How a 27-year old phone maker is adapting to an IP world

Desktop phones made Polycom famous; but in a dying PBX market, it's had to find new ways to grow

Polycom, the multinational communications company, has been in business for more than 25 years and is committed to never standing still. The company is famous for its desktop phones, but when we met Marco Landi - the company's president for Asia Pacific, Europe and Africa - he told us that Polycom is changing its business model.

"It's all about flexibility now," he said. "It's about having the right device for the right situation, while keeping the same level of user experience - the same quality."

Modularity is Polycom's new watchword, with solutions to suit every business need. Telephony hardware might have been the firm's bread and butter, but it's inarguable that organisations are now moving away from having a device on every desk, in favour of IP solutions.

"There is still a legacy or tradition for having a desk phone," said Landi, "but they're not PBX any more, outside of markets like China and Russia. The IP [desktop phone] market is booming - we're talking double-digit growth. Then some countries, like the Nordics, are bypassing that and moving straight to mobile."

Polycom is focused on IP solutions today, and recently launched the Trio 8500: a new device in its classic three-legged conference phone range. Effectively a smaller version of the Trio 8800, the new phone features HD audio, Polycom's NoiseBlock technology and will soon be updated to include video and content sharing.

Video is seen as the future of collaboration, and Polycom is committed to taking it out of the boardroom: "Just put it on every desk," is Landi's motto. The Trio 8500, designed for smaller conference rooms and huddle spaces, will help with this. Even SMBs will benefit.

"We are taking video to smaller enterprises," said Landi. "SMBs and non-C-level workers. We're making it cheaper and easier to use." The use case for video in an SMB compared to a larger organisation doesn't really change - it can provide better access to people and support flexible working, as well as remote training, recruitment and product development - but until now it has been out of reach due to costs and complexity. Bringing video to these companies is part of Polycom's move to an as-a-service model.

It's about integration with new services

Unified communications and collaboration are part of the modern way of working in Western society, but many businesses make the mistake of buying a new product without making sure it will work with their legacy devices. These devices and services need to be integrated with each other; a factor that Landi is very aware of.

Most of Polycom's clients are currently in the middle of a cloud transition, and integration is a real challenge for them. "We're getting platforms to work together - that's most of what I talk about with customers these days," Landi told us.

Too much U, not enough C?

The unified comms market continues to consolidate, with large firms snapping up any small business with interesting IP; that's creating a bit of a problem, said Landi:

"It slows the decision-making process. None of these companies has exactly the same offer, and they're always acquiring new technology. It makes committing to one difficult."

Cisco and Microsoft - a Polycom partner - dominate the UC space, but competitors are arising.

"There's a vendor battle on now…[and] it's about who is going to dominate the workspace of the future - and how you're going to work."