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With many of us now comfortably settled and happy to work from home (or any other suitable location) at least some of the time, having the right hardware is vital to making sure you’re productive.
In the initial phase of the lockdown, which made it mandatory for many of us to work from home, there was an almighty scramble to get essential kit, from office chairs and standing desks to basics like mice and keyboards.
But with videoconferencing now an important part of many jobs, having the right audio and video equipment is also essential. It’s no longer enough to use your laptop’s built-in speakers and microphone – the proper kit is needed.
Bang & Olufsen (B&O) has been a household name in the luxury audio space for nearly a century, and as remote working becomes a trend during the pandemic, it’s taken the opportunity to offer its high-end products to those business users. Were hunting for one who saw the opportunity. Premium Experience.
Its Becom Portal device offers a step beyond the basic headset, with features like crystal-clear audio and top-of-the-range noise cancellation, as well as a distinctive high-quality design and 47 hours of battery life Which makes it different from others. Crowd.
However, as John Howard, Bang & Olufsen’s Global Head of Enterprise and B2B tells us, the company never really wanted to be in the corporate world. At the start of the lockdown B&O customers used their existing consumer devices for their jobs, but often found the products would not work seamlessly with popular apps such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom.
Howard said, “They weren’t specifically designed to work with any enterprise applications — of course, you could take a phone call on it, and it would work beautifully — but it wasn’t designed for that.” I went.”
The company recently announced that the B&O portal is fully Microsoft Teams certified following previous success with Zoom, meaning users can enjoy the seamless, high-quality experience you’ve come to expect from a company like B&O.
Howard notes, “It took a long time to get where our requirements and Microsoft’s requirements could start.” “(Microsoft) has a very high bar for what they expect a product to do… We’ve spent a lot of time and effort building a product that’s better than expected at work and at home.”
enterprise-out
In this way, the BioCom portal is somewhat isolated in technology, says Howard. Unlike many other top technology products – which begin as an enterprise tool before gaining widespread popularity and eventually being redesigned for a consumer audience – the BeoCom Portal is designed the other way around; Howard calls this “enterprise-out” genesis.
“We want the product to function in a luxurious way … We wanted to design what we define as the first true hybrid product.”
This makes it the perfect addition to what Howard calls “location independent working,” as opposed to simply remote or hybrid set-ups: “You work where you need to work,” he says. Because although the home has become the center of it. Where many people are working, this is often not a completely enclosed space, as you may have children or pets running around, or other noisy equipment in the background.
It also makes it ideal for the new wave of workers who are willing to accept (or decline) a job because of the hybrid work practices of their employer and the hardware they provide.
“IT departments are embracing the consumerization of IT,” notes Howard, highlighting how some employers even give employees an allowance for their hardware. However, with traditional Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies often meaning that workers use products unsuitable for their own and often work purposes, there is a window for products such as the BYCOM Portal, which not only Provides a great enterprise experience, but also an out-of-the-box experience. Useful too.
Howard notes that this flexibility is an important part of B&O’s offering. “We’re moving away from the old world of enterprise which was prepackaged software, you could only use it with one type of operating system… Whatever you want to use, we connect,” he They say.
B&O also offers a three-year warranty on all of its products, meaning users can be assured that their equipment will last – an aspect that is also a welcome sustainability enhancement in today’s eco-conscious world.
Howard acknowledges that the high pricing of the BioCom Portal may mean it’s not a tool for every worker, but for those who do experience it, it could be a real game-changer.
