IMCCA announced the recipients of the 2020 UC Industry Impact Awards, honoring organizations for their contributions and outstanding support during the pandemic. The winners, as selected by a panel of five independent industry expert judges, were unveiled during the live IMCCA Collaboration Thanksgiving Webcast on November 17, 2020.
“The UC Industry Impact Award honorees pushed the boundaries of UC technology and in so doing profoundly improved the user experience during a monumental shift in organizational structures and processes resulting from the pandemic,” said Carol Zelkin, executive director, IMCCA. “We congratulate all the outstanding nominees and these award recipients, and look forward to their continued contributions which benefit both the general public and the industry.”
Related: 3 Takeaways on the State of Collaboration From IMCCA’s Collaboration Week New York
Nominees for the Industry Impact Awards (all of which can be seen here) were selected by IMCCA executive board and board members. Then, an independent judging panel selected three nominees from each of the categories (Collaboration Platforms; Hardware and Peripherals; Integrators and Service Providers; and Distributors and Miscellaneous Organizations.) The independent judges were Irwin Lazar of Nemertes Research, Blair Pleasant of Commfusion, Dan Ferrisi of Sound and Communications, Roopam Jain of Frost and Sullivan, and Tim Banting of Omdia.
2020 UC Industry Impact Award Winners and Judges’ Criteria
Collaboration Platforms: LogMein / GoToMeeting
The team at GoToSuite / LogMeIn provided free emergency remote work kits for health care providers, educational institutions, municipalities, and non-profit organizations when the pandemic struck, enabling critical work to continue remotely.
Collaboration Platforms: Microsoft Teams
Microsoft not only provided its great Microsoft Teams platform, which seamlessly absorbed the surge in work-from-home employees, in addition it launched a global skills initiative to help people hardest hit by the pandemic by making tools and resources available to learn digital skills.
Collaboration Platforms: Zoom
Deservedly, Zooms led all Industry Impact Nominees with 10 nominations. No other UC firm rose to the challenge of COVID-19 as overwhelmingly as Zoom, becoming a global verb synonymous with video for business, healthcare, education, and religious and social events, and in many cases was provided at no cost for the good of the greater community.
Hardware and Peripherals: Crestron
When the pandemic struck, Crestron designed, built, and shipped an entirely new system to enable collaboration in non-traditional spaces, turning field hospitals, manufacturing floors, and large classrooms into Teams and Zoom rooms overnight.
Hardware and Peripherals: Logitech
Logitech enabled millions of people around the world with its powerful tools, helping them feel part of their work, connected to their loved ones, as normal as possible during the pandemic, and created a program to specifically help educators.
Hardware and Peripherals: Poly
Whether in the school, enterprise, or living room, using Poly's devices during COVID-19 gave people a professional meeting experience without hassle. Its powerful, agnostic AI systems inside a catalog that has the unique breadth to cover all UC needs let users choose the best experience anywhere and at any time. For just one example, its Studio USB’s new rapid automatic tracking mode freed teachers to again walk around a classroom when presenting to remote students.
Integrators and Service Providers: AVI-SPL
AVI-SPL pivoted quickly to provide newly assigned home workers with technology starter kits and dedicated courses on “working remotely” for first timers. The speed and quality of their solution demonstrated an enormous commitment to customer service.
Integrators and Service Providers: Poly
When COVID-19 struck, Poly's Global Services team offered free consulting with UC experts to guide businesses, organizations, and individuals on the best technology to enable remote working, network readiness, and workspace design, empowering everyone to quickly adapt to the new normal. (Poly was the only double award winner, nominated in three categories and winning in two.)
Integrators and Service Providers: Yorktel
Yorktel responded to the pandemic's surge in demand by developing and building hundreds of rapid response carts in a matter of weeks—just one of the steps its pandemic response team took to support thousands of global customers.
Distributors and Miscellaneous Organizations: AtlasIED
Atlas IED provided tens of thousands of medical-grade protective face shields to first responders and those on the front lines, helping ease the crunch for PPE during the pandemic. They manufactured and shipped face shields to almost all 50 US states at no cost.
Distributors and Miscellaneous Organizations: Legrand AV
Legrand converted one of its Indiana production lines during the height of the pandemic to making 1000 masks a day.
The pandemic has mobilized these and many other UC providers to deliver solutions that will help ensure the continuity and growth of UC technology usage, resulting from the work-from-home phenomenon coupled with the need to find alternatives for in-person interactions. Zelkin adds that the UC Industry Impact Awards have been a great opportunity to honor and thank those individuals and organizations who have supported and given visibility to the UC industry’s role in this accomplishment.
“We are fortunate to have such dedicated and innovative players in this industry and we truly appreciate their contributions,” she said. “From individuals such as our own David Danto, IMCCA’s director of emerging technology—who worked tirelessly to drive outreach as the pandemic began—to organizations such as Zoom, whose name has become synonymous with UC technology, our industry is to be commended for the responsible leadership it has shown in helping organizations keep working through this unprecedented situation, and prepare our world for the hybrid working future that’s upon us.”
