BCS Swindon & London
Meeting & Event AV Technology SolutionsImproving meeting and event experiences at BCS Swindon & London offices.
The Background
The Chartered Institute for IT (BCS), is a charity with a royal charter with over 70,000 members in 150 countries. BCS aims to raise the standards of competence and conduct across the IT industry supporting individuals, organisations, government, and training providers.
BCS aims to ensure everyone’s experience with technology is positive by raising standards of competence and conduct across the IT industry.
The Brief
The priority for BCS was to create flexible, inclusive environments with user-friendly collaboration technology and a consistent way of working in their London and Swindon offices.
BCS London has a variety of meeting spaces available to rent that support BOYD (bring your own device) for conferencing and content sharing. Although high-end audiovisual technology was installed, some of the solutions were incorrectly configured. Our brief was to make sure that all equipment was properly configured and combined to work as one solution.
BCS London also has a large atrium with a presentation space, informal meeting areas, a meeting booth, and a café area. Our team was required to update and install cameras and audio equipment suitable for hosting presentations and give the option to stream presentations to different channels such as YouTube.
Originally BCS Swindon had several meeting rooms with existing BOYD solutions. The equipment installed was high quality however some of the items were end-of-life such as the room booking system. Also, the meeting rooms had numerous connecting cables and docking stations. Our brief was to tidy up the rooms to create clutter-free professional spaces and to streamline the technology so that users have the same experience in every meeting room.
Our Solution
BCS London
Divisible Conference Room
We checked all existing equipment and found faults with the existing cabling and the configuration of the audio and video equipment. We also ran new cabling from the conference room to the server room and tidied up the cables for the BYOD option.
Atrium
The atrium is an impressive open-plan space with informal meeting areas, a café, and a presentation space for events. Visually Connected recommended an audiovisual solution to facilitate a dynamic experience for speakers and delegates including live streaming to remote participants.
BCS Swindon
Our team brought in a Microsoft Teams solution with a small touch panel on the table to replace the messy cables. This means the room can easily be invited to a meeting and you can start a meeting on the panel at the touch of a button.
- In small and medium-sized rooms we replaced BYOD with Yealink Teams room solutions consisting of a PC, a touch panel, and an audio/video bar which includes a microphone, speaker, and camera.
- Each room is integrated into the Outlook calendar and is invited into each meeting so it takes just one touch on the panel to start the meeting.
- Outside all meeting rooms we installed new room booking panels enabling visitors to see room booking details.
- Also occupancy sensors placed in the rooms automatically switch off the equipment when the room is not in use.
The Technology
- Biamp Tesira to provide networked room audio processing for conferencing.
- Biamp Impera Tango control panel was programmed to enable easy control of the different room scenarios (and the Atrium).
- Huddly IQ 4K cameras equipped with AI functionality ensure that all participants, including those closest to the screen, could be seen and equally represented.
- Reconfigured the existing Sennheiser ceiling microphones, Crestron speakers, and Cisco switches to work as one high-quality solution to support the different room configurations.
- Lightware UCX USB and HDMI connections to simplify the BOYD experience.
- TCC-2 Sennheiser ceiling microphones.
- Powerful and compact Genelec loudspeakers to capture audio from presentations within the room.
- Existing wireless microphones in place.
- Avonic PTZ Cameras to remotely capture events in high-definition from different viewing angles.
- Lightware UX to support BYOD for the screen and camera feeds.
- AREC AVoIP media capture unit to live stream to different channels such as YouTube.
The Result
London
Changing cabling, reconfiguring the existing equipment, and adding extra items meant that the technology in place was more user-friendly and could be fully utilised.
Our solution supports easy control of all multi-purpose facilities via a simple touch on the Biamp panel in the administrator’s office. We tidied the cables for the BYOD option in the multipurpose dual conference room to create a professional user-centric experience.
The Atrium now has a fully fitted high-quality audiovisual solution ready for various meetings and events. The multi-purpose area also has the option to live stream via social media channels.
Swindon
By adopting technology standards, BCS colleagues and visitors have access to high-quality collaboration technology. A mix of Yealink systems provides a consistent user experience in all meeting rooms. Meetings can be started with just a simple touch of the control panel on the table in the room. Occupancy sensors switch off equipment in rooms not in use saving energy.
All rooms are cable tidied offering a professional and clutter-free environment.
24-7 Remote Monitoring and Proactive Support
Following completion, BCS offices in Swindon and London continue to benefit from our 24-7 remote monitoring and proactive support service keeping their technology running at peak performance. Our service includes our AV SOS service providing first-line technical support. Detailed monthly reports, automated updates to keep their assets secure, a live asset list, and yearly health checks are also provided.
To whom it may concern, I first met with Sussi from Visually Connected when I researched a new AV supplier. I was unhappy with my current supplier and they had let me down when they did not have the capabilities I needed to support us at BCS, the chartered Institute for IT. I called Sussi and she sent an engineer over within the hour to assess the issue we were having. Within the next hour he had ordered the part we needed and it was rectified the next day. After that we knew we had found our AV partner.
The team are so thorough and detailed in understanding our client side requirements and delivering a solution that works and that stays within budget. She respects that our organisation is a charity and has made sure that we are offered several solutions at several different price points. I trust Visually Connected with our entire AV asset portfolio and know we are in good hands should we need assistance and as a busy Senior Manager, this is invaluable to me. I would recommend partnering with Visually Connected to anyone who needs honesty, knowledge and support with their AV systems.
Hazel Reason CIWFM, MBCS
Senior Facilities Manager, The Chartered Institute for IT.