The COVID-19 pandemic led to Orange Group employees working from home: this transition required effective collaborative tools, such as the Cisco Webex videoconferencing solution. Orange Business provided technical installation services for the solution and helped business teams become familiar with the tool through a dedicated support plan.

Working from home

A growing number of Orange’s 142,000 employees has got to grips with collaborative tools in recent years, due to business travel and the emergence of new ways of working. The pandemic and the huge shift to working from home arrangements stepped up the pace. The Group Transformation and Human Resources Department needed to provide employees with a simple and secure videoconferencing solution, in addition to their existing tools, in record time. It was essential to have optimal sound and video quality, to help employees work remotely as teams while maintaining a group dynamic.



This success is down to the flexibility and responsiveness demonstrated by the cross-business teams, but also support from business lines to ensure improved adoption of tools.



 

Arnaud Ferrand, Business Director at Orange Business

Technical and learning support

The Group opted for the Orange Business videoconferencing offer, based on Cisco Webex AWC, which provides a permanent and customized virtual meeting room. Reliable, user-friendly and secure, this genuine digital office can host colleagues and customers through a single clickable link. After identifying entity requirements, 6,000 licenses were assigned in France and 11,000 licenses overseas. A cross-business Orange Business team took charge of implementing the solution, with the creation of a dedicated collaborative production site. Network access speed was then increased to account for the growth in bandwidth consumption driven by use of the teleworking solution. The expertise of Orange Business in infrastructure equipment helped avoid network saturation linked to mass use of services (voice, video, content sharing).

Orange Business consultants also helped the Group to ensure successful adoption by supporting new users step-by-step via a personalized invitation system. It also established a dedicated space on the Orange Plazza corporate social network, which includes FAQs, tutorials and support tools; progressive training sessions; and a user helpline; plus support appointments to set up a Webex Meeting or Event.

Fast adoption was crucial for business continuity

Against the backdrop of the pandemic, the flexibility of Orange Business allowed the Orange Group to complete – in just four months – something it thought would take much longer. It has been a great success, as confirmed by a Group employee: “The solution is powerful and easy to use, when it comes to bringing together groups of over 100 people, which is required for my business line. Without that, I would not have been able to work closely with colleagues and continue my work.

“This success is down to the flexibility and responsiveness demonstrated by the cross-business teams, but also support from business lines to ensure improved adoption of tools,” concludes Arnaud Ferrand, Business Director at Orange Business. “With a 98% satisfaction rate for training, we’ve met our target.

98%
satisfaction rate for training