Test-Aankoop confers via video with European consumer organizations
The Belgian Test-Aankoop/Test-Achats - established in 1957 by a group of volunteers - is an established name. The consumer organization conducts comparative tests and then promotes the products or services with the best price-quality ratio. The company actively looks for solutions for Belgian consumers and helps them assert their rights. Test-Aankoop is part of Euroconsumers, the umbrella organization of European consumer organizations in five European countries. Last summer, Talk & Vision installed videoconferencing systems in Lisbon, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Brussels. The members of Euroconsumers can now meet face-to-face with consumers in other countries without spending expensive travel time in trains or airplanes. It goes without saying that international meetings run much smoother and more efficiently.
Cross-border collaboration is only efficient if the parties can communicate efficiently. At Test-Aankoop, the people involved believed that visual communication was the best way for them to make decisions faster and save travel costs. It was up to IT and infrastructure manager Eddy Lootens to look for a new, umbrella system for all of the members of Euroconsumers. "We didn't go out on a limb. Our new videoconferencing system had to meet a number of specific requirements. It had to allow for a difference in quality when meeting with participants from different organizations and hence with different networks, the so-called ‘multi-conference'," explains Eddy Lootens. User friendliness was also an important issue. The technicians were not supposed to have to help during the meetings. Test-Aankoop wanted a videoconferencing system that the employees could book and run on their own, without technical assistance.
For the integration, Test-Aankoop selected the Talk & Vision specialists, who seamlessly integrated the network of videoconferencing systems with the organization, organized user training courses, and met Test-Aankoop's requirements. Eddy Lootens: "Talk & Vision helped us see the wood through the trees; the clear advice combined with their knowledge got us where we are now."
In the summer of 2006, Talk & Vision TANDBERG installed systems in Brussels, Milan, Madrid and Lisbon, where some 150 users have access to advanced visual communication. In Paris, where the office only has some 20 employees, a system was finally installed after some hesitation. "The lady working in Paris has told us many times over how happy she is with her system, a desktop version," explains Lootens. "She can participate in international videoconferences, which has already saved her numerous train trips to Brussels, because she can now meet through video."
"Just thinking about conference calls tires me out," says Lootens. "A two-hour video conference is a lot less tiring. People are very happy that it is so easy to share their presentations and other documents through visual communication."
Videoconferencing will continue to play a big role in Test-Aankoop's future. Eddy Lootens concludes: "We're talking to Talk & Vision about expanding the network where needed. We're also thinking of video conferences via laptops. Videoconferencing has made us more efficient, saves us time, and has reduced travel costs."
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For further details, please contact:
WMX Communications, Events & Productions
Sandy Bergkamp
Telephone: +31 (0) 6 - 41340801
E-mail: sandybergkamp@videoconference.nl
Website: www.videoconference.nl
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