Immersive Telepresence Solution Improves Productivity, Reduces Travel
June 20, 2011
PARIS – When SCOR, a leading global re-insurance company, wanted to cut costs and boost efficiency by reducing business travel, it turned to Verizon and Polycom for an advanced, immersive telepresence solution.
Verizon installed seven Polycom immersive telepresence systems at SCOR’s offices in the financial hubs of Cologne, London, New York, Paris (two rooms), Singapore and Zurich. The new units are enhancing collaboration and improving productivity by enabling employees around the globe to meet “in person” using virtual, real-time, full-size meeting rooms without needing to leave the office.
Headquartered in Paris, SCOR Group, formed from the merger of SCOR, Converium and Revios, employs more than 1,600 employees in 40 offices across five continents. The company’s insurance and investment businesses service more than 4,000 clients around the world.
One of SCOR’s key challenges was how to improve communication and collaboration within its dispersed global leadership team. SCOR decided to use technology to create a working environment that would encourage collaboration across time zones and continents, while also helping to bring disparate corporate cultures together under the SCOR brand. Immersive telepresence was the obvious solution – enabling colleagues from around the world to meet on-demand, and without the need for expensive and time-consuming business travel.
Verizon was already providing SCOR with video and audio-conferencing solutions, and quickly identified Polycom’s Real Presence Experience (RPX) telepresence rooms as a good fit for this next phase of SCOR’s plan to increase the use of unified communications and collaboration solutions. The new telepresence solution leverages the Polycom UC Intelligent Core™, including a dual Polycom RMX bridge configuration for built-in systems redundancy, and has been quickly and easily integrated into SCOR’s existing IT environment. Meeting reservations are made using an intranet-based booking system, while a Glowpoint management system manages all aspects of room bookings as well as the video network operations center.
“User acceptance was probably the most important factor for us,” said Laurent Chartier, SCOR’s network architect. “Telepresence is a major outlay for any company, but we knew we would quickly see a return on that investment if our solution was able to enhance the daily business lives of our employees. The Verizon and Polycom solution ticked all the IT boxes, thanks to its efficient meeting room design and interoperability with other standards-based videoconferencing systems. But most importantly, it is an obvious hit with our users – so much so that we will be shortly be expanding our facilities, installing a second system in London to help meet user demand.”
Verizon is a global leader in driving better business outcomes for enterprises and government agencies. Verizon delivers integrated IT and communications solutions via its high-IQ global IP and mobility networks to enable businesses to securely access information, share content and communicate. Verizon is rapidly transforming to a cloud-based “everything-as-a-service” delivery model that will put the power of enterprise-class solutions within the reach of every business. Find out more at www.verizonbusiness.com.
About Polycom
Polycom Inc. is a global leader in unified communications solutions with industry-leading telepresence, video, voice and infrastructure solutions built on open standards. Polycom powers smarter conversations, transforming lives and businesses worldwide. Please visit www.polycom.com for more information or connect with Polycom on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
About Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, NASDAQ:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America’s most reliable wireless network, with more than 104 million total connections nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America’s most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers seamless business solutions to customers around the world. A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 196,000 and last year generated consolidated revenues of $106.6 billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.
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| Polycom |
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| sarah.brambley@polycom.com |
| Jo Perrin |
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| jo.perrin@verizonbusiness.com |
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