How To Save Money On Online Conferencing On An Nhs.Uk

Transcription

1 QIPP Digital Technology Guides Online Meeting Service: Procurement Guidance Author: Richard Trusson Date: March 2012 Version: 1.2 Crown Copyright 2012 Page 1 of 17

2 Amendment History: Version Date Amendment History 1.2 Updated previous NHS Guidance for Exploitation of Online Meeting Services to include detail on newly released services. Crown Copyright 2012 Page 2 of 17

3 Contents 1 Executive Summary Background Disclaimer Which Option? N3 Collaborate BT Conferencing for the Health Sector Self-Hosting Recommendation Appendix A: Case Study North East SHA Figures NHS Derbyshire Community Health Services Appendix B: N3 Catalogue Offerings Appendix C: BT MOU Scenarios Scenarios Scenario 1: Audio Only Conferencing Scenario 2: Audio and On Line Meeting Appendix D: Hosted Solution Appendix E: Cost and ROI Spread Sheet Assumptions Crown Copyright 2012 Page 3 of 17

4 1 Executive Summary Recent studies 1 have shown that the NHS can gain significant cash-releasing benefits by exploiting other channels to conduct meetings and consultations. This includes audio conferencing, video conferencing and online meeting services. The North East SHA report cash-releasing savings of 1,785 have been made by switching a regular face to face meeting to a web based online meeting. This will lead to annualised savings of over 21,000 for that meeting alone. A case study of audio conferencing at NHS Derbyshire showed cash-releasing savings of over 92 per person for each meeting. This equates to an annualised saving of 115,000 at current usage levels, which are expected to increase. Non cash-releasing benefits, in terms of more focused and productive meetings, have also been realised; including avoiding 3,000 lost hours due to travel and 20 tonnes of carbon emissions. See Appendix A: Case Study for more information. At this time there is still limited uptake of online meeting and audio conferencing services even though these are available to local teams without having to go through a separate tendering exercise and on a pay as you go basis. Today there are a number of ways for NHS organisations to purchase online meeting services: BT signed a pan government MOU with the cabinet office to provide online meeting services via existing procurement frameworks. N3 Collaborate, launched November 2011, is available from the N3 team The recently launched Government CloudStore 2 has a number of online meeting service offerings. Search for meeting under both the Service type and the Service description. Because the offerings are included in existing procurement frameworks local organisations do not need to engage in time consuming tendering processes. In addition the N3 and BT solutions, for example, offer pay as you go charging models with no minimum contract period or purchase amount. Given there are proven cost savings and no additional tendering requirements, for offerings on existing frameworks, organisations are encouraged to start using online meeting and audio conferencing services. The intended audience are those involved in the decision making process for commissioning and evaluating online meeting and audio conferencing service solutions for their workforce. It is expected to include the Chief Executives, Finance Directors and CIOs of NHS Trusts. For questions or additional information please [email protected] Crown Copyright 2012 Page 4 of 17

5 2 Background The term online meeting service often refers to different solutions depending on the context in which the term is used. In this paper it covers the three types of meeting listed below: Audio only: this can be accessed from anywhere using a mobile or desk telephone; for example BT MeetMe. This type of service is good for ad hoc meetings to discuss a single topic or regular team meetings. Web conferencing: audio (Voice Over IP and telephones), webcams and desktop/application sharing: this can be accessed from mobile and desktop devices to enable access to shared information; for example using WebEx or Live Meeting. Audio only content can be accessed via a telephone and often a VOIP device. Video Conferencing: typically accessed from fixed locations using specialist devices; for example Polycom hardware. 2.1 Disclaimer Reference to any specific commercial product, process or service by trade name, trademark manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favouring by NHS Connecting for Health. The views and opinions of authors expressed within this document shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. Any party relying on or using any information contained in this document and/or relying on or using any system implemented based upon information contained in this document should do so only after performing a risk assessment. A correctly completed risk assessment enables an NHS organisation to demonstrate that a methodical process has been undertaken which can adequately describe the rationale behind any decisions made. Risk assessments should include the potential impact to live services of implementing changes. This means that changes implemented following this guidance are done so at the implementers risk. Misuse or inappropriate use of this information can only be the responsibility of the implementer. Crown Copyright 2012 Page 5 of 17

6 3 Which Option? When considering which online meeting and audio conferencing service option to select an NHS organisation must consider a number of factors including current utilisation and expected future growth. There are two main approaches available for using online meeting services today: 1) Purchase a hosted service. For example a. sign up for the BT pan government MOU offering b. the N3 Collaborate offering launched in November 2011 c. purchase a service from the Government CloudStore 2) Deploy and operate your own service internally (self-hosting) There are two main charging models for a hosted service provision: 1) Pay As You Go. Typically usage is charged per minute per user per feature per meeting. Billing is usually monthly and there is no minimum contract period or spend 2) Contracted Spend. In this model an organisation agrees to pay a set amount per month for an agreed minimum number of months. The monthly amount pays for a set number of minutes regardless if they are used or not. Extra time can be purchased at additional cost. The PAYG option has the benefit that only the time used is actually paid for. However it makes planning for expenditure harder as amounts vary per month. A contracted spend allows for tighter budget control in that a known amount is spent each month. However organisations usually buy more minutes than they will use in a month resulting in over spend and reduced value for money. Both the N3 Collaborate offering and the BT MeetMe are PAYG offerings. Services available from the Government CloudStore have a variety of charging models and each service must be consulted to determine which model it uses. Before signing up for a service NHS organisations are encouraged to seek advice from their local procurement office. Local organisation purchasing policies should be followed wherever these exist. For the N3, BT and CloudStore services no additional tendering processes are required as these services are covered by existing agreements. 3.1 N3 Collaborate The N3 Collaborate 3 offering was launched in November It offers Audio (N3Meetme) and Web Conferencing (N3WebEx) services. These services are based on BT MeetMe for audio conferencing and WebEx for web conferencing. N3 Collaborate complements the pre-existing N3 Voice and N3 Video services. N3 Collaborate is able to offer a hybrid charging model. In cases of large usage a WebEx license can be purchased. This gives unlimited usage of WebEx for the license holder. Only one license is required per meeting. Brochures and tariffs for N3 services can be found at the following URL: Devices that are not connected to the N3 network, for example patient or social service users, are able to take part in N3 Collaborate conferences. 3 channels.cfm Crown Copyright 2012 Page 6 of 17

7 3.2 BT Conferencing for the Health Sector The pan government MOU 4 signed between the cabinet office and BT covers Audio and Web Conferencing. It is based on BT MeetMe for audio conferencing and WebEx or LiveMeeting for web conferencing. It has a tiered charging structure linked to overall usage; the more it is used the cheaper it is for all. Usage based cost reductions are quickly realised through monthly billing. The MOU will expire in March More information about the offerings available to the NHS can be found at the BT Conferencing for the Health Sector home page NOTE Not all offerings listed on the home page are covered by the MOU. The reader should contact BT for more information. 3.3 Self-Hosting In some cases an organisation may have made significant investment in licenses and technology e.g. telephony equipment. In this case it may be more cost effective to continue to operate the internal solution rather than start to use an external service. However this situation should be monitored closely and any changes in the internal or external costs closely assessed to ensure continued value for money. Further guidance can be provided, on request, for organisations that are considering this approach; see Appendix D: Hosted Solution. 4 Recommendation Organisations should purchase from existing agreements to avoid potentially lengthy tendering processes. A PAYG contract with no minimum spend or duration is usually the best way to start using an online meeting service, until usage levels are known. Organisations that make extensive use of N3 Voice may find using the N3 Collaborate service provides the best option. As WebEx usage increases moving some users to monthly licenses can cap costs. For organisations that do not have internal solutions and are not using N3 Voice the BT MOU should be considered as it offers good value for money with no tie in. Self-hosting should only be considered if you already have a significant investment in an internal solution. 4 Crown Copyright 2012 Page 7 of 17

8 5 Appendix A: Case Study Figures from two organisations are given in this appendix; a case study from NHS Derbyshire Community Health Services, who used BT MeetMe and realised a number of benefits and savings Figures calculated by the North East SHA around savings made by holding online web meetings as opposed to meeting in person 5.1 North East SHA Figures The North East SHA has prepared figures from a regular monthly online web and audio conferencing meeting that lasts three hours. The online meeting replaced a face to face meeting which required 13 staff to travel. The total time spent traveling by all attendees was 48 hours. It was assumed that each staff member was paid per hour. The cost of the online meeting was 9p per minute per attendee for WebEx, audio was 4p per minute per attendee and the meeting was three hours in length or 180 minutes. WebEx cost x number of attendees x length of meeting + Audio cost x number of attendees x length of meeting (0.09 x 13 x 180) + (0.04 x 13 x 180) = North Midlands and East Change and Benefits monthly meetings Cost Web Conferencing Return travel cost including any mileage claim and / or ticket cost Total travel time (hours) Additional costs e.g. room and facilities hire Net saving , , Total Potential saving over 12 Months 21, NHS Derbyshire Community Health Services Challenge Derbyshire Community Health Services is responsible for providing healthcare services throughout the county. Like many progressive NHS trusts it s keen to leverage new technology to improve productivity and release cash. Alvaro Pancisi, Head of Information Management and Technology Strategy at NHS Derbyshire Community Health Services, says: Ours is a large county and our staff spend a lot of time travelling collectively over five million miles each year. Much of that s Crown Copyright 2012 Page 8 of 17

9 essential, visiting patients in their homes for example, but many other trips such as for internal meetings could be avoided Solution The potential for wide scale use of audio conferencing emerged as a result of an innovation showcase hosted by BT. Alvaro Pancisi recalls: The attraction of BT MeetMe became immediately clear. There was no financial outlay, we would only pay when we used the service, and the benefits in terms of efficiency and travel savings were well evidenced. BT MeetMe is a hosted audio conferencing service that only requires a fixed or mobile phone for access, enabling virtual meetings with up to 40 participants. No prior booking is required and conferences can be established in the time it takes to dial the local access number. The service is easy to use and available at any time, every day of the year, whenever there s a need to collaborate. Since launch, use of BT MeetMe in NHS Derbyshire Community Health Services has risen steadily. In the early months an average of 40 conference calls were held. This has risen to an average of around 100 calls per month. The value and flexibility of conference calling was demonstrated when heavy snow in December 2010 made travel especially difficult. During that month over 190 calls were made. Cumulatively over the first year there have seen 4,700 conference participants involved in 1,200 conference calls organised by around 30 active account holders Value Using BT MeetMe audio conferencing services is benefiting Derbyshire Community Health Services in terms of improved productivity, enhanced patient care, cash release, and more sustainable business practice. Looking at cost alone an analysis reveals that on average each audio conference avoids travel related costs of 105, for a charge of This net saving of per meeting equates to an annualised saving approaching 115,000 per year at current usage levels. That s real money that can be reinvested in better frontline patient care. There are other efficiency benefits too. The interesting thing is that people are much more likely to turn up on time for an audio conference, notes Alvaro Pancisi. Our meetings are also shorter and more focused. The average duration of a conference call is 35 minutes; how many face to face meetings are over in 35 minutes? Audio conferencing has strong productivity and sustainability angles. NHS Derbyshire Community Health Services calculate travel avoidance savings equating to over 3,000 hours and 20 tonnes of carbon last year. Alvaro Pancisi sums up: The beauty of BT MeetMe is that it s all so easy for us. BT handles everything. There s no complicated technology for users to worry about, it s very reliable, and the billing is completely transparent. Crown Copyright 2012 Page 9 of 17

10 6 Appendix B: N3 Catalogue Offerings In November 2011 N3 launched N3 Collaborate; offering Audio and Web Conferencing. ( unicationchannels.cfm ) The N3 Collaborate Service (Audio and Web Conferencing Service) is based on the existing BTConferencing MeetMe service which is a reservationless conferencing service. NHS Customers will benefit fully from the existing BTConferencing service & all future technical developments from BTConferencing. Figure 1 N3 Offerings shows the list of N3 Catalogue items that are expected to be available by the end of Figure 1 N3 Offerings NHS organisations that subscribe to the N3 Collaborate service can either use it as a pure standalone Audio/Web Conferencing service or, by subscribing to other N3 catalogue services, build a Unified Collaboration / Communication package as other features are added. Below is a summary of the key features the service will offer; User account management is simple via a web interface. No additional technology investment is, usually, required. The maximum number of participants able to join each Audio call is set at 40. No prior booking is required; although pre-booking will be available if required. Participants will be able to join from anywhere in the world via a local dial in number. Crown Copyright 2012 Page 10 of 17

11 UK participants will have a free phone option, with N3 Voice Service users benefitting from, potentially, additional savings through an On-Net conference number for Audio Conferences and the Audio element in Webex Conferences. Instant recording of the conference will be available to the chairperson via the telephone keypad and PC. Conference lock out will be available for sensitive conversations/conferences. Pass codes are personal to each user and will not change. Dial out options. Integration with other Unified Communication services; to facilitate this N3SP will be provide and update a roadmap showing futures. Crown Copyright 2012 Page 11 of 17

12 7 Appendix C: BT MOU Scenarios The BT Conferencing for the Health Sector (BT Health Sector) offering is part of the pan government agreement which allows the public sector to leverage its large purchasing power to take advantage of discounted rates for audio and web conferencing solutions from BT. This agreement offers a tiered discount scheme under BT terms and conditions. The offering is a pay as you go, PAYG, solution billed monthly for actual usage. Upfront costs are therefore minimal for an organisation. It is expected that savings made by not holding face to face meetings will more than pay for the service. The table below shows the pricing structure under the BT MOU. At the time of writing usage is in the 4 to 6 million minutes per month, this is expected to move to the next tier very shortly, further reducing costs. Prices, given in pounds per minute per user, are understood to be either as, or more competitive, than any comparable commercial service currently available to the NHS. Service Choice 1 Service Choice 2 (Bundle) Pan Government Mins of MeetMe per Month Conference <2 M 2M to 4M Pricing Volume Tier 4M to 6M 6M to 8M 8M to 10M 10M to 13M 13M to 16M 16M to 21M 21M to 25M 25M to 50M >50M Bridge Rate UK 0800 Access Web Only Web + TF Audio Table 1 BT Pricing Model While the Memorandum of Understanding does not cover Video Conferencing (VC) a web conferencing solution is available via N3 or BT. The BT Health Sector solution has three main offerings and number of on line management tools; including Outlook add ins for booking and scheduling meetings, easy Web meetings via webjoin, View My Bill on Line and mobile apps for iphone, ipad, Blackberry and Android. The components of the offering are listed below. This section only gives scenarios for the first two listed. 1) Health Sector MeetMe: Phone line based conferencing which allows you to meet instantly with up to 40 People. The audio conference can be controlled from the telephone directly or from a web portal on a desktop or an app installed on a smartphone. 2) Health Sector Web Conferencing: This is enabled either by Live Meeting or by WebEx depending on an organisations preference. These solutions enable Audio and Video conferencing as well as sharing documents. Users can attend either audio only or by using a desktop or smartphone based web portal view video and shared resources. 3) Health Sector Event Call: a pre-booked audio conferencing solution for audiences; 20 to 2500 people. Crown Copyright 2012 Page 12 of 17

13 NOTE Video conferencing is not part of the MOU 7.1 Scenarios All calculations used here were arrived at using the Excel spread sheet in Appendix E: Cost and ROI Spread Sheet. The costs given in Table 1 BT Pricing Model are per minute, per person joining the call. So, looking at the current usage costs and service choice 1, a user who holds an audio meeting using MeetMe will be charged 2p per minute per attendee of the meeting. Those dialling in will be charged their normal network rates if using the 020 number or the rates set by their supplier for If the meeting attendee is given an 0800 to use to dial in the organiser is charged 0.8p per minute per 0800 user, the caller is charged nothing. This enables the cost of meetings to be closely tracked. Where web content is to be added an additional 7.5p per attendee per minute would be added. So a 10 person audio meeting (10 people * 0.02) with web content (10 people * 0.075) and users (10 people 0.008) running for 60 minutes would cost: (Base Meeting Cost + Web Cost Cost) x 60 mins ((10*0.02) + (10*0.075) + (10*0.008)) x 60 ( ) x per meeting or 6.18 per person For an audio only meeting/conference the cost would be: (Base Meeting Cost Cost) x 60 mins ((10*0.02) + (10*0.008)) x per meeting or 1.68 per person This figure for the meeting, when compared against the cost of fuel, car parking, lost productivity per attendee, etc. is less than the cost of a single person attending that meeting in person (excluding the organiser). For regular Web Conferencing users a license granting unlimited WebEx use can be purchased on a monthly basis, currently per meeting host. This enables the host to hold meetings without any per minute web cost for all attendees. Further details can be found on the BT Health Sector web site. When comparing these costs against other providers care needs to be taken to include the full costs of the telephone call as well as the conference bridge service. The costs shown here only include the cost of 0800 access. A survey of the NHS shows that typically 60% of attendees travel to any meeting. So in the example 6 people may have travelled to this meeting. If it is assumed that each of those made a 30 mile round trip to attend then the net cash saving would be 42, a saving of 45Kg of Carbon emissions and a recovery of six hours of time; shown below. Crown Copyright 2012 Page 13 of 17

14 The following sections consider additional scenarios and the costs for an organisation for each. 7.2 Scenario 1: Audio Only Conferencing This scenario will look at an organisation that signs up for audio only conferencing BT MeetMe. For example a community health worker may use this to include cross service inputs to discuss actions related to a patient rather than scheduling a meeting after returning to base. A number of assumptions are made: 5 attendees on average per meeting 60 minutes duration per meeting 2.8p per minute per attendee (tier 3 on the MOU current rate including 0800 access) Cost per meeting 8.40 or 1.68 per person 100 meetings lasting an hour the cost would be in the region of 21,840. Running these figures through the spread sheet indicates that cash savings of over 200,000 as well as significant productivity gains and reduced CO2 emissions. 7.3 Scenario 2: Audio and On Line Meeting In this scenario an organisation uses both audio and on line meeting services. The online meeting service application is either WebEx or Live Meeting. This scenario can support ad hoc meetings, so there are no requirements to book the meeting in advance; although that can be done as well. Crown Copyright 2012 Page 14 of 17

15 This type of service might typically be used for sharing new information that requires diagrams or discussing edits to a document. For example a geographically distributed team working on a single project might use this to enable rapid information sharing. Assumptions: 5 attendees per meting 60 minutes per meeting 10.3 p per minute per attendee ( 2.8ppm for audio and 7.5 ppm for WebEx) Cost per meeting or 6.18 per person 100 meetings per week for 50 weeks the cost to the NHS Organisation would be around 154,500 per annum. The savings per year are over 210,000 and 15,600 hours. Crown Copyright 2012 Page 15 of 17

16 8 Appendix D: Hosted Solution In some cases a self-hosted online meeting service solution may be considered to offer the most cost effective solution. A number of factors must be considered when making this decision and cost modelling to verify the choice must be completed. The following reviews such a situation. An IT department are seeking to provide not only an online meeting service but also a unified communications solution to an organisation. This would support not only audio and web conferencing but also video conferencing from your desk; telephone integration with the deployed instant messaging solution; and preserve existing investments in equipment and user training. The IT department were constrained in the options available by a number of factors. The main being an established foot print of telephony equipment and licenses. The Cisco telephones deployed to user s desks were also not compatible with other vendor s offerings and significant costs would be incurred to swap these out for new phones. The licenses held for current Cisco products offered the IT department significant purchasing power to secure upgraded software licenses. Cost modelling, based on usage of existing audio conferencing solution and a pilot WebEx deployment, showed that hosting the solution in house and using the N3 Voice service, as opposed to using an external cloud based service, would offer savings. The cost of operating the internal audio and web based solution is expected to be significantly cheaper than the previous out-sourced solution and comparable, if not slightly cheaper, than the costs offered under the BT MOU. For further information on this solution the reader should [email protected]. Crown Copyright 2012 Page 16 of 17

17 9 Appendix E: Cost and ROI Spread Sheet BT provided a spread sheet as part of the MOU. It can be used to work out the cost and return on investment of online meeting services provided under the MOU. If you would like a downloadable Excel version please go to the NHS Networks website, and look for Conferencing Costs and Savings Tool. To use the spread sheet change the yellow boxes to reflect your expected usage of the service. 9.1 Assumptions The assumptions used in the spread sheet come from a number of sources. Some sources are real world statistics from organisations already using BT MeetMe services, some from case studies. Some assumptions are taken from government or NHS surveys, for example; Travel time saved 1 mile in 2 minutes Dept for Transport Average mileage this is taken from the NHS SDU Teleconferencing study quote is One survey of a Midlands PCT showed that on average each teleconference saved 31 miles of travel per person, per call. (We have rounded this to 25 miles so a 4 person conference is 100 miles) Crown Copyright 2012 Page 17 of 17