The prosumer market has traditionally tried to straddle professional and consumer markets, with inevitable compromises while attempting to meet a wide range of varied user needs. This specialised market served a subset of road warriors and senior executives but was hampered by budgetary constraints and enterprises’ focus on their in-office technology. Last year, the pandemic, changed all that.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a dramatic change in our industry as I’ve seen in the last 12 months,” confirms Paul Clark, the Senior Vice President of EMEA at Poly, which is launching a new range of devices – the Poly Studio P Series – aimed at enabling hybrid workers and prosumers with high-quality video and audio solutions. “In the past, organisations would say remote or home working was not for them but that last year that changed. Enterprises have found it’s not only possible but it’s also productive and that is underpinning the shift to a global workforce of prosumers.”
The niche has become the mainstream. “Working from home is here to stay,” adds Clark. “By the year end of 2021 people should be able to return to traditional offices but 25-30% will work multiple days from home and 60% of Global 2000 companies have stated that, by the end of 2023, they will want to have parity of experience in offices, homes or a third place. For us, that means we have to be able to meet the diverse needs of organisations and individuals.”
Poly’s new family of personal video solutions has been designed with that diversity of user profiles in mind. The range includes the Poly Studio P5 webcam that offers high-quality video and audio in a simple configure device and comes as a standalone solution or bundled with Poly headsets or speakerphone. “When you work from home, you need plug and play capability so bundling the Poly Studio P5 webcam with everything users need to get up and running is an advantage,” Clark explains. “bundling up is something you don’t typically do in enterprise selling but people want the assurance of having it all arrive in one box with easy set up.”
Prosumer Enablement
Clark also foresees waves of prosumer enablement as organisations make their transitions. Providing an attractive box with everything packaged in it and supported by Poly Lens software to manage that, is therefore a key element of the offering and core to enterprise’s goals of making homeworkers feel supported.
“You’re not a second-class citizen if you work from home with the Poly Studio P5 webcam,” says Clark. “You have enterprise-grade performance backed by the Poly Lens service.”
Further products in the Poly Studio P Series, the Zoom and Microsoft Teams certified Poly Studio P15 personal video bar and the Poly Studio P21 personal meeting display, also add to the prosumer armoury for workers that need additional functionality and quality for specific tasks and activities. As before, the diverse functional and aesthetical demands of different types of prosumers need to be accommodated.
“The prosumer market is not going to go away as people go into offices,” says Clark.
“They will take devices with them that are able to be used in multiple locations. People need to be agile and this technology enables that. What we’re seeing now and with the Poly Studio P Series in particular is that a new level of elegance is being introduced and this is a product estate that enterprises can standardise upon, supported by the Poly Lens desktop app”
