Can you rectify a less than perfect first impression? Vega Indonesia details how it helped improve the AV experience for Premier Oil as the client moved office in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Rectifying an AV experience that was not up to scratch was the task appointed to Vega Indonesia by Premier Oil.
Peter Eduard, technical
manager at Vega Indonesia,
details: “The AV systems at
Premier Oil’s old office had been
implemented without a lot of
input from AV professionals.
Premier Oil felt that with the
move to a new office, they could
start with a clean slate. They
had a bad experience with AV
previously but wanted to devote
time and effort to make sure that
the problems they had in the past
would be rectified. They planned
and considered the AV systems,
focusing on the experience and
audio aspects, and engaged Vega
Indonesia to make sure that the
AV systems caused no issues.”
He continues: “The project
was initiated in June 2018 which
was when we started discussing
the requirements with Premier
Oil and finding out what their
expectations of the AV system
were. We started work in
September 2018 and the
handover for the project was
near the end of January 2019.
This was a complete design and
build project handled by Vega
Indonesia.
“Firstly, Premier Oil has a
number of rooms and spaces
and many of these had different
purposes and functions. Our task
was to take these different spaces,
with their different purposes,
and craft an overarching user
experience that would be similar.
The client emphasised that they
wanted a unified and consistent
user experience across all the
spaces.”
Eduard continues: “Secondly,
Premier Oil’s previous experience
with AV was not positive. Certain
aspects of the spaces in their old
office, such as the acoustics and
the overall audio, were not at
a high standard. In particular,
there were problems with speech
intelligibility and audio quality
when it came to discussion.”
Once the parameters were
pinpointed, the integrator went
to work. Eduard says: “A number
of parties were involved with
the Premier Oil project, from
the interior designer to other
contractors, and we had to work
with them to make sure all the
pressure points for the client
were addressed.”
Addressing audio
Without proper sound, meeting
rooms and discussion spaces are
not fulfilling their core function.
Vega Indonesia worked hard to
deliver quality audio.
Eduard says: “When it came
to audio, the main point was to
increase speech intelligibility.
But at the same time, we had to
make sure that the conversations
remained private. There are a
number of confidential meetings
that take place in the meeting
spaces which had to be considered.”
The route to the solution for
Premier Oil’s audio woes was
an obvious one. Eduard details:
“A lot of AV problems can be
eliminated if you have strong
AV fundamentals. This is the
approach that Vega Indonesia
took. The noise was reduced by
choosing speaker placement
properly after taking into account
the space. We made sure that
there was a proper centre, right
and left channel. Following good acoustic principles for speaker
placement immediately and
instantly eliminated a number
of problems.”
He continues: “We also worked
with the other contractors and
in particular the interior designer
to make sure that the speaker
placements we suggested were
viable. The aesthetics of any
space are important and
collaboration with the interior
designer is crucial. Sometimes
the interior design requirements
took precedence and we had to
go back to the drawing board but
on the whole, I believe that both
aesthetics and acoustics are top
notch.”
Across the multiple meeting
rooms, boardroom and
emergency response room at
Premier Oil, the audio system
has been standardised. JBL 26CT
ceiling speakers provide audio,
amplification is delivered by
Crown DCi amplifiers and the
audio system is managed
by BSS Blu DSPs. AKG wireless
handheld and clip-on
microphone systems are also
provided where needed.
Standardising UX
Delivering a standardised user
experience is easier said than
done. Eduard explains: “Each
room had its own unique
purpose and you can say a
unique, different personality.
So, one of the most challenging
parts of this project was to bring
a standardised user experience
to the customer while also
maintaining the differences.
How do you balance the need
and requirement for a wide
range of functions with the
requirement for standardised
user experience?”
He continues: “Every single
solution that we considered,
chose and delivered was selected
with the client’s use case in mind
and we always asked ourselves
how it would improve the user
experience. We really strove to
build a flexible solution and
make it perfect.”
Thankfully, Vega Indonesia
had a starting point from which
to move forward and craft the
desired UX. Eduard says:
“Videoconferencing has been
standardised with Skype for
Business, this is the main
conferencing platform for Premier
Oil and hence the main UX touch
point as well.”
With the selection of Skype
for Business cemented, the
integrator proceeded to develop
and deploy the required AV
systems. Eduard says: “We chose
Crestron Mercury to deliver
access to Skype for Business in
the meeting rooms. The Mercury
is an all-in-one system and it is
easy to manage, easy to set up
and handles all the VC needs.”
While Mercury is used in the
smaller rooms, AMX is employed
for distribution in the larger
spaces while also providing an
option for wired connectivity.
Connectivity and cabling from
Extron and Kramer bring the
whole system together. Control
is provided by AMX processors
and touch panels.
Projection is used as the
primary display technology at
Premier Oil, with a mix of Epson
EB-1470Ui projectors and legacy
Hitachi projectors from the old
office being pressed into service.
Regarding the choice of display,
Eduard says: “Premier Oil wanted
large displays for their rooms
and when you are talking about
large display sizes, it is very
cost efficient to do this with
projection. It is a mature
technology that still has a lot to
offer in the corporate space.”
On the whole project, Eduard
comments: “UX is much more
than just technology. It involves a
number of other aspects, such as
interior design and this is where
our collaboration with the other
contractors helped.”
While the Premier Oil project
is complete and the office is up
and running, Vega Indonesia is
already in talks to improve the
AV deployment. Eduard says:
“Premier Oil wants to develop a
command centre at its office. They already have an emergency
response room which serves as
a command centre of sorts with
displays on two walls. But they
want to upgrade and improve
the space and move to a larger
number of displays spread across
three sides of the room. I can see
videowalls and KVM systems
being required to make their
vision a reality. They really want
to visualise the content in a very
dynamic way.”