While being no strangers to sharing new releases at industry events, Crestron Next is the first fully digital event being staged in the company’s history, and Joseph Sarrasin, Director Product Strategy UC, is looking forward to sharing innovative ideas and solutions with new audiences directly on the 15th and 16th of September.
“We’ve been part of a lot of virtual events and had a lot of success with virtual product launches”, he told me, “So our intention with Crestron Next is to take it to the next level and do really engaged sessions for all of our different product lines — to discuss new products, existing products, showcase story sessions and summits — and blend it all into one really intense virtual session. I think it’s going to be a really powerful event that a lot of people are going to enjoy.”
Empowering integration partners
Because the majority of Crestron’s business is done through integration partners, ensuring those partners are updated and informed on every level from the product details through to the strategic direction is fundamental to shaping their leadership role within the industry, as the world pivots toward new ways of working for the long term, as Sarrasin elaborated:
“We want to provide real value for those organisations, who are essentially the tip of the spear when engaging with users and customers. So, it’s important for them to understand what Crestron are doing as a group and where we’re going, what our solutions are for the market now and also how we’re taking that forward – because they’re our evangelists to the wider world.”
And Crestron already have extensive plans to engage heavily in other virtual events, such as Microsoft Ignite. They’ve already learned what works and what does not, to connect effectively with audiences when you cannot sit down together at a booth, and have 4 figure attendance at recent product launch webinars. “We use a blend of content, including customer testimonials and third-party analysts, for a rounded input and view”, Sarrasin explained. “It’s not just us going on about our products.”
Sharing product innovations
Even though the recent changes to key product lines in response to 2020 events are clearly an exciting pivot in their own right for Crestron:
“We’ve been revising our kits to more appropriately match the needs of the market, so our room system kits have all been revved up to a cleaner layout. Everybody’s work is in chaos right now, so our products are providing their communications with structure and stability, and we’re coming to market with two distinct sets of offerings for every size space and all the different room types.
“Whether you need fast, no-frills, video by the truckload, or the advanced kits that we’re really known for — where we’ve included bring your own device in additional to native calling and intelligent cameras.”
It doesn’t matter whether people are returning to traditional office workspaces or retooling domestic spaces, the expectation for seamless video collaboration availability is part of the new reality.
“Wherever they’re doing business from, it’s not acceptable for a senior executive to have bad audio or video. So, we’re bundling our Mercury Mini with a high-quality camera, and it acts as a USB peripheral for my PC — it’s an executive experience, where people can be in their home office or take it anywhere, but still be managed and monitored by their corporate IT. Companies are now willing to make that investment.”
To benefit from Crestron’s deep insight into these emerging trends for the future of collaboration, you can enrol for Crestron Next, ahead of the live event on the 15th and 16th of September 2020.
