Member Article

One Manchester uses Sony to increase communication flexibility

One Manchester is a provider of housing and community services for Manchester’s residents. Over the past year, Sony, partnering with IDNS AV, has played a key role in extensively updating the AV offering within its office space. Powered by TEOS Manage, the solution enables content across a range of connected BRAVIA Professional 4K Displays to be updated quickly and easily across the Lovell House office. In turn, enabling the team to create bespoke communication packages for each space and readily update them for individual visitors. Since the installation of the new solutions, the benefits of digital signage has enabled flexibility throughout the One Manchester office.

BACKGROUND

One Manchester is a UK housing association which currently owns and manages more than 12,000 homes in central, south and east Manchester. As a housing association communicating with a range of customers on a daily basis, it is crucial its offices deliver information seamlessly.

Faced with the challenge of modernising the space and ensuring it offered the flexibility required in a cost-efficient way, Sony proposed two solutions, facilitated by audio visual specialist reseller, IDNS AV: A meeting room setup and additional digital signage throughout the building to create a personalised introduction for visitors and an effective way of keeping employees up to date.

Future proofing the offices whilst saving costs

As a not for profit organisation, One Manchester’s core aim is to deliver high quality services whilst ensuring the company delivers value for money for its residents.

With the need to deliver key corporate information throughout its Lovell House office building where employees are based, One Manchester required the installation of an AV solution which would enable effective and simple communication. For instance, the team found that the existing facility (sharing information via posters on noticeboards) did not allow for any flexibility such as regularly changing content. Furthermore, this process was not capable of supporting targeted content for different internal teams and also customers and visitors to the office, hindering the opportunity to communicate important information at certain times.

In order to future-proof its office, the organisation needed to invest in a cost-effective, streamlined solution. This resulted in investment in next generation technology that would address the increasing demand for flexible digital signage across the office.

Sony: providing flexible customer communication, customisation and reduced environmental impact

Sony appealed to the organisation as the only vendor to offer an all-in-one solution which met its needs for flexible customer communication, employee administration and organisation. Gareth Keith at One Manchester, notes: “A core theme in the new One Manchester office was to utilise modern technology and embrace new ways of working, so our requirement was to enable digital channels of communication across our office building. The digital signage solution allows us to keep employees informed about what is happening within the business very quickly and efficiently, and also to communicate new initiatives and services that they could talk to their customers about, in a relevant and timely manner.”

The customisation, at the heart of transforming the organisation was made possible by deploying TEOS Managein conjunction with a range of BRAVIA professional displays. By grouping devices across One Manchester’s office, this package of software and hardware has given the AV team full control and monitoring of its IP display devices so that content being communicated via displays can be viewed by building, floor or area.

Displayed across a range of Sony 43͟ and 55͟ BRAVIA 4K XE8 series professional displays, corporate messages and important customer information can now be communicated in a flexible, user-intuitive and instantaneous way. With TEOS Manage powering this solution, the housing association can create content, schedule the playout, and push images, pictures, videos, signage and other content to individual devices, zones or across the whole network throughout the office. It allows the communications team to ensure the right content is always displayed on the right screen at the right time.

Furthermore, the room booking tool, powered by TEOS Manage, offers an integrated room booking solution. The solution allows meetings to be easily organised and scheduled, leading to improved space optimisation for employees and visitors.

The organisation has also improved its impact on the environment as a result of using TEOS Manage’s green management setting. The association has utilised the tool’s capability of scheduling on and off times for each BRAVIA professional display to save energy when devices are no longer required, for example at evenings or weekends. Furthermore, TEOS Managedoes not require any extra hardware per display as it saves a power plug for every BRAVIA – drastically reducing the organisation’s environmental footprint, resulting in Sony being chosen over the competition.

A cost-efficient and customer-friendly space

Since installing Sony’s solution in October, the organisation’s visitors now enter the office’s communal area on the ground floor and are greeted by and directed through informative information delivered via TEOS Manage-enabled digital signage.

The employee and visitor experience has been transformed with Sony. One Manchester’s office space is no longer a hindrance to the latest in AV solution technology. Previously, it was a challenge to communicate key pieces of corporate information throughout the office. However, now, the association is able to instantly switch this content on the displays through TEOS Manage– enabling employees to communicate in a more productive and targeted way.

In support of the obvious benefits, the housing association has conducted in-house training sessions demoing the solution, supported by TEOS Manage, working to encourage more people to utilise the tool when, for instance, scheduling meetings.

Mick Brittain, IT Infrastructure Engineer at One Manchester says: “Since the installation of Sony’s solution, it has been tried and tested from an IT perspective, and employees within the new office are benefiting from a simple to use meeting room booking system and a consistent IT set up in meeting rooms; allowing them to conduct meetings and connect to the IT systems in the building easily to share information with colleagues and visitors.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sony Professional Solutions .