An innovative collaboration project for Conad Nord Ovest with Var Group

Conad Nord Ovest launched a collaboration project alongside Var Group and IBM to make the communication process between the group’s locations more effective, optimising costs and reaching ever-greater levels of efficiency and sustainability, even during the pandemic.

To achieve these goals, the Cisco Webex cloud collaboration solution was adopted, allowing voice and video communication, both internal and external, through the latest mobile devices and 20 videoconferencing rooms capable of connecting over 1200 users across seven different regions of Italy.

This project allowed high-quality collaboration to be maintained even during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the necessary distancing measures. The Cisco solution developed for this project, bolstered by IBM infrastructure and by Var Group’s implementation services, offers different advantages including scalability, ease of use, customisation, and accessibility through various types of devices which allow participation in meetings while on the move and from any customer location. The videoconferencing rooms have been equipped with the latest Cisco devices, integrated in the Webex cloud solution.

Conad Nord Ovest was able to considerably reduce the number of work journeys, with a consequent reduction in costs and energy consumption, cutting CO2 and increasing efficiency and sustainability.

The project falls within the scope of a relationship more than a decade old, which has allowed CNO to innovate its processes, guarantee continuity of the business based on IBM Power Systems and IBM storage platforms, improve efficiency thanks in part to IBM Global Financing services, and the support of Var Group, IBM business partner.

Conad Nord Ovest, created with the merger of Conad del Tirreno and Nordiconad, boasts 587 retail outlets, from large Spazio Conad hypermarkets to local convenience stores, and is a co-operative in the Conad group, which in 2019 reached a market share of 13.8%, becoming the leader in the large-scale retail market in Italy. The organisation’s steep growth has led Conad Nord Ovest to engage in a process of innovation in order to simplify internal collaboration, eliminate geographical barriers and support business growth and efficiency, while meeting sustainability criteria.

“The collaboration project, implemented in the period immediately preceding the lockdown caused by Covid-19, was extremely useful and providential, as it significantly contributed to the widespread use of smart working by hundreds of employees, eliminating the distance between the users in an extremely simple manner,” says Maurizio Barsacchi, Systems and Innovation Director at Conad Nord Ovest.

 

"Efficiency, innovation, integration and sustainability: these are the principles which are reflected in the day-to-day strategy of the group, expressed as “People as well as things”.