21 November 2005. Vodafone Group Plc is the world’s largest mobile telecommunications company, with a significant presence in Europe, the United States and Asia. The Group provides an extensive range of mobile telecommunications services to over 170 million customers.

The Group’s majority-owned mobile subsidiaries operate under the brand name ‘Vodafone’. The largest number of Vodafone customers are in Germany, Italy, the UK, Japan, and Spain. There are large associated companies in Belgium, France, China and the United States (Verizon Wireless). The Group has ownership interests in 27 countries across 5 continents and Partner Networks in a further 27 countries. 

The Vodafone business in each country is a major business in its own right. They are coordinated by Vodafone Group Services in Newbury, UK.  World headquarters of Vodafone are in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Vodafone makes optimal use of videoconferencing to link this global group of businesses. There are over 300 videoconferencing systems in use and unique Videoconferencing Lounges in Newbury (2) and Dusseldorf to promote videoconferencing instead of travel. (See picture).

Today there is an established set of uniform policies to guide deployment and a videoconferencing manager to implement and monitor them. Each site must be certified before it joins the Vodafone video network. All new units are TANDBERG and there is strong migration towards using IP instead of ISDN.

It was not like this three years ago when Ray King, the Managing Director of EDSL, a UK-based Consultancy Company on Visual Communication, arrived on the scene.

He was asked by Vodafone’s Director of Operations - Global Web Enablement, Dr. Armin Hessler, to make an audit of how videoconferencing was used in the company at the end of 2003. He found that every country was doing its own thing as far as videoconferencing was concerned and there was no centrally-managed video network.

Ray King, as the former head of conferencing services at PictureTel Europe until 2000, knew exactly what was required. Ray King has been retained by Vodafone for the last 18 months. We examine what Vodafone have achieved with videoconferencing in this period in the next News Byte.

Vodafone Group has re-assessed and greatly expanded its use of videoconferencing systems as a three-stage process; first, take stock; second, implement changes; third, promote widely its use (Part - 2)

21 November 2005. Vodafone Group Plc. has developed the use of videoconferencing as a valuable communications tool in three-stages over the last three years.
 
The first stage was to make a detailed audit of the state of videoconferencing use within the company at the end of 2003. Ray King of the EDSL Consultancy took 6 weeks to compile a detailed report on the way videoconferencing was used within Vodafone across all operating companies including Japan. This was presented to Executive Members of the Main Board of Directors of Vodafone outlining a strategy and the business case.

A Board-level decision was taken to develop and implement a videoconferencing strategy aimed at encouraging employees to reduce the amount of time spent travelling.  The effect would be to reduce wear and tear on individuals and, in turn, produce cost savings and improve efficiency.

As a consultancy company, EDSL is focused solely on helping companies realise the full benefit of using visual communication systems. Ray King’s research revealed that Vodafone already owned about 150 videoconferencing systems from five different manufacturers and of varying capabilities across the 16 major operating countries.

The in-house perception of videoconferencing, however, was discovered to be poor - due to the poor quality and the low reliability of outdated videoconferencing systems in use, lack of process and some unreliable ISDN connections. As a result, the systems were used by a limited number of managers on a regular basis.

The Vodafone Board of Directors made Dr. Armin Hessler, Director of Operations - Global Web Enablement, responsible for implementing the videoconferencing development plan. Top management wanted to make more use of videoconferencing themselves (the main Boards of Directors use Teliris videoconferencing suites as described in this Newsletter on 3 October 2005).

The Board wanted managers and staff throughout the Group to make optimum use of videoconferencing.  It is rare but very important to have such high-level involvement in the decision to extend the use of videoconferencing.

The second stage was to map out and implement the development plan. Most connections used in 2003 were over ISDN (IP was used in three countries) and some of these had proved to be unreliable. Hence, after auditing the 150 systems that the company had in operation, there was a clear decision taken that videoconferencing would move to IP on Vodafone’s own MPLS-based IP network. 

At an early stage, a videoconferencing organisation was created with a manager at the centre and an individual assigned responsibility in each country.  Efforts were made to improve performance of existing room systems and outdated equipment was replaced. A process to certify each conferencing room was launched and Ray King and his team of video engineers implemented this policy. Processes were standardised and customer feedback launched. Records were kept to measure the use of and benefits achieved from videoconferencing.

After an RFQ, Vodafone decided to standardise on TANDBERG as a supplier for all videoconferencing equipment. The videoconferencing system most widely used in the Lounges and executive offices is the TANDBERG 2000MXP.

All the TANDBERG videoconferencing systems are controlled remotely by the TANDBERG Management System (TMS). Each of the new TANDBERG systems can support a four-way meeting from its own built-in MCU, but for larger conferences Vodafone has installed a TANDBERG MCU in Newbury and Düsseldorf. These can be used to video link a larger number of sites for training or a specific management briefing.

The third stage was to persuade managers and staff to make optimum use of the videoconferencing systems deployed. (Part -3)

The third stage was to persuade managers and staff to make optimum use of the videoconferencing systems deployed. Our picture shows the launch of one of two  Videoconferencing Lounges in Newbury. There is a similar Videoconferencing Lounge for staff to use in Düsseldorf.

Videoconferencing Lounges have proved to be very popular. Vodafone staff have found that using a Videoconferencing Lounge is much more comfortable than air travel because there is no hassle getting to and from the airport and no time wasted waiting in the airport lounge. There are no delayed flights; video links are instant.

There were Air Hostesses at the launch and a number of internal posters such as: “Say Good-bye to red eye” and “Spend more time with your family.”

There has been no compulsion to use videoconferencing in Vodafone. Management is confident that once staff experience for themselves the improved quality of life and higher productivity that videoconferencing brings, they will minimise their air travel.

The third stage of education and promoting use of videoconferencing is underway and gathering momentum by word of mouth.  Dr. Armin Hessler’s assessment is that: “I am very pleased with the progress of this project. Ray King has helped us to create tangible targets that were capable of execution and the delivery of a service that Vodafone could be proud of. EDSL has helped us achieve a great deal in a short time frame by staying focused on the key issues.”

Armin continued: “ I am really excited about our new Videoconferencing lounges as these will offer a new level of service that is both accessible and easy to use. Videoconferencing is a great tool to use when it works properly so we have concentrated our focus on reliability and quality. At one time my own feelings about videoconferencing were negative, mainly due to bad experiences, but I now have a system in my office and use it all the time. There are times when you need to meet people face to face but many meetings can be replaced by VC - at least we now have the choice.”

Ray Kings comments “This is the most exciting project I have worked on to date. We initially took a pragmatic approach and simply tried to get the basics right. This is always difficult when working with global companies but having senior ownership is the key to the success. Dr Armin Hessler defined a global project team that allowed us to create a coherent approach within the fist 3 months. The team has been very committed and this has largely been driven by the strong leadership and passion for success of Dr Hessler.”

“We don’t have any magic formulas but simply believe in hard work and we do what we set out to achieve. Once we had created stability between the operating countries we then moved on to a bolder approach. The lounge concept is fantastic and will change the view of videoconferencing within Vodafone and hopefully employees’ attitude towards travel. The benefits to both the individual and to the company will be significant and will make everyone’s hard work worthwhile”