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In Brief
The issues:
- Globalisation and shared services required employees to communicate more frequently with colleagues in other offices / countries
- The cost of expanding on their room-based strategy was becoming prohibitive
- There is a need to communicate with business partners, franchise owners and suppliers
- Demand for the flexibility to attend video conferences, on any device, at any time, from any location
- Secure access to conference calls and video
Selection criteria: quality, cost, security
Solution chosen: Microsoft Lync and Videocall’s Intelligent Cloud Experience (ICE) collaboration and support/maintenance services.
The Problem
Clarks is the world’s fourth largest footwear company on the planet. Their Head Office has remained in Street, Somerset since the very first pair of slippers was produced in 1825. Now the operation spans the globe, with production facilities in the Far East, a joint venture in India and retail outlets worldwide.
Video conferencing has supported Clarks’ business for over a decade. Initially, video was mainly used for general collaboration with teams in Asia. A small number of video conference rooms were supported by an internally managed ‘bridge’, to provide multi-site meetings.
As the Clarks business became evermore global, the pressures on effective communication across centralised shared services – such as Finance, HR and IT- became ever more important to the success of the organisation.
Additional video conference rooms and the deployment of Microsoft Lync, gave Clarks employees’ better access to visual collaboration.
Added to that, users want to connect to suppliers, outsourced manufacturing centres and other third parties, who may not operate on the same video systems or networks.
The rapid increase in the amount of video conferencing meant that Clarks had outgrown the internally managed service, and a review of strategy was due.
Our Solution
Videocall worked with Clarks to devise a solution that helps them continue with the globalisation of the business, making use of their existing investment in room based systems and providing access to video via any mobile device or desktop computer.
Videocall’s cloud-based video conferencing solution (ICE) is at the heart of the strategy. This, together with Microsoft Lync (now Skype for Business) enables users to take part in video conferences on any device at any time – moving video participation outside of the meeting room and into everyone’s normal working environment.
Effectively, the move to a cloud-based system has expanded the potential of video collaboration beyond the meeting room.
The Benefits
“Video conferencing is key to our continued success. We started with production, but now my colleagues in IT, HR, Finance and Manufacturing are all keen to use video conferencing as their chosen way of communicating with colleagues and business partners around the world.
Had we continued with our in-house strategy I would have needed a large infrastructure investment. Instead, we have moved to the cloud.
Now that everyone has access to video on any device, we have plans for further improvements. We’re keen that video is treated as 'business as usual' here at Clarks.
Videocall has been our video communications partner for over a decade. They’ve been a key resource in helping us to realise the benefits of globalising our business working on both a strategic level, as well as a very practical implementation level.
This solution reduces our costs going forward and helps us to increase productivity at the same time.”
Rob Morgan, SVP/Group Platform Director – Corporate IT, Clarks
We're the world's number one in everyday footwear - a global company designing, innovating, manufacturing and selling more than 50 million pairs of shoes every year.
We've grown massively since Cyrus and James Clark began making sheepskin slippers in 1825. But the principles which have helped us become a tried and trusted international brand remain the same. Just like our home. Now as then, it's Street in Somerset. Our reach extends far beyond our West of England headquarters though, with retail stores throughout the UK, Americas, Europe and Asia; offices in countries including the UK, US, China, Japan, and Poland and distribution centres in the USA and UK.
Outside of our direct operations, we also have:
- Franchise stores, operated by third parties under the Clarks brand
- Wholesale activities, selling our branded products through other retailers
- A joint venture partnership in India
- Supply chain operations, operated by third parties, producing and moving our products around the world.
About Videocall’s ICE
Videocall Intelligent Cloud Experience (ICE) is a simple-to-use, cloud-based business grade Video-as-a-Service Solution (VaaS). It is device and system agnostic and enables users to enjoy secure and reliable ad-hoc or scheduled video conferences on whatever device suits their needs.
ICE is an ideal solution for those who need to collaborate with people both within and outside their own enterprise, using different types of video conferencing systems, as well as a range of desktop and mobile devices.
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