Established in Wellington in 1990 as a highly responsive container depot services operation, Specialised Container Services (SCS) quickly grew and today is the largest provider of ISO container maintenance and repair services in New Zealand.

Its highly skilled team of more than 260 employees are scattered across its port-based and stand alone depot facilities spanning nine locations in New Zealand and two in Australia.

The need
SCS's broad geographic growth strategy has resulted in rapid expansion with new branches opening in each of the major ports around New Zealand and in some areas of Australia.

As the company continued to expand so too did the travel requirements of SCS’s management team who are employed by SCS's parent company, Pinnacle Corporation, and based at the Wellington head office.

Unfortunately the increased travel meant costs also escalated, not to mention the fact it was very time-consuming. What’s more having to travel some distance to meet with key staff members did not allow for spontaneous and immediate communication between head office and the branches.

Pinnacle was faced with a challenge as it became clear the company needed to reduce its travel requirements, yet improve communication between head office and the branches. The company recognised that so much communication is determined by non-verbal cues such as tone of voice or body language – important details that are missing in an e-mail exchange or teleconference. As a result, it was very aware of the need to retain the face-to-face experience and began looking at the potential benefits of video conferencing to address its business needs.

The solution
Canon New Zealand, an existing supplier of Pinnacle Corporation, recommended a visual communication solution from TANDBERG to meet the company’s needs.

TANDBERG products provide the quality needed to allow Pinnacle staff to retain the face-to-face experience. The system works over Pinnacle Corporation’s IP network and is scaleable so has been able to adapt with ease to accommodate the company’s growth.

Canon initially installed a head office system along with video conferencing units for branch offices on Pinnacle’s New Zealand system network.

Pinnacle’s IT Manager, Roger Walker, says expanding the system to accommodate new branches on the company’s internal computer network was very straightforward, however as the company continued to expand further a field a new need arose.

“The VC system was playing such a key role in unifying the organisation that it was vital we could extend it to our new branches in Australia and to other remote locations throughout New Zealand,” says Walker. “However we were concerned about how we could do this outside our network cost-effectively.”

Once again Canon provided a solution, recommending firewall traversal technology from TANDBERG to allow secure conferences to take place utilising the public internet. Previously organisations needed to purchase an ISDN connection which was very expensive, but there have been considerable advances in technology particularly in the areas of broadband communications.

This has meant by investing in TANDBERG’s firewall traversal solution, Pinnacle was able to extend the benefits of video conferencing to staff operating remotely via portable Tandberg T150 units and to branch office systems from a broadband connection.

Canon conducted etiquette training for staff to ensure they were comfortable using the video conferencing system and despite some initial reluctance by a few employees, Walker says they now all prefer this method of communication.

“It is very simple to operate, and because it integrates with our existing systems it’s just a matter of selecting the name and depot from the company’s internal phonebook and pressing a button and you may as well be in the same room as the recipient,” he says.

The result
The TANDBERG visual communication solution has effectively reduced the time and cost associated with travelling to and from head office and the eleven branch locations in New Zealand and Australia. More importantly, it hasn’t impacted on the company’s ability to communicate face-to-face – in fact through video conferencing the company’s communication is more seamless than ever.

“As our company grew it was always vital to us that multiple offices didn’t result in isolated teams,” says Walker. “We realised travelling to meet in person was no longer viable yet we recognised the importance of face-to-face communication as being more personal, building higher trust and reducing confusion. We were reluctant to fall into the trap so many other companies have done, of resorting to email and telephone supplemented with the odd meeting in person.

“Video conferencing for us today is not simply an alternative to travel – it is a critical part of our daily operations. When communicating through the video conferencing system the person on the other end may as well be in the same room, that’s how good this technology is.”

In addition to creating a virtual meeting room for existing staff, the company's human resources department now conducts first interviews with candidates in different locations via video, eliminating the time and cost of sending HR personnel to meet the potential candidate or flying the candidate to head office.

Walker says Canon has been integral to the successful implementation of the system and he is impressed with the after-sales service offered. “Canon notifies us of any upgrades as they are available to ensure we remain at the cutting edge of this technology.”

For more information
Mike Hooker
Canon New Zealand Ltd
mike.hooker@canon.co.nz
www.canon.co.nz

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