When the global pandemic hit in early Spring, companies everywhere were looking for a quick solution for moving their employees to a WFH solution that offered the ability to communicate effectively. For Smart Made Simple (SMS), the answer was right on their door! Whilst every company were scrambling to find secure, reliable digital communications, SMS knew that StarLeaf could meet and exceed their needs.
SMS and StarLeaf have collaborated for a decade, from when StarLeaf first opened its doors. Through previous businesses, the venture into StarLeaf conferencing systems was created through a team of engineers already familiar with SMS Electronics. StarLeaf partnered with SMS because of their comprehensive facilities, close proximity, reputation for communicative relationships, and their extensive capabilities.
StarLeaf enable seamless collaboration through intelligently engineered, reliable meeting room systems, superior video conferencing, and secure messaging. SMS have been supporting StarLeaf via their electronic manufacturing services, helping to develop new products, and innovating and scaling as StarLeaf’s popularity grew.
“The StarLeaf service has seen a 10-fold increase in usage since the pandemic hit, due to the dramatic increase in remote working,” said James Long, product manager at StarLeaf. “These customers benefitted from a great experience using StarLeaf in meeting rooms, so the natural choice was to continue at home with StarLeaf. With social distancing in place for the foreseeable future, StarLeaf have the solution for hybrid working – our Huddle product is ideal for this smaller environment.”
To manage such demand, StarLeaf looked to SMS to ramp up production. SMS have worked with StarLeaf from prototype to production, and bring flexibility, engineering support and knowledge which has been extensively developed over a number of NPI’s and builds throughout the years.
StarLeaf supply video meetings solutions designed for spaces of every size, from home and remote offices, to huddle spaces, meeting rooms, boardrooms and auditoriums. Our substantial collaboration with StarLeaf has meant that we will continue to supply them with the highest level of quality, and we work closely with StarLeaf engineers to maintain this standard.
SMS have expanded their own use of the StarLeaf system substantially, going from a handful of users to 50+ users, from an average of four meetings a month for 180 total minutes to nearly 3,000 meetings and over 34,000 minutes per month.
The StarLeaf system has been a powerful operational and internal collaboration and communication tool to support employee mental wellbeing when required. For customer communications, SMS were able to continue their bespoke service using their high-quality, interactive, client video consultations.
“Clearly we collaborated with the right partner,” says StarLeaf Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder William MacDonald. “SMS enabled us to work better. They’ve been innovating with us since the beginning, and with their support, we’ve been able to prove to our customers that we are trustworthy and reliable, even in challenging times.”
SMS and StarLeaf seek to learn from recent events, examine and continue to innovate, and work to evaluate and solidify their supply chains. “It’s a credit to our relationship that we emerged so well and were able to ramp up to meet demand,” says Andrew Maddock, Co-Owner and Managing Director at SMS Electronics. “Our teams know that preplanning, laying the groundwork ahead of time, helped us expand quickly and efficiently. Now we can look at what worked, and what could have been better. We’re excited to find out what’s next!”