Canadian energy company Enbridge Inc. (Cisco TelePresence)

Enbridge develops rather in high gear. In the Company implements projects in the oil and gas industry and in the field of alternative energy sources for the total amount of 14 billion Canadian dollars. All objects under construction should become operational until the end of 2011, and upon termination of 2011 is going to put a new series of objects worth 6 billion dollars into operation.

Having created the big working groups with geographical and functional distribution on all North America, the company more than ever began to feel need for development of communications and joint work earlier. Besides the Enbridge group included hundreds of the new employees unfamiliar with its corporate culture and processes. Thus, unknown growth set a number of priorities for the company. It was necessary to improve communication, to simplify an information access, to facilitate joint work between project teams and to reduce terms of acceptance of corporate solutions. Besides, the company wanted to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and hydrocarbons in the atmosphere.

IT department of Enbridge suggested to adopt technology of video conference Cisco TelePresence: according to Brent Pukhkey, "she completely answers all our criteria - is ordinary in use, maintains very high quality of communication and makes almost complete impression of presence of interlocutors at one table, irrespective of their real location".

For a start the Enbridge company installed two Cisco TelePresence systems - one in Edmonton, and another in Calgary. Implementing this technology, specialists of Enbridge wanted to receive "the standard boxed solution". And it happened. All meeting rooms of Cisco TelePresence are equipped with the same furniture and chairs, and walls of meeting rooms are painted in the same color. Today in Enbridge 12 meeting rooms of Cisco TelePresence - a minimum on one in each city where the company works work.

One of the lines of TelePresence technology, most attractive to Enbridge company, consists that in most cases this technology works over the existing global network infrastructure (WAN) that demanded only the minimum works on reorganization of the large corporate centers Enbridge. As a result implementation of Cisco TelePresence technology paid off quickly. And recently the company started tests of one more product Cisco - Cisco TelePresence Recording Studio.

Today Enbridge spends a lot of time for modeling of situations and business games during which options of disaster recovery and response to these or those events are fulfilled. Cisco TelePresence Recording Studio allows heads of the working groups to record messages in TelePresence studio and to build scenarios for the subsequent use during business games.

Results

Results of use of meeting rooms of Cisco TelePresence in Enbridge company cannot but impress. In 2009 in the company held nearly 3000 virtual meetings using this technology. According to Pukhkey, on average during the working day each of twelve meeting rooms of Cisco TelePresence is used for five hours. "Our employees say: "This solution is much better than normal phone call: I see the interlocutor and I can estimate his reaction".

Besides, the project teams working in Enbridge use TelePresence technology for reduction of business trips. It means that people spend less time for moving, expectations at the airports, flights and accommodation in hotels and can spend more time at home that increases their satisfaction and performance.

According to Pukhkey, about 40 percent of negotiations of TelePresence in Enbridge company directly substitute business trips. In 2009 traveling expenses in the company were cut down for one and a half million dollars, in 2010 Enbridge expects to save thus 2.09 million dollars, and in 2011 - 2.23 million more dollars. Thus, in three years economy should make 5.5 million dollars. "Some small meeting rooms with the TelePresence systems paid off at us in 90 days, - Brent Pukhkey says. - Larger rooms pay off less than in a year. In terms of business, it is very profitable". Enbridge is going to set two more meeting rooms of Cisco TelePresence, and will set further them according to requests of employees.