SETA's Testimonial

The Services SETA is one of the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) established by the South African Department of Labour in April 2000. The Services SETA was established to ensure that skill needs of the South African services sector are addressed. This objective is achieved through frequent collaboration between the SETA, its stakeholders and role-players.

At the beginning of 2004, they decided to render inter-staff communication and collaboration more effective by implementing video communication technology within the organisation. Services SETA installed three Aethra video communication set-top systems in their regional offices in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.

Prior to implementing Aethra video communication solutions, Services SETA would fly delegates to the relevant venues, which of course had both cost and logistical implications. The introduction of video communication has helped the organization to make savings on costs, time and loss of productivity. Delegates flying for example from Cape Town to Johannesburg for an early meeting, now avoid having to arrive at the airport at the crack of dawn and don't need to rely on someone to ferry them between the airport and the meeting. This results in the organization saving money on flights, accommodation costs and in some cases car hire.

Furthermore, delegates no longer have to spend most of their day travelling to get to an out of town meeting.

Services SETA currently use their video communication systems for Board meetings, staff and departmental meetings on average 3 times a month. Once users have become familiar with the technology, the organisation also plans to use video communication for workshops. They are also exploring the possibility of using the system for regional job interviews.

Services SETA chose the Aethra Vega Star Silver-E video communication set-top over other products/manufacturers in the market as it promised the best value, reliability and provided the most benefits. Product features particularly valued by Services SETA are the ability to incorporate a teleconference into a video call, data sharing between sites, and the possibility to remote control a videoconference session and conduct system diagnostics via the web.

The integrated Multipoint Conferencing Unit (MCU) was a deciding factor for Services SETA when choosing a system. The MCU allows the system to connect with up to 5 sites in mixed mode (ISDN and IP) and therefore provides important expansion opportunities which the organisation, has in mind.