Automotive Industries interview with Edward Fitzgerald, founder of The BizXchange

The BizXchange – Videoconference Bureau has been providing clients from industry, commerce and Government with professional public videoconference facilities available for hire by the hour for over a decade. Operating worldwide our clients are able to book one or more of our affiliate studios for face to face meetings, interviews, contract negotiations or presentations.

“How many times have you travelled hours to a meeting that you felt that the outcome could quite easily have been achieved via videoconference?”

Vast improvements in technology providing near broadcast quality audio and video have been a major factor improving the end-user experience and influencing them to use videoconferencing as a tool alongside traditional face-to-face meetings.

Productivity of the attendees to videoconferences is greatly improved, releasing hundreds of hours each year that would otherwise be spent on unnecessary travel to and from meetings that typically last only a few hours.

With so many pressures on trade and commerce today to reduce operating expenditure and their overall carbon footprint from both their products and services, it is no surprise that use of videoconferencing technology has had a revival in the past few years.

Examples of the most common uses for videoconferencing are:

– Project review meetings

– Product demonstrations

– Sales presentations

– Recruitment interviews

– Staff and customer training

– Collaborative meetings between business partners

– Contract negotiations

– Internal meetings between staff located in different facilities, even if in the same city!

Whilst many businesses may not be able to identify a clear case for investing in a dedicated videoconference solution, our network of public videoconference bureau is available for hire by the hour. Our network has in excess of 2200 public locations world wide, making it easy for businesses to utilize the latest videoconference technology and forge partnerships outside there own region for a fraction of the cost of a normal business trip.

Automotive Industries spoke to Edward Fitzgerald, founder of The BizXchange.

AI: What are some of the innovative products and services that BizXchange offers?

Through our online real-time reservation system our clients are able to check instantly to see if a particular studio is available in the city where the attendees are located. This significantly reduces the time for arranging and confirming bookings for our clients’ staff.

Also an increasing number of our studios provide the ability to include computer based presentations, DVD content or collaborate on the physical aspects of an item under discussion. This has further improved the end-user experience and their willingness to engage the technology. Coupled with the ability to connect multiple videoconference locations via a videoconference bridge, much like you would with an audio conference, the collective time saved in travel alone can be significant!

AI: How can your firm help the automotive industry?

We can assist members of the automotive industry in two distinct areas.

1/ Pay–as–you–use scenario: The BizXchange can provide a complete booking service for any of its public videoconference locations and private sites. We can provide corporate branding on our web portal with dedicated login for clients’ staff to enable efficient and streamlined confirmation of meetings, presentations or even job interviews.

We can advise on the best method of working for specific events and recommend the best solution to fit with their needs.

2/ Invest–to–Save scenario: Where a client wishes to evaluate in-house videoconference solutions, then our sister company would provide the appropriate consultancy and make recommendations on the technical implementation. Advice on use of High Definition technology to facilitate applications such as demonstrating 3D rendered images via videoconference for example. Providing the client with a quotation to enable correct financial planning and evaluation of Return on Investment.

AI: Can you give automotive companies some tips on how they can cut costs using BizXchange’ services?

The most effective way to dramatically reduce costs and drive an increase in productivity of staff would be to reduce non-essential travel. To illustrate this, Cadbury-Schweppes implemented videoconferencing between its two offices in Birmingham they had already identified the need to provide better communications between London and their other UK sites. However, their senior managers were staggered at the hundreds of man hours per month that were saved in travel just between their two West Midlands sites!

“John Chambers the Chairman and CEO of CISCO cut his company’s travel budget by USD 150 Million last year and told his global business to reinvest the money in Videoconference technology. A drastic approach, but they are now seeing the real benefits – USD 150 Million savings year on year!” Edward Fitzgerald explained.

Complete boardroom and desktop videoconference solutions can be provided through our sister companies brand ‘Virtual Office Solutions’ for those businesses that can clearly justify the demand for use of the technology. However, when most companies start out it is sometimes difficult to quantify how many times staff would opt for using the videoconferencing technology over travelling to a meeting. Using The BizXchange worldwide network provides business with the low cost option, by hiring the facilities by the hour.

“We also provide videoconference bridging services between multiple sites, this provides additional savings in the region of 40% on the actual call charges, when compared to the incumbent network operator charges.” explains Edward Fitzgerald

AI: What kind of companies does BizXchange mainly do business with?

Predominantly we’re providing services to Legal and Accountancy practices, Financial Services, Aviation Industry, Regional Government Offices, Specialist Engineering and Design Companies in the Automotive and Transport sectors

AI: Are you planning to offer any new products and services to attract companies from industries like the automotive industry?

To be frank, the existing service portfolio provided by ourselves and our sister company provides a strong offering to the automotive industry sector; specifically in the areas of collaborative audio and video communications.

As technological advances develop we will look at ways to continue the delivery of innovative solutions to the automotive industry.

To visit BizXchange’s online real-time reservation system, click here