Earlier this year, BlueJeans by Verizon announced its new BlueJeans Rooms-as-a-Service (RaaS) offering in partnership with Poly, transforming conference rooms into hybrid meeting spaces by bundling BlueJeans Rooms software, Poly video hardware, maintenance, and support into a monthly service with predictable costs. We’ll talk about the benefits of deploying rooms in an “As-A-Service” model shortly, but first let’s delve into what’s included in the BlueJeans offer.

BlueJeans Software

BlueJeans’ video conferencing meeting software is at the core of the bundled offer, allowing both in-room and remote participants to join and have a consistent meeting experience from any device. BlueJeans has long been recognized as a leader in video conferencing for the digital workplace, and its Rooms service offering is specifically designed to address the needs of the conference room. Features like one-touch join and seamless calendar integration to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace simplify the user experience. Centralized room management and real-time room analytics are provided through BlueJeans’ Command Center.

Poly Video Hardware

Poly’s Studio X30 and Studio X50 run the BlueJeans Rooms software without the need for a separate PC. These all-in-one devices combine cameras, speakers, and microphones into a beautiful design that looks good in any conference room. Paired with the Poly TC8 controller on the table, meeting controls are just a touch away. The meeting experience is elevated with Poly’s advanced speaker tracking and audio enhancements like Noise Block AI and Acoustic Fence. Management of the video hardware is simplified with secure, over-the-air, automatic software updates.

Support and Maintenance

With the BlueJeans RaaS offer all your support and maintenance needs are handled by one vendor. Whether you have an issue with hardware or software, BlueJeans covers it for the lifetime of the relationship. And if the issue is with the Poly Studio X hardware, warranty services with advance hardware replacement are included as part of the monthly fee.

RaaS Model Benefits

One of the biggest advantages of the RaaS model is that it provides a complete video conference room solution for a predictable monthly expense. There are no large upfront capital expenses (Capex), since the charges for hardware and software are treated as an operating expense (Opex). Because there is no ownership of physical or virtual assets, there is no need to track the asset value, calculate annual depreciation, or dispose of the asset at the end of its lifecycle. With RaaS, you simply return the hardware at the end of the service period or when upgrading to newer hardware.

Another benefit to RaaS is that you always have the latest software and hardware firmware updates available. The monthly subscription model supplies maintenance, support, and warranty replacements over the life of the service. You get the latest features and peace of mind!

How to Leverage RaaS for Hybrid Meeting Deployments

Many businesses are making the move to a hybrid workplace, where workers split time between a remote location (such as a home office) and a company office. While going hybrid brings many benefits, it also has challenges, such as ensuring that all conference rooms are video-enabled to ensure an equitable experience for all participants, regardless of whether they are in-office or remote. Providing a level playing field ensures everyone can be fully engaged and productive during meetings.

However, it’s estimated that only about 10% of meeting rooms globally are equipped to support video meetings. Therefore, businesses must ensure their conference rooms are video ready as part of the move to hybrid work. RaaS can help enable all meeting rooms by providing a complete turnkey solution that’s easy to deploy while eliminating making a large, upfront financial commitment.

Many businesses that already had video deployed in conference rooms have found their legacy solutions either no longer met their needs or are not compatible with new video platforms. RaaS can ease the upgrade of rooms to new services and hardware by providing predictable low-monthly costs as well as the peace of mind in knowing the entire solution is supported and upgradable in the future.

Whether you choose BlueJeans as your video conferencing solution or one of the many other platforms that Poly supports, be sure to ask about Room-as-a-Service options. Video consumption continues to grow, and employees will expect a seamless, equitable experience regardless of work location. RaaS will make it easier to meet these demands by easing the upfront roll-out of video and providing comfort that the solution is supported as it’s used over the long term.

Visit the BlueJeans website to learn more about the BlueJeans Rooms-as-a-Service offer.