Working at Nevion – Q&A with Arne-Johan Martinsen

Say hello to Arne-Johan Martinsen, VP Product Management for VideoIpath at Nevion in Norway.

In this edition of our ‘Q&A with the Architects’ series, we spoke with Arne-Johan about his initial journey to joining our team, how he serves as the link between many different people in the business and what he enjoys most about his job.

What attracted you to join Nevion as part of your career journey and what is your role there now?

I am Product Director of VideoIPath at Nevion. I joined in 2006, when I was already working in the broadcast industry. I started in the industry in 1999, at a company where many of the people currently working in Nevion used to work. It is quite a small industry in Norway.  

How has your role progressed whilst you’ve been at Nevion?

My role has changed quite dramatically over the 19 years I’ve been at Nevion. I started as a hardware designer, working on mainly optical designs, and then moved into a managerial role for the hardware team. Both these roles were quite technical.

Then in 2018, I started as a product manager for VideoIPath, shifting into the commercial side. Moving from hardware into software was quite a big step as far as I was concerned. But it was a good decision because I learned how to sell and position the product. It was a great way to advance my career and taught me many lessons that I continue to use.

What three words would you use to describe your role or Nevion?

The first word that comes to mind is “link”. I have been the link between different departments at Nevion. This is a key part of my role because I talk with sales, support and the delivery team to ensure their needs are aligned with development.  

Another word is “structure” because staying organized is essential when managing so many moving parts. The final term I would use is “technical understanding” because we are in such a technical industry and you need to understand both the technology and the customers very well. Product management in our industry is technical – and that’s especially true at Nevion where everyone is highly skilled.

What interested you about working in the broadcast industry?

I came into the industry partly through luck when I was young and I picked up more and more knowledge. I came from a small company I had started with a friend. I wanted to move to a bigger company. This is an industry that has changed a lot over the 25 years of my involvement. The pace of technological change is significant. Organizations want to do more with less and VideoIPath is a key product that helps customers to achieve that, which I find exciting.

Can you tell us about a project you have worked on during your time at Nevion that you are most proud of?

That’s definitely VideoIPath which is the journey I’ve been on for the last eight years. I’ve had the privilege of working with a highly skilled developer team to shape that product, and it’s something I’m most proud of. We’re entering a new market with the development of our Broadcast Controller – a completely new functionality designed specifically for broadcast control. It’s an exciting step forward, especially considering that innovations like this typically take between two and four years for something to reach the market, which is quite a long time.

What is your favorite thing about working for Nevion?

The people I work with have a real passion for broadcasting and possess a high level of technical skills. At Nevion, we also have the freedom to come up with ideas and to challenge the way things are done. Freedom of this sort is really important. Another aspect I enjoy is the variety of customers I get to meet, ranging from long-standing customers, new customers, happy and not-so-happy (but hopefully soon-to-be-happy) customers. I enjoy that diversity and the challenges it brings.

What new technology/ innovation excites you the most in the broadcasting world?

This is the whole challenge of doing more with less – helping customers be more efficient. Public broadcasters, for example, are under a lot of pressure from streaming platforms. But in Europe, people are expensive, so workforce transformation is an important topic, which has consequences for internal culture. But at the same time, the industry here cannot take on major transformations – it must stabilize and determine how to make money. eSport is coming in, while Microsoft and Netflix, HBO are all coming in with a different mindset, so customers need to invest in the right places.