Harnessing the Power of Voice for Business Today at the Gartner Symposium ITxpo 2010
Plantronics (NYSE: PLT) announces the results of a global study, which
reveals the importance and impact of voice in business today at the
Gartner Symposium ITxpo 2010 in Cannes, France. Key findings show that
most business professionals (81%*) rate time spent talking on the phone
as critical to success and productivity at work.
Importance of Voice
As the workspace is evolving beyond the traditional boundaries of the
corporate office and the daily routine of 9-5, employees find themselves
spending more time working in different locations – such as with
customers, at home, hotel lobbies, in the car and at the airport. In the
study 90% of workers admitted to spending time working away from the
office in other locations. In this new context the power of voice is
becoming one of the most vital business assets. Working in acoustically
challenging environments and conducting more meetings over the phone
means that what we say, how we it say it and being clearly understood is
more critical than ever, and the headset is a vital component in this.
Power of Voice
When conducting business over the phone, body language is replaced by
tone of voice, which accounts for 87% of communication, with the actual
words used only accounting for a mere 13% of total effectiveness.
Therefore the tone of voice, together with pace, pause, power and pitch
can affect end results and by tuning these, professionals can be more
influential and effective during phone conversations. Plantronics’
‘Speech Impact Masterclass’ maximises a company’s business performance
by grooming the power of the voice over the phone.
“Plantronics has played a central role in telephony conversations for
nearly 50 years and recognises that the projection of one’s ‘voice
signature’ during business conversations and presentations is vital,”
says Philip Vanhoutte, Managing Director for EMEA at Plantronics.
“Plantronics’ approach to design, acoustic intelligence and multi-phone
integration makes it easier than ever to take advantage of the benefits
of high impact voice communications in our smarter working lifestyle.”
Global Knowledge, the world’s largest private ICT training provider,
understands the power of voice and has recently included Plantronics’
‘Speech Impact Masterclass’ in its portfolio. The programme features
proven audio techniques and methodologies from Tony Crawford, Europe’s
leading communication and presentation expert.
“As professionals spend more time working remotely, they have to learn
to communicate without the power of face-to-face interaction and body
language.” says Tony Crawford, founder of Crawford Communications. “The
importance of ‘voice presence’ is not only on the rise, it is proving
crucial to the way that today’s most successful companies do business.”
“We are very pleased to be able to offer Plantronics’ Speech Impact
Masterclass” says Peter Howell, EMEA Operations Director at Global
Knowledge, “We reach on average over 75,000 students a year. The
programme will be rolled out across EMEA and with this, we are able to
give businesses the tools that will deliver payback to their company in
the shape of improved productivity, efficiency and cost savings.”
Global Knowledge and Plantronics will be collaborating to promote the
Speech Impact Masterclass programme and will be working together on
developing future initiatives.
Philip Vanhoutte, Plantronics’ Managing Director for EMEA will be
hosting and moderating a panel discussion on “Voice 2.0 – Harnessing the
Power of Voice for Business Today” sharing Unified Communications &
Collaboration Best Practice focusing on the new voice capabilities. The
panel will feature representatives from BT, Telenor and Crawford
Communications. It will take place at the Gartner Symposium ITxpo on
Wednesday 10th November 17.15 – 18.00 in the Palais des Festivals,
Auditorium A.
*Source: The “How We Work: Communication Trends of Business
Professionals” study surveyed more than 1,800 employees in six countries
(US, UK, Germany, China, India and Australia) about their communication
habits and preferences. All work in medium or large size companies (100+
employees) and identified themselves as knowledge workers (people whose
work centers on developing/working primarily with ideas and information)
who use a variety of communications technologies to stay in touch with
colleagues, partners and clients. The research was conducted in May and
June of 2010. The findings reveal that professionals are communicating
more today than ever before and are very smart about which tools to use
for given situations. The full study can be downloaded today at www.plantronics.com/howwework.
