Overbury case study

SimplyVideo | Bringing virtual building tours to Overbury

Overview

Overbury is the UK’s leading office fit out and refurbishment specialist. In the last five years alone, they’ve worked on over 2,000 office projects, spanning 50 million square feet. They know that no two projects are ever the same - that’s why they tailor their approach for every client.

A fit out for a new city centre office has different requirements to refurbishing a historical space in a Grade II listed building. Understanding the bespoke nature of their work is fundamental to Overbury’s business practices. This also means that there’s a broad spectrum of expertise throughout the company.

Seamless integrations with Google Meet and Microsoft Teams.

Your video call software shouldn't shut anybody out of the room.

That's why we've created a platform that can be joined by users of Google Meet and Microsoft Teams – whether by browser, mobile, XR wearable or video conferencing software.

The challenge

Project management teams were finding it tough to get the correct experience to site in order to perform necessary checks and conduct sign-off procedures. They also found it hard to show clients building progress due to social distancing and travel restrictions created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The solution

SimplyVideo and Realwear were brought in to provide Overbury with a branded remote expert solution that would enable them to capture live content using a Realwear headset and push it to a video meeting feed.

This meant Overbury could send a branded browser link to their customers and contractors in order to give them a live building tour, without risking infection. With no existing video infrastructure in place, they opted for SimplyVideo’s browser-based platform which allowed for fully branded, customised virtual meeting rooms.

The result

The blend of SimplyVideo software and Realwear hardware has provided many benefits to Overbury. Firstly, they were able to easily achieve their primary goal in securing a more efficient and cost effective sign-off procedure. With experts able to adequately assess situations remotely, waiting for them to physically travel to site has been rendered a thing of the past.

Naturally, a reduction in travel has also made Overbury’s processes more carbon efficient, and eliminated travel expenditure. Of course, then there are the COVID considerations. SimplyVideo’s solution has facilitated a broader, more thorough application of remote meetings. This has meant that vulnerable employees have been able to remain productive by enabling them to work from home. Overbury has noted an increase in customer satisfaction thanks to being able to streamline their processes.

They’ve also noted a reduction in on-site footfall. This is all thanks to less time spent on inductions and H&S briefings - which have been rendered unnecessary thanks to the removal of the requirement to be physically onsite. Thanks to this video infrastructure, an onsite worker can host a video conference from their Realwear headset and give remote stakeholders live tours of the site - completely hands free. Questions can be answered immediately by either the onsite worker or by a remote participant within the meeting.

Senior Management - Overbury

"SimplyVideo and Realwear helped us continue to deliver exceptional client communication. The ability to do a live digital walkaround has transformed the way our clients perceive our service. It demonstrates the innovative and customer focussed culture we always strive to deliver at Overbury.

With wearables like the HMT-1 from RealWear, and optimised video services like SimplyVideo, I would expect to see this technology becoming pervasive across the construction and fit out sector in the next 5 years."