Verifone offices worldwide

As a leading provider of technology for electronic payment transaction and value-added services at the point of sale, Verifone is one of the top 10 payment innovators in the market. What started off as countertop credit card devices in 1981 has evolved into a full portfolio of solutions that extends to vending machines, on-street parking meters, mobile devices and more.

Headquartered in San Jose, the company needed to connect its 10 core global offices and 5, 200 employees. Prior to using video collaborative solutions, Verifone regularly flew 20-30 management committee members located around the world to a central location. The two-day business reviews were usually held in the San Jose or New York offices. Those who could not make the trip had to join the discussion over audio.

After transitioning to video with Polycom RealPresence Desktop for individual computers and Polycom Group Series for room environments, everyone noticed a clear difference. "It changed the experience of having these meetings and made them far more productive and interactive, " explains Steve Horan, senior vice president and chief information officer at Verifone. "The quality is great and throughout the course of the two days we never had a single hiccup."

To keep up with the increasing demand for inter-company collaboration, Verifone has chosen managed services with Polycom and Polycom partner Solutionz to support its needs. From a cost standpoint and a value-added standpoint, the decision was an easy one for Verifone to make. "From a time to production perspective, it is a lot quicker to have Polycom host the gateway for us, " said Horan. "The bridge is managed and a quality service helpdesk is there if we have any challenges."

With the managed services team monitoring and scaling the system, Verifone can focus time and resources on other business issues. "If I was managing the bridge, my group would have to be available 24/7 to provide that support, " claims Horan. "I do not have to worry about running out of ports. The head room is maintained for me and I have a peace of mind."