{"id":3408,"date":"2019-03-18T05:18:19","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T12:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/?p=3408"},"modified":"2019-03-18T05:18:19","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T12:18:19","slug":"poly-our-new-company-modernizes-the-way-people-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/poly-our-new-company-modernizes-the-way-people-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Poly: Our New Company Modernizes the Way People Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

The way we work has changed drastically since I started my engineering career 30 years ago. Today, the open office defines the modern workspace \u2013 meant for in-person collaboration and communication \u2013 but often introducing noise and distractions. And as more people work from home offices, coffee shops, co-working spaces, or anywhere else on-the-go, their ability to communicate and collaborate with colleagues, customers or clients can be a distinct challenge.<\/p>\n

The key enablers of the open office and on-the-go work style are the incredible changes in our industry. The shift to mobility and cloud communications changes everything. \u00a0As we transition from an on-premises world of technology to the cloud, we talk a lot about how the cloud shifts expenses from capex to opex, how it can save money and speed innovation.\u00a0 But the impact on work communications and productivity is even more profound.<\/p>\n

As I write, the tyranny of the PBX is being overturned.\u00a0 What do I mean by that?\u00a0 Until very recently, your desk phone was stuck in the 1990s, subservient to the old-world call platform (the private telephone networks used within organizations).\u00a0Replacing that antique call control system is, instead, a collaboration platform, born in the cloud.<\/p>\n

Rich media with more intelligence is coming into our offices, conference rooms, and meeting spaces \u2013 offering more collaboration opportunities than with a voice-only solution. Now you have voice, video, and content sharing with an incredible and growing array of features.<\/p>\n

Systems that were vertically integrated are being disrupted.\u00a0 We are breaking down silos and the call control no longer dictates or limits what your endpoints \u2013 headsets, video and audio conferencing solutions, desk phones \u2013 can do.\u00a0 The user has all the control.\u00a0 Software in the cloud and software on smart devices offers a variety of experiences.\u00a0 This empowers end users more than ever to choose a solution that works best for them. We are entering the era of democratized communications \u2013 users select the experience that works bests for their needs and preferences.<\/p>\n

Welcoming Our New Future: Meet Poly<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is against this backdrop that I have the honor of introducing a new company. Today, we are bringing Plantronics and Polycom together as one new company: Poly.<\/p>\n

This is so much more than the renaming of Polycom or Plantronics.\u00a0Poly will have DNA from its ancestors, but like any offspring, it will be more than the sum of the parents, it will be an entirely new entity with a mission to create new ways to see, hear, work and work together. To make every call as rich and natural as in person.<\/p>\n

There is no better time to bring our breadth of all our smart endpoints that connect across and between unified communications platforms to reduce the distractions, complexity, and distance in the modern workspace. Of course, the challenge with empowering users in enterprise communications is that IT tends to get cut out of the picture, but we are looking at a world where IT benefits just as end users do.\u00a0We believe that the two are not mutually exclusive in today\u2019s new world.<\/p>\n

As we chart our path forward, Poly will focus on four distinct areas of innovation:<\/p>\n