For obvious reasons, people usually think about headphones and speakers as something that you just need to connect and then forget. You plug them in via USB or connect on Bluetooth and that’s it – they work. And although this assumption is correct, in the case of the latest headphone models – such as the Jabra Engage 50 or Engage 75 – these devices are actually a lot more complex than they appear to be at first glance. This is especially true when they are used by enterprises in a unified communications (UC) or contact center environment.
When enterprise employees use UC platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business and make calls via UC clients installed on their laptops and computers, a good set of headphones or a high-quality speaker become a critical element of their daily activities. Because headphones have long been the device of choice in contact centers, it's essential for agents to have superior equipment to be confident in properly supporting their customers.
Jabra devices have been designed and developed to rise to the myriad challenges posed by the enterprise UC and contact center markets and the complexities that each holds. To make sure that they perform as required in such demanding environments, these devices contain a great deal of hidden complexity, even though they are still considered plug and play as far as the end user is concerned.
Jabra devices are actually small computers, with their own firmware and configuration requirements. It’s hard to believe, but some Jabra devices have more than 80 configurable parameters, which admittedly sounds like a lot for a set of headphones or a speaker. But this advanced level of technology is a direct result of the growing demand for more complex and state-of-the-art devices that the enterprise market expects.
However, it’s important to emphasize that this inner device complexity definitely doesn’t equal complicated device management worries, as we will now see.
Let’s start by thinking about the burden placed on any enterprise’s IT organization to ensure that they properly manage all the headphones and speakers used by their employees. In a large enterprise, this could involve thousands of devices located all over the world. A contact center infrastructure could be spread out over multiple locations in multiple continents. With such a setup, it would prove extremely challenging to check the devices’ status, apply configuration changes or upgrade firmware quickly and easily.
But what if IT managers could see the status of every Jabra device in the network? What if they could check device firmware versions, see alarms and perform mass operations such as configuration changes and upgrades at the click of a button?
The new collaboration between Jabra and AudioCodes makes this a reality. The latest AudioCodes Device Manager Pro, part of the One Voice Operations Center (OVOC), and the Jabra Integration Service client put all this functionality right where it should be – at the IT team’s fingertips. OVOC is a voice network management solution that fuses the management of voice network devices and quality of experience monitoring into a single, intuitive web-based application, enabling IT managers to embrace a holistic approach to network lifecycle management. The Jabra Integrated Services client is a small software application that connects the Jabra device to the PC and then to OVOC.
Using OVOC, the IT team can easily filter and select Jabra devices according to model or version and upgrade them in one go with a single click. In the rare case of a worker querying a Jabra device’s performance, the administrators can remotely connect to the Jabra device to ascertain the exact nature of the problem and fix it – all without leaving the office.
Perhaps most importantly, because OVOC is a holistic solution, the IT team can manage any other AudioCodes products like session border controllers (SBC) or IP phones from the same application. This means that an entire voice network can be orchestrated from a single pane of glass with the minimum of fuss.
There are some alliances that fit together so well that they just make complete sense. Jabra’s partnership with AudioCodes is a perfect example.
About the Author
Guest post by Per Sundnæs of Jabra
With seven years of experience across Jabra’s hardware and software universe, Senior Manager Per Sundnæs has strong insights into customer pain points and understands how to solve them by combining a broad spectrum of different solutions. Per’s work at Jabra covers both enterprise and consumer solutions, focusing on all the company’s Evolve, Engage and Elite franchises, Jabra’s own Xpress software solution, as well as external partnerships.
