Masergy Lets Customers Rent Phones for UC Plans

Masergy, a provider of cloud networking and managed communication services, has announced that its Polycom phone rental program is available.

The program allows businesses to upgrade to unified communications platforms without having to buy new phones, offering the potential for them to save a lot of money when switching.

“A significant inhibitor for embracing UC has been assuming the cost burden of replacing desktop phones,” John Dumbleton, senior vice president of business development for Masergy, said in a press release. “Masergy has directly addressed this issue by allowing organizations to lease high-quality Polycom phones in a ‘pay as you go’ model—preserving funds while increasing employee productivity.”

The program uses Polycom’s VVX high definition business phone line.

“Polycom’s VVX Business Media Phones are flexible; enterprise-grade solutions. They can seamlessly connect into an existing call control platform thus allowing organizations to fully leverage previous IT investments.  Equally important, they offer the industry’s best sound quality with features like Polycom HD Voice and patented Polycom Acoustic Clarity Technology for crystal-clear calls,” said Shawn Puddester, Polycom vice president of  North America sales and global cloud and service provider solutions.

The models available range from Polycom’s entry-level VVX 300/310 with six line keys, intended for office workers handling low volumes of calls, to the VVX 400/410, with up to 12 line keys and designed for knowledge workers and administrative assistants handling a lot of calls.

New technologies that require new hardware often suffer from a chicken-and-egg problem. If no one buys the hardware, the services they rely on fail. If no one signs up for a service, there’s no point in making new hardware.

Letting customers rent these phones gives them an incentive to move to UC platforms. Masergy offers a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with its plans, meaning that customers can expect a level of reliability from Masergy.