Trialto Wine Group Ltd., Vancouver BC
Trialto Wine Group is a wine agency that imports and distributes premium wines from all over the world.
Headquartered in Vancouver, Trialto has offices in Toronto and Montreal and partners with over 300 wine producers worldwide.
With offices across Canada and wine producers regionally dispersed across the globe, Trialto needed frequent, face-to-face meetings to stay up-to-date on new products and to understand their supplier’s challenges. In addition, the agency also needed a way to test products (wines) virtually. Receiving feedback from team members in various offices is a critical part of their sales process.
Reducing the need to travel in order to test new products was a key initiative for Trialto. Moreover, the agency’s executive staff, sales, logistics and marketing departments needed increased quality communications as well as improved communications to end customers who buy Trialto wines.
Trialto needed an alternative to travel, a communications tool that could keep teams connected while maintaining the same faceto- face interaction they enjoyed when meeting in person.
Trialto turned to a local audio/video integrator to review the various video communications products on the market. After a thorough evaluation, Trialto selected LifeSize as the product that best met their needs. LifeSize Room and LifeSize Team systems were soon installed in the agency’s offices in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto, with plans to install an additional system in Calgary.
LifeSize was selected for its exceptional quality, flexibility and price performance. True HD resolutions, 1280x720 at a full 30 frames per second, quick and easy deployment in multiple offices at a price point that fit their IT budget -- LifeSize just made sense.
Culturally, the new technology was quickly embraced. Each employee received a thorough training on how to operate the system and upper-management insured that the installation and availability of the systems were widely communicated to the staff.
Since the installation, Trialto has seen marked benefit by using LifeSize. Now, phone calls are all video, travel is down 30% and virtual wine tastings with overseas producers are being hosted regularly.
“Simply put, it is a very effective way to stay in touch with people and the technology impresses all the suppliers we have shown it to,” said Alex Gaunt, Ontario Market Manager for Trialto.
Trialto says that it’s the quality of their communications that has made the most impact. By using LifeSize, everyone can be involved in meetings -- even home office users are now ‘in the office’ with on-site teams.
“People are so much more engaged than via phone conference,” said Rob Bevis, Trialto President. “We have been able to cut travel costs by more than 30% with the use of the system. There is also more freedom for our employees to work in any of our three offices since we can easily meet on video. I find myself gesturing at the TV screen, just as if the person was sitting right in front of me.”
Not only has Trialto improved communications and flexibility for their current employees, they’ve also improved the way they hire new people. A somewhat unexpected benefit of utilizing video conferencing is a more cost-effective recruiting process.
“I was able to conduct behavioral interviews with candidates sitting in our Montreal offices while I was in Vancouver. In the past I would have had to either fly to Montreal or hire an external HR consultant to perform the interviews. Now I can save the money for training and development,” said Dominic David, Vice President of Operations for Trialto.
And taking a truly sensory experience to a new level, probably the most notable benefit for Trialto is their ability to host virtual wine tastings across continents. With the winemaker sitting in their winery in France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand or Argentina, teams in the various Trialto offices can now taste wines at the same time and experience it fully with the winemaker.
Prior to using LifeSize, Trialto employees would have to wait for the winemaker to come to one of their Canadian offices, which only happened once per year. Now, the look, taste and smell of the wines can all be scrutinized with parties across the globe. The experience comes full circle, and in crystal clear HD.
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