The Associated Press Brings Home Olympic Gold with Fuze

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--March 07, 2017-- Fuze, the leading cloud-based communications solution for the modern global enterprise, today announced its role as the communications vendor of choice for The Associated Press (AP) during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Throughout its coverage of the Summer Games, AP journalists, photographers, and camera crews used the Fuze mobile application to manage more than 1,300 calls over the course of the event, wherever the story took them. “One of our goals is to develop tools to help businesses connect their people no matter where they need to get work done,” said Derek Yoo, CTO, Fuze. “We had the opportunity to support AP in doing what it does best – telling great stories and in this case, bringing the spirit and the action of the Olympic Games to an international stage. Seeing our application enable journalists to get the scoop on the ground in Rio and communicate instantaneously with news bureaus all over the world was exciting. It is a great example of how the cloud can enable a highly distributed and mobile workforce.” Having deployed Fuze’s global voice service since 2014, AP knew it could trust Fuze’s redesigned mobile application for staff covering the Olympic Games. Knowing they would face connectivity challenges and likely turn to personal phones if IT-sanctioned tools caused frustration, the IT team equipped its staff with a communication solution that could operate seamlessly with an intuitive UX. “Fuze was the clear option for us when we needed to set our teams up for success at the Olympics,” said Steve Moyes, director of technology support EMEA/Asia, AP. “We needed a superior UX to make sure that calls were made at the right place and the right time to keep track of changing schedules, facilitate introductions, and meet tight deadlines – all without having to invest in expensive hardware for local calls or excessive international dialing fees, which can quickly add up without flexible cloud-based communications. A trusted network and a seamless user experience on their own devices made the process familiar despite the foreign assignment.” Because of the app’s ease of use and the team’s familiarity with the desktop UX, the AP team did not require training on new devices or phone numbers despite reporting from an otherwise remote location. With a view into which colleagues were “available” within the app, teams could keep stories moving by more easily keeping track of who was on assignment and who was offline. Fuze’s local extension-to-extension calling enabled reporters to connect with each other directly. By removing expensive long-distance fees, the rollout also helped IT manage connectivity and control variable operational costs during the event. Staff returned from the Olympics with a better understanding of Fuze’s capabilities. Parity between the desktop and mobile UX also empowered teams to resume work faster and move between devices without losing productivity. For journalists on the go, greater exposure to the benefits of cloud-based communications left an impact on the way they get work done while meeting the demands of a fast-pace industry. To learn more about how AP leveraged Fuze during its coverage of the Rio Olympic Games, read the full case study. For more information, visit www.fuze.com.