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Web and Video Conferencing Software Improves Productivity and Efficiency While
Saving Business Operating Costs for Manufacturers
The following commentary is provided by WiredRed Software
regarding the general topic of business-to-business video conferencing in the
manufacturing vertical market. Additional research links appear on the left, and
media contacts are listed below.
A WiredRed Commentary
Today’s business climate is more competitive than ever. So how do
manufacturers both protect the bottom line and succeed without making
deep cuts in their workforce? Is this an oxymoron? No. Manufacturers can
look for cost savings no further than the latest software that brings
management, employees, customers and partners together virtually. Web
and video conferencing can save manufacturers, or any organization that
is dispersed geographically, both time and money. Time spent out of the
office traveling for general business meetings or even standard customer
visits is usually time not well spent. This is especially true where
visits are routine, back-and-forth between the same locations. Companies
spend a great deal of capital on business travel that could be put to
better use, such as hiring new sales personnel, updating manufacturing
systems and other worthy capital investments.
The increase in the availability and affordability of T1 or better
Internet connections [corporate Internet access] combined with the speed
of the latest Pentium processors makes it easy for any operation to reap
the benefits of online meetings, virtual training, and sales and support
presentations via the web.
Videoconference services and software have experienced a dramatic surge
of popularity recently. Organizations of all sizes have found that web
and videoconferencing can be used in all departments, in all lines of
business, for interactive training, off-shore manufacturing and
out-sourced operations support, sales presentations, standing and ad-hoc
meetings, just to mention some of the most popular applications of the
technology. Manufacturers can also leverage this technology to make sure
personnel are trained and up-to-speed on new ERP, control systems, as
well as front office operations, supply chain and CRM software.
Management can use a video conference to meet, virtually, with
co-workers around the globe anytime and any place with just a standard
web browser and high-speed Internet connection.
According to leading industry analyst groups, such as Wainhouse Research
and Frost & Sullivan, much of the increasing market demand for web
conferencing software and services can be attributed to worldwide
economic growth, which will trigger increased IT spending, better system
and software interoperability and increased acceptance of the technology
itself. From a September 2004 report, Frost estimates that by 2009, web
conferencing software and services, including video, voice and data will
be a $9 billion industry. Wainhouse Research noted in its 2005 report,
“Rich Media Conferencing”, that web conferencing software sales continue
to soar with double-digit growth rates and a notable movement away from
managed services to self-hosted applications.
Large successful companies such as D.H. Pace, a Kansas City,
Missouri-based manufacturer and marketer of garage doors, had to adopt
the latest web and video conferencing technology in order to keep up
with training demands. Because employees are spread throughout six
offices, in as many states, there wasn’t a practical way for the
training staff to keep up with new employee training and ongoing
employee education.
D.H. Pace is utilizing WiredRed Software’s e/pop Web Conferencing, which
offers a comprehensive set of features for real-time interaction and
communication. End users can share their desktops, any application or
web browser. PowerPoint presentations can be dynamically uploaded and
shared during the conference. Ten participants or more can use video at
the same time in order to bring a more interactive environment to the
conference. In conjunction with video, voice conferencing decreases the
need to use expensive teleconferencing services for company-wide or
lengthy meetings. In addition, the remote control feature allows the
host to take control of desktops or applications in order to conduct
training sessions.
[D.H. Pace Case Study]
WiredRed’s e/pop Web Conferencing is in a class of what is called
“on-premise software” versus leading web conferencing services, such as
those from Microsoft, WebEx and Raindance. There are a variety of web
conferencing software applications available today, such as Macromedia
Breeze and IBM Lotus Sametime, to name a couple. WiredRed’s e/pop, along
with Sametime and Breeze, offer many of the same features such as those
listed above, along with whiteboarding, desktop and document sharing and
annotation, the ability to mark up documents during presentations.
Tindall is a family-owned company headquartered in Spartanburg, South
Carolina that designs, manufactures and erects pre-cast and pre-stressed
concrete systems for various types of construction projects in Southern
and Mid-Atlantic states. Like D.H. Pace, Tindall has offices in several
states, including Virginia, Georgia and Mississippi. Like most sales and
service-oriented businesses, Tindall has a significant travel budget.
Tindall spent nearly $500,000 on business travel alone last year.
And, like many manufacturers, Tindall has a small IT department that is
responsible for keeping the network and all software and applications,
including its Baan ERP system running smoothly and efficiently. But
Tindall found that web conferencing could meet the need for its
engineering team to not only share AutoCAD drawings with conference
attendees that don’t have the actual application, it has allowed the
team to evaluate a new 3D CAD application in parallel without traveling
to one central location to accomplish the evaluation. According to
Tindall, the use of web conferencing for this one particular project
saved the company approximately $24,000. Translate this savings to the
numerous other projects that require group input and travel and that in
itself pays for the web conferencing software many times over.
[Tindall
Case Study]
The management and maintenance of the web conferencing application is
minimal, as is the end-user training that is required. Services
generally charge per-minute and sometimes per-host. Web conferencing
software package pricing is generally based on the number of users, or
license seats.
There is no time like the present to adopt new software and technologies
that can make your company more efficient and enable communication and
interaction in real-time. The future of video and web conferencing is
promising. In the near future, global workforces will hold high-quality
video conferences, complete with voice and file sharing, from a mobile
phone or PDA. This will unleash workers from their desks and empower
them to reach new productivity goals regardless of physical location.
Innovative collaborative software and technology solutions can actually
save a great deal of money spent on business travel, training and
increase productivity by keeping key personnel in the office rather than
waiting in airports to get to destinations that are really just a
mouse-click away.
Media Contact:
Tom Toperczer
+1 (858) 715-0970
ttoperczer@wiredred.com
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