One of the UK’s largest home renovation companies increase internal communication and employee’s quality of life with video conferencing from LifeSize
Anglian Home Improvements, Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom
Anglian Home Improvements has been selling home renovation products in the UK for over 40 years. Originally established as Anglian Windows for their specialized offering of high-end windows for consumers, today the company continues to provide replacement window services but also specializes in double glazed windows, solar panels, doors, conservatories, driveways and roof trim. Anglian Home Improvements has over 130 showrooms and five factories based in their Head Office location of Norwich.
With a head office campus in Norwich and nearly 20 installation depots and various operational and satellite offices geographically dispersed across the UK, team members at Anglian certainly have a lot of ground covered. But with divisional operational directors sometimes driving up to 100 - 200 km on a daily basis, these road warriors had difficulty keeping up with company demands while fulfilling the need to meet face to face with their counterparts – and still make it home to spend quality time with family.
Anglian needed a way to decrease the time spent on the road while improving communication and collaboration between vastly dispersed multiple offices.
Anglian Home Improvement’s key needs included:
When the time came to evaluate video communications solutions, Andy Browne, Communications Manager for Voice, Data and Infrastructure at Anglian Home Improvements, along with his team, assessed all of the major vendors’ offerings, starting with LifeSize.
“LifeSize was the first demonstration we experienced and the product really set the standard for quality and price performance,” Browne said.
Browne and his team soon decided that the LifeSize Express 200 and LifeSize Team 200 solutions best met their communications needs. Only LifeSize systems offer more than 200 resolutions along the bandwidth continuum, enabling the best quality at any bit rate. For Anglian, bandwidth utilization and the overall ease of use of the LifeSize systems were key factors in their decision to purchase LifeSize.
“The systems are so simple to operate,” Browne continued. “We needed very little training for our internal teams to begin using them almost immediately. Also, we didn’t have to expand our existing network infrastructure one bit, which means a lot in terms of total cost of ownership, especially in this economic climate.”
“The technology has brought a cohesiveness to the way we work together.”
– Andy Browne, Communications Manager for Voice, Data, and Infrastructure, Anglian Home Improvements
Anglian Home Improvements now use LifeSize video communications everyday, connecting remote sales teams, human resources, IT, operations, sales, the executive staff and outside vendors.
“LifeSize allows us to perform as a single entity,” said Browne. “Before, it was a jigsaw. The technology has brought a cohesiveness to the way we all work together.”
The response to the new technology was so positive that Anglian actually accelerated their buying cycle. Initially, the company planned to outfit their operations with video endpoints over a 12-month period. Shortly after the first few locations began using LifeSize, Anglian decided to complete the total deployment within 12 weeks.
“We are very pleased with the investment in LifeSize,” Browne concluded. “We are saving money on travel, yes, but the improvement in the quality of our communication and collaboration is what really means something.”
“Our operations directors can now have scheduled or ad-hoc meetings with the various offices and warehouses from any location at any time and still make it home in time for supper. This technology has improved the quality of life for our employees and in turn, that increases performance. We have the same number of heads but we’re working better and smarter than ever before thanks to LifeSize.”
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LifeSize® Team 220™ offers full HD and superior multipoint conferencing. It is available at the midrange for 1/3 the price of others in its class. Read more
LifeSize® Express 220™ is the full HD video communications system ideal for small working groups, teams or individual knowledge workers who want to take communication over distance to the next level. Read more