“We are the only one-stop point for collaboration solutions”: Chris Thorson, Polycom

Chris Thorson, Senior Director, Polycom talks about companies’ achievement in past one year and their new product portfolio

Chris Thorson, Senior Director, Polycom

What were the major highlights of 2017?
At Polycom we have refreshed our big chunk of portfolio. In September we have launched a new solution in audio space called Polycom VoxBox, it’s a portable speaker phone device. Another new product is an addition in Polycom Trio Family i.e 8500 series which offers the most advanced HD Voice performance. Beside that we have now also added a larger camera into 8800 series for adding content sharing and video conferencing. Polycom Pano is another product which we have introduced in 2017. It’s an in room solution which could also be connected via different mediums, app, phones, PC or laptop. Via this solution you can cast up to four simultaneous streams of high definition content to easily compare and contrast your work. It can turn any regular display into a collaborative solution in minutes and manage from anywhere. Apart from these through out the year we have added many newer product solutions and refreshed media line and traditional video solutions in our portfolio.

With the announcement of Amazon’s Alexa for Business, we are a part of this initiative as we will be partnering with Amazon for providing group of solutions in collaboration with intelligent assistant to simplify the interactions with the technology at work—in conference rooms, desks, and around the office.

We are now only one stop for collaboration solutions. And as we have refreshed our portfolio it’s very good news for us. Also Microsoft is our number one customer. With them our rapport is twelve years old. We have been number one provider for them of UC devices in voice and video space. Recently we have announced an extension of our partnership by working with Microsoft’s newly announced Teams collaboration platform to bring experiences to a broader audience.

How are you collaborating with Government departments in India?
NIC (National Informatics Centre) is one of the largest users of Polycom in India. We have deployed their entire video solutions requirements. When working with government comes huge opportunities as they also recommend us to other government platforms. Also many departments of state and central government are using NIC video platform.

How are you tapping mid-market segment?
Traditionally we work with Enterprise segment but now Mid-market is growing at a fast pace. So, we have decided to work with them as a partner not as a service provider. For SMB we have Polycom Video Conferencing Codecs. This series of solution has at
least 17 products under its umbrella and is perfect solution for SMB or SOHO business.

What are the other verticals that are using your solutions?
We are into healthcare and education segment too. XLRI distance education learning program is wholly on Polycom video platform only. We have also deployed video solutions to Lucknow based Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences better known as SGPGI, where our solutions are connecting patients and doctor in an hour of need.