Plantronics Releases Asset Analysis Suite for Manager Pro

Plantronics has released a new version for its software subscription service, Plantronics Manager Pro. This new version, v3.8 and Asset Analysis suite, is designed to provide insight from voice interactions to IT and contact center managers, through analytics and data aggregation, thus improving customer service and collaboration.

There are three noteworthy enhancements to Plantronics Manager Pro v3.8: it now has the ability to track device deployment, as well as configurations, reconfigurations, and firmware updates, it can locate non-standard firmware, software, softphone, and communications client deployments, and it defines standard device settings through user personas. Plantronics Manager Pro will be used to offer analysis suites for IT and contact center managers, helping them evaluate service, patterns, and conversations, with Asset Analysis as the company's first generally available suite.

Plantronics Manager Pro is designed to integrate with other managed service offerings, in order to assist in creating relationships between channel partners and customers. Resellers can remotely manage configurations and send out updates to settings and firmware, as well as help customers prepare for updates and changes and handle configuration issues. The offer is built using the same transaction flow as any other Software-as-a-Service offering, so distributers can use it with their current software and services practices.

In order to assist the IT team, Plantronics Manager Pro with Asset Analysis can run inventory checks, determining who has what headset and what softphones they're connected to. With this, users can track personas, and connect the proper headsets to matching communication styles, and create a combination of system and user-defined settings for each headset to provide the optimal experience. It also lets contact center managers provide their customer service representatives with tools and a standard configuration for the customer service representative workspace, designed to provide a good experience for both the customer and representative.

According to Blair Pleasant of COMMfusion and UCStrategies, "This announcement, while interesting for Plantronics' customers, is even more interesting for Plantronics' channel partners. Offering Plantronics Manager Pro as a service gives channel partners an opportunity to provide added value to their customers while ensuring recurring revenue streams, which generally aren't possible when selling headsets." She adds, "Plantronics has many channel partners that sell subscription models who are well positioned to offer this based on a SaaS model and eager to find new sources of recurring revenue."

For more information, visit www.plantronics.com.