It seems like a good time to look back on some of our milestones for the year – and to look ahead to the future.

In 2019, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s famous “one small step” transmission being conveyed over a Plantronics headset from the surface of the moon. And, it’s safe to say that the rest of the year has been filled with “giant leaps” for our company.

In March, we unveiled our new name and logo to the world. We took two distinct companies — Plantronics and Polycom — each with their own rich history and forged a new identity for them under one banner.

We told the world that our companies were “better together” — that combined we are stronger and better than either company could have been on its own. Then, we went out and proved it: our times to market are quicker, we’ve expanded our channels and reach, and we have refreshed nearly our entire product line — from video to phones to headsets. Notably, we updated our Savi 8200 Office and UC Series headsets, and also introduced the radical simplicity of the new Poly Studio X30 and Poly Studio X50 video bars.

What’s in Store for the Year Ahead?

  • Millions of daily small steps by our dedicated employees that lead to the giant leaps that help people around the world work more productively — whether that means erasing noisy distractions to enhance workplace focus or seamlessly connecting co-workers around the globe for a video meeting.
  • A continual expansion of our ecosystem as we look for more ways to partner with others. Our partnerships with Zoom and Microsoft Teams will continue to embody a successful collaboration, adding up to a better experience for our shared customers.
  • Industrywide, AI will continue to grow in importance and usefulness, all while blending seamlessly into the background, as it should. You can see applications of this already in the way our video bars zoom in on the person speaking, widen the view when new people enter the room, or equalize audio levels even if one speaker is next to the camera and another is 20 feet away.

It’s always dangerous to make predictions, but I see a strong year ahead, and that we’ll have many new accomplishments be proud of a year from now.

After all, for this year: foresight is 2020.