VIDEO CASE STUDY The future in full view
able to buy directly from Cisco, which incorporates Tandberg.
Andy Threlfall
Intrinsic Technology is not only switching customers on to the cost savings associated with video deployments, but also the transformational power of video which can revolutionise the way organisations such as NPS Group operate in the future.
N
PS Group is a national organisation that is 51 per cent owned by Norfolk County Council and
delivers a range of property services. The group serves both the public and private sector, offering services from surveying and maintenance to estates management, integrated design and management and consultancy. With regional offices across England and a strong growth record, NPS relies on its communications between sites in order to sustain the expansion and customer service standards. It also wanted to improve communications across the company in order to reduce costs, improve the business’s environmental impact, reduce travel and prepare for future expansion.
Unified communications and cloud computing specialist, Intrinsic Technology, had already worked with NPS for over four years since taking over an existing maintenance contract. Through deployment of a number of expansions and upgrades, Intrinsic Technology has managed the Group’s voice, data and Cisco infrastructure, and in order to develop NPS’s internal communications and prepare the organisation for future growth, Intrinsic Technology deployed a Tandberg video conferencing system across 23 NPS sites. As a tier one Cisco partner Intrinsic is
Intrinsic’s engineers configured the existing systems at NPS and installed a new complete telepresence solution, using products from Tandberg’s portfolio. Within nine months NPS had gained a return on its video conferencing investment. The organisation now saves a substantial sum annually on travel and hotel bills. It has also become more efficient, with less time wasted on travel between sites, and is therefore able to hold more meetings as and when they are needed. Productivity across the entire organisation has increased as a result. NPS Group also prioritises lean and innovative use of technology and respect for the environment across the organisation. Embracing video conferencing and telepresence solutions has allowed the Group to reduce carbon emissions from travel, as well as to operate at the forefront of technological solutions to business problems.
Fundamental to the future Andy Threlfall, Account Director at Intrinsic Technology, commented: “NPS Group rightly considers internal communications to be key to the organisation’s efficiency. The solution we have provided will grow with the Group, and continue saving them money year on year. Video is fundamental to the future of corporate communication and collaboration. Diversely spread businesses will need video if they want to increase their ability to capitalise on new markets with new products and services. If businesses continue to only utilise old, inefficient means of communication, market opportunities will be missed and costs will continue to increase.”
Although the benefits are clear, there were challenges to overcome in terms of selling in the video comms system to NPS. “As ever, it’s about encouraging a high- performance visual communication platform as a culture change within an organisation,” added Threlfall. “We needed to communicate the
holistic benefits of telepresence solutions. They don’t just reduce travel and hotel expenses, but also increase time for face-to-face communication. They don’t just drive efficiency and productivity, but create a more collaborative, open working environment. We believe video communications can be truly transformative as part of a converged desktop solution.”
By combining desktop, voice and data, a truly converged desktop is a real possibility, believes Threlfall. He added: “Intrinsic is creating the possibility for users to work on their business critical applications on a range of devices, desktops, tablets, thin clients or laptops, and to seamlessly communicate on the most suitable medium – IM, email, voice or video. Video full stop, not just video conferencing, plays a big part in our strategy for growth. Key to our proposition is our IVUE concept, which focuses on the desktop user experience for all corporate data, applications and forms of communication. Intrinsic can consolidate disparate systems and provide a consolidated solution that enhances the user’s ability to do their job.”
Shaun Morgan, Northern Data Centre Manager at NPS Group, added: “Reducing our travel and hotel bills is ideal not only from a financial point of view, but also in terms of our commitment to respect for the environment. The benefits have been even wider than we originally envisaged. People are having meetings they wouldn’t otherwise have had, and are holding virtual coffee mornings and team meetings via the video conferencing system.” n
Key benefits
• Reduced hotel and travel bills • Less time spent in meetings • Lower carbon emissions • Reduced risk from travel • More effective use of WAN • Increased productivity • Infrastructure in situ for expansion
30 COMMS DEALER JANUARY 2012
www.comms-dealer.com
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