Poly on a Mission to Enable Meeting Equality

New intelligent systems designed to enable smarter hybrid meetings

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Published: June 18, 2021

George Malim

As the return to work following pandemic lockdowns gathers pace, new trends are emerging as people look to retain the benefits of homeworking alongside the collaboration and productivity enabled by traditional offices. The era of hybrid working is starting to crystallise into a blend of home, remote and traditional office-based activities, with workers and employers able to pick and choose the most suitable locations for their work and lifestyles. Enabling this to happen in an optimised way relies on providing tools that empower people with high-quality unified communications experiences regardless of their location. 

Laura Marx
Laura Marx

“There’s a real need to drive meeting equality so wherever people are they have the right tools to enable them to participate effectively and with the same high quality as people in meeting rooms,” said Laura Marx, the Vice President of Global Alliances and Product Marketing at Poly. “The story has changed in terms of what users’ needs are and also for IT departments which now need to manage and support a growing array of communications equipment. IT needs to manage people, devices and rooms everywhere and be able to access insights and have control over these to ensure meetings are successful.” 

The alignment of communications devices with IT departments demonstrates that policies and processes are maturing. At the peak of the pandemic, best effort solutions were accepted and people procured what they could get delivered in order to keep working. Now, though, hybrid working is set to continue and people need higher quality, personal devices to fulfill their permanent needs to be able to communicate and collaborate whatever their location. 

Attractive portfolios of equipment have been developed to meet this need, addressing mobility, home working, and traditional offices and taking account of the different demands of each and the need for equipment to move from one location to another. Poly Studio P series has pioneered the concept of providing a range of devices tailored to specific needs and situations and it has recently been awarded a Red Dot Award for the Studio P15 personal video bar. The company’s devices can be managed by the Poly Lens app and infrastructure which is enabling IT departments to track, monitor, and manage users’ experiences, thereby simplifying support and management of the device estate. 

A further product, the Poly Studio E70, takes the capability to participate in smarter hybrid meetings further. The intelligent 4k camera has been designed to enhance video quality so everyone feels like they’re in the room together. The new-age camera underpins a brand new category for hybrid work in UC launched yesterday by Microsoft which aims to bolster meeting equality by focusing on meeting participants in large rooms so they are presented similarly to lone workers.  

The intelligent capabilities of the camera mean it can present people in conferences on an equal footing, providing the same experience to all participants. The focus Microsoft is putting on this area underscores the importance and momentum behind equipping people to go back to the office but also to continue to work from home. Poly and Microsoft’s partnership extends back for more than 15 years and the two companies have collaborated closely to develop solutions to meet the needs of changing workplace. 

“We have deep ties with Teams engineers at Microsoft to ensure Poly devices are fully certified on Teams,” added Marx. “Our experience means we work hand-in-hand to develop device specifications with Microsoft and this new category will support meeting equality for all users as they go back into the office. The momentum is already underway and with Poly Studio E70 we’re ready to provide users with the smarter, hybrid meeting experiences they need for the new world of work.” 

 

 

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