nlit 2014 -rethinking av-vtc services

Rethinking AV/VC Conferencing Support Through Managed ServicesNLIT 2014

Jack Schmidt, Dana StasiakArgonne National Laboratory

Chad Karkos, Ron FordKemtah Group

Who are we?

Jack Schmidt– IT Service Manager/Process Manager– 1+ years at Argonne– 32+ years at Fermi– ITIL Zealot since 2007

Dana Stasiak– Service Owner– 17+ years at Argonne– User Experience Champion

Chad Karkos– AV/VTC Service Manager– 2+ years at Kemtah

Argonne National Laboratory

25 miles southwest of Chicago, IL1,500 wooded acres/315 buildings3,350 Employees15 research divisions/6 user facilitiesBudget of $722 million

Overview

About us What motivated us to change our service model A look back at where we started with AV/VC services and support Where we are today What we’re thinking about for the future Q&A

Multiple Service Providers

Past Present Future

Service drivers

Environment

• Budget, travel and sustainability constraints were driving an increase in videoconferencing

• Multi-disciplinary research pushing limits on existing services

• Increase in remote collaborators

• Sustainability efforts allowed build-out of VTC rooms

Technology

• 40+ rooms of various sizes with a wide range of audio, video (A/V) & video conference capabilities

• Multiple tools available with overlapping features

• Recent changes in ESNet Collaboration services

• Variances in funding for ongoing room maintenance

Support

• Largely unsupported due to budget limitations

• Remote collaboration requires some level of support to drive adoption across the lab

• Consistent support needs for a variety of events• On-site• Off-site• High profile

• No service delivery measurements

Timeline

Nov 2012• AV support

proof of concept

Mar 2013• Lab-wide AV

support contract in place

Apr 2013• Lab-wide

VTC support contract

• 4 room pilot• KPIs to

justify need

June 2013• Implement

initial VTC scheduling tool

Oct 2013• Spike in VTC

usage• Govt.

shutdown looms

Initial video conference scheduling tool

A la carte charging model

Pros– Provided options to customers

depending on needs Cons

– Hard to know what services to request

– Inconsistent billing

What did we learn?

Setting up a meeting …1. Define meeting requirements2. Ask admin staff for a room3. If none available ask admin staff in

another building4. Room found! Follow process from

local admin staff to request resource5. Ask local IT support for help.

– Can they access equipment in room? – Do they know how to use it?

6. Ask for room support– Facilities? Local building managers?

Lessons Learned Customers were confused by:

– Which service provider can help me? (when there are multiple)

– Al a carte pricing– Charging for parts of a service and

not others Managing two contractors with

overlapping services is time-consuming

Requesting service via phone/email resulted in personalized but inconsistent service

Lots of ways rooms are scheduled Need to track request -> billing

Single Service Provider

Past Present Future

Service improvements

Feb 2014 - Consolidate to a single vendor for both AV and VTC services

Create better way to request service Track all service requests in Service

Now Measure our service delivery

– Customer satisfaction– Utilization

Collaboration Services

VTC / Managed Service

Web / Self Service

AV / Staff Augmentation

Collaboration support services

Conference rooms

Special events

High profile event support

Auditorium events

Exchange integration

Exchange invite -> email list -> Service Now

Pros– Tickets created for every

calendar entry– Calendar view of all events

Cons– Tickets created for canceled

events too!– Overhead to manage tickets

How are we doing?Weekly service meetings to review service dashboard

How are we doing?Monthly review of KPIs – Support and engineering requests

How are we doing?Monthly review of KPIs – Customer satisfaction

Very Dissatis-fied

Somewhat Dissatisfied

Neutral Somewhat Satified

Very Satisfied0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

45.0%

50.0%

0.0%

7.4%

14.8%

44.4%

33.3%

How are we doing?Monthly review of KPIs –VC travel avoidance costs since June 2013

Savings CO2 (kg)$0

$50,000

$100,000

$150,000

$200,000

$250,000

$300,000

$350,000

$400,000

$450,000

$500,000445436

191,052kg

What did we learn?

Travel cost avoidance is significant Exchange/ServiceNow integration hard to manage

– Lots of overhead for the vendor– Customers were confused by multiple emails from ServiceNow and Exchange

Vendor able to sub-contract for– Peak requests– Special equipment needs

Need to partner with Facilities and Office of Project Management Multiple overlapping service offerings drive support costs up and adoption down

Managed Service

Past

Service improvements

Move to a managed service contract Continue to improve service request

process Create service bundles based on

room usage patterns Develop technology standards Look to consolidate offerings

– Driven by ESNet Collaboration Service changes

Managed Service

AV/VTC Engineering

Web Conf.

Support

AV/VTC Suppor

t

Consolidation of technology for simpler user experience

Today Adobe Connect

– 50 concurrent licenses – 2 seminar rooms with 250 users

ReadyTalk (ESNet)– Mainly used by ANL HEP community

PGI conferencing bridge– Integrates with Adobe Connect

Video endpoints– Polycom room systems– Mondo Pad

Whatever Best Buy has on sale

Future??? Single video conferencing and web

sharing solution??? Still need large seminar capability

(250+ people) May still need separate audio bridge

Standard supported configurations for:– Conference rooms– Auditoriums– Executive office suites– Digital signage– Video walls

Technology lifecycle management

Service request form

Service offering bundles

At a glance

Past

Multiple Service Providers• Local IT departments• AV vendor• VTC vendor• Web conferencing is self-service• Limited scalability

{Questions?

Dana Stasiakdstasiak@anl.gov630-252-0912

Jack Schmidtjschmidt@anl.gov 630-252-1533

Chad Karkosckarkos@kemtah.com 630-252-1976

Ron Fordrford@kemtah.com 636-297-5206

Additional information

Service Design (AV)

Description: Provides support to facilitate video, audio and web communication for on-site or with off-site collaborators. Facilitate preparation for special requests. Includes consulting and design for new installations.

Entitlement: – Audiovisual operations, maintenance and consulting and installation services on a cost-

recovery basis covering over 40 conference rooms across the site. – Provide end-user training related to A/V systems.

Support Costs: A la carte pricing model. Support Availability: 3 business days. Emergency support available (higher cost) Service Availability: Mon thru Fri 7:30am – 5pm, excluding Lab Holidays. Off Hours

and Weekend support is negotiable. (ANL Service Desk)

Service Design (VTC)

Description: Provides support to facilitate video, audio and web communication for on-site or with off-site collaborators. Facilitate preparation for special requests. Includes consulting and design for new installations.

Entitlement: – Video conferencing resources and services are available in several dedicated conference

rooms around the Laboratory– (Video conferences scheduled, connected, and supported via use of the ESnet bridge.– Schedule and support external video conference connections through ESnet.

Support Costs: No cost recovery structure in place Support Availability: 3 business days notification recommended Service Availability: Mon thru Fri 8:00am – 6pm, excluding Lab Holidays. Off Hours

and Weekend support is negotiable. (Kemtah VCS Help Desk)

Service Design (Web)

Description: Provides support to facilitate web communication for on-site or with off-site collaborators.

Entitlement: – ReadyTalk: integrated audio and web conferencing for small meetings via the web. – Adobe Connect: web conferencing for small meetings via the web + PGI for audio

connections– Users are expected to setup & run their own sessions– Training assistance on request

Support Costs: No cost recovery structure in place Support Availability: Local IT support Service Availability: Mon thru Fri 7:30am – 5pm, excluding Lab Holidays. Off Hours

and Weekend support is negotiable. (Argonne Service Desk)