With engineers based in multiple locations and involved in a wide range of design and construction projects from hospitals and living spaces to commercial developments, the firm uses video meetings to enable teams to collaborate face-to-face in real time. With RealPresence video solutions, Buro Happold has reduced travel costs, amounting up to £3 million annually; gained 3,000 hours a month in productivity by working smarter; and improved the work/life balance for employees, 90 percent of whom are now video-enabled.
Buro Happold recently implemented a unified communications solution for its global workforce based on Microsoft Lync Server 2010. Virtually every desk has its own high-tech camera and speaker system, enabling team members to connect and collaborate from anywhere with anyone, using instant messaging, video, audio, at any time. Polycom RealPresence video solutions directly connect with Lync through open standards. This tight combination of Microsoft Lync and Polycom enables Buro Happold employees, for example, to click a name on their Lync contact list and instantly meet with a colleague face-to-face on a Polycom video collaboration solutions.
“We chose Polycom over its competitors because we needed to fully utilise our Microsoft Lync installation and we wanted a communications solution that would be truly unified,” said Jason Kane, IT Operations Manager for Buro Happold. “The combination of Microsoft Lync and Polycom video solutions has been a real game-changer in terms of collaborating across the business. Together, they provide a true unified communications platform, where anyone can join HD video or voice calls at the touch of a button. The core reason for choosing Polycom was its close strategic relationship with Microsoft,” said Shaun Mundy, Group IT Director.
“The use of video collaboration has helped make Buro Happold more competitive,” said Paul Westbury, CEO, Buro Happold. “If anyone in our 27 offices needs to offer a client their unique expertise, whether it’s a hotel or stadium development or the design for a new city, we can readily bring in the relevant people using Polycom HD video. And I can now join in meetings all over the world from my laptop, even from home, without worrying about interoperability issues—because it’s Polycom.”
Buro Happold has used Polycom RealPresence Room video solutions (including the HDX 7000), powered by the RealPresence Platform – the industry’s most comprehensive and interoperable software infrastructure for universal video collaboration to video-enable many of the company’s work processes that previously had involved costly travel and eaten in to staff time. These processes include:
Engineers communicating and visually collaborating and sharing data in real time on complex designs to accelerate decision making and enhance teamwork.
Staff hosting client meetings over video to discuss and collaborate on projects plans.
Project teams holding real-time digital design review meetings to present their designs and get feedback.
Managers holding internal management and team meetings across multiple locations.