Located at the stunning Mythenquai on Lake Zurich, Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich)’s redeveloped global headquarters the Quai Zurich Campus has recently been redesigned to bring together heritage properties and state-of-the-art new buildings. The campus provides Zurich employees with a modern and inspiring environment to foster creativity and support new ways of working. Avocor displays, designed for collaborative working, are installed in over 150 rooms across the Quai Zurich Campus.

“For the meeting rooms in our new corporate headquarters, we were looking for a high-quality touch screen ‘family’ ranging from 55 inch to 86 inch diagonals. Avocor’s offering met our expectations on haptics, speed, accuracy and versatility, without breaching our high standards on sustainability. Their reliability and their support service, based on a year of operation, is amongst the best we have seen.”

– Oliver Tschichold, Project Director, Quai Zurich IT/AV

The Avocor interactive display solutions have been rolled out over more than 150 rooms across four buildings, with Avocor G-Series in both large and medium-sized meeting rooms, as well as some of the open areas, and Avocor E-Series across smaller meeting spaces and 2-4 person offices.

Read the full Avocor success story >> 

How long have you been using Video Conferencing?

“We’ve been actively using video conferencing for over 10 years. It was prompted by some very senior people in the business wanting to relocate from Milan to Rome. We initially worked with a number of different platforms and devices but for cost and simplicity we shifted to Zoom in 2016. By the time the pandemic came along, we were already working well with Zoom.”

READ RELATED NEWS: NEAT IS BUZZING AT MICROSOFT IGNITE >> 

So, what led you to using Neat devices?

Previously, we would buy mini computers, cameras, speakers, microphones and displays. We were also using iPads as controllers and schedulers. When you work this way, there’s no guarantee all the devices are going to play nicely together. Plus, this method was very expensive, more or less €7,000 per room. With the old way of doing things, the cleaning people may have accidentally switched something off, then suddenly people are screaming a their assistants to call IT. So, we adopted Neat in 2019. We tried and tested other products,
but we definitely preferred Neat’s all-in-one designs. We love Neat, because it’s power on and it’s going to work, that’s it.

Was it love at first unboxing?

Yes, we fell in love with these devices for many reasons. The packaging is one. It’s so easy. You open up the box and you have all the instructions, the QR code, all the screwdrivers. It’s absolutely stunning. We fell in love with this approach, and then of course, with the devices.

Take a look at the full story here… >>Take a look at the full story here… >>

As medical resources are soaked up by the demands of Covid-19, there has been increased pressure to reduce face to face interactions. Clinicians need solutions that support the move towards remote processes and provide a safe service that patients can trust and rely on.

Introducing Flabba, offering feature-rich video and telephony one-way and two-way remote patient consultations that enable clinicians to engage safely and more productively with their patients. Now with Flabba, you can remove the need for vulnerable patients to attend clinics in person, without affecting the efficiency of your practice.

More efficient end to end remote consultation workflows

14 Reasons to choose Conflab Healthcare

1. Live multi participant –  Invite any amount of people to a live online video consultation.
2. Triage one way consultations – Ensure clinicians use their time most effectively and patients are not kept waiting for unnecessary face to face appointments.
3. Secure direct messaging – Send secure encrypted direct messages between patient and clinician and or to groups. Includes ability to securely share documentation.
4. Scheduling/ Booking – Scheduling & booking feature with integrated diary management with messaging and reminders configurable and sent over both email and text format. All bookings are easily viewed from both a clinician’s and a patient virtual waiting room.
5. Screen share with annotations – Clinicians can share their screen and take notes to be saved to the patient files.
6. iOS & Android app versions – Enjoy all of the core Flabba features but from within a secure downloadable App for ease of use.
7. Self service booking – Patients can book live 2-way video consultations, at times convenient to both them and the clinician. Integrated diary management ensures patients cannot book times where clinician is not available.
8. Automated messaging – Messages and reminders are automatically sent out to participants throughout the process. Patients and clinicians are prompted to attend consultations and to provide required documentation ready for upcoming consultations.
9. In call document referencing – Upload documents, scans & X-rays to be reviewed during consultations, verify and digitally sign documents through the Conflab Healthcare platform
10. Replay, review & rating – Securely collaboration with clinical colleagues. Ask them to Review, by replaying the recording, adding their own notes and rating the responses, enabling greater degree of diligence.
11. Structured questions – Pre-define questions to be discussed during a consultation, ensuring standardisation and enabling ‘fastforward’ to particular section of recording during review or audit process.
12. Note taking – Medical notes can be taken during a video consultation. Notes are stored against the consultation, clinic and patient record and can be downloaded into a PDF.
13. Recording of video & tele – Video & audio media can be securely recorded and stored against the clinic and patient record for easy retrieval. Choose to record video & audio, audio only or turn it off as required.
14. Time stamping – As a new question or topic is discussed during a consultation, Conflab Healthcare automatically creates a time stamp on the recording, ensuring that you can easily find the relevant information when you review the consultation.

Conflab Health

Conflab Health enables you to take advantage of workflows and the automation of business processes. Drive efficiency, save costs and improve patient care. Using simple tools for booking and scheduling appointments and document management to ensure you and your patients have easy access to essential documents and medical images.

Combine this with interactive audio and video recording and streaming, to provide a unique and s lick solution to managing your remote patient consultations.

Fewer missed appointments – Remote patient consultations are an essential tool to reduce waiting times, clear back logs and b ring a personal service back to healthcare

Bring healthcare into the home –  Conduct comprehensive consultations with your patients as if you were right there next to them. Bring health care right into the homes of those who need it.

Stakeholder benefits

Clinicians benefits

• Offer flexible & convenient healthcare
• Reduce your ‘Did Not Attends’
• Reduce & clear waiting lists
• Collaborate with colleagues securely
• Record & store video consultations for easy reference
• Easy & secure messaging to stay in touch with your patients

Patient benefits

• Easy & flexible way to connect with your clinician
• Save time & travel Conduct your appointment at time convenient to you
• Direct messaging to your healthcare provider
• View all previous consultations & supporting medical documents within the app

Contact our sales team today!

The Quooker was the very first boiling-water tap in the world. Inventions like the highvacuum insulated tank, the all-in-one taps Quooker Fusion and Flex and the series of black boiling-water taps brought about a revolution in the kitchen. Innovation ‘around the sink still continues every day.

Quooker is a family firm, based on enthusiasm and entrepreneurship. The ambition: to supply as many private kitchens as possible with boiling water, in a smart and responsible way. To achieve that, Quooker in Ridderkerk, Holland, has 300 people working on new technical ideas and design solutions to make the taps even more efficient, even easier to use and even more attractive.

Challenge and Solution

Due to the Pandemic, and not being able to get customers into their showroom safely, Quooker were looking for a solution that would enable customers from around the UK to attend virtual demonstrations of their showroom in a simple to use, fun, and high quality format.

Three areas of their showroom were identified as areas of importance and as such, three cameras were needed to focus on those areas. However, these three cameras needed to work together and switch seamlessly on a single system that was controlled by a tablet operated by the speaker who would be walking around the room. There needed to be both preset focus area buttons and the ability to move and zoom the cameras manually to focus on a variety of features around the room. This posed an interesting challenge for the VideoCentric team.

The Zoom platform was chosen after it was found to be more customer friendly, as people have been meeting friends and family on Zoom since the pandemic began and as such feel comfortable using that platform. Zoom was also chosen for it’s ability to control multiple cameras from a wireless tablet, which was a key element of this project.

As for the hardware, AVer cameras were chosen for their high quality images and zoom ability, and the Poly Focus UC headset was chosen as the audio element of the system, for its ability to provide quality sound in a noisy environment.

Usage and Outcomes

appointmentWhen the showroom shut due to Covid, they had to rely on phone calls as a main selling tool, but they are now fully utilising the virtual showroom into their everyday processes. “With a product like this, it is brilliant but its sometimes hard to explain over the phone, so having a visual concept of it does make it alot easier.” When using a virtual showroom becomes ingrained into the company culture, it inspires a video first approach, providing a dynamic buying experience for the customer. It also allows the team to have the capacity to provide more demonstrations in a day, and means that customers don’t have to travel at all or incur any associated costs by going to the showroom. It is a win-win for Quooker and its customers.

Since it’s install, the Quooker team have been fully promoting their virtual showroom, and have been actively encouraging customers to head to their website and sign up for a one-to-one private session throughout the day or book to attend the group demonstration on Saturday mornings. The one-to-one sessions are proving to be extremely successful. The system allows customers to see close up details of the products and interact freely with the Quooker team, which often results in customers being so impressed, they choose to buy by the end of the session. The group sessions are also proving to be a fantastic resource for new customers as the multiple camera angles allow a run through of company history by zooming onto the history wall, and an overview of the system and products by zooming onto products. Zoom also allows the management of up to 50 participants and shares their questions through the chat function which can be seen on the tablet.

Future

The Manchester showroom system has been primarily used to speak to consumers but the system is also used for training with their distributors and kitchen dealers, and as such there are plans to expand the existing system to include more cameras to allow for even more angles of the showroom and products. After using and enjoying the showroom system, they have also started looking at other ways to implement the solution in their business. Rafi Newman states “Its hard to explain and resolve potential issues over the phone and so we are looking at implementing the system at our service office in Brentwood. We will have a camera set up and when a customer joins with an issue, they can show us on their camera and we can show them how to fix it over the virtual which will save us time on servicing as it avoids us having to send out an engineer.”.

“VideoCentric recently installed camera equipment in our Quooker office in Manchester and they are brilliant. we are able to connect with our
customers to show them a virtual demonstration which has proven to be a success. the camera quality is excellent and the equipment is all really
professional. the fitters who came on the day were super friendly and showed us how easy the equipment was to use. In a post COVID world this
became a necessity for us and Video Centric made the transition seamless and a quick turnaround as well. highly recommend.”
Louie Basso, Quooker

If you would like to join a Quooker virtual session, you can book a slot here: https://www.quooker.co.uk/schedule-a-virtual-appointment

This particular install was in a #lecturetheatre and used some interesting tech from Yealink, Extron, Sy Electronics and Microsoft Teams.

For the visual input, we had to utilise an existing document camera and microscope for presentation, and also install two Yealink MVC900 cameras (lectern and audience view) on a Microsoft Teams Room System.

We also had to consider the size and shape of the room when thinking about sound. We installed 8 ceiling audience mics with lectern gooseneck powered by Extron DSP so ensure balanced and clear audio for in-room and far-end audience.

To control the system and simplify the switching between cameras and presentation sources, we installed a simple SY Electronics Ltd control panel.

If you are interested in how we can integrate videoconferencing into your environment no matter how big or small, please get in touch.

Challenge: Hubspot needed a unified, modern video collaboration solution to support it’s growing global teams.

Solution: Deploy a Zoom site license, Zoom Rooms, and Zoom H.323/SIP Connectors.

Result: 1.5 million meeting minutes a month in the first 3 months.

Click here to find out how Hubspot successfully partnered with Zoom to implement their collaboration: Hubspot Zoom Case Study

Click here to watch the Hubspot Customer Testimonial.

Want to see what else is possible? Click here to see the Zoom Rooms Conference Solutions Brochure.

Have a similar dream? Get in touch with us to find out how we can implement Zoom in your company to help you realise your collaboration potential.

Porterbrook’s aims include investing in new trains for the UK rail industry, improving reliability, availability, maintainability and safety characteristics, and working closely with freight operators, train operators and suppliers to identify further opportunities and improvements for the future of UK rail.

The Challenge and Solution

In September 2017, Porterbrook Leasing got in touch with VideoCentric when acquiring a new office in London to discuss the possibilities and solutions available for linking the new location to their head office in Derby via high-quality video conferencing equipment. Porterbrook already utilised a Cisco phone system and was looking to both extend Video Communications into the new location but also upgrade and retro-fit the existing video & AV equipment located in the head office. 

Through discussions between specialist Ian Pickford of VideoCentric and Andrew Swingewood, Head of IT at Porterbrook, it was found that a solution was needed that would:

• Reduce travel between London & Derby
• Enable the project teams to collaborate more effectively
• Enable share holder meetings to be held with remote shareholders 
• Incorporate whiteboarding & two way collaboration tools for engineering meetings 
• Enable presentations from laptops to large screens within meetings, with a better and neater way for users and guests to share content from their devices 
• Ensure quality aesthetics in all of the meeting rooms

After thorough research, demonstrations and trials, VideoCentric and Porterbrook selected Cisco Spark (now Cisco WebEx Teams) as a platform of choice. This would provide a simple-to-use collaboration solution for video, audio and data, connected Cisco endpoints and whiteboarding/real-time annotation technology via the Cisco WebEx Teams Board for London and Derby, plus a range of user and administration features for desktop & mobile users, reporting & statistics, and improved communications.

“Everyone loves how easy it is! Although for important meetings, someone is always there before it starts to check – which is due to past poor experiences – IT is just not needed for facilitating and supporting a meeting anymore.”

– Andrew Swingewood, Head of IT, Porterbrook Leasing

For Video Conferencing within the meeting rooms, VideoCentric integrated Cisco WebEx Room Kit Plus and SX80 Video Conferencing solutions, alongside a SpeakerTrack camera solution within the new London boardroom, and recessed AV technology into walls. Design & integration work was especially tricky in Derby, as technology hadn’t been considered during the original room designs, however the new London offices were more considered for Video and following the installation, users and board members were extremely happy with how all the rooms looked and how tidy & aesthetically pleasing the spaces were after the work was completed. 

“The install was great. The quality, the people & the professionalism – we’re very happy with the result”

Usage and Outcomes

Andrew commented, “The rooms begun being used a lot from day 1. With split teams between the two sites, London engineers would use the WebEx Board room with the Derby engineers a lot to discuss and collaborate on engineering projects – things like implementing Wifi upgrades to existing trains or new components needed for safety, with heavy use of screen sharing and a small but growing use of the remote annotation and drawing features.

Our London guy had some company strategy work to carry out and was tasked to work with all the teams – he was extremely pleased with how natural it was to talk to everyone.”

Andrew also mentioned that due to the solution being so simple, it was effectively self-service. “All that was needed was staff-engagement, and so I arranged one week of “this is how you can use it” and that was all that was needed to get staff onboard.”

It is however found that the SpeakerTrack solution has received a mixed reaction from users at Porterbrook – something often seen with those who have been used to a fixed camera view in the past. Andrew commented, “Many people tend to prefer the single camera view rather than speaker track during video meetings, as they appreciate seeing all members of the meeting to better understand reactions.”

Whilst there were a few teething issues with a Cisco device connecting to a display, a software update was swiftly installed remotely and the support received from VideoCentric on any issues has been highly complemented.

“Your support engineer, Pete, does everything he can possible to fix manufacturing faults or problems with Cisco. VideoCentric are very flexible and we have a good relationship.”

Next Steps – Fix The Biggest Complaint…

Following the success of the video deployment in Derby & London, users are happily using the new technology across Porterbrook. Andrew added, “The biggest complaint I am receiving is why the facility doesn’t exist in the Lord Nelson meeting room in Derby!” Since the initial installation, VideoCentric have now ensured this “complaint” has been fixed – a new WebEx Room Kit has been installed and is now in use in the Nelson room!

VideoCentric are also working with Porterbrook to help improve audio for laptop users, and the company tends to use all scheduled meetings at the moment, so encouragement of the benefits of ad-hoc conferencing for casual conversations will enable further savings and benefits to be realised. 

“We are extremely happy with the solution in place, how well our needs have been addressed and all the work and support we have had from VideoCentric. This is definitely one of the better contractual relationships we have had.”

To find out more about the solution in place at Porterbrook or to discuss how remote collaboration solutions could work to connect your distant offices, please contact VideoCentric today.

Throughout 2017-18, Ligentia and VideoCentric have worked in partnership to implement a Video Conferencing Solution aimed at improving communications across their global workforce. VideoCentric spoke with the Director of Group IT, to find out about the project so far. 

Challenge & Solution

As a global organisation with 22 office locations worldwide, Ligentia were looking for a solution that would:

• Help reduce national and global travel;
• Provide high quality Video between meeting rooms;
• Enable homeworkers & laptop users to be involved in conversations;
• Report usage and statistics easily for ROI calculations;
• Demonstrate & meet their own internal values of ensuring quality relationships, improving teamwork & processes, and driving down costs throughout the supply chain.

After thorough research, trials and a pilot scheme, VideoCentric and Ligentia selected Lifesize as the communication platform of choice.

This would provide a simple-to-use cloud based collaboration solution for video, audio and data, connected endpoints for meeting rooms in Leeds, London, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Brisbane, and a whole range of user and administration features for desktop & mobile users, reporting & statistics, and improved communications.

Usage and Outcomes

Leading by example, Ligentia are now using their collaborative solution to improve internal relationships and drive down costs, particularly associated with time and travel.

Hong Kong and Shanghai have already changed their monthly in-person meetings – alternating travel with video – and the three UK locations are starting to implement a similar initiative too. The solution in place enables ongoing usage reporting, which means the exact number of conferences had, and the savings made, can be reported on a monthly basis.

Although the time and travel savings of using the solution is huge, the most value being recognised is within the type of meetings and improved conversations.

“I now have half an hour meeting in the morning twice a week with my colleague in Shanghai, and that relationship is as strong as if he is sat next to me in Leeds”

The IT team are reporting fantastic feedback from the users too, whether in a boardroom or from a laptop, and although there were initial concerns about the network capabilities and broadband, the solution has presented very few challenges now it is in place.

Putting knowledgeable people and leading systems in the right location – from any location.

About Ligentia

Ligentia is a leading global freight and supply chain management provider. Dedicated to delivering specialist supply chain solutions within retail, manufacturing, defence and mining. Focused on assisting customers to implement supply chain performance improvement initiatives that drive down costs and improve customer satisfaction. Ligentia lead in their field by ensuring quality, service, market access and cost efficiency. That gives their customers a true competitive advantage, globally.

Throughout 2017-18, Ligentia and VideoCentric have worked in partnership to implement a Video Conferencing Solution. Aimed at improving communications across their global workforce. VideoCentric spoke with Noel Kenningham, Director of Group IT, to find out about the project so far.

Challenge & Solution

As a global organisation with 22 office locations worldwide, Ligentia were looking for a solution that would:

• Help reduce national and global travel;
• Provide high quality Video between meeting rooms;
• Enable homeworkers & laptop users to be involved in conversations;
• Report usage and statistics easily for ROI calculations;
• Demonstrate & meet their own internal values of ensuring quality relationships, improving teamwork & processes, and driving down costs throughout the supply chain.

After thorough research, trials and a pilot scheme, VideoCentric and Ligentia selected Lifesize as the communication platform of choice. This would provide a simple-to-use cloud based collaboration solution for video, audio and data, connected endpoints for meeting rooms in Leeds, London, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Brisbane. A whole range of user and administration features for desktop & mobile users, reporting & statistics, and improved communications.

“20 years in IT, and I have to say this is definitely one of the best and most simple rollouts I’ve ever been involved in”

Usage & Outcomes

Leading by example, Ligentia are now using their collaborative solution to improve internal relationships and drive down cost. Particularly associated with time and travel. Hong Kong and Shanghai have already changed their monthly in-person meetings – alternating travel with video. The three UK locations are starting to implement a similar initiative too. The solution in place enables ongoing usage reporting, which means the exact number of conferences had, and the savings made, can be reported on a monthly basis.

“I now have half an hour meeting in the morning twice a week with my colleague in Shanghai, and that relationship is as strong as if he is sat next to me in Leeds”

Although the time and travel savings of using the solution is huge, the most value being recognised is within the type of meetings and improved conversations.

Noel Kenningham, Director of Group IT at Ligentia, commented on the benefits of clarity of c onversation – “With colleagues that are non-native English speakers, we are able to read each others body language and know whether they have understood you or if you have understood the far end. You can see reactions and use your own body language too. This just cannot be done over the phone and is invaluable in international business.” “A totally different and improved relationship can be built and we can get much more benefit and value from each individual person”.

The IT team are reporting fantastic feedback from the users too, whether in a boardroom or from a laptop, and although there were initial concerns about the network capabilities and broadband, the solution has presented very few challenges now it is in place.

“The Lifesize solution is extremely easy to use and intuitive, with no need to train users. We love its lack of formality too. ‘Let’s just call and ask him’ – the kind of collaboration that doesn’t need a whole bridge and just brings the right people into the conversation as and when needed is invaluable”

Future

With the recognised benefits that the new solution has already brought to Ligentia, the team will be looking to grow their usage further with assistance from VideoCentric and Lifesize, and in the future, would like to see professional video solutions implemented across many other meeting spaces and huddle rooms worldwide.

I feel we have had a great deal from VideoCentric, and the solution is one of the best ones I have used. The technical engineer has been the best we have come across in all integrators too. I am certain with this in place, we can now provide an even higher level of service and ensure an even higher competitive advantage for our customers”

Contact our Sales Team Today

Download the Case Study Here

The Challenge

In 2010, UWE began on their road to improving the student experience through transforming ICT, infrastructure and networks, to become more collaborative and dynamic, and to be able to teach in both the physical and virtual world. The university wanted students and staff to interact in both worlds, whilst enabling collaboration with other universities and colleges around the world. 

The Solution

Through the transformation of the universities ICT, UWE worked with Microsoft, Polycom and HP to create a platform that was ready for their future way of thinking. With a new network infrastructure, UWE deployed Microsoft Lync (now Skype for Business) and Polycom Video Conferencing solutions to enable standards-based unified communications that students could use to collaborate across campuses and transform the learning experience, whilst greatly saving on time & costs.

Staff are now able to use Microsoft Skype for Business from their laptops and connect face-to-face with others via the Polycom RealPresence platform. UWE have also implemented Polycom RealPresence solutions within suites across the university, integrated with recording and playback capabilities on the network that has eliminated the costs associated with “double teaching”. 

Distance Learning

Although predominantly used for interaction between students and staff in Bristol, the Video Conferencing solutions are also being used for staff to communicate with international students, alongside communicating with other partner universities around the globe. An international college is now using Video Conferencing to communicate with a Bristol based tutor to assist delivery of a new Masters programme at their college.

The Savings & Results

By meeting via Video, UWE has calculated that costs associated with “degree validation” (where degree material is developed and the course is validated internationally) have been reduced by £25,000, and associated travel costs have been reduced by around £100,000. 

The university is also pressing forwards with it’s super green status, of which this reduction in travel is assisting towards the Carbon Trust Standard certification. 

UWE has a wide international agenda, and supports students from around the world with their education. By implementing Video Conferencing and Collaboration tools, they enhance their international reach and enable a much more productive way to link up with international partners. 

Students also are benefiting greatly by utilising technology that prepares them for the future workplace.

Read the full customer story from Polycom and UWE here >>