Available now, parts of Jabra’s Xpress asset management system functionality has been incorporated into Unify Square’s PowerSuite solution – and more will follow. This will enable IT departments to more easily monitor and manage all Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams assets and drive greater user adoption of Unified Communications.

When it comes to job responsibilities, perhaps no one in the organization wears more hats than today’s IT administrator: Technical wizard, futurist, data-security guru, coach, counselor – and, increasingly, firefighter.

In fact, perhaps the biggest frustration among IT professionals is too much time spent troubleshooting problems – and not enough time driving critical initiatives like Unified Communications.

That’s why the partnership between Jabra and Unify Square, which first came to fruition back on March 12, 2018, should continue to be welcome news for IT experts seeking to increase UC user adoption and benefit from the added productivity, lower infrastructure costs and rapid ROI UC promises: All the functionality of Jabra’s proprietary Xpress asset management system is now incorporated into Unify Square’s PowerSuite monitoring and management software.  To help highlight the latest enhancements to the partnership, Unify Square has created a special “Jabra Edition” of the software which comes with a unique limited time offer –  more details can be found here.

The newest device management enhancements which were just released earlier this month dramatically extend the functionality of PowerSuite, offering a single solution for monitoring and managing all Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business assets across an organization. From PowerSuite itself, IT will now be able to extend what was previously available for IP Phones and perform extended device inventory management, reporting and troubleshooting as well as firmware updates and device configuration for Jabra Skype for Business-certified USB wireless headsets and speakerphones.

This partnership leverages Jabra’s strategy of creating technology based on software that is agnostic, open and partner-first – and addresses the pressing need for a more streamlined, efficient way to manage the exploding number of devices in the UC environment. The partnership also establishes Jabra as the only headset vendor that is fully integrated with PowerSuite.

Less Troubleshooting, More User Adoption

A UC-monitoring system such as PowerSuite can increase user adoption of Unified Communications by 30%, slash operational costs by 58% and reduce UC implementation costs by 19%, according to Unify Square. So, the less time IT spends fighting fires, the more energy it can dedicate to activities that drive UC adoption.

The Jabra and Unify Square partnership enables organizations to more rapidly track down and resolve UC issues before they become full-fledged fires. As virtually everyone knows, the most important part of a UC deployment is the user experience. When users suffer call-quality issues, they want immediate resolution. But with IT departments struggling to support many users with many different UC devices, troubleshooting the root cause of poor audio quality or a bad connection can be painstaking and time-consuming. No wonder why 45% of IT professionals cite troubleshooting as one of their biggest UC challenges.

Without quick resolution to their issues, many users revert back to old habits and turn to mobile phones or desk phones for important calls or video conferences, slowing the UC adoption process. By monitoring and troubleshooting the entire Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business infrastructure directly from PowerSuite, issues that often took up to 48 hours to diagnose can be resolved in mere minutes.

Firmware upgrades are another area of UC that frustrate IT administrators, with 38% deeming it a major challenge – and for good reason. Some organizations have up to six different UC endpoint devices from different hardware vendors and with different support and upgrade systems. Mastering these disparate systems requires a healthy dose of time and effort.

By incorporating Xpress functionality into PowerSuite, IT can easily and remotely update the firmware for all Jabra headsets and speakerphones directly from the PowerSuite platform and make similar changes to other features, including ringtone, sidetone and audio-protection-level settings.

Focusing on What Really Matters

It’s no secret that UC promises great things and, when implemented and supported properly, helps organizations achieve impressive gains in employee collaboration, productivity and satisfaction. By achieving what Jabra calls “New Ways of Working,” employees benefit from the flexibility to organize their work according to the tasks at hand for greater productivity and employers can better optimize resources, draw on competences from inside and outside the organization and promote a collaborative culture.

To achieve this, IT needs to spend less time troubleshooting and more time focusing on what really matters. The partnership between Jabra and Unify Square is undoubtedly a welcome step toward helping IT administrators wear fewer hats.