MeetingZone is the UK’s largest independent conference and collaboration service provider.
“Our previous audio-only conferencing service provider was proving to be extremely expensive and restrictive,” said Charles Macey from Zenith’s IT department. “We had to pre-book conferences and then wait for the appropriate dial-in and PIN numbers to be sent to us. The inability to hold ad hoc conferences, coupled with cost, meant that the service wasn’t being widely used and that Zenith wasn’t fully leveraging the business benefits that conferencing and collaboration deliver. We realised that we needed to find another provider.”
After an evaluation of leading conference and collaboration service providers, Zenith chose MeetingZone as its preferred supplier.
“MeetingZone was selected based on the ease of use of its solution, which would enable a smooth roll-out across the company,” said Macey. “It’s flexible ‘pay as you go’ pricing structure and transparent billing process was also a key factor. MeetingZone’s integrated reservationless conferencing solution has allowed us to improve internal and external business communication through the quick and simple sharing of information via web conferencing during an audio conference call. Additional integration with Microsoft Outlook has been very useful when setting up ad hoc web conferences. We really can meet spontaneously with who we want, exactly when we want, regardless of location.”
With more than 1,000 clients in over 50 countries, Zenith offers a wide range of services, including market analysis, strategic and commercial advice, financial and technical consulting projects, information trade services and event organisation. Conferencing and collaboration plays a key role in increasing productivity and efficiency by bringing together remotely located employees, clients, suppliers and external consultants and enabling them to jointly collaborate on projects, cross-team presentations and proposals, etc.
“Audio and web conferencing is now accessible to all Zenith employees who need it,” added Macey. “Our CEO is a big advocate, which has helped drive usage from the top down, and conferencing is often used during board and senior management meetings involving a US-based director and international managers. Increased usage has helped us to reduce unnecessary business travel, in turn reducing the unproductive ‘dead’ time spent when travelling and, of course, all-important operating costs associated with travel.”
As the majority of Zenith’s activities are focused around individual projects, MeetingZone’s transparent billing system is of great benefit as it enables the breakdown of conferencing costs per project. This capability wasn’t possible with the previous provider. Zenith can also monitor usage and costs online via MeetingZone’s conferencing portal.
“Our current costs for MeetingZone’s integrated audio and web conferencing services are less than those incurred with our previous audio only provider,” said Macey. This allows Zenith to continue to drive increased usage where appropriate by raising awareness of the benefits of integrated conferencing and collaboration.
Source: MeetingZone
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024