Tuesday December 21, 2004

Web-Based Collaboration - The Better Way

Flying two executives across the Atlantic just to attend a sales meeting seemed an extravagant way to support a software deal for global IT and telecom vendor, Appium. So when senior VP Kevin Dixon decided to find a better way, he chose the Marratech web-based collaboration solution.

Explained London based Kevin: "We wanted to show how our offering would help a Sun customer, but sending people to the USA for a two hour sales support presentation seemed a little over-the-top. Using Marratech was a great success, plus we saved the cost of two air tickets and two night's hotel bills."

The virtual sales meeting was just the latest application of the Marratech solution by Appium which is headquartered in Malmo, Sweden, with offices in London, Madrid, Singapore and Dallas. When it became apparent that telephone conference calls were not productive, the company examined various remote conferencing options. Said Kevin: "We found Marratech the most compelling. It was also the most complete, with high quality VoiP, good video, whiteboard and application sharing.

"Other systems simply do not provide a sufficiently high level of interactivity. With Marratech, we can hold sales meetings when required and solve issues there and then. Now I can see everyone and present new strategy using the whiteboard. It's transformed our business meetings."

The company now uses Marratech for distance learning between their Malmo head office and remote staff, and for meetings between international board members where it enables interactive discussion of issues from the latest performance accounts to strategic planing. "Ours is a young, fast moving company which demands fast decision processes. We can't wait until its convenient for everyone to fly round the world or when they happen to be together," he added.

Persuading Appium's global sales channels to use Marratech is the next stage in expanding the adoption of web collaboration, saving even more time and travel expense. "We see it as a perfect illustration of how web based collaboration brings better customer management while improving efficiency and saving money," he said.

Ends

337 words