Video: 10 Minute IT Jams - Jabra managing director on the importance of quality communication tech

Hybrid working has changed the way we communicate.

David Piggott, Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand at Jabra, says the shift to hybrid and remote working has put a spotlight on the technology that enables employees to remain connected, productive, and visible from anywhere. In an interview with Tim & It Jams, Piggott shared insights into the evolution of unified communication (UC) platforms, the pitfalls of using consumer tech in business settings, and why professional tools are central to the new world of work.

Piggott explained that Jabra, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, has a simple purpose: "to make life sound and look better for knowledge workers." This mission translates into providing "brilliant professional communication and collaboration solutions that enable our people - the people that we work with and for - to focus, to hear, and to be heard from anywhere that they need to work," he said.

Jabra has seen significant uptake of its professional headsets and speakerphones in Australasia. "Across Australia and New Zealand, we are the number one provider of professional devices - that's headsets and speakerphones - and we are rapidly growing in the personal video camera space," Piggott said. Their products, he explained, are used everywhere from government departments and large enterprises to mid-size and small businesses - even in doctors' surgeries, where "a wireless device connected to their telephony platform allows them to do their data entry while they're talking, gives them flexibility, and, most importantly, the ability to hear and be heard in a relatively loud working environment."

Strong relationships with UC platform providers are a core part of Jabra's strategy. "We partner with all of the major UC platforms, such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, RingCentral, and Dialpad - the ones you'd expect," Piggott added. He singled out the partnership with Microsoft as especially critical, citing how teams from both companies collaborate closely on design.

"Our clever people and their clever people will ask what's the end user experience that we're looking for for a Teams environment," Piggott explained. "How do we make sure that the end user in a hybrid working environment can deliver productively, they can concentrate, can they focus on what they're doing and can they collaborate virtually from anywhere?" The resulting products are built to an "open office" standard, meaning the headsets are designed for use in noisy environments, be it offices or coffee shops. Rigorous testing, including a 220-page procedure with Microsoft, ensures these products meet demanding performance benchmarks.

Unified communication, Piggott insisted, is the linchpin that held businesses together during the upheaval of the pandemic. "I strongly believe that without the wonderful capabilities of cloud-based unified communications, both the Australia and New Zealand economies would have been even harder hit during COVID," he said. Cloud-based UC allowed people to work from any location with Wi-Fi or 5G, empowering millions to remain productive. "It's delivered a lot of benefits - it's kept us employed and it's given us time back," he added, noting that the end of long daily commutes had allowed many to spend more time with family.

Yet, the freedom of remote work has not come without difficulties. "We've also seen an increase sometimes in feelings of isolation or of not belonging," Piggott said. "We must remember that for many people, work is not only what we do, it plays a super large role in our social life." As such, he believes the trend is maturing: "I'm feeling in our business with our partners and our end customers that many people want to bring that better mix back into their lives - definitely not moving back to the office full time but a greater mix in flexibility."

This flexibility, however, is only possible if employers provide the right tools. "You need the cloud-based platform so you can work from anywhere, you need a mobile hardware solution such as a laptop or a tablet, and you need a great headset that allows you to work from literally anywhere you can get data access, regardless of the background noise," he explained.

One key challenge in this new work environment is confusion over which technologies are best suited for professional use. Piggott warned against relying on consumer-grade devices for business. "There are some great consumer products in the market today - Jabra makes some wonderful products and we have some great competition - but they're primarily designed for sporadic use of a relatively short duration," he said. Consumer devices are built "to consume sound," like listening to music on a commute or at the gym.

In contrast, professional users of UC platforms need much more. "It's a professional tool and we use it in a professional way," Piggott noted. This means a headset should deliver exceptional user experience - not just in sound quality, but also in durability, with microphones built to cut out background noise and accentuate the speaker's voice. Comfort is also critical for long stretches of use, as is a battery that lasts at least a full day and can be recharged during use.

Piggott underlined the importance of certification and compatibility. "The device, in my opinion, has to be certified to work with the UC platform," he said, noting that only certified devices unlock the features businesses pay for, like muting calls and adjusting volume directly from the headset. The devices also need to be compatible with a range of hardware - laptops, tablets, mobiles - from different vendors, with professional-grade Bluetooth ensuring consistent connectivity. For organisations managing large fleets of devices, having manageable, updatable, secure hardware is essential to prevent calls to tech support and ensure consistent experience across employees.

Summing up, Piggott said: "Consumer devices are great for consumer use. They are not built nor are they expected to be used in a professional environment."

For those looking to learn more, Piggott emphasised Jabra's partner-driven approach, saying, "We have a great group of partners out there that can work with your audience." And, as business looks for solutions that can handle the ever-shifting landscape of hybrid work, he concluded, "It's a good opportunity to talk."