It’s been a busy few weeks in the headset and peripheral market with the news of the Plantronics Polycom acquisition but Danish competitors Jabra are giving them no time for breathing space. Last week they launched their brand new series of wireless headsets aimed at the professional end of the market, focusing on call quality, security and usability. Over 115,000 hours and four new patent registrations have been involved in the deployment of the new range.
UC Today were privileged enough to be given advanced access to the series and examine the range in full. The series consists of the Engage 65 and 75 available in both Mono, Stereo and as a convertible option. Designed to target the premium end of the market the Engage series packs in a host of features to ensure they are more than suitable for the most demanding enterprise environment. Bjorn Ekner, Jabra’s Senior Director for Product Marketing was available to tell us more about the new range and it’s benefits.
“Our core business has always been to look after people who listen and talk to customers, and deliver value over the phone. What we see is calls are becoming more complex, customers are more informed, what we can do to help? We want to make sure they can reach out for information whilst on the call and make sure those calls are more secure than ever.”
A new class of DECT wireless headsets the Engage range addresses a changing customer requirement from the perspective of Jabra. Jabra have identified a shift in customer habits where automation is replacing routine transactional calls. They maintain that human interaction will be more valued and used for business-critical calls such as complex enquiries or complaints, which require the highest standards of call quality to ensure customer satisfaction and effective resolution.
One of the consistent problems with DECT headsets has been connectivity in highly dense environments. This has previously limited the numbers of users within a given environment. The new Engage series are capable of connecting three times the number of operators within any given space.
The series is also capable of impressive wireless range from its base station with distances of 150 metres possible. As well as the impressive range they incorporate noise-cancelling microphones and enhanced speakers to provide the most suitable audio quality even in the most demanding environments and verticals.
One of the most critical aspects of the new Engage series is the focused placed, by Jabra, on security. As security is a huge concern for the modern enterprise with reservations over call privacy the Engage series employs various features to guarantee this. In an environment of rising cybercrime, and the increased focus placed on managing sensitive customer data, security is more of a concern than ever.
The series utilises new features aiming to make them the world’s most secure professional wireless headsets. Authentication and encryption functions coupled with ‘physical assisted pairing’ create a secure discreet link between the headset and docking base unit.
“The security is military grade standard and that means the security aspects that are demanded in a lot of verticals today, where they want to make sure that you can’t tap into conversations, are being resolved better by Engage than any other products.”
The Engage series will be targeted at the most demanding office workers and will be in direct competition to existing players within the market such as the Plantronics Voyager focus. Certain market verticals such as finance, consultancy and logistics will be a key battle grounds with requirements for such a feature rich set of products.
“This is the biggest undertaking from Jabra in the last 10 years when it comes to investment in the CC arena and it’s been a massive investment.”
It will be exciting to see how successful the new Engage Series will prove, after previewing the hardware first hand we were certainly impressed.
