INTRODUCTION
PUMA is one of the world’s leading sports brands with more than 70 years of experience designing and developing footwear, apparel, and accessories. Overlooking the Boston skyline, PUMA’s North American headquarters spans 150,000 square feet and houses the teams responsible for creating fast products for the world’s fastest athletes.
THE CHALLENGE
The new Boston location brought together two North American offices, so designing a space that would encourage seamless communication across teams was top of mind for Dylan O’Connor, Vice President of Information Technology, and Erin Young, Senior Manager of Retail IT and Desktop Engineering at PUMA. Collaboration was always a focus during this redesign process, but with the pandemic and reduction in travel, the need for hybrid meetings with others around the globe became greater.
THE SOLUTION
O’Connor and Young set out to provide one unified meeting room experience that would replace the previous mix of disparate systems. Technology guidelines were developed to standardize each room size and replicate a consistent experience across their conference rooms using Crestron Flex for Microsoft Teams® Rooms.
THE TECHNOLOGY
Crestron Flex provides a native Microsoft Teams experience, delivering a similar user interface whether an employee is working remotely from their laptop or joining a call in a meeting room. Using a variety of tabletop, front of room, and customized Crestron Flex systems, the PUMA conference rooms have been scaled to provide the proper audio and video quality for each space. Beyond the conference rooms, PUMA also leverages Crestron Flex in their boardrooms. With the rise in hybrid work, equipping these bigger spaces with the proper solutions to accommodate a better in-room experience for large groups was vital. At the front of the room are dual screens that display content and remote participants simultaneously.
PUMA’s Showrooms provide an immersive experience for visitors to show off the company’s latest and greatest products. Crestron touch screens maximize the room’s special features, allowing for control over the signage, lighting, and more. For simplified content sharing, Crestron AirMedia® wireless presentation systems allow for quick adjustments to customize content and tailor the displays specifically for the hosted visitors that day.
With meeting rooms, commons areas, and showrooms all relying on technology, O’Connor and Young needed a reliable management solution. The Crestron XiO Cloud® Technology Operations Management Platform allows the team to remotely connect to any device instead of trying to locate it around the office manually. XiO Cloud helps the team save time and money by managing these spaces with an intelligent tool that streamlines operations.
RESULTS
The concepts that have been developed in the Boston location have proven to be successful and will serve as the blueprint for future remodels across the regional offices of PUMA — which will all be standardized on Crestron. “The success we have had with Crestron and the streamlined experience the technologies provide made it an easy decision to standardize on the same solution across our other offices,” says O’Connor.
A graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology, Doug has been in the Technology industry since 1976 and actively oversees Fearing’s daily operations. Along with his wife, Lois, and three others, Doug started Fearing’s in a 600 square-foot facility in Portage, Wisconsin. In the 25 years since, the company has grown to over 30 employees with offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doug likes to say he’s a “TV Technician with a dream� going back to his history with the family’s original business-Fearing’s TV and Appliance.
Doug values time with family, watersports, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing. In addition to being a devoted member of his church, Doug serves as Board President for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County, Board member of Schools for Haiti and Scripture Chair of the Gideons-Portage camp.
A graduate of MATC, Lois oversees Fearing’s daily book keeping along with various HR responsibilities.
Along with Doug, Lois is deeply connected to community outreach, serving as a Board member and Fundraising Committee Chairperson for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County. She also serves on the Schools for Haiti Fundraising committee. In addition, Lois’ ongoing passion and commitment to provide care for the elderly comes from her 10-year history of working in a Reedsburg, Wisconsin Nursing home.
Lois enjoys singing, hiking, sunny days on the pontoon, and spending time with her 4 grandchildren.
Ehren drives Fearing’s technology by continually seeking out trends to enhance capabilities while supporting Sales, Engineering and Installation teams. Throughout his years with Fearing’s, Ehren’s talent and vision have joined forces to create a wide variety of projects and strategic solutions that exceed expectation.
Ehren loves music, family time, movies, nature, sustainability efforts and electric vehicles.
With 10 years with Fearing’s and over twice that long in the industry, Ben continues to lead, coordinate, and develop the Commercial AV team.
By consistently delivering an outstanding experience and outcome, Ben contributes to the Fearing’s legacy of long-lasting partnerships that truly make a difference. Whatever the Commercial AV need may be, Ben and team deliver at the highest level.
Ben is an avid fisherman and photographer. He enjoys coaching his sons and other youth.
Chris has been with Fearing’s for 20 years and in the industry for over 2 decades. As a Certified leader in Sales Acceleration and trained in EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating Systems), Chris successfully utilizes his skills to lead the Fearing’s Salesforce. Chris and team are motivated and driven to develop new client partnerships while continuing to reinforce loyal long-term relationships with ongoing Service excellence.
Married for 19 years with 3 children, Chris enjoys skiing, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, camping and golf. He’s also been actively involved as a Youth Football and Softball coach for his family and others.
