Fidelity International
New office in Gurgaon, India.
The Problem:
Fidelity relies heavily on AV conferencing and was frustrated with its existing complex multiple vendor-based systems, that were unreliable and difficult to support over a growing and geographically diverse estate.
There were two primary drivers to move to a better solution for their new office in Gurgaon, India.
Systems to be intuitive and simple to use so that individuals could operate the technology without assistance. Plus, the same user experience to be uniform across all rooms and global sites.
To ensure the new technology was supportable remotely, unlike in existing offices.
This site has 2,200 staff who provide IT and other back office support for the company’s global operation. There are a range of different sized rooms requiring AV conferencing:
Meeting rooms, Boardroom, Breakout areas and Configurable training/meeting rooms.
The Solution:
After extensive evaluation, Fidelity selected Ashton Bentley for their radically different approach to room system design; a complete technology solution including furniture.
The various room requirements were discussed and then quickly configured from Ashton Bentley standard off-the-shelf systems, that also met the architect’s brief. Reducing development and design time provided significant cost savings. Had Fidelity gone down the traditional AV multi-vendor approach less rooms could have been equipped.
As all systems are pre-configured, on site assembly was easily completed by local company Esco, with no requirement for Ashton Bentley to be present, which reduced costs further. Ashton Bentley two-man team arrived towards the end of the project to finalise the installation and commission.
Each system takes hours rather than days to install, which enabled Fidelity to work to a short project timeline and save costs. All systems were installed and commissioned over a period of eight weeks.
The systems supplied were quantities of:
- Huddle; single 55” display with attached 4 or 5 seat table
- ab One55 (Touch and non-Touch): single 55” display
- ab Two55 (Touch and non-Touch); dual 55” display
- ab Two75 (Touch); dual 75” 4K display
Variety of table sizes ranging from 4 seat to 12 seats, all with integrated power, data, USB and laptop input retractors.
Most systems were pre-wired for customer supplied Polycom VC and Wyse clients.
Ashton Bentley systems only have five active components which are common across all systems and easy to swap out. So, a local spares inventory was low cost and easy to keep on site. Training was given to local company Esco to facilitate fast repairs and aid maintenance.
The Outcome:
Ashton Bentley has delivered a consistent deployment that is truly scalable. There is no local or regional systems integrator interpretation, and no issues with regional component availability.
Fidelity moved its staff into the completed building and within hours all meeting rooms were being used by staff. What is significant is that no user training was needed; those staff members intuitively understood how to make the system work, so the Tikri site has no dedicated AV staff; everything is self-service.
As part of the design phase it was agreed that all systems were to be connected to the Ashton Bentley abSee cloud monitoring service later this year. Fidelity will then have real time monitoring, fault ticketing (through Fidelity’s Now IT service) and remote control of the AV technology and codecs in each room, resulting in reduced support overhead.
Ashton Bentley’s deployment was carried out efficiently and quickly and shows a radical new approach to delivery. As a result, it both met and exceeded the client’s expectations. It shows there is no need for AV conferencing to be complex in today’s enterprises.
Ashton Bentley is now working on other Fidelity sites, delivering the global standard for the company’s AV.
“Ashton Bentley not only met but exceeded our expectations.”
Senior Technical Manager, Fidelity India
“Ashton Bentley have become a great partner to Fidelity International, the quality of product and functionality have proven very successful with our internal clients in India and UK”
Technical Consultant Collaboration Technology - Fidelity International
“The key is simplicity, reliability and functionality for the end user. The AB solution deployed in Gurgaon has helped us achieve this finally and set the standard for future deployments to our other locations, aligned with our overall AV (and collaboration) strategy.”
Technical Director, Collaboration Technology - Fidelity International