Significant increases in utilisation of unified communications tools such as Teams as more people work from home or adopt hybrid ways of working both at home and in the office are presenting opportunities and challenges for enterprises as pandemic-related disruptions continue. Many are preparing for what the new workplace looks like and it’s now clear that involves a more distanced environment that is enabled by audio and video to bring together huddle spaces, smaller meeting rooms, high-touch environments such as emergency rooms, warehouses and shift floors around the world that continue to open and where people share devices throughout the day but also people working from home offices.
An important aspect of this is to improve the quality of consumer-oriented home solutions while simultaneously enabling touch-free capabilities in working spaces. Solutions are being trialled that involve mobile apps and near-field communications (NFC) capabilities to enable simple, contactless set-up of audio-visual equipment in meeting rooms. Systems that offer minimal touchpoints have obvious value as enterprises continue to focus on providing safe working environments for their employees so applications that offer voice control are a priority. On that premise Poly has designed the new Poly Rove 30 and Poly Rove 40 with safety first, in mind. The new Poly Rove pro-grade phones feature HD voice and enhanced background noise suppression for premium call clarity and are designed to stay cleaner longer with Microban’s antimicrobial technology built-in for a 99 percent reduction in bacteria.
Approaches are diverging between those organisations that recognise and prioritise high-quality UC interactions and those that find a base level good enough for their operations. “A good part of the market recognises and values the quality of audio in particular and what we’ve always offered at Poly is a superb audio experience,” says Glynn Jones, Global Head of Voice Sales Acceleration and Go To Market at Poly.
“We’re continuing to drive that across our enterprise portfolio, not just in voice but with video quality improvements as well. Voice remains the most important focus because without high quality the conversation becomes much more disrupted”
Designed to outfit critical and essential workplaces Poly Rove family, comes with a great range that allows users to be on the move and never miss a critical call, no matter how large the facility, and can be scaled to support up to 1,000 handsets. Besides Microban, Rove phones are dust-proof and water-resistant, strong enough for industries like healthcare, manufacturing and retail where employees often share phone handsets throughout the day.
For Poly, high-quality voice is very much business as usual, but the company recognises that work for many has changed. “The pandemic has meant work isn’t where you are, it’s what you do,” confirms Jones. “This means voice cloud services together with voice devices are vital for the quality of the whole solution.”
Jones points out that many workers were keen to take desk phones to their homes because they value the quality and ease of use of these devices and he believes a generalised uplift in the quality of home office hardware is already underway as enterprises have moved from just making sure people can work, to making sure people can work securely, efficiently and comfortably.
“We’ve been working to make sure we have all of the solutions people need in our product range to enable better, safer collaboration environments in the office and the tools, such as conferencing equipment, they need at home,” adds Jones. “We’ve extended our offerings with USB and Bluetooth connected devices so users can have a complete, tabletop conferencing portfolio regardless of where they work.”
“I believe that more and more organisations are looking to the long term and taking steps to equip and enable people with high-quality UC equipment that enables them to work efficiently, comfortably and productively”
