Telco company buys video conferencing solution

It signed up to the LifeSize Communications LifeSize Desktop video conferencing solution because in any given week employees would attend up to 20 meetings with each of its franchise offices, product launches, training sessions and sales team meetings.

The company has eight franchise offices on the Sunshine Coast, Ipswich, Bathurst, Central Coast, Bendigo, Ballarat, Geelong and Launceston in Tasmania with more than150 staff.

"Given the geographic dispersion, the travel burden on staff was enormous," said Craig Malloy, CEO and founder, LifeSize Communications.

"To attend a face-to-face meeting with a colleague in another state, a staff member from head office would need to make the two hour drive to Melbourne, then take an interstate flight to Queensland, NSW or Tasmania."

In 2007 alone, Community Telco spent approximately $350,000 in travel expenses.

The company needed to bridge the gap between its multiple businesses across regional Australia so staff could speak to franchise partners and conduct productive meetings and training sessions both on and offsite.   

To ensure the video communications solution was adopted by employees across the entire group, it had to be an easy-to-use system that would enable real-time collaboration as well as crisp, high definition audio and video.  

David Joss, business development director of Community Telco Australia, said that too many mistakes were being made using the old communication system, which was affecting the business.

"The problem with teleconference calls and web conferencing was that after the call, I would be inundated with questions I had already covered moments earlier," he said.

"There have been instances where our sales staff misinterpreted the information that was given during a call and offered customers the wrong information, and eventually sold them the wrong products.

"The bottom line was that information was simply not being communicated clearly enough and the sales teams were not able to deliver quality service to customers."

Community Telco installed LifeSize Room 200 at its headquarters in Bendigo and LifeSize Team at seven of its franchise offices across Australia.

"The number of impromptu videoconferencing meetings we've had since the implementation is truly amazing," said Joss.

"Staff and partners just turn on the LifeSize system during meetings to get a point across or explain something visually. It has allowed our whole business to communicate a lot more clearly. "

The LifeSize implementation has enabled Community Telco to conduct a large number of meetings including training sessions over HD video conferencing, reducing employee travel time by 50 percent and travel costs by 60 percent.