Global publisher and director marketer of books, magazine collections and video, Reader’s Digest Association, is using an array of Global Crossing’s collaboration converged IP and voice services. The publisher is relying on this global IP solutions provider to improve internal communications among the company’s North American and European locations.

"We chose Global Crossing because of its secure, worldwide IP network, personalized customer support including a dedicated account team and seamless integration of its converged, global communications services," said Robert Gerstle, associate director of network services with Reader's Digest, in a Monday statement.

"Global Crossing's Global 800 and DIA services improve our staff's productivity by giving us instantaneous and constant global reach between our U.S. headquarters in Pleasantville, New York, and our many other interests from Chicago, to Prince Edward Island, to points throughout Europe, Australia and beyond."

Reader’s Digest caters to customers in more than 70 countries as it publishes 77 magazines, including 50 local-country editions of its flagship, Reader’s Digest. Beyond travel and related cost savings, Reader’s Digest turned to Global Crossing’s converged communications services to help increase its staff’s productivity through more effective meetings.

Global Crossing’s Ready-Access audio collaboration service was used by Reader’s Digest to facilitate communications among Reader’s Digest’s many global locations. The publisher also used Global Crossing’s Global “800” Service, Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) and long-distance voice services.

"Global Crossing's collaboration and converged IP services provide multinational enterprises such as Reader's Digest with the tools they need to efficiently share information, any time and anywhere," said Dan Wagner, Global Crossing's executive vice president of enterprise and collaboration services, in Monday’s statement.

"The competitive edge we give our customers is why our worldwide collaboration traffic increased by more than 35 percent last year -- triple the industry average."

Using Global Crossing’s collaboration services, Reader’s Digest can bring geographically dispersed teams together, while also offering a full suite of converged IP collaboration services for virtually any meeting need.

Customers worldwide can connect to Global Crossing's audio collaboration platform using a mix of toll-free and local access methods. Web conferencing services include Ready- Access Web Meeting, eMeeting and Live Meeting powered by Microsoft (News - Alert). Videoconferencing services include iVideoconferencing, IP Video, Ready-Access Video, and Video Endpoint Management Service supporting both ISDN and IP-based end points.

In today’s global economy, it is not unusual for an organization to have multiple locations dispersed around the world. Individuals located in these offices need to be able to effectively communicate and collaborate to ensure the business is running smoothly and that new services and products can be brought to market in a timely fashion.

Solutions like Global Crossing’s are designed to facilitate face-to-face collaborations and other real-time communication without requiring anyone to leave their home office. Such technology can help to better drive productivity, while also preserving controlled travel budgets.

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.