Bond Pearce LLP
As a national law firm with five offices spread across the UK from Plymouth to Aberdeen, Bond Pearce wanted to find some way of reducing its inter-office travel. By providing a solution to the need to travel the firm knew it could reduce carbon emissions and save the valuable time of its employees. Therefore Bond Pearce invested in state of the art video conference facilities which can be expanded and updated as they are assimilated into the firm.
With a Managing Partner based in Bristol, a Chairman based in Southampton, a “one firm” ethos and a strong commitment to staff communication, holding meetings between staff members on different sites is a daily requirement for the effective management of the firm.
However Bond Pearce could not be environmentally responsible or operate as effectively as possible if these meetings always took place on a face to face basis. We wanted to send a clear message to our staff and clients that we took our commitment to reducing carbon emissions seriously, as it is a priority for the firm.
The video conference facilities were rolled out across all offices with technological support to establish and maintain a seamless link between all sites.
Recent office moves in London and Aberdeen enabled us to install the latest high definition video conferencing units, which have only been available since the start of 2008. We aim to remain at the cutting edge of this technology as it has been so successful throughout the firm.
Whilst the facilities were used primarily for internal meetings, the firm encouraged the use of video conferencing to communicate with clients and other contacts where appropriate. As an example, the planning team based in Bristol now use the system to hold meetings with a client based in Lincolnshire, saving a round trip of 360 miles.
We have also just upgraded our telephone conference bridge to enable us to take part in multi-party conferences by phone.
• It was important for the firm’s management to actively support and promote the use of video conferencing facilities. By leading by example, the use of video conference facilities has become widely accepted by all staff.
• Although we offer video conferencing facilities to our clients, the success here can be limited by the number of clients who do not have the systems available themselves or have not used them before. However once clients take the plunge, they are invariably happy to use the video conferencing facilities going forward.
• Whilst it is widespread practice for internal meetings, there are some client meetings where it is still rare for video conference facilities to be used, i.e. for negotiation meetings. However this trend is changing.
• Since September 2007 we have a total usage of video conferencing of some 774 hours. We have calculated the estimated distance saved in terms of travel between offices (whether by car, plane or train) is 165,840 miles.
• Thanks to widespread acceptance of the video conferencing, savings in emissions, costs and time spent travelling are also very significant.
• The firm’s usage of the VCR facilities is still increasing on a monthly basis as both staff and clients become comfortable with the concept. Partners meetings are frequently undertaken by video conferencing now, allowing them to communicate effectively without spending any time on the road.