Virus ‘Exponentially Accelerated’ Remote Work, Says Poly CEO

COVID-19 was a “critical catalyst” and a “massive accelerant” to the digital transformation that was “already reshaping the working world” before the pandemic, said Poly CEO Dave Shull on a fiscal Q3 investor call Thursday. “Zoom, Teams and Slack were not invented in response to the coronavirus,” he said. “They were already there.” Remote work “and the infrastructure necessary to support it were already spreading throughout the working world,” he said. “The pandemic has just exponentially accelerated adoption and usage of these types of platforms.” Shull is a “remote video convert,” he said. “I've gone from abhorring remote working to fully embracing the work revolution. Videoconferencing has become a way of life. Embracing video and the cloud transition will define the post-COVID return to the office.” Analysts estimate fewer than 10% of the roughly 50 million conference rooms in the world are “video-enabled,” he said. “They also estimate there are more than 400 million legacy phones in offices around the world that will be replaced with cloud-based audio devices and collaboration tools.” The stock closed 19.4% higher Friday at $41.85.