Last week, I went on a whistle stop tour of Europe to meet some AudioCodes customers. It was, as usual, a pretty hectic schedule. On my last day before flying home, I was sitting outside a coffee shop sipping a nice short espresso, waiting to join a conference call with a long-standing customer, John. It was, indeed, a perfect way to round off my trip.
Ironically, this conference call had been arranged because John had expressed an interest in the AudioCodes Huddle Room Solution - a room system specially designed for getting the most out of Skype for Business meetings. I say ironically, because practically every conference call-related myth, stereotype and cliché reared its head during this meeting. But it turned out to be the best marketing opportunity for our solution that I could have wished for.
After several long minutes had passed, I was admitted to the meeting, with John apologizing profusely for the delay. Evidently, he had been struggling to initiate the meeting.
This proved to be a great starting point for our conversation. I began by explaining to John that simplicity is the key with the AudioCodes Huddle Room Solution, and that initiating or joining a conference call is very easy and straightforward. You just press one of two buttons on the console’s head unit screen - MEET NOW to start an ad hoc meeting, and CALENDAR to review your daily agenda and select the meeting you want to join.
I began by outlining some of the unique features of the Huddle Room Solution. John wanted his IT manager, Anni, to join the meeting. Anni was working offsite for the day, so John had to search for the correct PIN code for this specific conference call and send it to her before she could finally log in from her mobile phone. Eventually, she was with us. This seemed like a good moment to point out that the AudioCodes Huddle Room Solution lets you add a participant to any call quickly and easily with just a few clicks. And all participants can see who else is participating and who the meeting organizer is.
While I was explaining how simple it is to deliver meeting information and PIN codes directly via the head unit, our call was interrupted by the sound of a plane passing overhead at John’s location. When we resumed the call, I told them that the Huddle Room Solution neatly avoids such disturbances by allowing you to mute any or all participants for any reason, just as you can with the Skype for Business client.
In fact, everything that you’re familiar with in Skype for Business – and plenty more besides – can be done from the Huddle Room Solution’s control interface. For example, if a confidential topic comes up during a meeting you can go private simply by picking up the handset.
Anni said that the thing she looks most closely at with any new technology purchases – apart from quality and reliability, of course - is easy and effective troubleshooting. I explained that we at AudioCodes always aim to provide comprehensive holistic solutions, and the Huddle Room Solution is no exception to this. Beyond giving you amazing sound quality, we take it even further by empowering your IT team with our dedicated management tool.
This powerful yet simple tool makes managing the Huddle Room Solution simplicity itself. You can relax in the knowledge that your huddle room will always be available for use – with the most up to date software and voice quality optimization – whenever you need it. Even better, any problems can be dealt with remotely by your IT people.
With only a few hours left before my flight, and with John sounding very enthused by our conversation, I arranged to have some samples sent to him so he could see – and hear – for himself what the Huddle Room Solution can do.
A week after they received the samples, I got a call from Anni. It was great news. She and John were so impressed by the Huddle Room Solution’s superior acoustics and ease-of-use that they decided to order several units.
I thought back to that pre-flight espresso, and how much easier my al fresco conference call with John would have been with the Huddle Room Solution already in place – because no matter where you are, it really does turn any space into a meeting space.
We at AudioCodes always aim to provide comprehensive holistic solutions, and the Huddle Room Solution is no exception to this. Beyond giving you amazing sound quality, we take it even further by empowering your IT team with our dedicated management tool.