Barnardo's, Barkingside, Essex, UK
Barnardo's is a British charity founded by the Irish Doctor Thomas John Barnardo in 1866, to care for vulnerable young people. As of 2008, it spends over £214 million each year on more than 400 projects aimed at helping these same groups. Today, the charity works with disabled children, victims of sexual abuse, homeless children and children and young people affected by HIV and AIDS. The alleviation of child poverty links most of its work with more than 100,000 children.
In recent years it has accompanied its service delivery work with some robust campaigning on Sarah's Law, asylum seeking children, children in care, young carers and, most prominently, child poverty. The combination of service delivery and its campaigning voice makes Barnardo's one of the UK's leading children's charities.
Barnardo's has over 330 shops across the UK where patrons can donate new and used items and shop for new and used ones. All profits from their stores go to Barnardo's to support their vital work helping the UK's most vulnerable children and young people transform their lives and fulfill their potential.
With some 6,500 employees and over 11,000 volunteers working with the charity across five regional and four national offices, keeping project teams connected has always been a challenge. The distance from the Barnardo's regional office in Yorkshire to the central London location, for example, is over 300 miles.
With so many groups working on hundreds of critical projects everyday, constant and direct communication is key. As a non-profit business, Barnardo's mission is to make the most of every donation. But with the high cost of oil and the economic downturn, like many organizations, travel reduction became a necessity.
In order to keep the more than 400 current charitable projects running smoothly, Barnardo's executives decided that a new communications tool was needed. One that could help the organization save money by reducing travel, but also replicate the face-to-face meeting experience.
Key requirements for Barnardo's:
Barnardo's sought out a leading technology integrator to help the charity understand the different video communications systems on the market and demonstrate the technology. After thorough testing and demonstrations from all major video conferencing vendors, Barnardo's decided that the HD solution from LifeSize best met their needs and the charity soon began an organization-wide roll-out.
A combination of 14 LifeSize® Team MP™, LifeSize® Express™ and LifeSize® Room™ systems were deployed among the different Barnardo's regions in England, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. Barnardo's also implemented the LifeSize® Control™ management software to allow the IT group to manage all video systems at all times.
"We chose LifeSize because the systems are easy to use and give you incredible quality," said Paul Panton, Telecommunications Manager for Barnardo's.
With more than 400 projects currently running, LifeSize has helped Barnardo's do what they do best -- help children. Since the implementation of HD video, Barnardo's has realized improved business support, more streamlined operations and collaborative connections, as well as significantly improved communication between regional and national offices.
And as the technology grew within the various locations, so did the acceptance. In the beginning, many employees thought that using the systems was going to be quite difficult. But Panton says their fears soon diminished as users began to experience it for themselves. "The organization absolutely loves it," he said. "Simple to use and very intuitive."
The Barnardo's IT group now regularly holds video conferencing clinics, where employees can drop-in, ask specific questions, and drive the systems. This ensures that even infrequent users are comfortable and confident using the systems. They've even personalized all units with the Barnardo's strapline, "Believe in Children" on the LifeSize home screen.
As an organization, Barnardo's has seen significant reductions in travel. Panton says that while some travel simply cannot be avoided, Barnardo's has seen a large number of meetings now occurring over video. From an environmental standpoint, the organization's carbon footprint has also been reduced.
LifeSize is also enabling the organization to work more with external audiences. In June 2009, The University of California, Berkley partnered with Barnardo's in a joint child protection initiative. University students and researchers were able to connect with leaders at Barnardo's over LifeSize HD video, opening up the doors for the charity to collaborate with other universities and thought-leadership groups globally, without the barrier of travel. Video communications has also given Barnardo's the opportunity to participate in more charity to charity collaboration. Longtime partners with the British Red Cross, the two organizations are now able to meet over video.
"Why send an e-mail when you can share a presentation and talk over the report face to face," Panton said. "With LifeSize, everyone knows where you stand."
Click here to download the PDF of this case study.