Every Monday, we present to you a company that innovates.
A platform, Berrycast, which makes it possible to record and share visual messages, with the content on the computer screen and the face of the narrator, with a textual transcription. We added an artificial intelligence capable of summarizing the content of the video, extracting a list of tasks and sending everything by email.
In March 2005, at the age of 19, an entrepreneur from Blainville, Jonathan Léveillé, founded Openmind Technologies. This IT company specializes in the development of custom software solutions for businesses.
In 2018, work began on a new tool, Berrycast, born from the observation of an underserved need: easily send recorded videos from your computer screen, in which you can embed the face of the narrator. “Jonathan wanted to send a video, he had to save it, link it, the format was too big, it was super complicated,” explains Jean-Christophe Dubé, who joined the adventure in 2019 and became later the director of the Berrycast project.
Openmind now has 62 employees, including 5 assigned to Berrycast. The platform has some 65,000 users in 210 countries.
Berrycast is for project managers who want to give a quick and clear presentation to their clients. In a way, it is a question of recording the equivalent of a videoconference on which the content of the screen is displayed, while seeing the face in mortise and hearing the voice of the manager. With Berrycast, the recording generates a link that can be easily shared, allowing the recipient to rewatch the video at their convenience.
In association with Microsoft Azure, a text transcription function was later added. When ChatGPT-3.5 appeared in November, we jumped at the chance to integrate a capacity of synthesis, launched this spring. Berrycast can now offer a summary of what the narrator said and extract a to-do list.
“It uses the transcript of the video, it works great,” says Mr. Dubé. The summary and the “to-do” are displayed on the side of the video, it’s very fast and it avoids having to type the whole video. »
The summary and the extracted tasks are validated by a human who registers his approval. La Presse tried it and the result and ease of use are indeed impressive.
Berrycast, which is called a SaaS (Software as a service) for Windows and macOS, is offered in three subscriptions. For $5 per month, you can record and share unlimited videos. For $12, you can add company logos and colors. For $30, the new formula, we have access to the summaries and the extraction of the tasks to be carried out by the artificial intelligence.
Surprisingly, for a state-of-the-art product like Berrycast, it is not the development that is named as the main difficulty from the outset. “Technology is changing so fast that it’s getting easier and easier to do everything,” says Dubé. Our firm, at the base, is strong in development. »
No, it was rather the determination of the market that was the main challenge. “We were wrong,” admits the director. We thought about the teachers and when summer came, they all left. We hit several targets and when the margarine is spread too much, you come to a point where there is no more. »
The final decision was to pitch Berrycast as a tool for project managers “that other people will use”.
There are plans, in the still undetermined future, to make Berrycast a full-fledged company, which could attract funding and “go get a bigger market”, says Mr. Dubé.
We want to push the use of ChatGPT further to make transcriptions more consistent. “We pass the transcription through the artificial intelligence and ask it to revisit it. It becomes more readable. »
Like any good tech company, ideas flow. “There are plenty of avenues, but the problem is validation with our current consumers. Do they need it? »
One of the most promising ways: combine text and video so that a summary is also accompanied by the associated images.
