Q&A with Amy Barzdukas, Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer at Poly

Amy Barzdukas, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer at Poly is a marketing and communications leader with extensive experience in setting strategy, shifting perceptions, advising customers, digital marketing, revenue marketing, integrated marketing communications, and public relations in highly competitive product arenas.

Amy is known for her ability to create and execute winning turnarounds on a global scale.

MEDIA 7: What inspired you to get into marketing?
AMY BARZDUKAS:
I was always destined for marketing, even if I didn’t know it. As a child, I collected promotional brochures. I was fascinated by how the words and pictures were used to drive action. My first job was as an advertising copywriter, and I’ve never looked back.

M7: How is Poly redefining the video conferencing experience for modern businesses?
AB:
 We’re in an unprecedented time of change in our industry. Voice and video services are moving to the cloud, and companies are changing how they approach their communications needs. Poly is the largest provider of the devices – video conferencing, audio conferencing, headphones and desk phones – you use to connect to these services so you can collaborate with your colleagues. That uniquely positions us to shape the video conferencing experience, and we’re doing so in four ways.

First, Poly has made both the Zoom Rooms and the Microsoft Teams video conferencing experience better than ever with our radically simple Poly Studio X video bars that deliver these experiences with no PC or Mac required. We’ve got decades of experience in understanding what makes meetings more human – for everyone in the room and those dialing in from other locations – and we’ve packed all of that into easy-to-install, easy-to-manage, and easy-to-use all-in-one powerhouses.

Second, we are bringing the world of AV and video conferencing into the modern app economy. Our Studio X series and Poly G7500 video conferencing devices run a common platform that can be updated and enhanced through a series of regular software updates. This Poly platform, built on Android, can run applications like a smartphone does today.

Third, Poly has introduced innovation that makes any video conference better. Our new Poly MeetingAI features use AI and machine learning to address the distractions that hit your senses in a meeting. We make it easier to hear what’s being said by blocking out the annoying noises that people make while talking, and we make it easier to see what’s going on in the room with the most advanced speaker tracking and framing, and our built-in production rules.

Finally, we are pricing our solutions in a way that completely resets the calculations on what it costs to outfit a room. The Studio X30, for huddle room and smaller spaces, costs just about $2,100, including the Poly TC8 touch controller. All you add is the cloud service and a monitor, and you have a room up and running for under $2,500. That’s easily under the cost of other solutions and with better audio and video quality.


"Baby Boomers and more than half of Gen Z say they are most productive when they were working around noise."

M7: As the CMO of Poly, what were the major challenges in rebranding and transforming two separate organizations (Plantronics and Polycom) under a single brand Poly?
AB:
One of the greatest challenges of bringing together Plantronics and Polycom was doing so in a way that honored their brand equity, history, and positive associations while establishing a new story for the new company. Plantronics was already an audio pioneer– the first headset that transmitted Neil Armstrong’s famous words during the first moon landing. Polycom was the leader in audio and video conferencing – the conference phone used by business leaders and industry captains.
We had to figure out how to build a stand-out narrative in a crowded space for the general market. For customers and partners, we found a way to carry through the legacies and histories of both companies into the new brand. And for our employees, we had to inspire them to believe in the new brand and the new combined mission. These different challenges with different stakeholders took different approaches to confront, but in the end, we brought everyone to the same conclusion that Poly was moving forward, unified and stronger.

And like any acquisition, integration takes time. We’re proud of our accomplishments since rebranding to Poly in March 2019. Since then, we’ve refreshed our video conferencing line of products, broken new ground with a mobile phone station called Elara 60 Series and showcased our continued commitment to expanding the ecosystem with partners such as Zoom, Microsoft, Google, Amazon and more. As Poly, we bring a new level of quality, simplicity, and flexibility so that every communication can easily become a place for collaboration and innovation for the enterprise.


"Gen Z and Millennials came up in an era of digitization, so they are more accustomed to the tools and technology to deal with distractions in the workplace."

M7: A recent study by Poly reveals that employees prefer noisier open offices to closed, quiet spaces. What do you think is responsible for driving these unique demands in the workplace today?
AB:
Our research shows that Gen Z and Millennials tend to prefer open offices compared to Gen X and Baby Boomers and that more than half of Gen Z say they are most productive when they were working around noise. What we’re seeing is that Gen Z and Millennials came up in an era of digitization, so they are more accustomed to the tools and technology to deal with distractions in the workplace. For example, they’re used to wearing noise-canceling headphones to block out the background noise, and similarly at home with video. They’ve been doing it all their lives!

Now that we can work from anywhere – coffee shops, airports, waiting rooms – we are more accustomed to dealing with distractions and working through them. We take that mindset into the office along with the tools we may use to address distraction, from a pair of comfortable headphones with ANC to deciding to do different types of work in different settings.

M7: What features have made Poly Studio win the 'Best of Enterprise Connect' award in the '2019 Communication/Collaboration Device'?
AB: 
Poly Studio is our answer to the need for easy-to-use video conferencing devices for smaller spaces called huddle rooms. Poly Studio is a video USB bar with premium audio and video capabilities. Its standout features include NoiseBlock, which mutes distracting background noises, Automatic Group Framing and Speaker Tracking, which zooms in to focus on the speaking participant. This board-room like audio and video transforms small meeting rooms into a center for collaboration. We’re also pleased that it was recently certified for Zoom Rooms and Microsoft Teams. The device also works with Skype for Business, Google Meet, Cisco WebEx and Amazon Chime, and virtually any cloud-based video collaboration service.


"Poly combines legendary audio expertise with powerful video and conferencing capabilities to help our users overcome the distractions, complexity, and distance, making communication in and out of the workplace challenging."

M7: What traits make Poly a global leader in communications and a leading choice for every kind of workspace?
AB:
Our in-depth expertise, tireless innovation, and emphasis on partnership make Poly a global leader in communications and a leading choice for every kind of workspace.

Poly combines legendary audio expertise with powerful video and conferencing capabilities to help our users overcome the distractions, complexity, and distance, making communication in and out of the workplace challenging. When the world was on a race to space in the ’60s, NASA approached us—Plantronics back then—with a seemingly impossible task: create a headset that would equip astronauts to communicate with Mission Control from the earth to the moon, and back again.

Fifty years later, we share the same mission today: to create powerful connections that unify people the world over. We’re designing technology for the different ways people work – open offices, remote locations, mobile-first workers. We are the largest provider of headsets, video and audio-conferencing devices that you use to communicate and collaborate for your work, whatever that may be. And we continue to innovate with products like Poly Studio X that change how people collaborate.
Through partnerships with industry leaders like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Zoom, Poly takes an open-architecture approach that allows users to seamlessly connect across all the best technologies. Whenever and wherever people connect with these services, we will be there to provide the best-in-class audio, video and voice technology to make the experience that much better.

M7: What’s your superpower or spirit animal?
AB: 
My superpower is the ability to read amazingly quickly, thanks to the experimental elementary school I attended. I don’t know how anyone gets through their workload without it, honestly. My spirit animal? I told my husband the other day that I think it is Tom Petty. I’m a huge fan. If you have a problem, there is a Tom Petty song that can solve it, or at least make it more fun.

ABOUT POLY

Plantronics, Inc. (“Poly” – formerly Plantronics and Polycom) (NYSE: PLT) is a global communications company that powers meaningful human connection and collaboration. Poly combines legendary audio expertise and powerful video and conferencing capabilities to overcome the distractions, complexity, and distance that make communication in and out of the workplace challenging. Poly believes in solutions that make life easier when they work together and with our partner’s services. Our headsets, software, desk phones, audio and video conferencing, analytics and services are used worldwide and are a leading choice for every kind of workspace.

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iTWire | October 30, 2023

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Fortinet Focuses on Business Growth to Drive Cybersecurity Innovation

Fortinet | November 06, 2023

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PR Newswire | October 26, 2023

OpenText (NASDAQ: OTEX), (TSX: OTEX), today announced the Nastiest Malware of 2023, an annual ranking of the year's biggest malware threats. For six consecutive years OpenText Cybersecurity threat intelligence experts have analyzed the threat landscape to determine the most notorious malware trends. Ransomware has been rapidly ascending the ranks, with ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) now the weapon of choice for cybercriminals. This year four new ransomware gangs, believed to be the next generation of previous big players, topped the list. Newcomer Cl0p takes the prize for this year's nastiest malware after commanding exorbitant ransom demands with its MOVEit campaign. Cl0p's efforts helped skyrocket the average ransom payment which is rapidly approaching three quarters of a million dollars. Black Cat, Akira, Royal, Black Basta also made their debut, joined by the always present, Lockbit. A key finding this year is the RaaS business model is another win for the bad guys. Profit sharing and risk mitigation are top contributors to RaaS success along with the ability to easily evade authorities, said Muhi Majzoub, EVP and Chief Product Officer, OpenText. There is a silver lining as research shows only 29% of businesses pay ransom, an all-time low. These numbers indicate people are taking threats seriously and investing in security to be in a position where they do not need to pay ransom. This year's list highlights the tenacity of cybercriminals as they continue to reinvent themselves, coming back stronger each time (often with new names). Their scrappy mentality allows them to go beyond the norm to find new ways to invade their target. 2023 Nastiest Malware Cl0p, a RaaS platform, became famous following a series of cyberattacks, exploited a zero-day vulnerability in the MOVEit Transfer file software developed by Progress Software. MOVEit victims include such notable organizations as Shell, BBC, and the United States Department of Energy. Black Cat, recognized in our 2021 Nastiest Malware report, believed to be the successor to REvil ransomware group, has built their RaaS platform on the Rust programming language. They made headlines for taking down MGM Casino Resorts. Akira, presumed to be a descendant of Conti, primarily targets small to medium sized businesses due to the ease and turnaround time. Most notably, Akira ransomware targeted Cisco VPN products as an attack vector to breach corporate networks, steal, and eventually encrypt data. Royal, suspected heir to Ryuk, uses Whitehat penetration testing tools to move laterally in an environment to gain control of the entire network. Helping aid in deception is their unique partial encryption approach that allows the threat actor to choose a specific percentage of data in a file to encrypt. Lockbit 3.0, a main stain on the list and last year's winner, continues to wreak havoc. Now in its third epoch, Lockbit 3.0 is more modular and evasive than its predecessors. Black Basta is one of the most active RaaS threat actors and is also considered to be yet another descendant of the Conti ransomware group. They have gained a reputation for targeting all types of industries indiscriminately. To learn more about the findings of this year's Nastiest Malware analysis, visit the OpenText Cybersecurity Community, as well as tune in to our Nastiest Malware Webinar.

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iTWire | October 30, 2023

Fortinet, the global cybersecurity leader driving the convergence of networking and security, has announced the expansion of its Universal SASE offering to empower today’s hybrid workforce with FortiOS everywhere. Ken Xie, founder, chairman of the board, and chief executive officer, said, The Fortinet operating system, FortiOS, is the industry’s only enterprise-grade converged operating system able to support all secure access service edge (SASE) functions, including firewall, software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN), secure web gateway, encryption/decryption, cloud access security broker (CASB), data loss prevention (DLP), and zero trust network access (ZTNA), whether deployed in an appliance or cloud-delivered from Fortinet. “This approach enables over 30 converged networking and security functions to be managed through a single console. Fourteen of these functions are accelerated when deployed on our new FortiASIC Security Processor 5-based FortiGate 120G SASE appliance.” Expanding Fortinet Universal SASE Single-vendor SASE provides flexible access to critical resources and applications for users and devices. However, most enterprises rely on different vendors for each SASE function, which introduces significant challenges of controlling different operating system functionality and management consoles. Fortinet Universal SASE takes traditional single-vendor SASE one step further, providing consistent policies and controls on-prem and in the cloud while delivering seamless integration across all functions and deployments to better support today’s hybrid workforce while reducing information technology (IT) overhead. FortiOS runs the full SASE stack, including a bi-directional firewall, SD-WAN, secure web gateway, encryption/decryption, CASB, DLP, and ZTNA. It also has the flexibility to run on an appliance in accelerated mode as well as in the FortiSASE cloud, providing consistent networking, security, and policy management for every edge. This is further enhanced by FortiGuard artificial intelligence (AI)-powered security services, such as intrusion prevention system (IPS), domain name system (DNS) filtering, URL filtering, anti-malware, sandboxing, and more. This news expands Fortinet’s investment in Universal SASE by expanding the reach of its SASE stack in three key areas of the portfolio: Worldwide coverage of FortiSASE cloud locations FortiSASE, built on a global, scalable cloud network, delivers the same SASE stack as FortiGate appliances through its regional FortiSASE cloud locations. To deliver the best user experience and higher service availability, Fortinet now delivers over 100 FortiSASE cloud locations globally. Bringing accelerated SASE to the campus and branch To bring the full SASE stack to campus and branch locations, Fortinet is announcing the new FortiGate 120G SASE appliance. Because it is powered by Fortinet’s patented security processor 5 (SP5) custom application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), it can accelerate many elements of the SASE stack, such as delivering three gigabits per second (Gbps) of secure sockets layer (SSL) inspection—an average of six times faster than the industry average—for visibility into encrypted traffic at scale. The following Secure Compute Rating table provides a comparison between equivalent solutions: Flexible consumption extended to Universal SASE FortiFlex, Fortinet’s flexible consumption program, has now been extended to Fortinet Universal SASE solutions. The entire SASE stack from Fortinet can be consumed as part of FortiFlex, whether customers want to use on-prem or FortiSASE cloud-based services. FortiFlex offers usage-based licensing across cloud, hybrid cloud, and on-premises deployments to give IT teams the flexibility to continually right-size their deployments, reduce excessive procurement cycles for new security solutions, simplify the deployment and provisioning of new services, and maximise budget and return on investment by enabling IT teams to scale down or pause services as needed.

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Network Threat Detection

Fortinet Focuses on Business Growth to Drive Cybersecurity Innovation

Fortinet | November 06, 2023

Fortinet prioritizes secure networking, universal SASE, and security operations to expand globally and innovate in cybersecurity. Secure networking is estimated to reach $86 billion by 2027 and universal SASE $36 billion, aligning with the strategic change. Focusing on cybersecurity growth strengthens Fortinet's commitment to customer value and innovation. Fortinet, a global leader in cybersecurity, is focusing its business strategy on high-growth markets, emphasizing secure networking, universal secure access service edge (SASE), and security operations. This shift will drive innovation and reinforce its commitment to customers. Fortinet is reorganizing its research & development (R&D) and go-to-market (GTM) strategies around the three markets mentioned. They will develop integrated and advanced products to cater to these areas. Fortinet operates globally, serving hyperscale customers and promoting cybersecurity technologies. The three core markets Fortinet is concentrating on are secure networking, universal SASE, and security operations. These markets are expected to experience substantial growth, and Fortinet has a competitive advantage in them. This strategy aims to expand Fortinet's global business and provide value to its customers. The company is aligning with areas of high demand in the cybersecurity sector. Its current collection of organically developed and integrated products and services enjoys a notable competitive edge in the aforementioned three crucial markets: The market for secure networking is anticipated to reach $86 billion by 2027, expanding at a rate of nearly nine percent per year. 5G gateways, network firewalls, secure switches, and access points comprise the majority of its composition. With the expansion of its firewall business, Fortinet anticipates a corresponding increase in revenue for its FortiGuard Security Services, which are propelled by artificial intelligence (AI). Secure networking remains an integral component of Fortinet's strategy, given that it dominates both firewall revenues and units shipped in its greatest addressable market. Also, by 2027, the universal SASE market is anticipated to reach $36 billion, representing an annual expansion of nearly 20%. The system integrates various cloud-native networking and security technologies, including SD-WAN, secure web gateway (SWG), cloud access security broker (CASB), data loss prevention (DLP), zero-trust network access (ZTNA), SASE, and others. Its purpose is to streamline the process of implementing a zero-trust strategy. All functions of the SASE solution developed by Fortinet can be executed either in an appliance or in the cloud. This capability is facilitated by a unified management console, networking and security layer, and operating system. Recently, Fortinet was positioned in the inaugural Gartner Magic Quadrant for Single-Vendor SASE in 2023. Lastly, the security operations market is anticipated to reach $78 billion by 2027, expanding at slightly more than 14% per year. Fortinet's SecOps platform is the most comprehensive, integrated, and broad in the industry, enabling organizations to gain control and insight into their distributed operations through security orchestration, endpoint detection and response (EDR), automation and response (SOAR), security information and event management (SIEM), network detection and response (NDR), and additional integrated enterprise-grade cybersecurity technologies. Complementing Fortinet's R&D expenditures are strategic realignments in its GTM investments, concentrating on security operations, universal SASE, and secure networking. With the assistance of marketing support and training, sales will be structured in accordance with these three strategic areas in order to increase market penetration and consumer engagement.

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Platform Security

OpenText Cybersecurity Nastiest Malware of 2023 Shows Ransomware-as-a-Service Now Primary Business Model

PR Newswire | October 26, 2023

OpenText (NASDAQ: OTEX), (TSX: OTEX), today announced the Nastiest Malware of 2023, an annual ranking of the year's biggest malware threats. For six consecutive years OpenText Cybersecurity threat intelligence experts have analyzed the threat landscape to determine the most notorious malware trends. Ransomware has been rapidly ascending the ranks, with ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) now the weapon of choice for cybercriminals. This year four new ransomware gangs, believed to be the next generation of previous big players, topped the list. Newcomer Cl0p takes the prize for this year's nastiest malware after commanding exorbitant ransom demands with its MOVEit campaign. Cl0p's efforts helped skyrocket the average ransom payment which is rapidly approaching three quarters of a million dollars. Black Cat, Akira, Royal, Black Basta also made their debut, joined by the always present, Lockbit. A key finding this year is the RaaS business model is another win for the bad guys. Profit sharing and risk mitigation are top contributors to RaaS success along with the ability to easily evade authorities, said Muhi Majzoub, EVP and Chief Product Officer, OpenText. There is a silver lining as research shows only 29% of businesses pay ransom, an all-time low. These numbers indicate people are taking threats seriously and investing in security to be in a position where they do not need to pay ransom. This year's list highlights the tenacity of cybercriminals as they continue to reinvent themselves, coming back stronger each time (often with new names). Their scrappy mentality allows them to go beyond the norm to find new ways to invade their target. 2023 Nastiest Malware Cl0p, a RaaS platform, became famous following a series of cyberattacks, exploited a zero-day vulnerability in the MOVEit Transfer file software developed by Progress Software. MOVEit victims include such notable organizations as Shell, BBC, and the United States Department of Energy. Black Cat, recognized in our 2021 Nastiest Malware report, believed to be the successor to REvil ransomware group, has built their RaaS platform on the Rust programming language. They made headlines for taking down MGM Casino Resorts. Akira, presumed to be a descendant of Conti, primarily targets small to medium sized businesses due to the ease and turnaround time. Most notably, Akira ransomware targeted Cisco VPN products as an attack vector to breach corporate networks, steal, and eventually encrypt data. Royal, suspected heir to Ryuk, uses Whitehat penetration testing tools to move laterally in an environment to gain control of the entire network. Helping aid in deception is their unique partial encryption approach that allows the threat actor to choose a specific percentage of data in a file to encrypt. Lockbit 3.0, a main stain on the list and last year's winner, continues to wreak havoc. Now in its third epoch, Lockbit 3.0 is more modular and evasive than its predecessors. Black Basta is one of the most active RaaS threat actors and is also considered to be yet another descendant of the Conti ransomware group. They have gained a reputation for targeting all types of industries indiscriminately. To learn more about the findings of this year's Nastiest Malware analysis, visit the OpenText Cybersecurity Community, as well as tune in to our Nastiest Malware Webinar.

Read More

Spotlight

Poly

Poly

Plantronics, Inc. (“Poly” – formerly Plantronics and Polycom) (NYSE: PLT) is a global communications company that powers meaningful human connection and collaboration. Poly combines legendary audio expertise and powerful video and conferencing capabilities to overcome the distractions, complexity, a...

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