31/08/2010
By Scott Thompson
Poundland has deployed mvision’s video conferencing-as-a-service (VaaS) and, as a result, expects to circumvent £28,000 per annum on postage and re-labelling costs.
Mike Gray, head of IT at Poundland explains: “We looked for a solution that would fit with our current technical set-up. We have a variety of IT support services but we really wanted a solution that the business could operate itself without the need for IT support. mvision’s VaaS was an infinitely more attractive option for us; it’s always on, available and works with whoever we want to communicate with by video.”
The majority of the retailer’s imports come from China and are managed by its Hong Kong office. Until recently, the sampling process involved posting products to the UK for quality assurance checks and approval against packaging and quality standards. By enhancing this physical sample process with video conferencing from mvision, the company has significantly shortened the approval cycle for some imports. It has enabled samples to be viewed and decisions made about them without having to physically send samples between the UK and Hong Kong offices.
Poundland has room-based Cisco systems placed on portable trolleys and connected to the mvision dedicated video network. These systems are used in Birmingham and Hong Kong where colleagues from the buying department assess products for quality and their suitability for the UK market. This not only reduces postal costs between the two sites, but enables the team to meet UK quality and packaging requirements and helps avoid a costly re-labelling or returns process once product has arrived in the the country.
