Ernst & Young Sees Savings Spike W/ Remote Conf. Tools

Aided by an intranet-based page that suggests travel alternatives based on specific meeting parameters and budgets, Ernst & Young LLP is saving about $200,000 per month by using videoconferencing and teleconferencing tools.

The company does not mandate usage of the videoconferencing technology but nevertheless saw demand spike after last fall's terrorist attacks, which precipitated the development of the page.

"Prior to Sept. 11, we were saving between $150,000 to $200,000 per month, which spiked to $250,000 to $300,000 after the attacks," said Craig Brandofino, assistant director of audioconferencing and videoconferencing for New York-based Ernst & Young. "Now it has settled to a number in between." The numbers were calculated based on internal travel cost-avoidance estimates.

Though the company has used videoconferencing for years, the key to the most recent spate of savings is the intranet development. Using internal resources, the company constructed a page that allows a planner, or other meeting sponsor, to input a proposed meeting budget, lead time and the number of attendees, and receive back a recommended travel alternative—be it videoconferencing, teleconferencing or Webconferencing—based on those parameters. The page also links the user to appropriate resources to reserve the technology.

"This had been in development, but getting it ready that quickly was definitely a direct response to Sept. 11," Brandofino said. "Right after the attacks, there was unbelievable response. Before Sept. 11, we received 100 to 150 calls a month, which more than doubled to about 300. Now, it's leveled off, to about 180 to 200, but we don't force anybody to use the system. That final decision lies with the department head."

The intranet page is just one aspect of what has developed into an advanced network of videoconferencing capabilities.

"We've always been intense users of videoconferencing," Brandofino said. "We have almost 110 systems nationwide, ranging from the old, bulky PictureTel systems to the newer Polycom ViewStations." Polycom bought PictureTel in 2001, joining two of the largest corporate videoconferencing firms. Ernst & Young also owns an H.320 bridge in the New Jersey Meadowlands that is managed and administered by a third party.

The company charges back videoconferencing usage and network fees to individual departments, and has enacted policies and procedures to facilitate usage, including the creation of a toll-free number dedicated to the technology. "We've marketed it pretty heavily," Brandofino said. "Before, there used to be a stigma that videoconferencing was unreliable and wasn't plug and play, but we've found the ViewStation to have better reliability, and it helps to market it. The bottom line for us is to save money on travel, and this is a way to do that." Brandofino said most E&Y videoconferences are used for internal meetings that don't involve outside clients. Training, in particular, is a popular videoconferencing choice, as are large meetings that include communication from executives.