At least 40 percent of organizations that use real-time video applications are employing it in more than a dozen use cases.

That’s the word from Wainhouse Research, which has completed a study regarding how video is being used as a communications tool in the enterprise. Of the organizations that use video, the most common application is for employee training events (51 percent), followed by executive presentations (47 percent) and customer service (47 percent).

Those numbers get further beefed up when one considers subsets of these top three are also common. For instance, Wainhouse Research found that professional accreditation training (45 percent), customer training (44 percent) and distance learning (40 percent) are all popular video uses. Similarly, video shareholder meetings—a subset of executive communications—is meanwhile used by 41 percent. Under the customer service rubric, IT support is video-enabled in 45 percent of respondents.

These top applications are rather classic; it must be said—video has been part and parcel of many online training courses and certifications for years. And, executive messages to shareholders during earnings calls, or to employees for company updates, have been more and more video-enabled over the past two years. And, in the era of multichannel customer service, video chat or the sharing of video tutorials with customers is but another vector to communicate with subscribers and clients, along with chat options, email, mobile app messaging, Twitter and of course, plain old phone calls.

However, as companies gain experience with video for internal or customer applications like these, executive comfort level and creativity grows. The Wainhouse Research study showed a growing trend amongst experienced enterprise video users towards external applications and even new business models built around video.

For instance, using video for brand awareness activities is on the rise. Video-enabled marketing presentations (46 percent), advertising product launches (43 percent) and tradeshow presentations (40 percent) are all making inroads, as is offering video product tours online (43 percent).

"A primary barrier to entry in using video is a lack of knowledge on how easy, scalable and powerful it can be," said Brad Hunstable, CEO at Ustream, which sponsored the report. "Once they realize they can easily and securely communicate with powerful, engaging content to their entire organization at any location on any device, they see that it can be used as powerful tool to engage partners and customers as well."