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Product category: Construction companies
News Release from: Carillion
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial Team on 12 February 2008

Carillion and the environment

Steve Floyd, group telecommunications manager at Carillion says "There are parts of the business where we can have a dramatic effect in reducing our overall environmental impact".

With more than 50,000 employees, Carillion plc is today one of the UK's leading support services and construction companies In successfully using an audio-only conferencing service over many years, the company has long understood the benefits of collaboration services in terms of cutting the cost of travel between its 900 locations around the globe

In building on this, in 2005 Carillion looked to expand its application across the business, with the introduction of Genesys Conferencing's multimedia conferencing solution, Genesys Meeting Center, provided by Genesys' reseller partner, ntl:Telewest.

At the same time, Carillion has maintained a broader corporate commitment to sustainability and community engagement, winning a number of awards for its positive contribution to supporting the environment, including The Sunday Times Gold Award for Corporate Responsibility.

These twin goals came together on World Environmental Day, which took place on 5 June 2007.

With the multimedia service now rolled out to the desk-top, Carillion emailed 20,000 staff explicitly to promote the increased take-up of collaboration services as a viable and desirable alternative to physically travelling to meetings.

Smaller carbon footprint.

Carillion has a significant carbon footprint, as a result of having to move around large volumes of concrete, rubble and other materials to and from sites.

"However, there are other parts of the business where we can have a dramatic effect in reducing our overall impact on the environment," confirms Steve Floyd, group telecommunications manager, Carillion.

"For example, we have recognised the valuable role that collaboration tools can play in helping us achieve some aggressive target reductions in carbon emissions, for example, by cutting the need to travel regularly from outlying sites to our Wolverhampton headquarters".

And, as part of this, by bringing together the use of Genesys' Carbon Calculator with an analysis of current journey requirements, the company can accurately assess the potential savings to be made in terms of lower carbon emissions.

As a result, the goal is to achieve a combined 10 per cent take-up of audio and web conferencing on a full-time basis, which would exceed its share of the broader target set for reducing Carillion's corporate carbon footprint.

Both companies recognise the importance of education in encouraging greater awareness and use at a local level.

"Demonstrating how easy Genesys Meeting Center collaborations tools are to deploy and use is key to maximising take-up by managers and their teams," confirms Howard Watson, sales manager, alternate channels Europe, Genesys.

"At the same time, the availability of broader multimedia functionality will both expand usage among existing audio users, as well as introducing new audiences to virtual conferencing, as the ability for all participants visually to share and interact with presentation or training materials more closely replicates the advantages of a face-to-face meeting.".

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