APG

Challenges 

Need for a system that could integrate Cisco hardware, Microsoft Teams, and virtual meeting rooms all in one.

Need for new dial-in capabilities to replace previous video infrastructure.

Any new solution must meet high compliance requirements and be a highly secure platform.

Pexip Solutions

Adoption of the Pexip Infinity platform with Microsoft Teams CVI and integration with Cisco hardware.

Results

Helped APG create a seamless virtual meeting environment across MS Teams and Cisco devices.

Improved the employee experience, connectivity, and efficiency between office, remote, and overseas workers.

Ensured regulatory compliance without compromising on the user experience.

At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, 80% of APG’s employees were working from home. This increased the importance of Microsoft Teams for collaboration, communication, and meetings from anywhere. However, the employees still at the office needed to keep using Cisco meeting hardware to talk to their remote-working colleagues via Teams meetings. Because of the good experience APG had with their high-quality Cisco video systems, and keeping in line with their goals for environmental sustainability, they wanted to find a way to keep using this existing infrastructure, rather than replace it.

At the same time, the pension provider needed a new solution for dialing in to meetings. Their existing video conferencing infrastructure environment for virtual meeting rooms was based on ISDN30, which is set to be phased out in the Netherlands in 2021. Given that APG operates in the European financial sector, any new solution would naturally also need to meet strict regulatory requirements in terms of data protection.

Tasked with finding a way to link the Teams and Cisco video environments and replace the previous video system environment, APG System Engineer Patrick de Klerk was impressed with the Pexip demo he was provided by Pexip technology partner Avesqo.

“Given the positive stories we had heard from other companies and the scalability, ease of use, and wide variety of capabilities available, we felt confident in choosing Pexip,” says Patrick.

APG also had a security consultant and solution architect review potential solutions for regulatory and policy compliance. They were very pleased that the Pexip Infinity solution provided full control over data and was easily adaptable to their specific compliance needs.

Home internet connections are sometimes not as reliable in the U.S. and Hong Kong as they are in the Netherlands. As a result, the dial-in options and smart bandwidth optimization of Pexip Infinity helped cut down on technical issues and make virtual meetings with overseas remote workers more efficient. Being able to easily join meetings at the touch of a button both from home and the office, regardless of device, has improved the employee experience at APG. This has made it easier to cope with widespread remote working during the pandemic.

Before the pandemic, APG employees frequently traveled across the Dutch countryside to hold on-site presentations for employers and participants. Now that most of these are being done digitally, easy-to-use and high-quality video conferencing plays a key role not only internally but also externally. Pexip added value here by making it easier for guests to join meetings, thus improving the efficiency and experience of these types of presentations.

“Pexip’s seamless integrations between Microsoft Teams clients, Cisco hardware units, and phones dialing in from around the world was just what we were looking for,” says Patrick.

While some compliance-focused solutions do not offer the best user experience, APG was pleased that they could enjoy both simplicity and security without having to choose one over the other. Another benefit of the solution’s simplicity is that it only took about two months to completely switch to the new video conferencing solution.

“We were really satisfied with the fast turnaround time for the implementation of Pexip,” says Patrick.

Pexip offers secure, scalable video conferencing solutions for financial institutions like APG. Contact us today to learn more.