Fortum collaborates without traveling

Fortum is a leading energy company operating in the Nordic countries, Russia, Poland and the Baltic Rim area. Fortum strongly emphasizes the development of environmentally sound solutions in energy production as well as in everyday routines in order to fight back climate change. One way of decreasing greenhouse gas emissions in Fortum is the widely spread use of videoconferencing. In geographically dispersed organizations, scheduling meetings can be challenging but necessary and frequent traveling is not an option for an environmentally oriented company. Fortum solved the problem by starting to use Videra Virtual Office, a high quality and fully outsourced videoconferencing service.

“In Fortum, we consider videoconferencing to be the best substitute for face-to-face meetings. We have efficiently promoted the new service in our organization in order to increase awareness and use of the service”
-Mari Kalmari, Fortum’s Corporate Sustainability Unit

Fortum steps against climate change
Climate experts predict that the climate change, caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, could result in significant negative impacts on the global environment and mankind. To respond the challenge and to apply the precautionary principle, governments have started to develop climate regulation on the global, regional and national level.

Emission caps for bigger installations combined with the possibility of emissions trading, the so-called "cap & trade" approach, is a major policy instrument in the effort to cut down greenhouse gas emissions. Consequently, the greenhouse gas market – or as it is often called the carbon market – is gradually emerging.

As a forerunner of the energy production industry, Fortum launched new climate-friendly guidelines for car procurement and air travel in 2007. Fortum’s company cars are only diesel, hybrid, ethanol, bio-ethanol, biogas or electricity-powered vehicles with carbon dioxide emissions under 200g/km. Furthermore, the target is to reduce air travel and consequently carbon dioxide emissions by 10% from the 2006 level. Instead of air travel, teleconferencing and videoconferencing have been strongly promoted

Forerunner of the energy industry
Fortum is a leading energy company with several sites in the Nordic countries, Russia, Poland and the Baltic Rim area. Fortum was the leading seller of eco-labeled electricity in the Nordic countries in 2008. Over 60% of Fortum's customers, altogether 700,000, buy eco-labeled electricity in Finland, Sweden and Norway. Fortum has also received several important recognitions for its sustainability performance in 2008. For the sixth year in a row, the company secured its place on the global Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. This year, Fortum was also included in the Dow Jones STOXX Sustainability Index. Furthermore, Fortum was included for the second consecutive year in the Climate Disclosure Leadership Index.

From the beginning of 2008, Fortum launched a program to significantly decrease greenhouse gas emissions yielded by business-related traveling. Increasing the use of remote conferencing was seen as the most efficient way to reach this objective. After tendering, Videra, an international remote conference service supplier, was the chosen.

In order to guarantee quick and extensive videoconferencing installations in all its locations, Fortum chose a completely outsourced service, Videra Virtual Office. Fortum's objective is to have a total of 50 conference room installations in all of its locations. By March 2009, as many as 34 TelePresence and high-definition meeting room systems have been completed in the Nordic and Baltic Rim area. In addition to meeting room systems, the desk top TelePresence solution Virtual Office Mobile was purchased from Videra in order to minimize any need for air travel.

Nowadays, videoconferencing is commonly seen as an effective way to decrease costs and increase efficiency in all kinds of organizations. Videoconferencing is also widely seen as an easy step towards becoming more environmentally oriented, and this fact is becoming an even more important reason to purchase a remote work solution.

Service solution facilitates the adoption of videoconferencing
The service agreement between Fortum and Videra includes TelePresence and High-definition videoconferencing meeting room systems. In addition to meeting room installations, Videra supplies Fortum with desktop remote work solutions for mobile users. All service sites are turn-key deliveries. The service includes videoconferencing and telepresence hardware, displays, support services and end-user education, for example. Meeting room design is also included in the service contract in order to ensure the comfortable use of the service. All service sites are tailored to fit the restrictions and opportunities of each meeting room.

In Fortum’s case, ease of use in terms of swift installation and not having to deal with several suppliers had a crucial role in the purchase process, and therefore fully outsourced service was considered the most efficient solution. In order to get real benefit from videoconferencing and cutbacks in greenhouse gas emissions, the company required an easy-to-use solution with geographically wide implementations. After installation and Videra’s user training, Fortum’s communication has taken an active role in ensuring that traveling is replaced by the new Virtual Office service.

“In Fortum, we consider videoconferencing to be the best substitute for face-to-face meetings. We have efficiently promoted the new service in our organization in order to increase awareness and use of the service,” says Ms. Mari Kalmari from Fortum’s Corporate Sustainability Unit.

Service instead of hardware
Virtual Office® is a fully externalized service, which incorporates all required remote conferencing technology delivered to the customer’s premises. Technology is compiled in an easy-to-use, high-quality entity, which includes either workstation-specific or meeting room level video conferencing technology, secured data connection when required and availability services such as technical support and operating. User training included in the service is tailored to meet the customer’s needs. The objective of user training is to facilitate the commissioning and use of the service and thus support the increase in the efficiency and profitability of the organization.

“We developed the service after having had several discussions with our customers. What customers wanted was to meet colleagues easily and whenever they needed, in order to get things done, without wasting time and money in traveling. Naturally, they did not want to have several suppliers: one for conference equipment, one for the network, one for displays etc. We came up with a solution that was completely unique: a fully outsourced videoconference service where Videra is responsible for all the components and functionality,” Videra’s Business Area Director Janne Lauanne explains.

All Videra’s operations are based on the principle of creating added value for the customer. This is also reflected in pricing: the customer only pays for the services used, that is, successful high-quality remote conferences.

“For us, it is vital that our service is available and ready to use at our customers’ locations 24/7, and our pricing is built on that basis. Our customers do not pay for equipment, they pay for the added value they get by using the service,” Mr. Lauanne continues.

Videra Virtual Office is available in five different service levels: the basic version offers remote meetings using a PC whereas the most advanced Virtual Office RealPresence creates a remote conference with the unique atmosphere of actual presence.
The Virtual Office service makes remote conferencing simple and facilitates the commissioning of remote conferencing equipment in the customer’s organization. Customized user training lowers the threshold to adopt the service as a part of daily routines. Virtual Office makes decision-making faster, use of time more efficient and it significantly saves costs.

Videra expands
Videra is a leading European remote meeting service supplier and a clear market leader in many markets. Videra delivers remote meeting services that create genuine added value for its customers in terms of saved time and costs. In addition, Videra’s services allow customers to enhance the environmental aspects of their operations by decreasing their production of greenhouse gases.

Videra was founded 1993 in Finland, and it is one of the pioneers in the remote conference service business. Videra started as a videoconference equipment manufacturer, but after few years that strategy was shifted: the manufacturer became Polycom's largest partner in the Nordic countries selling hardware. Virtual Office service was launched in 2004.

“We have managed to grow steadily year after year and expand to new markets successfully due to our unique value-added service offering and industry leading processes. This fiscal year we will have a growth of 35-40 percent from the last fiscal year. The downturn in the global economy seems to have a positive effect on videoconferencing business, as companies and the public sector are cutting back costs. It is now understood that videoconferencing is a way to decrease costs, rather than being regarded as one,” Mr. Janne Lauanne from Videra explains.

Videra, established in 1993, is strongly increasing its market share in the European markets. Videra’s extensive experience in remote conferencing solutions has fine-tuned the company into a genuinely customer-oriented service organization. All Videra’s operations are based on the creation of added value for the customers and supporting the customers’ business by offering high-quality services.