Waste management company reduces travel to internal courses

Chalfont, UK – January 10, 2008 – Biffa, a leading integrated waste management business in the UK, has introduced a number of online training programmes using Citrix® GoToMeeting®. This online web conferencing service enables Biffa to successfully deliver certain internal training courses over a broadband connection to around 1,500 staff and 3,500 drivers and operatives at more than 160 locations across the UK. The new on-line training programmes reduce the substantial mileage travelled by employees to conventional, on-location courses. With GoToMeeting, Biffa is able to run training courses with added flexibility and reduce the strain on employees’ time.

“Waste management legislation is constantly changing in line with EU law and as a result it is imperative that our operations across the country are always kept up to date. Traditionally, we arranged regional-based courses that required our employees to drive up to 150 miles per session. But we realised that not only was this badly impacting the environment but we were wasting our employees’ time as they were often spending the best part of a day driving to a course,” explained Neil Rogers, Training Manger, Biffa.

Using GoToMeeting, Biffa can deliver training sessions to employees’ desktops as if they were there in person. The product’s interactive capabilities allow presenters to ensure that attendees are engaged and actively participating in the online session.

“Not only have we been able to reduce travel but we have also more than doubled the number of attendees on some courses from 12 to 25,” added Rogers. “Our regular online training sessions ensure that all our employees are completely up to speed on the latest legislation.”

“As more and more companies are becoming ‘green’ aware, they are striving to decrease their carbon emissions,” commented said Bernardo de Albergaria, Vice President and General Manager, eCommerce. “Reducing company travel by replacing face-to-face training sessions with interactive online meetings enables businesses of all sizes to reduce their carbon footprint, while reducing spend on travel.”

GoToMeeting allows anyone with a PC and Internet browser to host or attend an online meeting. Within seconds, online meetings can be started or scheduled with a click of the mouse. Meeting attendees don’t need pre-loaded software to participate–they can attend by simply clicking on a URL sent from the meeting. Once all invited attendees are in the meeting, the presenter can instantly share any file or application on the desktop, regardless of where it resides.

Biffa places a great emphasis on training to educate employees on the latest laws and regulations surrounding waste management, dangerous goods and environmental protection. Other departments including sales and senior management are also starting to use GoToMeeting in their day-to-day work.