When you manufacture computing products specifically designed for harsh environments, where failure simply is not an option, your in-company communication system falls under that same no-margin-for-error mantra. Thus, when U.K.-based Steatite, a sister company of Solid State Supplies, was looking to implement a new videoconferencing solution to connect its five office locations, it selected ClearOne and its COLLABORATE Pro 300 videoconferencing system.
“We were looking to implement a videoconferencing solution across all offices to improve engagement with our employees, remote sales forces, and customers, and, at the same time, reduce the ‘dead’ time spent travelling to and from meetings, and the associated travel costs,” said Jonathan Jackson, operations director for Steatite. “Once our system integrator, Bamboo Technology Group, made a strong recommendation for ClearOne, we confidently went with their COLLABORATE Pro 300 system.”
Bamboo Technology Group installed ClearOne’s COLLABORATE Pro 300 system in each of Steatite’s five office locations to deliver enterprise-grade video and professional-quality audio conferencing.
“We’re seeing that effective collaboration is increasingly critical to employee satisfaction and workplace productivity, and the ClearOne COLLABORATE Pro 300 provides Steatite with a videoconferencing solution that not only improves collaboration, it also improves sales efficiency while reducing costs,” said Ben Rossiter, account manager at Bamboo.
The improved company collaboration has been made possible in part by the COLLABORATE Pro 300’s ability to stream various forms of content from PCs onto displays wirelessly. The ClearOne system brings traditional SIP/H.323 video conferencing, Skype for Business, Spontania cloud video, audio and web conferencing, and multi-user wireless presentation into a single appliance all with a consistent user interface and user experience. And with the COLLABORATE Pro 300 company training can now take place more frequently and incorporate a much wider audience.
Regarding the benefits that ClearOne’s Spontania cloud service provides, Jackson added, “Spontania’s functionality to simultaneously connect boardroom conferencing technology, with remote participants using their desktops or mobile devices has allowed Steatite and Solid State Supplies to reap the benefits of videoconferencing and collaboration across both companies.”
The system also features ClearOne UNITE 150 PTZ cameras with 1080p30 resolution to deliver more natural video collaboration. ClearOne’s CHAT 150C speakerphones are specifically designed for group collaboration with their HDConference audio processing, proprietary echo, noise cancellation, and full-duplex technology.
Bamboo Technology Group also provided training at each office location. The initial installation was in the Redditch Head Offices, where more advanced training was provided to the Steatite onsite IT Team. This allowed Steatite and Solid State Supplies to be self-sufficient in administration and support. All other locations had training on a day-to-day basis, which has ensured that the ClearOne videoconferencing and collaboration solution has been effective right from the start.
Once the Steatite team began working with the COLLABORATE Pro 300 system, positive results with customers, suppliers, and employees quickly followed. A perfect example of the system’s immediate benefit was a demonstration from a supplier in Steatite’s head office of a new process system. Using the Pro 300 training was fast, efficient, and cost effective for Steatite.
“Without the ClearOne COLLABORATE Pro 300 solution multiple people would have had to travel to a single office to attend a three-hour training session, resulting in countless collective unproductive hours per person,” Jackson said.
In addition, Jackson claims the ClearOne solution has revolutionized monthly sales meetings. Sales team members no longer drive across the country to attend. Instead they join from their home office, enabling the team to productively use the time spent travelling and significantly reduce the associated travel costs.
“The document-sharing capability provided by the ClearOne solution has proven more beneficial than expected for us and has been really well received by all meeting participants,” Jackson said.
With the success of the initial installation and usage, Steatite is considering the purchase of additional Spontania Cloud Meeting Rooms and having administration rights rolled out to individual salespeople so they can conduct more meetings when working remotely. Steatite meetings are now often scheduled via videoconferencing as the first option due to the efficiency of the ClearOne solution.
For Steatite, among the key requirements for this new collaboration solution were that it needed to integrate with existing room-based videoconferencing systems and mobile devices and that all Steatite’s data remain secure. ClearOne videoconferencing solutions support cross-platform Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices and perhaps most importantly, all conference room content is secure as protecting the interests of their customers is something ClearOne takes very seriously.
The return on investment delivered by ClearOne’s COLLABORATE Pro 300 system was instantly realized for Steatite as it is now more widely used to hold internal, client, and supplier meetings enabling smooth and uncomplicated collaboration, which in turn speeds up decision making.
“Bamboo Technology Group, together with ClearOne, has delivered a videoconferencing and collaboration solution that was easily deployed and which is easy to use,” Jackson said. “Its implementation has been a success across all offices with all users. The amount of use of the solution is the measurement of its success. The ClearOne solution is being used more and more which is saving us more and more money.”
