CUSTOMER PROFILE School: University of North Carolina s Kenan-Flagler Business School Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina Program: OneMBA global executive MBA Founded: 2002 OneMBA Students: 200+ OneMBA Program at UNC s Kenan-Flagler Business School OneMBA is the global executive MBA program offered by UNC s Kenan-Flagler Business School. The School also offers a BS in Business Administration, Full-time MBA, MBA for Executives, online MBA@UNC, Master of Accounting, doctoral program and several business certificate programs. OneMBA, founded in 2002, integrates perspectives and best business practices from developed and emerging economies. Global residencies are held in the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Asia. Faculty and students from the region host the residencies, providing an insider s view of the local business environment. English is the language used for all OneMBA courses and communications. Citrix Products: Citrix GoToMeeting Citrix GoToWebinar UNC s OneMBA Program Easily Connecting Students and Faculty Across the Globe with Citrix GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Innovation and entrepreneurial pluck have long been guiding principles at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Princeton Review and Forbes.com dubbed the 222-year-old university America s most entrepreneurial campus, and its research institution one of the corners of the highly regarded Research Triangle is consistently ranked among the top in the nation. The university enrolls some 29,000 students; offers more than 250 undergraduate, graduate and professional programs; and graduated one U.S. president. One of the best examples of UNC s commitment to innovation can be found at the OneMBA Global Executive MBA Program offered through the Kenan-Flagler Business School. UNC worked with four other premier universities representing four continents to create OneMBA, a program in which students from all five partner schools gain perspective and best business practices from developed and emerging economies. The intensive 21-month program depends on intercontinental communication tools to connect students at all the partnering schools. These students rotate through the various host countries, equipped with an array of wired and wireless devices, attending seminars and collaborating on coursework that is often being presented continents away. By 2009, seven years into using a limited and problematic solution, OneMBA realized it would need - 1 -
Key Benefits: Enhanced collaboration among students, faculty, and staff Reduced IT support time for web collaboration and conferencing by 90% Delivered easy-to-use features such as screen sharing that give students anywhere in the world connection capabilities Reduced cost per call to $9.94 with GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar compared to $22.69 with its previous system Saved $2,400 a year on reoccurring UNC main campus fees, $750 a year in server and hardware costs and $9,900 a year on licensing and maintenance costs Enabled students to save hundreds of dollars a month on international phone charges far more dynamic, robust, and high-quality audio and video conferencing tools to deliver its curriculum to its far-flung student body. It wanted a solution that would be easily deployed and reduce demand on the university s IT department, which had to train faculty and students, troubleshoot teleconference glitches and handle all the related licensing and service schedules. UNC turned to GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar, easy-to-use collaboration solutions from Citrix. Based on a thorough cost and feature comparison and on feedback from students, faculty and staff OneMBA chose to migrate exclusively to GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar. An independent assessment by Mainstay Salire showed that OneMBA s deployment of GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar has yielded a range of educational, operational and financial benefits, including: Achieved 63.4% call cost reduction with average cost per remote meeting now $9.94 Improved collaboration with an array of useful, easy-to-use new productivity tools for students, faculty and staff Eliminated server maintenance and management costs of hardwarebased communication tools Increased satisfaction among students and faculty by delivering a clear, reliable, user-friendly forum for classes, meetings and seminars Eliminated the need for ad-hoc and supplemental resources such as Skype and personal conference lines previously needed to compensate for poor-quality audio and visual transmission Boosted global collaboration and brainstorming with improved capabilities including more userfriendly and effective screen sharing Eliminated frustration and lowered cost of enlisting IT support Lowered conference-call operating costs by eliminating or reducing licensing and recurring server fees while increasing adoption and utilization Lowered costs for students by eliminating long-distance phone charges related to poor audio quality According to the independent assessment, UNC will achieve a 63.4% reduction in cost per call as a direct result of migrating to GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar. Cost per remote meeting is now $9.94 with GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar, compared to an average of $22.69 with its previously used conferencing and collaboration system. More important, OneMBA has a stable, flexible, user-friendly tool that has aided students and enhanced collaboration. - 2 -
BACKGROUND Based on the premise that direct experience is the best teacher, the OneMBA Program offers working professionals the opportunity to learn at five premier universities (Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV-EAESP) of São Paulo Brazil, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Tecnológico de Monterrey (EGADE) of Mexico, RSM Erasmus University (RSM) of Rotterdam in The Netherlands, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) in the United States) with residencies on four continents. Graduates of the highly concentrated program earn an MBA from their home university, plus the OneMBA certificate from all five of the accredited partner schools. Because of its global structure, OneMBA requires dependable, high-quality web transmission and connectivity for everyone involved in the program. Each week, 200-plus students log in remotely for group assignments, review sessions and collaboration on global projects. To complicate matters, they sign on via an assortment of devices, operating systems and browsers ranging from PC to Mac to ipad and using anything from Internet Explorer to Safari to Google Chrome. Professors use GoToWebinar to teach supplemental classes, discuss progress, hold office hours, review coursework and confer with faculty at partner universities. Staff members on the executive, technology, marketing and mentoring committees use GoToMeeting to meet with international teams and discuss strategy. I must say that I am very happy with the quality of GoToMeeting. It s much better than our previous system. Amy Lau, OneMBA Admissions Manager at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Our program is very intense, said Reaves King, a student at UNC. We spend hours each week connecting remotely. The last thing we need is for things to not work or for the audio portion of our meetings to fail. But, far too often, students and faculty reported failure with the previous system. Conferences were marred by poor-quality audio or video situations that students and faculty tried to remedy with Skype, mobile phones and other workarounds, generally at their own expense. Furthermore, the university s busy IT department routinely had to be called in to troubleshoot, draining time and resources from other pressing projects and demands. In early 2010, OneMBA began seeking alternatives to its existing conferencing and collaboration platform. After months of testing several products, it narrowed the field to two: GoToMeeting and Adobe Connect. The consensus: Citrix was the preferred system. Once we completed the web conferencing pilot, we recommended selecting GoToMeeting as the OneMBA s new web conferencing platform, said Adam King, OneMBA technology manager at UNC. We based this decision on the call-in capabilities, range of features, ease of use, reliability the students experienced during many hours of testing, and of course pricing structure. We now know we made the right decision. The feedback Adam King has been receiving supports this. I must say that I am very happy with the quality of GoToMeeting, said Amy Lau, OneMBA Admissions Manager at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. It s much better than our previous system. I have been very pleased with the audio portion of GoToMeeting, agreed OneMBA student Reaves King. I give the application high marks thus far. CHOOSING GoToMeeting/ GoToWebinar The OneMBA Program decided to optimize its online conferencing environment by standardizing with GoToMeeting. The five OneMBA partner universities based their - 3 -
decision on a number of factors, including GoToMeeting s cost-effective service plan which gives users unlimited use of the conferencing platform for an economical flat rate and feedback from users indicating a clear preference for GoToMeeting s interface and ease of use. OneMBA also added GoToWebinar, which lets users set up large-scale, do-it-yourself webinars quickly on a Mac or PC with integrated audio conferencing via computer and telephone. Customarily organizations rely on GoToMeeting for smaller knowledge-transfer sessions (up to 25 people) and switch to GoToWebinar for larger sessions hosting up to 1,000 attendees. GoToWebinar also comes with helpful virtual classroom features, including audience polling, electronic It s a very useful tool for someone who is pursuing an education and has classmates in distributed locations. GoToMeeting is a great tool for digging into content that we were not able to get to [during our in-person class time] or covering lingering questions. Will Metzler, OneMBA student hand-raising and an algorithm-based attentiveness meter that tells instructors when students are switching their focus away from the main screen. Within weeks of being introduced, GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar began gaining a loyal following a movement that shows no signs of slackening. OneMBA has been steadily expanding its deployment of GoToMeeting since it first began in 2010. The number of GoToMeeting seats has grown by more than 14 times, and usage has increased by 100%. Through GoToWebinar, OneMBA is hosting an average of two monthly meetings, at an average length of 60 minutes. Figure 1 Higher and Consistent Rates of Collaboration with GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEP Oct 2007 Sep 2008 (Previous system) Oct 2008 Sep 2009 (Previous system) Oct 2010 Sep 2011 (GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar) - 4 -
It s a very useful tool for someone who is pursuing an education and has classmates in distributed locations, said Will Metzler, a student in the UNC class of 2012 who hosts two calls a week and uses GoToMeeting to supplement his finance, statistics and operations classes. GoToMeeting is a great tool for digging into content that we were not able to get to (during our in-person class time) or covering lingering questions. I have been very pleased with the meeting performance, said Silvia Sampaio, OneMBA program director in São Paulo, Brazil. The quality of the sound has been one of the biggest benefits. Dias uses GoToMeeting for monthly executive committee group meetings that include two to three people from each of the partnering schools and for one- to two-hour, all-hands faculty meetings. FINANCIAL AND OPERATIONAL BENEFITS Across-the-Board Savings Like universities all across the country, UNC has faced budget constraints and is under pressure to contain costs wherever possible. Although savings were not the primary reason OneMBA replaced its previous online conferencing tool with Citrix solutions enhanced communication was it has reaped immediate and ongoing financial benefit. For starters, GoToMeeting has reduced the amount of support needed from the IT department by more than half, freeing them to work on other projects. The university will also save $2,400 a year on reoccurring UNC main campus fees, $750 a year on server and hardware costs and $9,900 a year on licensing and maintenance costs. None of these fees apply to Citrix s flat-rate pricing model. Also, by standardizing on the Citrix virtual conferencing services, UNC no longer needs to worry about extra charges for extensive usage. Even as GoToMeeting s popularity continues to grow, UNC s costs will stay the same under the All You Can Meet pricing structure. There are no surprise costs, Adam King said. Figure 2 Citrix GoToMeeting per Meeting Cost Advantage Cost per Meeting $50 $40 $30 $20 $10 0 2004 The savings have trickled down to the students as well. Thanks to GoToMeeting s international call-in numbers and computer VoIP options, students no longer have to absorb the costs of international long-distance phone calls. UNC estimates the students are saving as much as $200 to $300 per month on weekly international meetings thanks to the All You Can Meet pricing model. Ease-of-Use/Added Features Spur Adoption Adam King noted that GoToMeeting s easy setup and operation including one-click meeting launches and 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Previous System GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar - 5 -
Figure 3 Citrix Substantially Reduced the Average Cost per Meeting $30 $25 I have been very pleased with the meeting performance. The quality of the sound has been one of the biggest benefits. Silvia Sampaio, OneMBA program director in São Paulo, Brazil $20 63.4% Reduction $15 $10 $5 0 Previous System 2009 Citrix 2012 integration with Microsoft Outlook have helped spur adoption of the online collaboration platform. Integration with Outlook is key and it works every time, said Sander Perret Gentil, class of 2012 student at Erasmus University s Rotterdam School of Management. Reliability is very high. FGV OneMBA director Sampaio remembers when students balked at using previous conference tools because of their complexity. They also complained about security and how hard it was to manage the security updates and tools. As their familiarity increases, OneMBA students, faculty and staff are turning to GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar to collaborate and connect worldwide. There are so many advantages to GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar, said Celia Sikorski, student at RSM Erasmus. Everyone can continually have the microphone on. Voices can be heard without any delay. Team members can invite mentors as visitors, and visitors can participate just by using the link they receive. Members can set the time for meetings, and the invitations follow with the local time zone l love it! Screen sharing is also viewed as the coveted tool that had been lacking in functionality and effectiveness in OneMBA s previous system. Add to that poor audio quality, it s no wonder that students resorted to Skype as a workaround. This is becoming a trend among students, said Evariyel Alegria of the UNC Kenan-Flagler class of 2012. With screen sharing, students can do work wherever they are, anywhere in the world. And not in a frustrating manner, she continued. But in a very easy-to-use tool that allows for collaborating. Productivity Boost UNC witnessed a big boost in learning and collaboration efficiencies as students and faculty turned to GoToMeeting for their remote conferencing activities and classes. Increased user experience and engagement. Two features in particular screen sharing and screen annotations have helped students comprehension and collaboration. In finance classes, for example, screen sharing is used to compare several financial ratios and KPIs to elaborate Excel spreadsheets analyzing different international companies a complicated instructional technique that simply was not possible before. Screen annotations have been found to improve student focus particularly in classes in which professors write out formulas and calculations and to speed group participation by allowing other participants to annotate. Self-regulated audio control. Students have the ability to tune out distractions with audio control and mute/un-mute features. Session recording allows - 6 -
Meetings did not always go smoothly in the past. With GoToMeeting, we have virtually eliminated the frustrations experienced by faculty, staff and students over the amount of time they used to have to spend on support. Adam King, OneMBA technology manager at UNC Kenan-Flagler students to review missed classes, notes and material that was difficult to grasp without disrupting others learning experience. Professors can use the GoToWebinar raise hands feature to pass the microphone to students with questions. If I could sum it up in any way, I would say that technology is no longer an impediment or roadblock it s an asset, Adam King said. Improved meeting setup time. Because GoToMeeting is a user-initiated, turnkey tool, faculty and staff found they could set up meetings directly without having to go through the IT department. Participants also receive automated email and calendar reminders that pop up 15 minutes before scheduled meetings. Mac and ipad compatibility. Because Citrix conferencing tools are built to accommodate an array of devices, students using a Mac or ipad can now be part of the conversation. The previous system just wasn t keeping pace with students changing needs or preferences, Adam King acknowledged. This is so much better for the students, who didn t want to be limited to a few computers or devices because our web conferencing tool couldn t accommodate them. Less reliance on IT. Meetings did not always go smoothly in the past, Adam King acknowledged, and people would come to IT for support. With GoToMeeting, we have virtually eliminated the frustrations experienced by faculty, staff and students over the amount of time they used to have to spend on support. - 7 -
ABOUT THIS BUSINESS VALUE ASSESSMENT Research and analysis for this study was conducted by Mainstay Salire LLC, an independent consulting firm that has performed over 300 studies for leading information technology providers including Cisco, Oracle, SAP, Microsoft, Dell, Lexmark, HP, Informatica, BearingPoint, and NetApp. This case study was based on interviews with company management, IT data experts and IT architects, as well as a review of existing project planning documents. ROI calculations use industry standard assumptions regarding the time value of money. Information contained in the publication has been obtained from sources is considered reliable, but is not warranted by Mainstay Salire LLC. About Citrix Citrix Systems, Inc. is transforming how people, businesses and IT work and collaborate in the cloud era. Its portfolio of GoTo cloud services enables people to work from anywhere with anyone by providing simple-to-use cloud-based collaboration, remote access and IT support solutions for every type of business. Learn more at www.citrix.com and www.citrixonline.com. Citrix, All You Can Meet, GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar are trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc., or one of its subsidiaries, and are or may be registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and other countries. Mac and ipad are trademarks of Apple Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Copyright 2012 Mainstay Salire. All rights reserved. - 8 -