iLinc Web and Video Conferencing

Case Study

• The Challenge

  Spurred by an executive order issued by Governor Napolitano in 2003, Arizona's Efficiency Review Committee embarked on an initiative to improve employee productivity, reduce costs, and increase efficiencies across all state agencies.
  
  Bringing together leaders of major state agencies to implement energy-, money- and time-saving measures, the Governor's Office of Efficiency Review ultimately endorsed web conferencing as a means of meeting the state's performance objectives. Bringing together leaders of major state agencies to implement energy-, money- and time-saving measures, the Governor's Office of Efficiency Review ultimately endorsed web conferencing as a means of meeting the state's performance objectives.

• The Solution

  rganization recommended iLinc as its preferred provider for web conferencing solutions.
  
  Among the reasons cited for this choice were:
  
  * demonstrated savings and efficiencies
  * ease of use
  * the sophistication of its technology
  * security capabilities
  * the ability to serve remote sites that lack broadband connections
  * iLinc's offer of four products for the price of one which met all the possible scenarios for use across statewide agencies, including:
  o Training needs
  o Meetings
  o Webinars
  o Support
  
  As of mid-2008, 14 of the state's agencies--including the Government Information Technology Agency, the Arizona Department of Education and the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System—have adopted iLinc's solution. As the rapid uptake of the technology suggests, the State of Arizona sees a growing number of applications for web conferencing—stretching from virtual meetings to online training.

• The Results

  Faced with strained budgets and weakening economies, government agencies of all kinds are seeking alternatives to the status quo. Drawing on Arizona's experience, they will find an array of benefits to be realized through web conferencing:
  
  * Decreased Fuel, Maintenance and Fleet Expenses. The State of Arizona will remove unwanted costs associated with travel and fuel expenses as state employees reduce drive time. Considering that overall costs for a state vehicle are approximately 42 cents per mile, travel reductions promise gas and maintenance savings as well as fleet management/reduction savings. The Arizona Department of Education, for instance, saved $5,000 in travel and per diem expenses for a single training course, which was offered online instead of on-site. iLinc is the only solution available on the market that provides an embedded tool inside its web conferencing tool that allows organizations to track actual cost savings resulting from decreased travel.
  * Enhanced Productivity. Web conferencing improves productivity by reducing travel time. Employees who travel to meetings frequently will recoup hundreds of hours in productivity per year. One third party study sponsored by the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System identified notable productivity and employee satisfaction gains across the department resulting from its use of web conferencing.
  * Increased Environmental Benefits. Reduced travel will result in a reduction in vehicle emissions and CO2. Indeed, iLinc's patent-pending Green Meter™ offers the ability to measure CO2 savings by the pound based on distance from one IP address to another IP address. That's what enabled the state to determine that it had reduced 761,000 pounds of carbon emissions in just six months.
  * Increased Statewide Collaboration. A unified approach to web conferencing will allow the state to achieve increased communication and interoperability between state agencies. This is especially important in the event of an emergency.
  * Reduced Overhead Expenditures. The Web Conferencing Initiative supports state agency programs like "Virtual Office." The number of employees able to work from home by using a web conferencing tool will save state agencies the overhead expenses associated with maintaining an office space for employees.
  
  Chris Cummiskey, Chief Information Officer for the State of Arizona and Director of the Government Information Technology Agency, actively participated in the decision to promote web conferencing as a state-wide initiative. As he puts it, "Web conferencing has the potential to significantly improve state employee productivity, reduce carbon emissions, avoid transportation costs, and increase collaboration between state and local officials in disparate parts of the state."