Summary
At BDO Seidman, LLP, in-person classroom training methods could no longer support the company’s growing technology initiatives. With WebEx Training Center, BDO was able to provide more training to more employees in less time, improving productivity, and saving $5 million in travel costs. Adopting WebEx Enterprise Edition company-wide has transformed BDO’s communication processes by removing geographic barriers and increasing the quantity and quality of information exchanged between constituents worldwide.
About BDO Seidman, LLP
- Line of Business: Accounting and consulting firm
- Headquarters: Chicago, IL
- Number of Employees: 2,000
- Target Market: Private and public businesses
- WebEx Customer Since 2001
For example, during its international “Switch the Network On” event, BDO combined a live Event Center corporatewide meeting with 35 regional in-person meetings to effectively introduce new programs and goals to thousands of attendees located worldwide. “Participants from each BDO office gathered in local conference centers to participate in the WebEx live event, followed by regional breakout sessions that enabled attendees to review localized information. Then we had everyone reconvene for a WebEx question and answer session,” explains Musser. “WebEx made it possible for us to conduct business like we were all at the same venue.”
Today, Event Center is used for a wide range of events, and BDO makes accessing and using WebEx as convenient and seamless as possible for its employees. This includes integrating Enterprise Edition with the corporate Intranet. According to Musser, “When employees log in to our Intranet, they’re also logging into WebEx. They don’t have to log in twice and we don’t have to manage two sets of passwords and user IDs for every employee.”
BDO also provides WebEx as a standard tool to every new employee. “When new employees join our organization, they receive a phone, a PC, and a WebEx account,” says Musser. “WebEx is now a part of our standard IT toolkit—it’s ubiquitous throughout our organization.”
The Benefits
WebEx has transformed BDO’s communication processes by streamlining the dissemination of information from the top of the corporate hierarchy to the entire distributed enterprise. According to Musser, “WebEx has allowed us to remove time and geographic barriers. We no longer consider ourselves a distributed organization. It’s given us the ability to meet face-to-face more frequently. And since everyone now receives the right information, partners and employees are equally accountable for properly implementing corporate initiatives and programs.”
BDO experienced these benefits during its recent implementation of numerous PeopleSoft applications. A project review board with various partners continues to meet quarterly via WebEx to discuss project milestones and collaborate on next steps. “This is an example of communications that probably would not be happening without WebEx,” says Musser. “If faced with the costs to fly everyone in for live meetings, plus the time away from the office, the travel wear and tear, and other expenses, we probably would not be engaging in these projects. That’s a huge shift in how we conduct business.”
WebEx Training Center has also stimulated productivity by enabling BDO to transition to a blended training model that reaches more people and created huge costsavings in the process. According to Musser, ”During the first eight months using WebEx, we delivered training on five new technologies to over 2000 people, and we realized our return on investment during that time.” Musser adds, “To date, WebEx Training Center has saved us approximately $5 million in both travel costs and estimated time out of the office.”
The Future
As a result of the successful internal online programs, some of BDO’s business customers have expressed interest in using WebEx to deliver training to end-users. BDO’s health care practice consultants, for instance, spend time traveling to conduct training at nursing homes. Moving follow-up trainings online will give more nursing homes the opportunity to join a single training session, minimizing time and travel costs.
BDO’s fraud and investigation service business would also like to provide online training for its clients, and the company is considering using the built-in WebEx e-commerce module to take payment at the registration interface. “This represents new revenue opportunities for us, and obviously provides our consultants with better training tools to use in the field,” says Musser.
