What is the Jabra and Lenovo partnership about?

The partnership combines Jabra's professional audio and video collaboration devices with Lenovo's computing hardware to create integrated solutions for hybrid work. The goal is to provide users with certified, optimized experiences whether they are working from home or in the office.

Why is this partnership relevant now?

Hybrid work has become a permanent fixture in the modern workplace, with in-person work still significantly below pre-pandemic levels. Businesses need reliable, high-quality communication tools that work seamlessly across different work settings, making integrated hardware partnerships increasingly important.

How does the Jabra-Lenovo partnership benefit end users?

End users benefit from devices that are jointly tested and certified to work together, reducing compatibility issues and setup complexity. The partnership ensures a consistent, high-quality audio and video experience across Lenovo PCs and Jabra peripherals.

The Partnering of Lenovo and Jabra

Jabra and Lenovo have formed a strategic partnership to address the evolving needs of hybrid workplaces, combining Lenovo's computing hardware with Jabra's audio and video collaboration solutions. As in-person work climbs back toward pre-pandemic levels but remote and hybrid work remain entrenched, the partnership aims to deliver seamless, certified device experiences for professionals. The collaboration targets businesses seeking integrated, high-quality communication tools across both home and office environments.

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By Cara Schildmeyer · January 12, 2023, 1:00 PM UTCA/vItRemote WorkReturn to Work

Key takeaways

In-person work reached 54.5% of pre-pandemic levels in September, but full recovery is unlikely given the staying power of hybrid work.

Jabra and Lenovo are partnering to deliver integrated audio/video and computing solutions optimized for hybrid workplaces.

The partnership focuses on certified, seamless device experiences to support professionals working across multiple environments.

In-person work numbers have been climbing and are at a high since early 2020, hitting 54.5 percent of pre-pandemic numbers in September, according to The Washington Post. However, we will probably never reach full pre-pandemic levels with the remote work movement and the flexibility it enables.

How is the new partnership between Jabra and Lenovo helping with the remote and hybrid work movement and what are the companies doing to adapt to the operational office changes that have arisen post-pandemic?

On today’s episode of Collaboration Reinvented by Jabra, Host Michelle Dawn Mooney speaks with Eric Taylor, Senior Solutions Consultant for Jabra, and Joshua Peterson, Strategic Project Planner, Lenovo, to discuss what Jabra and Lenovo specialize in and offer to customers and how they are working together to address some of the return-to-work issues that have arisen for some businesses since the pandemic.

Mooney, Taylor, and Peterson also discussed…

What Jabra and Lenovo offer independently product-wise
Some of the room size changes that have occurred at company facilities since the pandemic
Some of the challenges companies are seeing with the return to facilities and how Lenovo and Jabra are handling this

Peterson explained how Lenovo is tackling the issue of return to work overload and equipment management: “There is an initial overload of the number of rooms that people are responsible for managing and keeping up and running. And so that’s where ThinkSmart Manager comes into play and that’s a cloud-based management tool that allows us to manage not only the device itself from the room but all of the connected peripherals as well. So, with our Teams and Zoom rooms, etcetera, there are management consoles for the entirety of that ecosystem. But what we do with ThinkSmart Manager is take that last mile of hardware in the room and the physical devices in the room and make sure that those are manageable as well.”

Taylor says remote and hybrid work have created the need for expanded tech needs. “There’s a lot of choice now. I do believe Jabra and Lenovo are two of the finest in the market, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that a lot of OEMs are good at this. And it’s really good for the consumer, the end customer, to have some options. So, the ability to get a low-cost, high-performance device that is going to meet your needs is a good thing. Because, specifically to the future of work, particularly around hybrid work, etcetera, I don’t think you’re ever going to see people back in the office 100 percent back in the office.”

Eric Taylor is an experienced senior-level information technology manager-turned technology evangelist and is Senior Solutions Consultant at Jabra. He has worked in roles such as a Solutions Engineer at Logitech and Senior Technical Client Advisor for Lenovo Smart Office Solutions in the past. He earned his BS in Civil Engineering from North Carolina State University.

Joshua Peterson has 20 years of experience improving business outcomes with technologies, solutions, and services and is Strategic Project Planner at Lenovo. He has previously served as Smart Collaboration Technical Consultant at Lenovo as well as Enterprise Account Executive and Channel Sales Director at Avocor. Peterson earned an Associate of Arts and Sciences, Recording Arts from Full Sail (Multimedia Arts). He also holds multiple certifications from Microsoft, LinkedIn, and AVIXA.