Bringing Vital Energi into the digital age with video conferencing
Vital Energi leads the way in implementing the latest technologies for customers. Carillion Communications has worked with Vital Energi for several years.
The company provides turnkey energy services to cities across the UK, and projects include hospitals, universities, and landmark residential and commercial properties. A typical project starts from initial consultation and design to M&E control, operations and maintenance teams, supplier management, right the way through to end-point control and billing.
The Brief
Vital Energi had a need for reliable video conferencing facilities at Vital Energi’s District Heating Training Centre, at the company’s headquarters in Blackburn.
As a progressive company, Vital wanted to be part of the digital age and embrace digital capabilities to communicate both its services and technological expertise via the use of video conferencing.
Like all companies at the time, Vital had increased the usage of virtual conferencing during the COVID pandemic on a system that was primarily used for Teams but could accommodate other digital conferencing platforms. Jon Woan said the company wants to maintain its use of Teams and conferencing as people return to the office, especially while its benefits are fresh in people’s minds.
The company has offices in London and Glasgow as well as Blackburn, and customers throughout the UK, and Woan says transport cost savings as a result of virtual meetings are significant.
The challenge was to fit out the conference room with leading equipment and technology that would enable them to communicate seamlessly and effectively both internally and externally.
Why Carillion?
Jon Woan, Head of IT at Vital Energi “ Carillion does good work upfront to make sure outcomes are guaranteed. They also do clever work behind the scenes, for example in giving us such a flexible conferencing solution.” He added, “Plus, they only gave us what we needed, which is another reason why Carillion is a trusted partner.”
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Solution
The training room accommodates up to 40 people. The room was set-up and well equipped with wall-mounted TVs, screens and projectors designed to make video conferencing a seamless experience.
Within the Training Centre project, a room was fitted with Poly Studio X50 collaboration devices with TC8 touchscreen interface. As Vital Energi was not at the stage of considering moving fully to Teams, the room was deployed as an H323/SIP device but linked to Poly Real Connect service and provisioned with a Team CVI license.
Following the Training Centre project, Carillion updated an additional six conference rooms, founded on the confidence generated by enthusiastic AV users. Carillion also installed a new video wall at Vital Energi’s London facility, which is used to showcase the company’s work.
He notes that any potential snags, such as audibility, were addressed prior to installation, and adds that people are now self-sufficient with the new conferencing systems, which previously required the help of support staff to operate.”
“ Carillion does good work upfront to make sure outcomes are guaranteed. They also do clever work behind the scenes, for example in giving us such a flexible conferencing solution.”
The Outcome
Through the usage of Carillion technology, the company is able to present and demonstrate how it delivers energy efficiency for its customers, and make a visual impact explaining the complex energy technology it deploys.
At the Training Centre, the new AV installations similarly enable Vital Energi to demonstrate and market its systems and services to customers and prospects.
The new AV systems enable Vital Energi to present its innovative energy management systems in great detail, which is important as educating customers about new technologies is key to company growth. In addition to presenting data findings, a Training Centre topic might include a demonstration of how homes achieve on-demand heating from one of Vital Energi’s centralised energy centres.
Jon Woan, Head of IT at Vital Energi, explained how virtual collaboration helps the company to be agile and efficient. He also credits new presentation capabilities for enhancing the company’s ability to educate the market about the benefits of leading-edge, greener energy technology.
“An average return journey for our ops and management staff is 4 hours by train or car. Virtual meetings mean the company saves considerable travel costs and staff recapture travel time they can spend productively.” He also notices changes in meeting behaviour. “The use of AV overlaps with our Green agenda. The Quality Team will track the decrease in miles travelled over time. What we are seeing is that the number of formal meetings is decreasing and virtual conferencing is used a lot for one-to-one and more focused meetings, which people can join when needed quickly and dynamically.”
