The Polycom solutions play an integral role as part of the Korean Government’s ‘SmartWork Vitalisation Strategy’ that aims to build 50 public and 450 private SmartWork centres equipped with high-definition video collaboration solutions by 2015, to allow 30% of government officers to work remotely, any time, from any place.
The Ministry of Public Administration and Security expects that if each remote worker utilises their local SmartWork centre as opposed to travelling to the central government facilities in Seoul for between 1-2 days per week, it will be able to reduce emission trading and transportation costs by approximately USD$310 per one remote worker per year, and reduce commuter time by up to 90 minutes per day.
The Ministry of Public Administration and Security is replacing many in-person meetings with virtual meetings in which, government officers can meet and collaborate—from anywhere—in highly secure, true-to-life HD quality just as if they were sitting across the table from each other. Further, it plans to provide additional benefits to workers worth approximately $USD2,090 per year per person by investing time earned through remote working into learning and career development.
With benefits of this significance, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security is planning to further expand the use of video collaboration for remote working to reach all of its SmartWork centres across the country, with a goal of having 30% of the total government officers working remotely.
The SmartWork initiative focuses on improving efficiency and productivity with a flexible work environment, whereby employees have greater choice in when, where, and how they work by using advanced ICT solutions. As part of the project, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security worked closely with the National Information Society Agency to build and manage the SmartWork centres, selecting Polycom’s high-definition video collaboration solutions to be incorporated into key SmartWork centres in locations across Korea including Jamsil, Guro and Daejeon.
A key requirement for the project was the need for a secure and stable system that supports open standards and is easy-to-use. Polycom RealPresence video solutions are powered by the carrier-grade Polycom® RealPresence™ Platform, which provides robust provisioning, management, scalability, reliability, and security. Because of Polycom’s focus on interoperability, the RealPresence Platform transforms islands of employees and fragmented communications systems into a seamless video enterprise, which makes enterprise-grade video easily and securely accessible to all authorised personnel whether they’re mobile, remote, or on-site.
“An important part of this project was for the SmartWork centres to be easily accessible by all government officers, and the technology easy-to-use, thereby enhancing user efficiency and productivity. With Polycom, we have achieved these mandates and are benefitting from more streamlined processes and transforming to a culture of collaboration that supports flexible working,” said Yong-tak Jo, senior consultant of SmartWork Support Division, Future Informatisation Promotion Department of National Information SocietyAgency.
“Polycom is pleased to be supporting the Korean Government in their Smart Working Building Project, enabling government officers to meet and collaborate ‘face-to-face’ visually with quality that is as lifelike as being there in person. The initiative, supported by our video collaboration solutions, reduces the need to commute to work, thereby saving hours in travel time and employee downtime while increasing productivity. By changing the way organisations collaborate, we are helping to promote a more flexible and smarter way to work,” said Dae-jun Shin, country manager of Polycom Korea.
The Korean Government aims to build 50 public centres specifically for government officers’ use and 450 private SmartWork centres designed for wider enterprise use, equipped with high-definition video collaboration solutions by 2015.
