Transforming the Digital Employee Experience at Clayco to Enable Purposeful Collaboration

Situation

From initial blueprints to final walkthroughs, collaboration is a key component of the design-build process for any construction project. When managers, engineers, architects and on-site workers are empowered to innovate together in real time, they're able to create truly powerful structures that extend beyond their four walls and impact the people within them every day. 

For decades, clients have trusted Clayco, a leading design-build and construction firm, to handle their most complex builds. And while the firm had invested heavily in advanced technology solutions for designing and constructing buildings, its rapid growth unintentionally led to managing nine videoconferencing platforms that varied in quality, performance and ease of use. 

The result? Project teams were frustrated. Customers lacked visibility. Travel costs for in-person meetings skyrocketed. IT staff were bogged down with requests to help run meetings. And processes were far from efficient. 

To remain a leader in the construction industry, Clayco knew its collaboration approach needed to match its exceptional design and engineering technology. The firm partnered with WWT to develop and execute a holistic strategy that would improve collaboration between its employees and customers so they could make decisions faster, work smarter, optimize costs and win more business.

Solution

Clayco needed to consolidate its videoconferencing tools to create a reliable, secure and unified workplace experience while also modernizing its infrastructure so it could stand the test of time. 

To achieve these goals, WWT provided: 

• Advisory guidance on best practices, roadmap creation, interoperability and integrations, and decision-making support.
• End-to-end strategy and execution planning services.
• A unified collaboration solution via Cisco and Webex, which also included an enterprise agreement, Duo Security and Room Kit installations.
• Assessment and hands-on engineering support for collaboration, security, core network infrastructure and wireless networking.
• Training and adoption services tailored to employee personas to enable a seamless transition to new technology.
• OEM partnerships that create efficiencies in decision-making, testing and troubleshooting.

By the numbers

Reduced nine conferencing platforms to one: By establishing Webex as Clayco's default meeting platform, employees gain a consistent and seamless digital experience as well as the flexibility to join meetings on the platform of their choice. 

Nearly 100 percent of meetings start on time as opposed to 50 percent prior to Clayco's collaboration transformation. 

60 to 70 percent reduction in the amount of time it takes to make construction decisions in the field due to a more connected workforce. 

One push of a button allows employees to join a meeting instantaneously, eliminating the need to input conference IDs or create a new account login for other meeting platforms like Google Meet or Microsoft Teams.   

Doubled the number of expected Webex users through the training provided by WWT's Adoption Services.

10 locations in North America and 40+ remote project sites were equipped with the necessary infrastructure, videoconferencing screens, sound systems, digital signage and conference room scheduling software to foster effective collaboration across the workforce. 

Zero downtime from start to finish.

Outcomes and benefits

Accelerated innovation: Real-time visibility and communication has enabled teams to resolve problems faster, maintain schedules and, ultimately, improve the bottom line.

Empowered employees: By unifying its collaboration platform, Clayco employees can focus on delivering superb building design rather than troubleshooting the meeting experience. The new collaboration approach has also empowered employees to do their best work from anywhere, resulting in increased productivity, more flexibility and improved employee morale. 

Simplified IT's role in meetings: IT can now focus on higher business priorities as they only need to manage updates and resolve issues for one conferencing platform rather than nine.

Delivered a value differentiator to its customers: Clayco's project teams can keep customers engaged every step of the way without the need for travel, offering an unmatched level of transparency. 

Enabled the company to operate as one unified entity: A dispersed workforce can unintentionally create multiple cultures within a company, especially when there are different processes and communication systems in place. By strategically expanding its digital environment to jobsites, Clayco created an immersive experience that allows all workers —office-based, remote and field — and customers to feel like they are in the same room collaborating in real-time.

Areas of expertise

Transformation isn't simply a technology decision. Such undertakings demand the right mix of technology, people, capabilities and areas of expertise which WWT has, including, but not limited to:

• Digital workspace strategy
• Architecture and technology design for collaboration, room scheduling and interoperable videoconferencing
• Meeting room design and configuration
• Unified communications
• Hybrid work
• Network assessment
• Wired and wireless network infrastructure
• End-user security
• Enterprise licensing agreements
• Adoption and training services

How we did it

With more than 30 years of experience helping the world's largest companies and government entities, we've learned digital transformation and IT modernization thrive in the overlap of: 

Our deep domain expertise cuts across business and technology. And our ability to extensively test solutions and deploy them at scale allows us to both advise and execute to create new realities for our customers.

Here's how we did it for Clayco: 

We focused on employees and the business needs

To ensure employees had the right tools for success, we met with stakeholders across Clayco to identify their challenges and collaboration needs among its various workforce personas. Then we developed a holistic strategy aimed at improving the digital employee experience and supporting business priorities.

We helped them reach the right decision faster 

Through our network assessment, planning sessions and tour of WWT's campus, we educated Clayco on the different available technologies and how each one would look and feel within its environment, presenting the information they needed to make an informed decision. 

We reduced technology sprawl

We worked with Clayco to standardize on Webex and deploy a conferencing platform that would bring a new level of simplicity and better performance to the firm's operations. We designed with interoperability in mind so Clayco employees can join any meeting seamlessly, regardless of platform.

We prepared employees for change 

We met with every level of the organization to deliver customized training materials and live, on-demand sessions to help familiarize employees with the new technology and maximize investment and employee productivity.  

How can we help you? 

When it comes to digital transformation, employees' needs must be aligned to business priorities and technology requirements. Without alignment, organizations are at risk of disengaged employees, technology and data sprawl, shadow IT and more. 

Our comprehensive services portfolio is designed to help at every stage of your journey to digital transformation. From idea to outcome, you won't find another partner who combines strategic consulting expertise with the ability to seamlessly execute complex IT deployments worldwide.

• Combine the insights of a traditional consulting firm with the ability to execute complex infrastructure solutions at scale globally.
• Work collaboratively to find ways technology can improve the employee experience, optimize costs and add value to your organization.
• Cut your testing and migration time from months to weeks, if not days, by leveraging the Advanced Technology Center, OEM partnerships and our certified experts.
• Accelerate the planning, design and implementation of complex technology investments at scale around the world.