table of contents

At a Glance

Industry: Banking and Finance

Employees: 12,000

Customer Since: 2016

Why Lifesize

  • Hardware and software together
  • Secure and reliable
  • Easy to use
  • Interoperability
  • Cloud-based solution
  • Cost-efficient
  • Connect anywhere, on any device

Overview

Cerfrance is a consulting and accounting associations network made up of 64 departmental and regional entities across France. United at a national level and led by the Cerfrance National Council, the organization works with entrepreneurs across a wide range of business sectors (agriculture, arts and crafts, commerce, professional services, etc.) and serves a total of 320,000 customers. Regional and departmental entities of Cerfrance operate independently, even though some sectors offer the same products and services while using the same brand name and logo. 

Challenge

Cerfrance initially began evaluating video conferencing solutions with the goal of reducing costly and time-consuming international travel without sacrificing meeting quality. The Cerfrance network organizes numerous meetings, requiring members to travel to Paris or one of the many national Cerfrance sites to connect face to face for important decision making. After trialing several solutions — ranging from free, consumer-grade apps to legacy on-premise providers — the steering group comprising Cerfrance, National Council and RESOTIC representatives opted to move forward with Lifesize. 

“At the time, approximately 20% of Cerfrance employees were already equipped with Skype for Business. However, Lifesize showed itself to be the most interoperable option.”

— Laurent Marquet, Systems and Unified Communications Manager at RESOTIC, Cerfrance’s IT subsidiary

Solution

In its evaluation, the steering group discovered that Lifesize’s cloud-based video conferencing service meant members no longer needed to buy or rent their own servers, which made deploying the solution easier than on-premise competitors. The Cerfrance network decided to standardize on Lifesize video conferencing at the end of 2016, quickly installing Lifesize meeting room systems in 12 video conference rooms in offices throughout France.

“The cloud-based Lifesize service offers the possibility to create an unlimited number of virtual meeting rooms. We’ve already created hundreds of them to give our employees personalized spaces for their calls. The solution also allows external contacts like organizational presidents to join us over video without having to download an application or be provisioned an account. The guest join experience is truly seamless.”

Outcome

In its first six months using Lifesize, Cerfrance conducted more than 80 video-based trainings and now averages more than 200 group video calls per month, many of which would have previously required travel. With Lifesize, the organization now has a more cost-effective way to conduct meetings, both internally and with clients. 

“Lifesize is our network’s go-to and main video conferencing solution for inter-Cerfrance meetings and is also the internal solution for several Cerfrance entities.”