Videoconferencing Solution Saves Time, Millions in TravelBusiness ChallengeOur client for this solution was a leading global management consulting firm with over 100 offices in more than 50 countries around the world. The firm wanted to reduce both its travel costs and the ineffective consultant time that resulted from travel. Also, the firm was concerned about the environmental impact of its air travel and wanted to make a significant contribution to carbon abatement. We worked directly with the firm’s IT infrastructure group, which had been tasked with developing a videoconferencing solution that would achieve widespread adoption of videoconferencing as an alternative to face-to-face meetings.
SolutionThe increased quality of high-definition IP video conferencing and the increased availability of bandwidth at a reduced cost all came together for this client, such that they could realistically envision videoconferencing truly replacing travel for approximately 25,000 business trips each year. Because of our experience with vendor selection and vendor management, as well as our program management and deep IT and network infrastructure expertise, Acumen Solutions was chosen by the client to assist from strategy through implementation and monitoring of program results. The client had originally scheduled this project to take three years to complete, but with our help the firm was able to complete deployment to 80% of offices within six months and complete the global deployment within the first year. Vendor Selection & Contract Negotiation – Acumen Solutions was originally tasked with assisting the client in the final stages of vendor selection and the negotiation of a contract for the supply of videoconferencing hardware, software, maintenance, and support services. We helped the client to structure a three-year agreement that included strict service-level agreements, based on a fully-managed reservation-based service under which all meetings are set up by the service provider and participants simply walk into the rooms and start their meetings. Implementation – Acumen Solutions was integral to internal project management as well as external vendor management in the preplanning and rollout of the infrastructure. Our team developed sophisticated deployment models that guided decision-making on how many videoconferencing rooms were needed at each site to meet defined ease-of-reservation targets, how heavily they should be expected to be utilized, and how to determine when additional endpoints should be added. We assisted with the logistics of deploying these videoconferencing rooms across 100+ sites and over 50 countries. We also assisted the client in refining operational processes for videoconference reservations and videoconference set-up, and in the subsequent extension of the service to include videoconferences with external participants, particularly the firm’s customers. Capacity Management and Tracking of ROI – Acumen Solutions continues to analyze and manage the client’s usage patterns to make sure utilization is optmized and that the appropriate number of rooms are in place. We also are deeply involved with the projections of travel avoidance savings, return on investment, and carbon abatement achievements. External Connectivity and Webcam Integration – Acumen Solutions is currently assisting in the design of a more efficient video “extranet” service to allow the firm’s customers to be included in videoconferences at shorter notice and with a less-complex pre-meeting set-up process. (Currently there are about 200 external meetings per month, each requiring a great deal of preparatory testing.) We are also assisting in the development of a strategy for the inclusion of webcam-based participation in room-based meetings, for example, firm-wide and regional “town hall” meetings. TechnologiesThe videoconferencing infrastructure deployed in this project consisted of three tiers of rooms:
Return on InvestmentThe successful adoption of IP-based HD videoconferencing as a true alternative to travel provided not only an excellent ROI for our client through travel avoidance, but also greatly improved the effectiveness of consultants – by eliminating unproductive travel time and by enhancing the effectiveness of multi-site teams.
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Practice Highlights "Deploying the right CRM system can make the difference in building customer relationships. Acumen Solutions was chosen because not only are they experts on Salesforce.com implementations but they really understood the importance of and the approach to integrating the ticketing data into Salesforce.com."
 With Acumen Solutions implementation CommerceConnect was able to help U.S. businesses connect with government agencies for aid and become more successful in the global market.  Initial rollout was achieved within 12 weeks to meet an aggressive go-live date. Due to the success of the course, the team’s role was extended to provide on-going training.
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When this leading power tool manufacturer merged with a Pan-European competitor, they turned to Acumen Solution to deliver sales process improvements and CRM roadmap for a post-merger integration
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 When Acumen integrated eBay's newly acquired payment gateways, the results included improved lead generation, sales, and marketing campaign response rates.  Acumen Solutions was hired to develop and implement a large new web application to function as an end-to-end grants management solution. As a result, we were able to improve processes and increase employee productivity.
 Acumen Solutions delivered an advanced customer relationship management solution that unified sales efforts, improved management coordination of 30 nationwide divisions, and allowed executives to achieve operational excellence while improving performance.  When the U.S. Army launched its Army Experience Center (AEC), they turned to Acumen Solutions to develop a recruitment tracking platform using Salesforce.com.
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