Project Echo delivered for St Leonard’s Hospice
A dynamic global engineering, technical and business services organisation with over 8,000 employees in 78 countries – Lloyd’s Register works at the cutting-edge of innovation to meet the most complex industrial challenges. When it needed to take a major step forward in collaborative working, Visavvi was called upon to deliver.
Challenge
When St Leonards Hospice in York required an inspiring meeting and video conferencing space to facilitate Project Echo, they called upon our experts to provide them with cutting-edge collaboration technology. ECHO is a global collaboration platform that allows healthcare professionals to connect, share knowledge and discuss patient cases. Described as a ‘virtual online classroom’, this global professional network helps to deliver strategic health aims that can enable better diagnosis’ and improve patient outcomes.
Project ECHO
With the ‘everyone is a learner, everyone is a teacher’ mantra at the forefront of the platform, the Project Echo benefits are endless; from knowledge sharing, enabling remote professionals to feel part of a bigger community and significantly reducing travel and carbon footprint. In order to benefit from these capabilities, it was essential for St Leonards to have a suitably equipped facility. Mark Richardson, Information Manager, explained “When we started the project, we evaluated a number of AV companies. Most suppliers saw problems with what we wanted to achieve, whereas Visavvi saw a challenge to overcome.”
Ultimately, you have helped us to finally meet our mission statement. I really appreciate how flexible the Visavvi team was, they’d work around our needs and timings – nothing was too much trouble. I really look forward to working with them again in the future.“
The perfect fit
Account manager Steve Gore Browne initially met with the client in September 2019 with a series of meetings to follow – enabling him to completely understand their individual requirements and budget. “Other providers struggled to provide appropriate solutions when we gave them the brief, but Steve’s approach was so refreshingly positive and helpful. He really provided a high level of support and it was an easy process from start to finish. Visavvi were worlds apart from other suppliers”, enthused Mark.
Following the consultation, Steve devised a solution that would significantly enhance the meeting environment. “When we looked at the space available, I had to figure out the perfect fit for them. The key element and priority were audio and acoustics, but also ways to create a better video call experience overall”, Steve said. “We then talked about colour schemes, ways to enhance skin tones and we also created an aesthetic background for video calls, to reduce distractions for remote participants.”
Simple and highly effective solution
Acoustically, the room presented a problematic space, so we installed acoustic conditioning panels to remove the echo and reverberation caused by the room’s harsh environment. Visavvi also designed and built a number of acoustic movable wall panels that would become the background when in calls – creating a temporary barrier shielding the large glass wall which could be moved when the space was being used for other occasions. A Poly Studio was recommended to provide crisp, bright imagery of meeting participants – complemented with Biamp microphones providing accurate and clear audio capture. The whole solution was then integrated into the Zoom Echo environment. Working closely with our supplier Quadra, we built a tailor-made range of furniture that was not only practical but also highly attractive.
With a hospice, people often have the perception that we are ‘behind the times’ in terms of technology. This new installation clearly shows that we are not! I can’t thank Steve and all of the Visavvi team enough – not just for the new solutions, but for always being so responsive and understanding of our needs.“
Outcome
After a short time of usage, the clients are already seeing the huge benefits brought by the installation. Chris Charters commented, “Anyone who has come into the room loves it and are so impressed with how it all works. It’s just a completely different acoustic here. It presents a very professional environment, which is really important for the organisations reputation.” We have received multiple comments from other Echo users around the world and our facility now sets the quality standards for others to follow. The solution has been such a success, that the client is already commissioning more work to continue upgrading their AV facilities.
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