IT Teams Help Overseas Exchanges Share Milestone Moments with Stateside Leadership
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to limit global travel, overseas Exchanges are turning to technology to help bring stateside leaders and associates to their virtual doorstep to help celebrate grand openings, retirements and other major events.
IT Field Technical Supervisor Shane Hensley prepares a bank of computers to help him and his team manage six live video and audio feeds during the grand opening of the Korea Distribution Center and bakery Nov. 19 at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys.
When the Exchange’s Korea Distribution Center and bakery opened at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in November, IT Field Technical Supervisor Shane Hensley’s team found a way for Exchange leaders worldwide to join the ribbon-cutting celebration and deliver remarks virtually via Microsoft Teams.
“We had six on-site streams—six computers, six webcams and six mics,” Hensley said. “To get something like that to work, we had to order a commercial internet connection, which we had hardwired into all of our laptops in the warehouse just for this event.”
With the connection secured, all that was left was to integrate sound and video so that in-person and virtual attendees could see, hear and interact with each other—a feat in itself that required setting up and coordinating a complex arrangement of mics, speakers, displays and cameras.
From left, End-User Computer Technician Mr. Kim, Chongchol, and Help Desk Support Technicians Ms. Yang, Chi-yon, and Ms. Chong, Hye-son, set up one of the six cameras that livestreamed the grand opening of the Korea Distribution Center and bakery Nov. 19 at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys.
“This was the first time I or my team had ever done anything like this, so figuring everything out required a lot of trial and error,” Hensley said. “We probably did 15 dry runs. There were days where we probably spent 12 or 15 hours on site just working through everything. I wouldn’t consider myself a multimedia specialist, but my team and I definitely know more now than we did going into this.”
Overseas IT personnel can also connect stateside Exchange leadership to local retirement and farewell ceremonies.
When Europe/Africa/Southwest Asia Commander Col. Scott McFarland retired from the Army in June and Senior Enlisted Advisor Sgt. Maj. Julia Henry rotated to her next Army assignment in October, senior leaders were able to attend both of their farewell events virtually and deliver remarks via Teams.
“We set up a laptop on a podium and had a Teams call with [Exchange Director/CEO] Tom Shull, [Chief Operating Officer] Jason Rosenberg and all the executives,” said Angela Peasley, IT field support manager for the Europe/Africa/Southwest Asia Region. “We had the events in the regions building, with everybody masked and social distancing.”
While the events were smaller in scale than the Korea Distribution Center grand opening, the efforts of the local IT team were just as meaningful to those attending—and allowed some very special guests to join the celebration.
When Europe/Africa/Southwest Asia Commander Col. Scott McFarland retired from the Army in June, an Exchange IT team was able to have his mother attend the ceremony virtually from the United States.
“We were able to get Col. McFarland’s mom and Sgt. Maj. Henry’s family to join each call from the U.S.,” Peasley said. “They could see everything on video, from the retirement ceremony to the gifts. It was great that we were able to connect them with their families on such a special day.”
While the kind of outside-the-box thinking occasionally required to connect Exchange teams across thousands of miles may seem daunting, managers like Peasley and Hensley are far from alone in making the mission possible.
“It wasn’t just me—I couldn’t have done it without the team,” Hensley said of the successful grand-opening livestream. “We have one end-user computer technician (EUCT) on site at the DC, but we also had two other EUCTs and two help desk technicians from the Humphreys retail side that came over to help as well, which helped a lot. Now, if someone from another location ever calls on us for advice or wants to know how to do a setup like this, we can help them.
“We learned a lot, and now we can share that knowledge for the benefit of the organization.”
