At the eleventh hour a European-based consumer goods company decides to rebrand its packaging in advance of a major marketing campaign and begins contacting its strategic vendors, including a global manufacturer based in the U.S. The manufacturer’s creative director in Europe immediately mobilizes his U.S.-based colleagues who use desktop video to collaborate overnight on design specifications and graphics. A prototype is delivered to the client’s chief marketing officer the next day before other vendors even begin to respond.
Meeting via video conference as opposed to relying on e-mail and audio conference calls allowed for real-time, visual collaboration which led to a finished product in an accelerated timeframe, not to mention a winning bid and a satisfied client.
Global manufacturers are facing a number of challenges including pressure to:
- reduce operational costs;
- shift production quickly from one location to another; and,
- speed time to market.
“Beyond favorable operating models and machines, to ultimately succeed, it’s people who must be able to productively and easily collaborate to improve process and culture which is a primary reason that Unified Communications & Collaboration has emerged as a disruptive force for manufacturers” commented Jennifer Horvath who leads Verizon Enterprise Solutions’ Emerging Technology practice for the manufacturing industry.
“With offices, plants, warehouses, suppliers, distribution channels and clients located around the globe, the experts who manage these operations must be able to quickly communicate and video communications, presence and instant chat are fast winning the race.”
Adoption of cloud-based platforms are on the rise by manufacturers given the Op-Ex versus Cap-Ex financial benefits and the flexibility to centralize operations and easily share computing resources and applications between sites around the globe.
Verizon’s Unified Communications and Collaboration as-a-Service (or UCCaaS) solution, built on Cisco’s Hosted Collaboration Solution UC&C platform and delivered over Verizon’s Private IP network and data centers, is allowing manufacturers to replace disparate voice systems with unified collaboration solutions. Benefits can include increased productivity among employees around the world; a simplified and reliable network architecture for IT to manage; cost and operational efficiencies; disaster recovery; and, best of all, faster time to market.
It’s no wonder that Verizon Enterprise Solutions recently received a Cisco Partner Summit Geographic Region award and was recognized as “Cloud Provider of the Year for the Americas” for market leadership of Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS) and infrastructure services during 2013.
“UCCaaS is gaining recognition by manufacturers as a tool that can offer a competitive advantage,” Horvath added.
For more information, read about Verizon’s Unified Communications & Collaboration portfolio.
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