Cloud-based video conferencing worldwide

Since 2015, Paulaner’s production facility and management offices have been in different locations. The beer is brewed in Munich's Langwied area, whereas the management is based in the city's Au district. In order to save commuting time and still ensure efficient communication between the two sites, the brewery’s management decided to deploy a video conferencing solution. "Our staff would have wasted far too much time in Munich traffic travelling between the two sites," explains Nikola Parlov, System and Applications Developer at Paulaner. "A video conferencing solution seemed to be an ideal alternative." A second, important reason was communication with distribution companies in the USA, China and Italy.

With the help of a partner, Parlov and his team started looking for a suitable video conferencing provider to replace the existing teleconferencing equipment in their meeting rooms. In the end, the Lifesize audio, web and video conferencing technology was the winning solution. Implementation required only a slight adjustment of the company's firewall settings and a minimal adjustment of security guidelines. Lifesize Icon 400 and Lifesize Icon 600 meeting room systems with integrated HD cameras and audio units were installed at all sites. The brewery’s IT experts decided to use either one 75" screen or two 60" screens. "With these screen sizes, the caller looks the same size as if you were talking face-to-face and even split shared presentations are easy to read," adds Parlov.

Alongside the conference room systems, the brewery started off with 10 licenses of the cloud-based collaboration software, later expanding this to 25 and then 50 as demand grew and grew. "The flexible scalability perfectly meets our needs," adds Parlov. In addition to the conference rooms, the Lifesize app is also used on laptops and on the go on smartphones and tablets. It is primarily used by employees who would otherwise have to make a series of phone calls. "One of the most popular features is the ability to invite guest callers to the meetings, who can then join the conversation with a simple click in their browser. This works especially well with partners in China,” adds Parlov.