Avocor case study - Avocor Helps Western Union Employees Around the World Work Hand-in-Hand

Making Global Connections
Operating in more than 200 countries across the globe, Western Union is a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement – and one of the world’s most recognized and trusted brands. The company’s history of innovation goes back to the 1800s when it helped forge the world’s communication infrastructure into a unified and efficient telegraph system. Today, from small businesses and global corporations to families near and far away to NGOs in the most remote communities on Earth, Western Union is helping move money – helping grow economies and realize a better world. As it continues to develop new ways to send money through digital, mobile, and retail channels, Western Union is as determined as ever to stay on top of technological innovation, and Avocor’s cutting-edge information displays are playing a key role, enabling its employees all over the world communicate and collaborate in the most effective and efficient way.

Avocor Helps Western Union Employees Around the World Work Hand-in-Hand.
Tom Oriel, Western Union’s IT Manager, Messaging & AV, has been instrumental in bringing the power of Avocor displays to work for Western Union. He notes: “Employee collaboration is a top priority for us. As an international company, it’s difficult to work hand-in-hand with co-workers when you haven’t met them, but Avocor is really helping bring us all closer together and work at peak efficiency. Currently, we have Avocor displays with Intel OPS compute running Microsoft 365 in every conference room, huddle room, and some executive offices in Denver, with more than 300 displays between our two buildings. Wherever a meeting takes place that has a connection – we want an Avocor. Being able to put a face to the name is great and fosters comradery and teamwork. We have integrated the Avocor collaborative displays in every part of the business. We currently have them installed in regional offices in India, Manila, Singapore, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Lithuania, New Jersey, and San Francisco. The feedback has been great and we now plan to integrate Avocor into all our offices globally.”

Response and Virtually No Learning Curve
Oriel says that Western Union tried displays from a few other manufacturers before settling on Avocor. One of the challenges they faced with screens is the Denver offices are designed with the windows facing the screens and it would create a glare. The Avocor displays feature a matte finish that drastically minimizes the glare. Another factor in his selecting Avocor displays was the unmatched touch responsiveness that kept meetings moving – participants didn’t lose momentum. Additionally, Western Union standardizes on Zoom Communications software as well as Huddly cameras for videoconferencing. Because both Zoom and Huddly are Avocor strategic partners, the software and hardware had been tested and optimized to be seamless together. Oriel notes it was a snap for Western Union employees to immediately begin enjoying the most advanced video conferencing solution as soon as they took the Avocor displays out of the box.
“Another great thing about Avocor is that there’s really no steep learning curve,” says Oriel. “Basically, with Avocor you join on the screen and that’s it! We’ve also made a few adjustments in our meeting room by disabling the volume buttons. A group meeting would put the volume on low and then the next group would have to call IT when they couldn’t hear anything.”

The ease of use and ease of connection with Avocor has also solved one of the most nagging problems of collaborative meetings in the past – having meetings start as expected and function. Before Avocor, notes Oriel, there might be five or six minutes of setup before each meeting. Now it’s instant. Oriel says Western Union has seen real improvement in employee efficiency, creativity, and teamwork. “You see more people than ever standing by the screen working together, and now that’s shared across all the international offices. “Our decision to go with Avocor was based on functionality, and we’re delighted that we made the right choice.”

Western Union deployed:

Huddle and meeting rooms 

• Avocor AVF-6550
• Avocor OPS running Windows 10
• Zoom Rooms
• Huddly IQ camera

Large conference rooms

• Avocor AVF-8650
• Avocor OPS running Windows 10
• Zoom Rooms
• Huddly IQ camera
• Crestron TSW control, Crestron NVX