As experts in collaboration technology, we have always been able to advise our customers on the best options to suit their requirements, having studied each new technology and become fully knowledgeable regarding the benefits and possible uses, as well as using them in-house ourselves. As CAE began to grow and expand, developing a larger, UK wide footprint, our deployment of a collaboration solution changed.
Instead of using collaboration to talk about business, we use it to actually do business.
As CAE began scaling up, an essential component of the geographical expansion was that the in-depth knowledge and service excellence from our Watford HQ would be replicated at every new office that opened around the UK. The business benefitted from this growth in terms of improved accessibility and additional customer contact, but at the same time confronted new geographical boundaries, and finding technology to break down the distance was vital.
Communication and truly collaborative working became even more significant and even more challenging. This was most apparent when we opened an office in Scotland 6 months ago. With such a geographical distance between teams, the importance of effective collaboration quickly came to the forefront.
Tony McInally, CAE’s Regional Account Director for Scotland immediately embraced the use of dynamic collaboration technology to break down those barriers. He said, “We’ve used our own expertise to overcome the geographical obstacles we may otherwise have faced opening our branch in Hamilton. As a result, not only have we stayed connected to the rest of the CAE teams in the UK, but now instead of just talking to our customers about the technology, we can actually demonstrate how we are using it to achieve the best possible outcomes for our own business.”
The potential benefits for businesses fully embracing collaborative working are well known. Improved communication between teams helps to avoid the silo effect and unnecessary duplication of work and encourages cross pollination of ideas between teams with different perspectives and experiences. It improves organisational agility and increases productivity. And when it’s done right, this should be true not just for global organisations or distributed teams.
The new digital workplace is redefining collaboration – it’s a different way of doing business.
This has been helped by improvements in the technology itself. High definition video conferencing is more practical now that network speeds and reliability have improved, file sharing is simpler, screen sharing and webinars have become commonplace.
In order for businesses to complete a true digital transformation, they will need to embed collaboration technology into processes and internal communication practices to get the most from their people, avoid information gaps and break down the boundaries (some physical, some not) that impede different teams from coming together to perform their jobs.
Tony and his team have seen immediate benefits from their use of collaborative technology. “It saves so much time,” he comments, “and that allows us to get on with business, establish ourselves in Scotland and develop relationships with local customers. CAE are committed to becoming a trusted partner to businesses both in Scotland and nationwide, and we are fully prepared to invest as much time as we can in listening to customers’ requirements and bringing them successful adoption of the most relevant technology for their needs.”
The CAE Scotland team are based in Hamilton, Lanarkshire and are happy to discuss (and demonstrate) technology relevant to your business, be that collaboration or related solutions.
