Alumnus gives lecture at School of Business
Andy Miller, Polycom CEO and 1981 graduate of the Darla Moore School of Business, spoke Wednesday in the school’s Lumpkin Auditorium.
Miller’s lecture, entitled “$1B to $5Billion, a Technology Company’s Venture to Leadership,” gave a quick synopsis of how he grew his telecommunications corporation into a juggernaut worth $5 billion.
Miller, who was named as one of Computer Reseller News Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential Executives for 2010, began his talk by giving his corporation’s background. He said Polycom has 39 percent market share and creates products and technology that 83 percent of the Fortune 500 companies utilize.
Miller has been CEO of the debt-free company since May 2010 and in that time has already begun to make waves.
“Polycom is an industry, darling, and frankly, it wasn’t a couple of years ago,” Miller said.
After releasing six C-level executives and hiring their replacements from a pool of 117 interviews in the span of two weeks, Miller has begun to push the company into what he sees at the new frontier — cloud technologies — while still keeping a steady hold on the company’s bread and butter business.
The company has been working on teleconferencing software. Miller said that by next year almost all video conferencing will be available on tablet devices. In addition, Polycom is an innovator in the growing telepresence field.
In terms of competitors, Miller singled out Cisco, a corporation with over 13,000 employees. Miller said Polycom has less than a 10th of that. As a former employee of Cisco, Miller said he knew firsthand the benefits of Polycom and said he lists them in meetings with potential customers.
Miller also spoke to the fact that the company performs internationally. Saying 47 percent of Polycom’s business coming from outside the U.S., Miller touched on the “BRIC Plan.” The plan involves capitalizing on the fastest growing markets, which are currently Brazil, Russia, India and China.
The lecture was a part of the Wachovia, A Wells Fargo Company Speaker Series.
“I think it’s excellent that Wells Fargo gave us this opportunity. I think that it’s a resource that’s really under utilized.” said Alexis Morath, a first-year business student.