Grant Thornton Deploys Poly Solutions to Upgrade Rooms For Microsoft Teams

Grant Thornton is a large accounting firm with over a hundred meeting rooms across Australia. Like many firms, they used the timing of the COVID-19 pandemic to upgrade and modernize their rooms. They knew they needed to undertake a digital transformation journey to modernize, simplify and standardize their user experiences across many locations, while at the same time upgrading from Skype for Business to a native Microsoft Teams Solution.

They wanted their employees to collaborate as equals - whether they were working from home, on the go or in the office. Their search was for a solution that would simply and easily replace their existing room systems without having to reinvent the wheel.

After researching the space in detail, Grant Thornton selected a suite of Poly systems to meet their needs. The Poly Studio X30sthey selected were more cost effective than the MTR options they reviewed, and they were so simple to install that they could manage the deployment internally - which also resulted in significant cost savings for the project.

Supplementing those, Poly Studio X50sand G7500shandled the larger and more complex rooms in the project. Because all of these systems had the same user interface and firmware, Grant Thornton could standardize their user experience across all locations. And, because they were all Android based appliances, they were able to easily slide into rooms to replace previously existing devices with only minor tweaks needed to existing automation and control systems.

"The complexity of our larger rooms with significant automation" provided an additional challenge, according to Carlo De-Fazio, Technology Officer at Grant Thornton. "These rooms can sit between 20 and 250 people in any given video conference, and each individual room refit would have required significant investment to make it Microsoft Teams compatible."

He explained that their research and comparisons quickly showed the Poly solutions to be the best option on the market. "Not only was the cost of the [Poly] units less expensive than the Windows-based devices, but the installation was far simpler. Cabling locations, including various parts to the unit, were fewer, and the overall footprint was lighter," said Carlo. "This meant we could do the installation ourselves, which not only saved money on the devices but the installation cost as well," he added.

Over a series of months Grant Thornton started retrofitting the rooms themselves (with light touch support from their local vendors NQAV and Generation-e.) "It became obvious how easy the device setup was, and the user experience was solid. Each month new features were added to the devices, and they quickly surpassed the Windows devices for feature parity" Carlo explained. "The new rooms performed brilliantly. They look so professional, and our people have picked up the new interface very swiftly," he highlighted.

"We saved millions of dollars and still had a premium finish" he explained. However, he pointed out that in reality, "the saving was not as significant [to us] compared to how nice the new equipment is. The rooms look brilliant, and the devices were easy to setup. Overall, we could not be happier with our approach and outcome."

Click above to hear Carlo explain in his own words.

When Grant Thornton looked for a solution that would allow their over fourteen-thousand employees to make hybrid working a seamless experience - no matter where they were working from - Poly systems were clearly the right answer. To find out more about how Poly solutions can be the right answer for your organizations, and to learn about Poly's unique, next-generation innovations like Poly Director AI and NoiseBlock AI, reach out to your local Poly representative.

SECURE A ONE-TIME DISCOUNT ON YOUR FIRST POLY MICROSOFT TEAMS ROOM

Poly is delighted to offer a unique, one-time discount on your first Microsoft Teams Room. This offer applies to both the Poly Studio Focus and Small/Medium Room Kits for Microsoft Teams Rooms.

For more information about Poly's solutions for Microsoft Teams, contact a Poly representativeor head to Poly.com!

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