The Importance of Enhancing Your Video Conferencing Setup with Logitech Select 

In today’s fast-paced business landscape, effective communication and collaboration are essential. With teams often spread across different locations, video conferencing has become indispensable for maintaining seamless connections. However, the complexity and potential pitfalls associated with video conferencing systems can sometimes undermine the very efficiency they are meant to bring. This is where Logitech Select steps in, offering a comprehensive service plan designed to fortify businesses reliant on video conferencing solutions.

Safeguarding Your Conferencing Investment 

Logitech Select presents various benefits that address the challenges associated with video conferencing, providing much-needed assurance for organizations of all sizes. Here’s why integrating Logitech Select into your video conferencing setup is a prudent decision:

24/7 Expert Support 

With Logitech Select, you can access 24/7 support from experienced Logitech experts. This means that no matter when or where a technical issue arises, you can get help quickly and easily. This can help to minimize downtime and maximize productivity, allowing you to focus on your business goals rather than troubleshooting problems. 

Dedicated Service Manager*

Each Logitech Select customer is assigned a dedicated service manager who is familiar with their business and its unique needs. This personalized assistance can help expedite problem resolution and ensure your video conferencing system is always up and running. 

Swift Product Replacement 

Logitech Select can help you get a replacement if equipment fails quickly and easily. This can help to minimize disruptions to your workflow and ensure that your video conferencing needs are always met. 

The Importance of Enhancing Your Video Conferencing Setup with Logitech Select

Accelerated RMA

Logitech Select also offers accelerated Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) services. This means the process is expedited if a product needs to be repaired or replaced. This can help you get back up and running as quickly as possible.  

The Importance of Enhancing Your Video Conferencing Setup with Logitech Select

Onsite Spares**

Logitech Select can also provide onsite spares for your video conferencing equipment. This means you will always have backup equipment available in case of a hardware failure. This can help to prevent downtime and keep your video conferencing system running smoothly. 

Advanced Insights and Analytics

Logitech Select also provides advanced insights and analytics. This data can help you optimize your video conferencing experience and ensure you get the most out of your system. For example, you can use this data to identify usage patterns and diagnose potential issues before they cause problems. 

The Importance of Enhancing Your Video Conferencing Setup with Logitech Select

A Holistic Investment 

Logitech Select is a holistic investment that can help businesses of all sizes get the most out of their video conferencing systems. Logitech Select can help companies harness the full potential of video conferencing by mitigating downtime, reducing technical disruptions, and offering proactive support. The savings in time, resources, and peace of mind are undeniable, making Logitech Select an indispensable asset for any organization committed to effective communication and collaboration. 

To learn more about Logitech Select and how it can benefit your business, contact a Call One, Inc. team member. 

Call One, Inc. is a woman-owned business that has been helping businesses do their business better since 1987. We specialize in professional-grade audio and video solutions for personal and team workspaces. We offer pre-and post-sales support, and we are committed to providing real people and real service with unbiased recommendations. 

Here are the three reasons why customers choose Call One, Inc.: 

  • Specificity: We focus on professional-grade audio and video solutions, so you can be confident that you are getting the best possible products and services. 
  • Credibility: We have been in business for over 35 years, and we have a reputation for providing high-quality products and services. 
  • Value: We offer a wide range of complementary solutions and services, so you can get everything you need from a single source. 

We are committed to helping you do your business better. How can we help?  

*Available with purchase of a Logitech Select service plan for 50 or more rooms. 

 **One onsite spare kit for every 50 rooms is covered under a Logitech Select Plan. 

Consumer vs. Business Audio and Video Devices

Consumer vs. Business Audio and Video Devices 

Regularly I’m asked to review a variety of audio and video devices, including consumer products. I often respond that the Call One, Inc. YouTube Channel focuses on solutions designed for use with business communications and collaboration platforms from Microsoft, Zoom, Cisco, 8×8, RingCentral, etc.  

Microsoft Teams Devices banner 2

Packaging, Warranty, & Multi-Connectivity 

Most people don’t realize there are differences between consumer and business audio and video devices. Some differences are subtle, like the packaging to support mass deployments and extended warranty periods. Another difference is the inclusion of a Bluetooth dongle with UC Bluetooth headsets to improve connection stability, audio quality, and compatibility and provide remote call control. Leading device manufacturers also offer multi-connectivity solutions to support a broad range of use cases.  

Consumer Business Audio Video Devices

Compatible and Certified 

Business audio and video device manufacturers work directly with leading business communications and collaboration platform providers to develop compatible and certified solutions, so end-users have a great experience with setup, use, and performance.  

Consumer Business Audio Video Devices

Device Management Software 

A critical difference that has become increasingly important in today’s remote and hybrid work world is device management software. Businesses spend thousands to millions of dollars on audio and video devices annually to empower and enable their employees to be productive wherever they are working. How do business leaders know where the devices are and if they are being used? Device management software allows IT teams to remotely provision, monitor, troubleshoot, and manage devices.  

Depending on the brand and suite of products, some device management software offers analytics and actionable insights that can be highly beneficial for understanding user adoption, call analytics, room usage, and more! 

Poly Lens devices Consumer Business Audio Video Devices

Organizations need to consider developing audio and video device standards that provide device management software from these leading global brands:  

Authorized Resellers 

Authorized Resellers like Call One, Inc. can help your organization select business-grade audio and video devices that the appropriate software can remotely manage.  

Call One, Inc. is a Nationally Certified Women’s Business Enterprise (WBENC) and Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB), helping people do their business better since 1987. We are an authorized reseller of Poly, Jabra, Logitech, EPOS, Yealink, and other leading audio and video device brands. Contact us if you want more information or schedule a meeting to discuss your device management needs.  

Device Management Software Video Resources: 

Device Management Software Panal

Device Management Software Panel Discussion

The global pandemic accelerated many organizations’ transition to remote work models. Heading into our second year of living in a continued state of uncertainty, organizations have made significant changes to how their employees communicate and collaborate. Cloud-based communications are being adopted and used. Business and IT leaders are developing new audio and video device standards to support the new normal of hybrid work or permanent remote work models.

The Challenge

How do organizations deploy, monitor, and manage devices for a dispersed workforce? How do organizations know if their employees are utilizing approved devices? How can IT teams better support a remote workforce and mitigate potential issues and reduce help desk ticket submissions?

The Solution

Device Management Software. The leading device manufacturers have developed device management software that is free or as a paid subscription. They also offer different delivery methods.

The Panelists:

The Questions:

  • Please provide a brief overview of your solution and share a real-world example of how it has benefited a client.
  • What’s the difference between enterprise and individual desktop software? Do they need both?
  • One of the objections IT has for not supporting device management software is “security.” Security is certainly a legitimate concern, does your software have built-in security measures? What is your response to IT teams who express security concerns?
  • What do you see in the future for device management software?
Jabra Direct Xpress

Watch the video to hear the complete discussion.

Question #1: Please provide a brief overview of your solution and share a real-world example of how it has benefited a client.

Each panelist provides real-world examples of how device management software has benefited clients.

Marty with Poly shares how their software helped a large school district in southern California deploy tens of thousands of Poly Studio USB devices.

Trevor of Logitech shares how their software helped a large insurance company manage their meeting room devices remotely. This saved time and the need for IT team members to go room to room to ensure the devices were up and running.

Scott of EPOS shares several insurance institutions in Connecticut have been doing a hard phone removal. They utilize their software to ensure that headset firmware is updated and in high turnover scenarios, ensuring they are not repeating headsets.

Tim with Jabra shares how a multinational agriculture company in the Midwest uses their software to mass deploy updates to more than 25,000 devices including USB headsets, DECT wireless headsets, and video devices.

To hear their complete stories, watch the video!

What EPOS is Seeing in This New Normal

Question #2: What’s the difference between enterprise and individual desktop software? Do they need both?

Each partner offers device management software. The software allows IT teams to deploy, monitor, and manage audio and video devices. There are also desktop apps that provide end-users the ability to customize their device experience based on their preferences.

Watch the video to hear from the experts the differences between their enterprise software and the desktop app.

Question #3: One of the objections IT has for not supporting device management software is “security.” Security is certainly a legitimate concern, does your software have built-in security measures? What is your response to IT teams who express security concerns?

Each panelist expresses that security is a concern, and they have developed their software with that in mind. They are more than happy to share their certifications and allow your IT teams to test their software. Some also have white papers on privacy and security they are pleased to share.

Watch the video to hear their complete remarks regarding security and the measures they take.  

Question #4: What do you see in the future for device management software?

Each panelist shares their thoughts on the future of device management software and devices as a whole. Some mention “smarter” people are working that on that.

Watch the video to hear their complete comments.

Conclusion

Almost two years have passed, and we’re all still working and living with the pandemic. It’s safe to say work will never return to a pre-pandemic state. The exciting part is how quickly new work norms have accelerated. EPOS, Jabra, Logitech, and Poly are global leaders for multiple reasons. Key reasons are their ability to service and support customers on a global scale. Additionally, they are constantly innovating and developing new technology and devices to help people do their business better regardless of where they work. Business and IT leaders need to look at these new work norms and develop device standards based on their employees’ work styles and workspaces. If you would like to learn more or set up a proof of concept or pilot with any of these leading partners, contact us! And bring it all together by implementing device management software, so team members are more productive.

8x8 Contact Center Difference Between UCaaS CCaaS

What’s the Difference Between UCaaS and CCaaS? | Discussion With 8×8

Danny Hayasaka, Sr Director of Marketing and Emerging Technology for Call One, Inc. and Hello Direct interviews Tony Poer, Contact Center Practice Lead for the Channel for 8×8 and discusses CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service). It was much easier for organizations who had implemented a CCaaS platform to transition to remote work during the pandemic. Some organizations have been using a band-aid during this period and are looking for better solution. Cloud may be the answer. We discuss things customers need to know about CCaaS, differences between UCaaS and CCaaS and other topics. Stick around until the end fora link to the full interview.


Danny Hayasaka: What are some things customers need to know about CCaaS?

Tony Poer: One of the biggest things to understand about Contact Center as a service is that it’s a hosted platform. And so a lot of the limitations that we have with our legacy on premise platforms don’t really exist in the cloud.

Danny: What’s the difference between UCaaS and CCaaS?

Tony: UCaaS is unified communications as a service whereas CCaaS is contact center as a service. Unified communications generally includes telephony, obviously, but then it also includes all of the other communication options that you might utilize with your organization. Contact center is a little bit more robust than that right now.

Danny: When agents were physically in the same building, supervisors used hardware like training-y cables, how do they do that remotely? Or can they?

Tony: In a cloud environment or a hosted environment. All of that application hardware doesn’t exist on Prem. It’s all in the cloud. It’s all at a separate data center that is invisible to you guys as the end user.

Danny: What are some monitoring tools that are available for supervisors via 8×8?

Tony: I can live monitor calls. I can live monitor the desktop. I can listen in, I can barge in. I also have the ability to access all sorts of different data points and metrics. Right? I can see that information, but I don’t have to be looking at a wall board to do it. I could get that sent to my desktop.

Thanks for tuning in! If you would like to schedule an 8×8 Demo, contact us! Want to see the full interview? Check out the Youtube video below:

Huddly IQ Auto Framing Feature | Tutorial

Recently a viewer asked for a demo on the Huddly IQ Auto Framing feature. In todays blog/video, we show how to change from manual to Auto frame via Huddly App. Stick around until the end to see a quick demonstration.

Step One

Download the Huddly App. You can download via this link for free. Available on MAC and Windows.

Huddly IQ Zoom

Step Two

Once the app is installed, you simply check mark the “Auto” box.

Voilà! You now have Auto Framing on your Huddly IQ. Feel free to test by walking around different areas in your environment. You will notice it takes a few seconds for the camera to follow you, but don’t be alarmed, this is normal.

To reverse back to Manual Focus, just uncheck that “Auto” box and you will be able to manually focus the camera yourself.

Fortunately, the Huddly app isn’t just for the Auto Framing feature. There are a ton of settings jam-packed within the app. The App will notify you every time we release a new update. It’s easy to keep the camera up-to-date with the latest features, quality improvements and software enhancements. Check out this video where we dive a little deeper into the Huddly software:

Also, if you want to see a more in-depth step by step process, check out our video where we breakdown each step. At the very end we conclude with a demonstration on the Auto Framing technology:

Thank you for tuning in! If you have any question regarding the Huddly IQ, please reach out to us!

Jabra Direct Update

Jabra Direct Software and Evolve2 85 Firmware Updates!

On December 17th, 2020 a Jabra Direct and software update was released that would drastically change the layout of their famed; Jabra Direct Software. Not only did they update their software, they went ahead and updated the hardware for their Evolve2 85 series to 1.3.8. What exactly did they change? Stick around and read this blog. Also, check out our latest video below covering this topic.

Update Notes

Jabra Evolve2 85

Details

  • Updated: improved performance of earcup microphones
  • Updated: improved handling of play/pause media
  • Updated: improved sidetone level and response
  • Updated: improved HearThrough level and response
  • Performance and stability improvements

Jabra Direct Software

Windows: 5.0.17635; macOS: 5.0.17635
Details

  • Updated: user experience is enhanced with new UI
  • Updated: added support for macOS 11.x/Big Sur* and Apple M1 Chip**
  • Fixed: during a firmware update the first option in the language list was not preselected
  • Performance and stability improvements

Jabra Direct Update
Pre Update Look
Jabra Direct Update
Post Update Look

After Research and Testing

For starters, the Jabra Direct Software took a complete over haul on the previous version. The layout, color, and aesthetic is much more user friendly and pleasing to the eye (see image above). Navigation and features have greatly improved, and yes, it’s 100% free! You can download the software here depending on your operating system: Jabra Direct Windows: 5.0.17635 or Jabra Direct macOS: 5.0.17635.

As for the Jabra Evolve2 85, the biggest claim was the microphone improvement. In our test we found that the difference between the pre update and post update was virtually non-existent. Otherwise, all other patches ( improved performance of earcup microphones, handling of play/pause media, improved sidetone level and response, HearThrough level response, and stability improvements) was noticeably better.

Want to hear for yourself? Check out our latest video below where we cover the new Jabra Direct and software update for the Evolve2 85 to the 1.3.8 update. Feel free to reach out to our reps with questions you may have regarding Jabra at 1-800-749-3160 or contact us for any additional questions. Thanks for reading!

Manage headsets with Plantronics Manager Pro

Proactively manage headset related issues with Plantronics Manager Pro, software as a service.

When headsets are not working optimally, it can have a huge impact on productivity and overall UC adoption. Your IT Manager can tell you how fast helpdesk tickets can pile up and affect their group’s productivity and daily workflow. In fact, the average help desk ticket cost in North America is $15.56. How do you think your IT department would feel if they could proactively manage and maintain a portion of the hardware related help desk tickets, remotely before they interrupt the workflow of the day?

Read more