium support option.

Bug Resolution

Exceptional Examples of Gumlet Support

Gumlet answered a lot of setup questions on a Sunday. This was not expected and helped us to be ready much earlier.

Usability

Probably unfair to take a point off for this. It took a little while to navigate all of the options. This is a more complex platform than I was used to. And I am fairly new overall to CDN video hosting platforms. It took the first day to get comfortable with what we could do and how to manage it. But, it now all makes perfect sense and I prefer this layout.

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar	None

Easy Tasks

Uploading videos into the right channels
Applying watermarks or DRMS
Publishing and embedding

Difficult Tasks

Initial Setup took a little longer than I was expecting

Secure Video Hosting Platform for Demanding Video Delivery

Overall Satisfaction with Gumlet