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International Video Conferencing

The Challenge

A leading medical device company holds quarterly meetings to regroup with their global plant operations managers. Managers from the Philadelphia area and Europe meet face-to-face to get the most of these regular summits, but in April 2010, they were faced with an unusual problem: volcanic ash. The Icelandic volcano eruption that grounded so many European flights for days also threatened the plant managers meeting.

The Solution

Instead of canceling or postponing the crucial meeting, the client opted to harness the power of technology as an alternate to an in-person meeting. They engaged FMP to quickly formulate a plan in a time-sensitive situation, which they were able to provide and execute within ten days. FMP implemented a video conferencing solution that allowed 40 employees to interact and collaborate over a live connection, using the client’s own internal network. A producer/technical director, audio engineer, and video engineer managed all equipment in both locations, and the European team was managed remotely by FMP. The teams provided and operated an HD broadcast package, two 42” HD monitors in each location, audio mixers and boundary microphones.

The Result

40 internal colleagues on two continents were able to seamlessly conduct a two-site meeting using advance video technology, collaborating in real time to drive business forward. Execution was flawless, despite a natural phenomenon prohibiting air travel. As importantly, the cost to conduct the meeting was substantially reduced since 20 executives did not travel internationally, and were also able to be more productive the entire week. The client has decided to use FMP’s video conferencing solution on a regular basis to supplement in-person, group meetings.