ABA Banking Journal - April 2008 - (Page 51)

Tech topics but very cool to a doll-sized image and talking into a camera on a dessert cart,” a less-than-productive meeting can, and often does, result. “Not to mention that these [older] systems have been difficult to set up and get a conference in session,” Lichtman adds. For these and other performance reasons, he notes, standard video conferencing never became the workhorse that it should have, nor did executives seeking a return on investment argument on behalf of video conferencing and collaborative technologies present it in terms of travel replacement. But get the human factors right, says Lichtman, and you have a real shot at video conferencing finally going the distance. “These systems can help cement relationships without the wear and tear of travel,” he says. Wachovia’s experience Manuel Basurto agrees. The telepresence and video conferencing product manager at Wachovia describes his bank as a “Cisco shop,” that opted to complete its IP telephony package with the vendor’s TelePresence unit. “We went into pilot with three locations last January,” he says. Using TelePresence for a wide range of internal meetings from HR conducting candidate interviews to executives System options Indeed, less clumsy interfaces, sound- and image-friendly dedicated conference rooms, and the norm of distributed ABA BANKING JOURNAL/APRIL 2008 51 Subscribe at www.ababj.com PHOTO COURTESY TELIRIS engaged in IT project planning, the units have been heavily used since June, when the official rollout was completed. “The pilot focused on post-merger work with AG Edwards,” Basurto says.“We cut back on travel related to getting them onboarded.” Later, in full production at Charlotte, Richmond, St. Louis, and San Antonio, regular usage in the studios has resulted in travel avoidance and improved productivity. Cisco’s next generation unit will be rolled out in Charlotte for a total of five in production. “In a customer satisfaction survey I conducted over six weeks 34% of the 700 people who used the units cut out travel for a savings of $250,000 over that six-week period compared to $125,000 of the operational cost of the studio,” he says. Users were highly satisfied with the experience, he relates, noting that life-sized images, high sound quality and “generally, good aesthetics” made the technology transparent after about 20 minutes of their first telepresence session. “You want sessions to be easy to start and finish and you want the technology to ‘disappear’,” says Basurto. http://www.wachovia.com http://www.ababj.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ABA Banking Journal - April 2008

ABA Banking Journal - April 2008 Contents Editor's Column You Can't Beat Wal-Mart: Or Can You? Snapshot: Non-Interest Income Shoulders More Weight ABA National Conference for Community Bankers Report 100th Anniversary: Then & Now ABA Resources ABA Chairman's Position Banks Plus Insurance: How to Make It Work Pass the Aspirin 2008: Year of Rich Internet Apps? Tough Time For That IPO Your Audience Needs to Know Who You Are Telepresence: Costly But Very Cool Webnotes Better Websites Mean Tougher Compliance Mailbox Banker's Mart To Advertise/Index of Advertisers The Economy

ABA Banking Journal - April 2008

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