ET Group, an AV system integrator based in Toronto, recently partnered with one of Canada’s major financial institutions to ensure the organization’s technological infrastructure contributes to the long-term efficiency of its country-wide operations. ET Group’s Support Solutions team deployed an audiovisual (AV) and unified communications (UC) estate management and remote monitoring plan in more than 200 meeting rooms across the client’s national locations, based on the Utelogy platform.
This financial institution’s footprint extends throughout Canada, with an annual revenue exceeding $15 million USD and more than $70 billion USD in assets. With a workforce of nearly 2,000 employees – most of whom have adopted a hybrid weekly work schedule of at least three days in the office – this customer was facing unique challenges for effectively managing and sustaining the health of its AV and UC technology, limiting productivity and disrupting business operations.
IT Team Faces Challenges Managing AV/UC Tech in Hybrid Work Setting
With most of its workforce working in a hybrid capacity, managing AV/UC technology-related issues for both in-office and remote team members was overwhelming their IT team. Maintaining office spaces from remote locations also proved difficult, as their flexible schedule meant that key IT and technical resources were not consistently on-site when issues emerged. This often resulted in prolonged resolution times for support tickets due to factors such as priority, complexity and resource availability.
The client had a technology ecosystem containing various collaboration solutions including Microsoft Teams Room (using multiple vendors), Pexip, Biamp, Shure Audio, and displays from NEC and Samsung.
Ensuring that all devices and platforms were running the latest software and/or firmware while maintaining compatibility was a time-consuming task. Reactive troubleshooting and identifying the root cause of issues became costly, time-intensive and resource-draining efforts.
In addition, third-party help desk tickets were submitted manually on a per-incident basis. Since each ticket was treated as an isolated incident without any automated intervention to guide support efforts, this often resulted in multiple calls or site visits for diagnosis and subsequent steps. Separate service charges were incurred based on individual time and material rates, costing an average of $2,000-$3,000 USD per incident. When multiplied by more than 200 rooms, the client was easily spending hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on external support alone.
Additionally, this client faced instances of unnecessary device replacements, the procurement of products that weren’t needed, and the (unintentional) introduction of more errors through trial-and-error diagnostics.
The Final Straw
The client’s challenges and frustrations were best illustrated during one high-profile business event. They had been preparing for several weeks for an important meeting that included management across all Canadian locations. When it was time for the meeting to start, most of the offices (located in Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta) had no issues joining the call. But, as the minutes went by, everyone was still waiting for the Toronto office to join.
Executive team members were unable to dial into their video conference system and began manually testing the room equipment – turning monitors off and back on, restarting the tabletop touch panel, even connecting from personal devices via HDMI. After 15 minutes, the IT team was called, but the wait time for a tech was approximately two hours, so the team had to relocate to a different meeting room.
Now the Toronto team had missed half the call, resulting in another meeting being scheduled to account for the lost time and productivity.
The ET Group & Utelogy Solution
ET Group’s consulting services were deployed to observe existing workflows and interview end-users to understand their business priorities. More importantly, ET developed its Support Program that not only saves the client time and money, but also proactively prevents technology issues and initiates self-healing when needed.
24-Hour Onsite & 15-Minute Helpdesk Response
By offloading their AV technology support to ET Group’s Service and Support Team, the client’s internal IT members were able to redirect their focus to maintaining the employee experience. Additionally, their entire organization could now expect a reduced response time of 15 minutes or less from the ET Help Desk to troubleshoot and diagnose technology errors. If needed, a designated Service Technician could be onsite within 24 hours. Meeting Room Technicians (MRT) are full-time onsite resources assigned to high-priority locations, deployed by ET Group to continuously maintain meeting room performance, respond to service tickets with immediacy and support hybrid meetings in real-time.
Remote Monitoring
Courtesy / Utelogy
In collaboration with Utelogy, ET Group uses the U-Manage and U-Automate platforms to deliver proactive technology management. Using the cloud-based architecture, ET Group is able to detect and address technology issues swiftly, often resolving them within minutes of their occurrence.
When an issue is detected, the system promptly generates an alert and automatically creates a ticket in the ET Group system, which is then directly dispatched to a technician. This enables the technician to perform remote diagnostics and implement solutions, such as power cycling, without delay. This preemptive approach often results in issues being resolved before anyone on the client’s team even becomes aware of them.
In the case of the client’s interrupted company-wide meeting, the Utelogy platform’s proactive support would have preemptively identified the connectivity issue with the VTC system before the meeting started, and its alerting capabilities would have notified the IT team early enough for them to address the issue remotely.
Utelogy’s remote management features can proactively send alerts and notifications in real-time, allowing technicians to execute necessary fixes within minutes, without the need for physical intervention in the boardroom. This capability not only reduces response times but also ensures that meeting rooms are always ready for use to prevent such disruptions. Utelogy automatically reroutes meetings to operational rooms, minimizing start-time delays.
ET Group’s Remote Support Solutions further streamlines the process by managing these alerts, alleviating the need for client-side IT intervention. This “remote-first” strategy reduces the necessity for on-site visits, with a physical truck roll only employed as a last resort.
Remote Management
Utelogy’s U-Manage works as a cloud-based management and automation platform, offering software-only control solutions that are optimized for remote management and control. ET Group uses the platform’s flexibility to configure macros and triggers within the system, ensuring devices like HDMI inputs revert to preferred settings automatically if alterations are detected.
By automating and conducting overnight audio and video test calls, including powering up and down of the AV estate, the platform guarantees all systems are fully operational well before the business day begins.
Streamlining Operations: Time and Resources
Before the integration of the Utelogy solution by ET Group, this client was averaging 20 service tickets weekly due to AV issues. The adoption of Utelogy’s proactive monitoring solutions has dramatically reduced this figure to just five weekly tickets. The platform’s efficiency in identifying problems has cut down the mean time to detection by 98.7%, a decrease from 75 minutes to one minute. This operational improvement is expected to reduce the annual ticket volume from 1,040 to just 260 (a 75% reduction), showcasing the platform’s capacity to significantly decrease downtime and enhance overall productivity through faster issue resolution.
Offloading its AV/UC management to ET Group has profoundly impacted the client’s time management, workflows and resource allocation. The internal IT team can now prioritize core business functions instead of focusing on troubleshooting.
The Utelogy Platform delivers advantages in energy management, sustainability, and the reduction of carbon footprints by enabling equipment to automatically shut down during idle periods and reactivate only when necessary. Through this intelligent automation of power management, Utelogy has facilitated a reduction in energy consumption, achieving average savings between 30-40%.
The client has considerably lowered its levels of consumption and contribution to e-waste through the extended life cycle of their AV technology system, as well as reduced device replacements and upgrades.
Financial Gains
The client’s monthly support costs have significantly decreased since establishing their ET Group Support contract. Previously, they were performing maintenance on a per-incident response and repair basis, often necessitating multiple on-site visits for diagnosis and resolution. Each incident, as noted above, costing between $2,000-$3,000 USD on average, was paid for in addition to their in-house IT staff expenses. With more than 200 rooms being maintained this way, the monthly expenses incurred were substantial. Now, with a fixed monthly rate, the client has access to unlimited incident coverage, prioritized response time and effort, and exclusive services such as Remote Monitoring and Room Readiness Testing provided by Utelogy, as well as Meeting Room Technicians – saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
Within a mixed-asset environment over a three-year period, leveraging appropriate automation, Utelogy has also projected a 32% reduction in power usage, translating to cost savings of approximately $149,860.20 CAD.
Using Data to Scale Solutions
The Utelogy platform gathers and delivers high-quality analytics at a regular cadence regarding the client’s AV technology, covering user behavior, system health, incident frequency, and room usage. ET Group strategically harnesses this information to continuously optimize their hybrid collaboration experience. This may involve prototyping and scaling new solutions, targeted equipment upgrades, and identifying areas for additional training or support. By relying on firsthand data from end-users, their team is assured that solutions are tailored to their actual needs, preventing unnecessary spending, and reducing uncertainty in decision-making.
ET Group’s Support Solutions Enhance Hybrid Collaboration and Elevate Employee Experience
Courtesy / Utelogy
Integrating enhanced Support Solutions from ET Group has transformed this client’s hybrid collaboration, contributing to an overall more positive employee experience. The internal IT team operates with reduced stress, allowing for prioritization and faster delivery of key business initiatives. This has resulted in more streamlined workflows, improved meeting performance, and decreased anxiety levels among end-users navigating the hybrid work landscape.
Virtual collaboration and communication have seen a significant increase across all locations and remote users, fostering higher engagement and increased productivity. Their team reports a decrease in employee turnover, as concerns related to burnout, inefficiency and a lack of supportive tools have diminished.
The reallocated budget, no longer tied to constant repairs and unnecessary upgrades, is now directed towards team expansion, enhancing workplace experiences across various other areas of the business, and ensuring superior care for their customers.
As they expand in new locations, the client will continue to take proactive steps to extend their support contract and Utelogy licensing. Although ET Group was initially approached to service the Toronto head office, the team has since been invited to streamline and maintain all major offices as well.
Today, ET Group oversees and optimizes the AV and UC operations at all national sites including Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta.
