Driving Business Continuity: Opportunity and Growth in the “New Normal” with Poly and Microsoft Teams
On Wednesday 26 August, Dicker Data New Zealand hosted an exclusive webinar alongside Poly exploring how the COVID-19 pandemic is creating unique opportunities for partners to offer end-to-end solutions that drive business continuity and growth in today’s so called “new normal”.
Richard Harri, General Manager at Dicker Data New Zealand set the scene. He said the onset of the pandemic was “the storm before the calm”, which forced businesses to quickly transition to a remote work environment using whatever solutions they could get a hold of. Moving forward and to better equip emerging hybrid working models, businesses are now looking for better quality, longer term solutions. Dicker Data partners with Poly to offer solutions that enable partners and their customers to future-proof workplaces, ensure business continuity and meet the needs of new and individual work styles.
Keynote speaker James Ware, Senior Manager Strategic Alliance at Poly, led the session highlighting how their devices, available only via the channel, provide a total solution and are backed by local service and support. They work with partners to drive transformation, business resilience and enhance working experiences.
Unlocking digital solutions in a remote environment
The pandemic has intensified the need for tech solutions that enable productivity, connectivity and engagement and it is unlikely we’ll be returning to pre COVID-19 work arrangements anytime soon. James Ware said, “New Zealand is adapting quickly to hybrid working models and moving forward, it is expected that 25-30 percent of the entire population will continue to work from home and 67 percent of employees are in jobs that require collaboration.”
Poly offers a comprehensive suite of solutions for Microsoft Teams that also immediately integrate with certified Skype for Business devices. The solutions focus on customer transformation journeys, optimising better ways of working through turnkey solutions, driving measurable business outcomes and adding value.
James Ware discussed how many remote workers feel isolated. Addressing this, Poly’s integrated Microsoft Teams solutions offers partners a one-stop shop for personalised and group collaboration needs. From visual and audio devices through to personalised support services. Poly products enhance productivity, and connectivity to offer meaningful human-to-human communication that replicate face-to-face meeting experiences.
Unified and inclusive experiences drive productivity and collaboration
As we move into a digital renaissance, the success of long-term flexible work arrangements will depend on how digitally equipped both remote teams and physical meeting rooms are. Poly and Microsoft Teams offer intelligent solutions to improve engagement, collaboration and most importantly break down communication barriers when operating virtually.
Native is the new open. Since COVID-19, James Ware said, the quality of virtually connecting with teams, clients and prospects has become a business priority. Cloud applications deliver consistent user experiences to drive adoption, rich meeting and native experiences across various workspaces. With enhanced device performance, users have access to secure, flexible and agile solutions, through wireless sharing from multiple enterprise and personal devices and applications.
Moving to a cloud-based architecture and software like Microsoft Modern Workplace Cloud Solutions, Poly Lens and Plantronics Manager Pro SaaS, end users get the most out of their devices as the management platform offers a unified portal.
Offering the most certified end-to-end devices options for Microsoft Teams, Poly users can connect from numerous devices to push content, be it personal or meeting room devices. For IT pros, the benefits include immediately onboarding devices and effectively managing inventory to driving fast adoption and remote troubleshooting capabilities.
Experiential tools to enhance attention
Poly solutions protect your investment by enabling existing video and voice conferencing equipment to work easily with current and future Microsoft collaboration platforms. Poly helps customers to plan, deploy, operate, and support individual Microsoft solution environments.
Remote video conferencing has become the new face-to-face meeting. That said, managing distractions in the office can be hard but managing them in home environments is even more challenging. During the webinar Poly showcased features of their devices that highlighted the benefits of quality audio and visual solutions. It underscored the importance of quality meeting experiences especially in driving productivity and engagement.
Collaborative Bar applications like Poly Room solutions for Microsoft Teams, including G-series Microsoft Teams Rooms Solutions, Poly Studio X30 and Poly Studio X50 Collaboration Bars for Microsoft Teams, deliver the familiar Teams interface users desire, combined with powerful Poly audio and video technologies.
To enable various room sizes, the G10 T (small room), G40 T (small-medium room) and G85 (medium to large), deliver clutter-free Microsoft Teams Rooms experiences, richer capability and dedicated tabletop console with personalised calendar access.
The Poly certified peripherals for Microsoft Teams Rooms offer existing clients a suite of USB camera options to better equip users in various office spaces, conference rooms and meeting sizes – these include EagleEye Cube USB, Poly Studio, and EagleEye Director II/IV.
Conference phones with quality audio including best seller, Poly Trio C60 series and the Calisto turn any room into a more professional-sounding space. In the office, at home or on the go, Poly delivers the widest range of voice devices for Microsoft Office 365 including the CCX Series and Elara 60 Series, seamlessly transitioning on-the-road calls to at-your-desk collaboration and connects to Microsoft Teams in just a touch.
Poly Real Connect enables video interoperability with Microsoft Teams integrating with H.323/SIP conferencing systems to Microsoft Teams or Skype for Business meetings.
Poly and Microsoft Teams enable productive workflows with added video interoperability so users can join meetings from their personal clients, Microsoft Teams Rooms systems, as well as from video conferencing systems, anywhere, anytime.
Experience driven innovation
Intelligent video and audio capabilities, designed for a flexible and hybrid workforce, increase meeting engagement. Poly Meeting AI are opening new conference call initiatives with speaker tracking, smooth transitions, conversation mode and group framing capabilities. James Ware introduced two components: near end and far end. Near end allows for consistent join in experience with Poly One Touch Dial, saving time and increases adoption while far end instigates intelligent video engagement by making participants feel like they are in the room.
Accompanying headsets are designed with today’s business professional in mind, enabling rich audio connections suitable for various workstyle and environments. Poly’s Microsoft Teams-certified headsets meet Microsoft’s audio requirements and include a dedicated Teams button to instantly invoke Microsoft Teams to the foreground for streamlined communications.
The Poly Voyager range offers multi-device, wireless and Bluetooth connectivity while the Poly Savi line offers a selection of DECT wireless headsets with best-in-class sound quality, long-range and hands-free mobility and hours of talk time.
The Poly Blackwire range offers multiple corded UC devices to deliver outstanding audio quality and reliability, ease of use and budget friendly price points.
Integrated solutions play a vital role in bolstering team engagement, collaboration and accessibility regardless of the location, all of which lead to increased productivity and long-term business continuity.
If you are looking for more ways to improve communication and collaboration in today’s hybrid work style, the Poly team are offering live demonstrations to partners in Auckland and virtual presentations to the wider New Zealand and Australian market. For additional enquires, speak to the Dicker Data team about the current Poly channel promotions and partner incentives sales@dickerdata.co.nz
