Videoconferencing increases efficiency

Safety is important for GLT-PLUS. The consort is responsible for the maintenance of 22 extraction sites in the natural gas fields in Slochteren, Groningen. The mandator is the NAM, owned by the government of the Netherlands for 50%. Esso and Shell each have shares of 25%.

GLT-PLUS had a sincere need for effective remote communication. The former intranet was very static and difficult to update and we noticed that not many people were reading it. This is why we started narrowcasting. All locations have information monitors now, mounted in strategic places.

Subsequently, GLT-PLUS was ready for the next step: a boardroom to have meetings online. With offices and contacts in locations such as Groningen, Leiden, Amersfoort, Utrecht and Den Haag, employees often spend more time travelling than being in the meeting itself.

LifeSize and CTOUCH displays were installed in the boardrooms. Meetings can be held with several people. They can see each other and react to each other. This is a requirement in order to be able to simulate real life contact. More than half of communication is non-verbal, and via telephone or mail important signals are missed. One of the displays can be used for video conferencing and the other one for notes, for example.

Online meetings take a bit of getting used to. “We’re slowly getting there,” says Goossens. “We use the boardroom more and more. Consort partner Jacobs recently had an info session with her employees. At the same time, one hundred and fifty employees were watching from other locations. In the past they would have all had to physically meet together. Just this one meeting already shows huge benefits in terms of safety, the environment and saving time.”