Web meetings benefit bottom line: restaurant company uses conferencing to enhance training and menu offerings - Conferencing - CKE Restaurants

Communications News, June, 2003

CKE Restaurants, the parent company of Carl's Jr., Hardee's, La Salsa, Green Burrito and Timber Lodge Steakhouse restaurants, has no problem serving up mouth-watering hamburgers, burritos or prime rib. When it needed to leverage the Web to communicate with its 3,400 franchise restaurants, however, "We realized we needed a partner that was as focused on Web conferencing as we are on hungry consumers," says Tom Lindblom, CKE director of information technology.

"Our goal was to dramatically reduce travel costs with a solution that would allow us to con duct product and corporate training sessions in real-time."

With 33,000 employees in 44 states and 15 countries, CKE is a heavy user of Web-based communication solutions. "We were using a combination of WebEx and Microsoft's NetMeeting," explains Lindblom. "While this approach provided us with reason able performance, each had its significant shortcomings.

"Often, meetings were rushed in order to avoid excessive fees. And worse, the rushed meetings and the inability to include external users caused a loss of opportunity to improve meeting productivity."

This lack of productivity and inability to complete assigned tasks during meetings, as well as the increase in meeting time, quickly led Lindblom to search for a new Web-based communication solution. Critically important, he says, was finding a product that would integrate seamlessly with CKE's existing IT infrastructure.

"We needed a solution that would work with our current software and be compatible with a variety of computer systems and Internet/network connections, creating a dependable, companywide platform," he offers. "We evaluated four Web-based communication solutions."

CKE eventually selected Pixion's PictureTalk Web-conferencing solution, which supports Windows, Macintosh and the Solaris operating systems, and can manage a number of Internet connection speeds.

"We were able to purchase a per user license, not pay by duration of meeting, eliminating the uncertainty in costs," Lindblom says. "Also, the solution has the ability to be hosted on our servers, allowing us to apply our own security practices."

CKE purchased a 100-seat PictureTalk license from Pixion. "Installation took less then a day, and we began almost immediately using the product for corporate and franchise communication," offers Lindblom. "We have realized significant bottom-line benefits through improved meeting effectiveness and reduction in travel. New product development and other projects have become more efficient and have taken less time to complete."

Additionally, Lindblom used the solution to coordinate the company-wide rollout of PeopleSoft 8 Finance/Distribution and HRMs software to CKE offices and remote users. "We were able to instantly train our employees on how to properly use the software," Lindblom explains. "We estimate that on the PeopleSoft 8 rollout project alone we will save more than $100,000 in travel-related costs."

More than 200 CKE employees use the product to hold virtual meetings, conduct Web-based training programs, collaborate on the development of training materials and coordinate the planning/ rollout of new food-product introductions. "We are now capable of discussing our retail food-product messaging in real-time, finalize documentation simultaneously and train our employees on the packaging/selling features of new food products," Lindblom says. "We expect to reduce the time spent on the creation and editing of corporate training materials by more than 50%, not counting the savings in travel costs. In one year's time, we expect the solution to pay for itself."

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