As a pioneer in applying travel alternatives, PricewaterhouseCoopers head of business services Mark Avery has learned that while information technology experts should be ultimately responsible for the acquisition, implementation and maintenance of telepresence and other remote conferencing technologies, it is people with the pedigree of a travel manager who are ideally situated to attain utilization.
"It's not about the technology any more," said Avery last month during the first-ever NBTA Europe event, a virtual conference in three cities made possible by and focused on telepresence and related technologies. "The issue for us is that it's about change management; changing people's behavior. From the way in which video is booked, through to the experience of the customer when they arrive in the room, right through to the experience and knowledge of how to manage and work a meeting like this--if you're really going to make a difference, you've got to think of it as a change program.
"Traditionally, IT guys are not good at promoting this kind of thing," Avery told the audience of 19 travel buyers, suppliers and others. "They're great at providing tools, but they hand it over to us to get people to use them."
Videoconferencing at PwC traditionally sat within IT, but in 2001 the firm moved it to within Avery's group "because video is a component part of delivering meeting room services and therefore meeting services, and ultimately reducing our travel," he said. "So I took over ownership of the whole thing. Interestingly, we have gone full circle now and are looking at splitting that back out where the technology goes back over to IT while I continue to own the service. The reason for that is the sophistication of the networks now."
PwC is currently reviewing the technologies it uses and considering whether high-definition videoconferencing "is getting very close to a quality experience that challenges the need for full telepresence," he said. "I still believe they both have their place; it really depends on your organization and your culture." PwC is seeking to take advantage of dedicated IP networks rather than less reliable ISDN connections, Avery said, and now is thinking about building its own videoconferencing suites.
Whilst it faces the challenge "around technology and ownership and how to take it to the next stage," Avery said the firm is "really pleased with the developments we have made."
Change Management
PwC first deployed Polycom's RPX technology in six cities in 2001, but now uses 48 video systems in the United Kingdom alone. Each office contains at least one meeting room reserved for video, "until 24 hours out when it gets released for any other use," Avery explained. His change management efforts focused mainly on training and incentives for users and bookers. Among senior executives, the time savings alone--as compared with traveling--tends to make the sale, Avery said.
Travel agents, who make 90 percent of PwC UK travel bookings, are encouraged to improve utilization of videoconference rooms. "We also have an incentive program we introduced two years ago," Avery said. "We work with a program called the World Land Trust. They work to protect and save rain forests around the world. For every videoconference, [we award points] depending on whether it saves a short- (1 point), medium- (1.5 points) or long-haul [trip] (2 points). For each business unit, every 10 points earns 1,000 square meters of rainforest, so the firm makes a donation to save that rainforest. We issue certificates and recognize people who have done more than others, so it creates its a bit of positive competition and peer challenge. It's really worked quite well.
"In our first couple years, savings based on a typical business class return fare [from the UK] to New York with two nights' stay in a typical hotel was just over half a million pounds a year--based on those who would have traveled," said Avery. "For any videoconference, there may be 10 people in the room but how many would have traveled to the meeting? What we have seen since is that the savings has dropped. The utilization and usage hasn't dropped, but now that people are so used to it, they're saying 'Why would I have traveled?' So now our savings is about £255,000."
"We have seen reduction in travel volume of about 20 percent overall, in both spend and sectors flown," said Avery. "That's attributed to both RPX and standard video." He said during the firm's most recent full fiscal year, ending in June 2009, PwC increased videoconferencing use by 44 percent; the growth was 22 percent in the six months ending in December.
Top executives are going so far as to hold day-long board meetings by telepresence. "They go in there and start at lunchtime and go right through 10 at night at times," said Avery. "They're saying that meeting would have taken three days, and they can now do it in a day."