Cloud-based enterprise communication technology extends users plenty of favors. Users no longer have to configure different components of collaboration tools themselves. They can now access ready-made, holistic, software as a service solutions. But users still need collaboration devices — new, improved, purpose-built ones.

“At the end of the day, all of that collaboration cloud gets accessed through a set of devices,” said Joe Burton (pictured), president and chief executive officer of Poly. Unified communications systems include not just the cloud; they also consist of a host of endpoints — headsets, desktops, boardrooms, audio and video conferencing technology, etc.

Poly wants to provide each and every end device that touches the collaboration cloud. This became Poly’s refreshed focus a year ago when it was born from the fusing of Plantronics Inc. and Polycom Inc.

Burton spoke with Lisa Martin (@LisaMartinTV) and Stu Miniman (@stu), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Enterprise Connect event in Kissimmee, Florida. They discussed the company’s rebranding and the evolving unified-communications domain (see the full interview with transcript here). (* Disclosure below.)

Can AI and ML keep you in the zone longer?

Poly’s devices are designed with a holistic system and its players in mind. Analytics, insights and management are part of the package. “We’re going to build every single device that you need to access the cloud with a management layer where you can understand each and every device — is it on? Is it off? Firmware upgrades; security patches … so much more. You can actually understand usage data you’ve never seen before,” Burton said.

These new devices will do more than just  plug into the cloud. They are actually productivity enhancers, according to Burton. “What if you could be on your game, in the zone, instead of an hour or two a day, but two, three, four times that much?” he said. “We think with some of the coaching we can do using some of these AI and ML techniques through our devices, we can just help you be the best you can be all the time.”

Poly is partnering with the likes of Google LLC on novel user experiences through connected devices. “We’re the first and only certified Google Voice set of phones at this point,” Burton concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Enterprise Connect event. (* Disclosure: Poly sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Poly nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE