Less time in the office. More time in the car, client locations and on-the-go.

Less time sitting at a desk in front of the computer. More and more time juggling an array of mobile devices to work smarter – smartphone, tablet, PC.

Watch Steve’s story and you will see how our Voyager PRO UC makes work (and life) simpler. Superior audio quality for voice and video calls, noise-canceling technology, and multi-point connection for all the smart devices that help you get your work done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzUMhPT125A&feature=youtu.be

Unified Communications tools can greatly improve your effectiveness and teamwork in projects in general, but especially in internal projects.

This article gives you some simple tips and tricks for getting more effective using the Unified Communications technologies. You are very welcome to comment on the article, and give input to additional relevant tips for others to use.

1. Group your project team members on your instant messenger
A simple but very effective trick is to arrange all the members of your project into one group for each project. With this little trick you can always see the status of your project members, and easily initiate a chat, call, video meeting or online web meeting, which greatly improves the communication in your project.
E.g. if you are running an internal IT Windows 7 project, then create a group in your instant messenger contact list called “Project – Windows 7”. You can then add each of the team members into that group. This can be done by simply clicking on a person and select “add to group”, or by dragging and dropping while holding the “Ctrl” key to add instead of moving. By using “add to group” to a group, the contact person can appear in multiple groups on the instant messenger.

2. Use presence to track the status of your team members
In today’s global and flexible world, you might never really know where your colleagues are. They might be in a car on the way to a customer, in the airport, in the office or at home. They might work early in the morning or they might work late in the night if that fits into their personal and professional schedule.
With the presence status you can easily see if one of your team members is online or offline, and you can easily see if the member is in a meeting or available for a talk. If it’s late in the evening or night, you might not want to call a colleague, but if he is online and available it’s easy and not very intrusive to send the person a chat and ask if you can disturb.

3. Arrange regular online status meetings
With a web meeting tool like Microsoft Lync you can arrange online meetings where you can share documents, show presentations and see each other on video. One of the benefits with web meetings is that you can meet regularly across geographical boundaries and with much higher quality than just a phone conference.
You can use this very effectively in your projects to arrange regular status meetings where you
• Discuss the progress of the project
• Get input from each team member on their status
• Discuss any critical issues
• Agree on to-do’s and priorities
Web meeting is also a very effective way to keep your management informed on the progress. The information needed for the management is very often underestimated, and with an online meeting you can quickly give a high quality update.
The web meetings can also be used by each team member to hold online meetings with each other to discuss specific tasks in the project, e.g. two team members might go through documentation in a Word document of the backup plan for the Windows 7 project.

4. Use an online document library
In any project there is typically a large amount of e-mails going between the projects members. By using an online document library, you can reduce the amount and size of e-mails and you can ensure that it’s easy to always find the latest version of the documents.
With document libraries such as Sharepoint, you can additionally have a quick overview of the presence status of your team members and you can add elements like discussion groups and comments on your documents.

5. Use online meetings to educate and inform your end users
In any project there is typical some end-users that need to be informed and/or educated in the results of the project.
Without effective information and training the results and value of the project might very well be greatly reduced.
A very effective way to do this is through the use of web meetings. With web meetings you can have a large number of participants on the training at the same time. The participants don’t need to travel in order to participate and you can easily fit it into the schedule of both the trainer and the participants.
On a web meeting you can show both presentations and talk about vision, purpose, plans and implications for the changes, and you can show specific results, like a demo and introduction of the new Windows 7.

It was an exciting CeBIT 2012 for Plantronics, as we shared three major news announcements with the world:

• New ground-breaking contextual intelligence collaborations with three leading software vendors, Sococo, PGi and Five9;
• Enhanced voice recognition partnership with Nuance and Expressware;
• and that we are the first headset company to receive the new TCO Edge Certification.

Below is an interview with Philip Vanhoutte, SVP and Managing Director, EMEA after our press conference at CeBIT discussing Plantronics exciting move into contextual intelligence lead by its Voyager PRO UC with Smart Sensor technology.

Today’s Simply Smarter Applications announcement marks the first time Plantronics has incorporated its technology with ISVs software – why now?

When we started to reach out to the first set of ISVs, they immediately saw how our technology could be beneficial for them and their customers. Up until now, there has been no technology capable of bringing context, mobile and the cloud together. Our innovative Voyager PRO UC makes these impressive ISV collaborations possible thanks to its smart sensor technology.

Sococo, PGi and Five9 are all leaders in their respective industries and are companies that think outside of the box. Like us, they are keen to bring their technology to the next level. Finally we all can, thanks to our contextual intelligence and Smart Sensor technology incorporated with their intuitive software. Now that we are up and running, the sky is the limit!

What benefits does this bring for the end user? For IT Managers?

Simplicity – the essence of our technology is anticipation, so much of the technology you work with day in and day out needs YOU – the end-user – to initiate the action. By incorporating our Voyager PRO UC with Smart Sensor technology, the users’ actions are anticipated and information is being captured at hand to intuitively take the next step.

An IT’s role is tough enough. To place intuitive technology that works across platforms and devices in the hands of its employees makes for a simpler communications experience.

And can you tell me what the new partnerships with the three ISVs means for Plantronics?

This means a big change is underway! These partnerships move Plantronics from a voice company to a software and contextual intelligence provider. We are no longer just providing a communication device; we are providing advanced capabilities for software enhancement. This opens the door for Plantronics to reach out to software developers, communication providers, gaming companies… You name it, the limits are endless.

We have moved way beyond making a simple call. Similar to watches, we are in the wearable industry. We are one of the only pieces of technology that is promoted to be wearable on the human being. Our Smart Sensor technology in the Voyager PRO UC means it can sense, understand and transmit information to make communications simple, like never before.

Simply put, this is not your Grandfather’s headset!

What do you see as the biggest benefit for the enhanced speech recognition announcement with Nuance / Expressware?

Nuance and Expressware stress that if you use speech recognition; you need to be wearing a high-performance headset. Cheap headsets do not cut it – without noise cancellation and wideband audio, speech recognition and its accuracy will never work the way it should.

Nuance integrating our contextual intelligence with the Voyager PRO UC is now the point where speech recognition starts. The usability has changed, no more pushing a button, just place the headset on your ear and start chatting. This intuitive functionality allows office-based and mobile professionals to be more efficient and productive in their day-to-day tasks.

Why is TCO Edge Certification so important to Plantronics?

Personally, I have spent twenty years working with TCO, since the company started with monitors and PCs. They have always been a company that is concerned about safe products, perhaps one of the only in the IT industry.

Mobile phone growth and usage pushed the headset certification. TCO’s first certification for headsets in 2007 was extremely sophisticated stuff. The company has now added emphasis on environmental, recycling and manufacturing.

I think for us, its dedication to corporate social responsibility resonates the most. You just don’t buy a product that the same party designed and manufactured – who do you trust? The only way to be sure of good ergonomics and health, and fair and safe production process is a third party certification, which is what TCO delivers.

Being the first headset company to achieve Edge Certification is an honour, because it’s the top of the top. Companies who do business with us know that we have fair and safe operations. Not to mention, the consumers who wear our headsets are experiencing the best audio quality and enhanced audio limitations possible. Win win for all.

What’s next for Plantronics?

Stemming from our recent product launches and our CeBIT 2012 smarter applications announcement; we are primed and ready to share our wealth of knowledge and contextual intelligence with the world. We will be finding the right venues, building new relationships and establishing evangelists throughout our community to grow awareness of all that Plantronics’ headset technology has to offer.

Interested in watching the press conference as it happened? Follow the link: http://www.tvonweb.de/kunden/cebit2012/plantronics/

For both office and remote based workers, performance of the headset, interoperability, and increased mobility are key.

IT departments that stay abreast of cutting edge audio technology and issue headsets with the best noise-cancellation technology, DSP, voice-dedicated DECT, and wind-isolating technology, that will capture voice in high resolution and make workers sound as natural as possible, make the headset experience positive for both the end user and the person on the other end of the call.

What about employees bringing in their own devices? Headsets that are interoperable and work seamlessly with whatever hot new tablet is being used at home as well as the deskphone at work, make it easy to switch devices, yet maintain stellar audio. Plus, smaller and more discrete headset design makes for less intrusion while on Skype video or FaceTime chats in public places.

More and more studies stress the importance of standing up and stretching throughout the long workday, even some stressing how sitting is actually killing you! A reminder to stand sounds rather odd doesn’t it? But feeling corded to ones desk happens more often than not. One of the cures is to wear a headset  – not only does it free you from your desk and allow freedom of movement about the office and beyond, but it has also been proven to eliminate and reduce back and neck pain, as shown in our recent research with Anglo-European College of Chiropractic.

Noise spillover is a big factor when working in an office environment. Headsets that reduce surrounding noise using advanced wideband audio for high definition noise quality, like the Plantronics Savi W740, enable clear and superior calls. Nothing like zoning out that noisy neighbour with ease!

As workers continue step outside the office walls for meetings or to simply stretch their legs, the importance of quality audio endpoints grows.  Tools that create the same environment remotely, as you would find face-to-face are in high demand. Headsets elevate the role of voice within enterprises and make sure every employee’s voice rises above the noise – no matter where they sit.

As an IT professional, what tools do you have in place to ensure your employees’ voices are being heard? Feel free to share your thoughts below by leaving a comment.

In September of last year, we posted on the topic of the ‘consumerization of IT’ or BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Today’s workforce is increasingly working outside of fixed office spaces and consequently turning to consumer applications and devices, like smartphones and tablets, to improve productivity and collaboration. The result according to Avanade: 88% of executives report employees using personal devices for business.

As we forge into 2012, this trend is continuing to gain momentum within businesses, backed up by recent research from Computer Weekly and TechTarget. Its recent survey of more than 2,500 IT professionals worldwide revealed that about 30% of UK IT departments are incorporating smartphone and tablet initiatives in their strategy for 2012 as workers increasingly use mobile devices for work purposes. In fact this trend shows no sign of stopping with research stating that by 2015 55% of all business devices will be employee-liable.

It is obvious this is no passing phase and apparent that mobile devices will be a major source of change and maturity of mobile technology in business.  Entering an arena dominated by Apple’s iPad (where Forrester research has found that 21% of information workers use Apple products for work) dedicated business tablets have begun to emerge, including Cisco’s mobile collaboration device, the Cius, and the Avaya Flare, a tablet with docking station that supports high definition video calling.

It will be the IT department’s role to establish a policy on personal devices in the workplace and how best to incorporate it with current company UC platforms and applications. Products that are plug n’ play and connect to multiple devices will help reduce the need for training and the burden of adoption.

As mobile devices in the enterprise grow, audio devices, such as headsets that enable privacy, deliver exceptional audio performance and advanced features, plus work with all company and personal devices, will be desired. Headsets, like our Voyager PRO UC even simplify the task of looking up phone numbers, surfing the web or checking an app, allowing you to simultaneously talk and look at the mobile device screen. Convenience will be the name of the game.

The BYOD Experience does not impose an easy task for the IT department but finding common ground is attainable with planning and correct tools in place. (Read more on our UC Toolkit here)

As an IT professional, are you incorporating smartphones and tablets into your company policy? Feel free to drop us your thoughts below by leaving a reply.

Here are 3 things you need to know about the UC Toolkit:

One type of audio device does not fit all!

The majority of UC revolves around the PC, which has serious audio limitations; using the in-built speaker and microphone for calls are nigh on impossible in an average office.  When deciding which audio device is best suited, a number of factors need to be considered:

1.    Work environment – does the user work in an open plan office, private office, from home, on the road? A speaker phone can work in a private office or at home and a headset is generally better in an open plan office and on the road.

2.    Experience/Comfort with PC – if the user is fairly inexperienced with PC communications, a USB telephone can help ease the transition between traditional telephony and UC.

3.    PC/voice interactivity – If the user needs their hands free to use the computer then a headset or speakerphone is the obvious choice.

4. Conference call frequency – If the user is a frequent conference caller without video, adopting a wideband solution can help to provide crisp clear audio.

Additionally, the working roles need to be considered. For example, a road warrior may communicate primarily with a mobile phone but also a PC. A UC optimized multipoint Bluetooth headset would work here.

Phone intensive office workers will need a solution that offers optimal comfort and sound and a wireless headset solution that will allow them to move freely around the office while still on calls.

Home workers will need a multipoint solution that connects to all their devices and cancels out background noise and also allows them to move around.

Whatever the working scenario and working roles, high quality headsets and audio devices that cross communication platforms, networks, and enable workers to communicate comfortably and effectively are essential for UC success.

For a full set of features to consider to ensure a successful deployment of  audio devices for UC in your organization head over to the UC Toolkit (using the link below) and download the checklist from the “Trial” section.

http://www.plantronics.com/uctoolkit

http://youtu.be/pAMzgFx0Y10

To learn more about wireless headset technologies, visit the Plantronics UC Toolkit, go to the “Plan” section where you will find a helpful whitepaper giving an overview of wireless technologies for the office.

Alternatively, you can browse Plantronics’ range of wireless headsets for the office.

We see a lot of great successes, where companies save money and get significant value from Unified Communications solutions. It is with good reason. Unified Communications is a unique communication tool with great potential for both large and small organizations. I do, however see many companies, which have found that their investment in UC did not have the expected impact. From my experience there are 7 common reasons UC adoption typical fails, which is illustrated in the figure below.

1. Wrong Communications
Quite often the communication is sent from the IT department and is very technical, e.g. “New version of Microsoft OCS deployed”. If the users do not know they have a need for the solution, the e-mail will drown in the huge amount of other e-mails and the overload of other communication.
-> Write in a language that interest the end user – start with why they get new possibilities

2. Not looking from the users perspective
When the communication and training is technical it does not look at it from the user perspective, but from a function and feature perspectives.
-> Focus on what the users get out of the new possibilities throughout the communication, motivation and education, e.g. better communication, more flexibility, etc.

3. One size does not fit all
It is quite obvious, that different users have different needs. This means that the different users will have different benefits from the UC solutions, e.g. sales can benefit from online meetings with clients and R&D can benefit from easier connecting team members located in other buildings or countries.
-> Differentiate communication, motivation and training for different user groups.

4. Bad timing
Why is it most IT projects stop when the solution is put into production? If you want to change the user habits and you want them to adapt new ways of working it is an ongoing process.
-> Make a plan for the organizational implementation that continues after the solution has been put into production.

5. Invisible management
We all know that management support is very important for organizational changes. Effective adoption of UC is about smarter working and requires an organizational change. It is important that the management gets involved. It is not an IT project.
-> Involve management. Both as users of UC, but also motivators and the ones that need to follow up on the adoption.

6. No focus on the vision
Very often I find that UC implementations are run as a technical IT project with no focus on the vision. No one has considered why the company is doing this, and how this project fits with the business strategy.
-> Identify how the UC implementation and smarter working aligns with the business strategy, and make an organizational implementation plan that focuses on this.

7. Bad first time experience
We all know that a good first time experience is important to create a positive impression and motivation, and that a bad first time experience can be really damaging for the motivation. What is often overlooked is that the first time experience is not only depending on the technical solution. The first time experience also depends very much on the user attitude and perceptions.
-> If you have avoided the above mistakes and made an effective communication, motivation and education you user has a much better chance of a good first time experience.

So, what makes a truly enterprise-grade headset? It is important to understand that people want a device that allows them to communicate intuitively, a headset that looks good, sounds good, fits well and does not break easily. Enterprise headsets should be built for durability. For example, at Plantronics each enterprise headset undergoes rigorous testing designed to simulate headset usage over four years and is benchmarked against comparable headsets from other manufacturers. These tests  include:

Physical
a.    Drop tests
b.    Vibration tests
c.    Operating – Thermal shock, humidity/temperature cycling
d.    Storage – Thermal shock, humidity/temperature cycling

Mechanical Strength
a.    Boom rotation test
b.    Boom stop strength test
c.    Cable/plastic junction pull tests

Reliability
a.    Quick Disconnect (QD) cycling
b.    Headset/handset switch cycling test
c.    Volume control cycling test
d.    Cable flex/bend/twist tests
e.    Headband extension/retraction

Electrical Environment
a.    Electrostatic discharge test
b.    Electromagnetic compatibility

If your headset works and continues to work, then the total cost of ownership is lower and of course this makes a significant saving to the bottom line of running an office whatever the size.

For a full set of features to consider to ensure a successful deployment of  headsets for UC in your organization head over to the UC Toolkit (using the link below) and download the checklist from the “Trial” section.

http://www.plantronics.com/uctoolkit