France's National Office for Family Allocations uses its video equipment in an eco friendly way with Pexip

About CNAF

In France, Allocations Familiales, also known as the National Office for Family Allocations, provide families with assistance in the form of additional income, equipment, support, and advice via the network of 101 regional branches of Caisses d'Allocations Familiales (CAF), managed by the Caisse Nationale des Allocations Familiales (CNAF). 

The CAF and the CNAF comprise the Family Division, one of the five sub-sections of France's national social security system. The other divisions are Illness, Old Age, Independent Living, and Collection.

Challenges

From a technical point of view, the CNAF started using video conferencing via Cisco Webex architecture during its migration to an IP telephony architecture between 2008 and 2016.  To this end, CNAF (network head) and the CAF (local and regional branches) dedicated two data centers to enable telephony/video conferencing for their 35,000 employees.

They rolled out 386 Cisco devices to the 101 CAF branches and 15 national sites of the organization's IT department. Reduced travel and the collaborative advantages of video conferencing created immediate ROI. 

"But," says Olivier Scotton, Head of Telephony and Video Conferencing at the CNAF, "we wanted to go further. Two key catalysts encouraged us to think about moving to a solution for all employees: the roll-out of Office 365 three years ago and our desire to develop the concept of meetings to reflect technological progress clearly showed us that although we had the right idea, the operational side was lacking."

Consequently, in 2018, the CNAF asked SPIE ICS to find a solution to  "connect all elements." The challenge was managing the transition from Webex to Teams while providing seamless interoperability with the Cisco meeting rooms already in place.

"It was obvious that we wouldn't throw away a substantial investment. More importantly, the focus was on gradually moving towards video conferencing for all by making it possible to use our video rooms by clicking on a single button," explains Olivier.

Technology partners SPIE ICS and Pexip proposed a joint solution to their complex challenges.

Why Pexip?

"From the beginning, the teams at SPIE ICS and Pexip were particularly attentive to our needs and offered us tailor-made support to integrate all these services," says Olivier. "But, more importantly, they proposed a viable solution in a complex technical environment. The roll-out went perfectly, and, most importantly, the results are clear."

The first POC in 2019 made it possible to test the solution and the integration with Office 365, Teams, and Cisco rooms in which users could take advantage of One Touch Join to join a Teams video conference.

The convergence of environments has allowed all 35,000 employees within the Family Division to organize video conferences in a unique, simplified, and easily accessible environment.

Results

Adopting the Pexip solution has enabled Cisco's video conferencing devices to integrate with a single technical solution based on Teams. In addition to extending the lifespan of these Cisco devices, this solution provided a new use for these devices, as part of an environmentally responsible approach, given that the roll-out of new tools would inevitably have led to the disposal of the older equipment.

CNAF enabled a meeting/conference management service for all Family Division employees to meet the needs of remote employees during the Covid-19 pandemic. It allowed staff members to manage their workload, interact, work together, and feel connected to their colleagues.

As employees gradually return to their workplaces, a new approach to organizing meetings is emerging, involving teams in the office and those working remotely. "Now we can provide video conferencing for different purposes, from interpersonal meetings to discussions among multiple people for whom a room is more appropriate; this convergence reflects our technological choices for the future."