Plantronics introduces the Polycom Studio video bar

Source: Plantronics. The Polycom Studio in action beneath the screen.

Plantronics, an audio pioneer and unified communications technology company, has announced its first entry into the huddle room video market with its new plug-and-play video bar, Polycom Studio. Available as a portable USB device, the video bar immerses small meeting groups in an upgraded collaboration experience with Polycom’s HD audio and video quality, and is compatible with PCs or Macs for video collaboration on popular video-as-a-service (VaaS) platforms.

According to Plantronics, today’s open office spaces have resulted in an explosion of smaller meeting spaces, or “huddle rooms,” where groups of two to six can escape the noise to collaborate, often with coworkers in other locations. But of an estimated 32 million huddle rooms globally, only 2% of those spaces include equipment for videoconferencing*, which is becoming increasingly important for the mobile workforce.

In the Asia Pacific region, a recent Growing Big Ideas from Small Spaces study by Polycom found 96% of workers in the region (including Singapore) agreed that collaboration technologies such as videoconferencing help them to be more productive and to work smarter, but only 41% of huddle rooms in Singapore are video-enabled. This adoption lags behind India and China.

“With an increasingly mobile workforce, workers are no longer bound by physical limitations when it comes to having meetings and collaborating. There is a growing need for companies to equip their workspaces to enable workers to work smarter, collaborate more and achieve greater productivity. With the HD audio and video clarity that Polycom Studio provides, even the smallest of spaces can have boardroom capability,” said Low Mei Lin, Director, APAC solutions marketing at Polycom.

With a USB connection, any PC or Mac can leverage the power of Polycom Studio to elevate audio and video meeting experiences. Its patented NoiseBlock and Acoustic Fence technologies reduce or eliminate distracting noise from office environments for professional-sounding communications. Automatic speaker tracking focuses on whoever is speaking within an ultra-wide 120-degree field of view. With 4K resolution and 5x electronic zoom, Polycom Studio provides TV studio-like quality and experiences in a meeting.

“Enterprises around the world have come to understand the strategic importance of their smaller meeting spaces. In fact, we expect the number of AV-enabled huddle rooms to increase by 15% in the next 12-24 months,” explains Ira M. Weinstein, Managing Partner at analyst firm Recon Research.

“With the release of Polycom Studio, Polycom can finally bring its decades of experience in high quality video and audio to smaller rooms with lower budgets. And based on our initial testing, we think Polycom Studio will meet the expectations of even the most discerning huddle room users.”

Unlike most USB devices that give IT little or no visibility into what is being used or any means for management and updating, Polycom Studio wirelessly connects to a corporate network to allow IT professionals a “no touch” means to manage Polycom Studio units installed anywhere in the world. Customers can easily manage their Polycom Studio video bars along with their other Polycom devices through the cloud with the Polycom Device Management Service for Enterprise or on premises with Polycom RealPresence Resource Manager.

Details:

Polycom Studio will be available in Singapore from February 28, 2019 through channel partners and distributors at a recommended retail price of US$949. VaaS platforms supported include Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, Google Meet, Cisco Webex, and Amazon Chime.

*Research and Markets, Global Video Conferencing in Huddle Rooms Market 2018-2022 – Looking Beyond the Hype

Video-enabled huddle rooms could improve collaboration

• India, China and Singapore lead the region in use of collaboration technology in small meeting rooms
• Less than half (41%) of small meeting rooms or huddle spaces in Singapore are video-enabled, in contrast to 77% in India and 74% in China
• Almost all (96%) of Singapore and Asia Pacific (APAC) workers said that collaboration technologies help them to be more productive and to work smarter

Source: Polycom. People videoconferencing in a huddle room.

Singapore is among countries in Asia Pacific leading the use of collaboration technologies in small meeting rooms, or huddle rooms, but there remain significant opportunities to improve productivity through advanced collaboration tools.

A new study released by Polycom - now part of Plantronics - revealed that while content sharing is the preferred collaboration tool for Singapore workers, the nation’s adoption of videoconferencing is lagging in the region, providing an opportunity for productivity gain by using the latest collaboration tools such as video-conferencing and digital whiteboards.

The survey, Growing Big Ideas from Small Spaces, set out to discover the top collaboration preferences among workers in Asia Pacific – Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, and Singapore. The report also sought to understand the growth in popularity of using smaller meeting spaces.

The study, which surveyed over 2,000 APAC workers, including 202 respondents from Singapore, showed that 96% of Singapore and APAC workers said that collaboration technologies help them to be more productive and to work smarter. Singapore workers are leading the region in using collaborative technologies to improve collaboration (77%), transfer knowledge (74%), increase productivity (70%) and enhance innovation and new idea generation (56%).

“Huddle rooms or workspaces are exactly what they sound like – small areas typically designed to accommodate no more than six people. Modern workplaces are incorporating more huddle spaces over larger conference rooms to encourage frequent team meetings and offer quiet focus areas in open environments,” explains Mei Lin Low, Director of APAC Solutions Marketing at Polycom.

“Today’s digital workers want to work smarter – connect and interact spontaneously, produce outcomes and drive results quicker. Technology-enabled huddle rooms satisfy this need for real-time, productive collaboration and are now, more than ever, an important component in an organisation’s digital transformation journey.” 

Half of the Singapore workers (49%) use small meeting rooms only one to two times per week, while one out of three workers used it almost every day (three to five times a week), predominantly for internal meetings, followed by customer meetings and brainstorming sessions.

The survey, however, showed that less than half (41%) of small meeting rooms in Singapore are video-enabled, in contrast to 77% in India and 74% in China. These findings suggest significant opportunities for Singapore’s IT decision-makers to improve collaboration experiences and adopt current well-rounded technology-enabled environments for their businesses; particularly in light of national innovation efforts such as Smart Nation.

In fact, when 84% of Singapore workers use collaboration solutions to conduct team meetings with colleagues in other locations, 70% of them use it for workshops, brainstorming or problem-solving sessions with remote participants. Adopting collaboration tools like video conference has great potential to increase productivity through more interactive face-to-face communications.

Low continues: “While you don’t need expensive equipment to make great collaboration happen, a huddle room has to serve its purpose in enabling team meetings across any distance. Collaboration technology has evolved to adapt to people’s needs and new ways of working. But Frost & Sullivan research* has found that the majority of small meeting rooms globally are audio-visually challenged, leaving considerable opportunity for organisations in Singapore to create smarter huddle spaces.”

Other findings from Singapore included:

- Content-sharing via laptop is more prevalent for 71% of Singapore respondents while 37% use a mobile device.

- Creating the human-to-human connection is a priority – 72% are connecting to remote participants from their small meeting rooms, using audio, video, or content sharing technologies.

- Teleworking is also making an impact for workers in Singapore – respondents here showed a higher preference for using collaboration technology to connect with colleagues when working remotely.

Audrey William, Senior Fellow and Head of Research, Frost & Sullivan Australia and New Zealand said: “Creating intelligent workspaces like the huddle room, is the future of work. Small meeting spaces are fast becoming smart workspaces where high performance collaboration like problem solving and idea generation are taking place.

“Over time, expect that collaboration technologies like video will evolve even further with many already starting to include the integration of smart devices and voice activated speakers powered by artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.”

Details:

Read the Growing Big Ideas from Small Spaces report

*http://digitaltransformation.frost.com/expert-insights/viewpoints/huddle-room-video-conferencing-looking-beyond-hype/

Bank offers live videoconferencing in Beirut

Bank Audi has opened a flagship Novo branch in the Palladium Building in Beirut Central District. The Novo branch, open 365 days a year from 10am to 10pm, provides interactive access to banking services.

In addition to smart ATMs which allow cash withdrawal, cash and cheque deposits, and credit card settlement, the branch features, for the first time in Lebanon, interactive teller machines (ITMs) which offer customers live video conferencing with personal tellers. Through ITMs, they can perform banking transactions, manage their accounts, deposit and cash cheques, deposit and withdraw cash, pay bills, transfer money to a Bank Audi account, and get live assistance.

A Novo advisory room is also available for customers and enables live video chat, browsing and applying for services, loans and cards, in addition to account opening, as well as instant debit card issuance.

Another facet of the Novo branch is Cards to Go, a vending machine for prepaid cards. The machine includes the Card Artist feature which gives them the possibility of designing their own prepaid card and issue it on the spot.

The new branch also includes a Novo information station that offers live video chats with Bank Audi advisors, as well as the possibility of instantly browsing through services, loans and cards, and accessing home showrooms with loans, cards and services simulations.

*Image from Bank Audi.

Microsoft introduces Skype for Business

Microsoft is bringing Lync and Skype together with Skype for Business. In a blog post announcing the move, Gurdeep Pall, Corporate VP for Skype at Microsoft, said that the company is "bringing together the familiar experience and user love of Skype with the enterprise security, compliance and control from Lync to create the most loved and trusted communications platform for doing things together".

In the first half of 2015, the next version of Lync will become Skype for Business with a new client experience, new server release and updates to the service in Office 365. "We believe that Skype for Business will again transform the way people communicate by giving organisations reach to hundreds of millions of Skype users outside the walls of their business," Pall said.

Skype for Business will feature Skype icons for calling, adding video and ending a call, as well as the Skype call monitor, which keeps an active call visible in a small window even when a user moves focus to another application.

The new application will also improve on existing Lync capabilities, including content sharing and telephony. "Lync already offers instant messaging and audio calling with Skype users. Skype for Business adds video calling and the Skype user directory making it possible to call any Skype user on any device," shared Pall.

Current Lync Server customers can update from Lync Server 2013 to the new Skype for Business Server in their data centres, while the update will be transparent to Office 365 customers.

To learn more about how Skype for Business will help people be more productive, read the Skype Garage Blog or the Office Blog. An introductory video to Skype for Business can be viewed here.

*Images from the Office Blog.