Maintaining high standards with CVC Capital Partners
CVC Capital Partners (CVC) is one of the world’s top five private equity and investment advisory firms.
Founded in 1981, the CVC Group today employs 350 people throughout Europe, Asia and the US.
The Brief
The company had a strong need for a reputable and reliable AV maintenance company to upgrade systems, ensure they were working correctly and minimise downtime.
Clear communications with geographically dispersed staff and external partners are essential for investment analysis and building relationships, trust and forecasts and so the AV had to facilitate and reflect this.
Denver Diedericks, IT Support Analyst at CVC Partners, says “we need and expect support within 24 hours, or it creates problems.”
Why Carillion?
Dee Reed, MD, Carillion Communications, says, “We have to earn the right to maintain a customer’s AV estate. We earn that right by giving good, objective advice based on their needs and ‘busting a proverbial’ to ensure that customers enjoy as close to 100% uptime as is humanly possible.
The Solution
Carillion provided technical consultancy, project management and maintenance and support in line with CVC’s requirements. CVC agreed strict service level agreements with Carillion Communications that include service desk and first-line support, remote and on-site engineering support, and proactive checks and upgrades to ensure systems are up to date. CVC has systems deployed across many cities throughout Europe including the UK, Germany, Luxembourg, Paris and beyond.
CVC offices are widespread. Carillion averages a 4-hour maintenance response time at CVC’s London offices, which house seven video conferencing suites, and 2-3 days at offices outside the UK, such as Copenhagen and Jersey.
Carilion was able to successfully service room types including a large number of meeting rooms, ranging in size from boardrooms to huddle spaces, in the UK and continental Europe.
Denver Diedericks characterises Carillion’s service as a mix of annual checks and software upgrades, which he views as “health care”, and replacement service.
Our AV facilities are heavily used, if not overused. Inevitably, sometimes, things break. Under the terms of our agreement Carillion repaired, reinstall or replace items, which could not be better, because we just don’t have to think about it.
The Outcome
The AV standards agreed with the team in London are implemented across the EMEA region and are focused around the Poly RealPresence platform with complementary hardware from Crestron, Barco, Shure, NEC and others deployed in accordance with the specific requirements of the local office, but always in line with the approved AV standards.
When asked about Carillion Communications capability, Denver Diedericks, praised the comprehensive range of Carillion’s services and contrasted CVC’s UK experience with problems experienced in New York.
“Carillion looks after the technical side of our business from racks and networks to connectivity, and from components to updates. Carillion staff are proactive and strategic in their approach, which is one of the reasons they have been our AV partner of choice for more than six years. Continuity contributes to our mutual success, as they help to specify, then maintain our AV systems.”
