The need arose from the constant travel requirement of the senior management and non-availability of dates and time to travel. It was becoming difficult for the mangers to be at a location in time for troubleshooting.

The Need

• Internal and external communication

• Travelling expense

• Non-availability of common dates, increased number of meetings

• Bandwith and network

Challenges in Deployment

• Availability of stable bandwidth

• Robust and efficient network to run the application

• Availability of leased lines for connectivity

• Availability of VSAT links in remote locations

The primary driver was the business benefits which were achieved in a short time of deployment. Also, for plants in remote locations which needed to be constantly in touch with the city office VCS served the much needed connect between them.

As the company had a success story on the business front, it went on to leverage the solution and started using it in other operations like management, training, human resources, etc.

The Benefits

• The tangible effect was on cost incurred on travelling, and coordinating on date availability for meetings

• Intangible were like the increase in the number of meetings conducted at all levels in the organization

• Better productivity, higher operational efficiency, better interaction between management and the teams, and inter departmental interaction

Now that the company has stabilized and is making a productive and extensive use of the solution, they are looking at further updating and innovating the solution. As the technology needs grow, and with newer version and features entering the market, the company will continue to evaluate the updation required.

With 250 leased lines and above 100 VSATs and 50 links getting added, the network is robust and well structured. With the business locations dispersed to the remotest of locations in the country, videoconferencing solutions have been able to provide the connect between managers and the staff at these various locations.

Challenges

• Infrastructure for running the solution in remote locations where there is no connectivity

• Developing proficiency to use such a solution and educating the other locations

• Understanding and embracing the visual mode of communications

• There was resistance and hesitation to adopt a solution

• Educating the people about the benefits and comforts of using a visual communication solution

• The group ushered in the required cultural change among people to adopt the latest technology and use it to their benefit

Applications Being Run

• Human resource functions like recruitment, training, appraisals are done through it

• Conducting interviews-The interviewee is called to the nearest branch office for a videoconference interview

• Blended learning: Training courses in the organization are conducted on these solutions

• Business users: Senior management meetings are held across multiple locations

• IT users: Incident and problem management

• The group's annual award ceremony is broadcast over it

Benefits

• There is significant control on the cost in terms of travel, time and lodging-boarding

• Better management levels are achieved for heterogeneous environment

• Involvement of management and staff from all levels at regular intervals

• The group companies are able to align people, processes and technology to meet the core business objective

Road Ahead

• Plan to extend coverage on employee training

• Extend to residential complexes at units across the country

• Reduce the TCO by leveraging infrastructure in more effective and innovative ways