Or tune in on your preferred streaming platform:
Craig Durr
Call one. Hello, direct audition. Neil Fluster is the actor? Take one. Okay, have you got my best side? Is this good? Is the lighting? Just do the line, please.
Neil Fluester
Okay, what's up? What's up? What's up?
Craig Durr
Last guy? Call one. Hello, direct audition. Go. Go ahead. Let's sit down. What's your name again? Can you tell me your name, please?
Danny Hayasaka
Danny Hayasaka,
Craig Durr
and you know the line, right?
Danny Hayasaka
Yes, I know the line. All right.
Craig Durr
Take one.
Danny Hayasaka
All right. The thing I got it
Craig Durr
whenever you're ready. Give it to me. Ready? You guys? Ready? Ready. Go.
Danny Hayasaka
What's up?!?
Craig Durr
What you just saw there is typical of my good friend Danny Hayasaka. He's fun-loving. He loves to laugh. He's always there for a good time. But also, don't discount the professionalism of Danny as well. Danny works as a senior director of emerging technologies marketing for Call One. Call One is a reseller of personal and group collaboration devices, some of the major name brands you probably know about, such as Jabra, Logitech, Yealink, Neat, and many more. Danny is well known for his YouTube and LinkedIn posts, where he makes great videos and demonstrations and breaks down the use cases around these products. Really, really well. He makes them fun. He makes them easy to talk to. It's the kind of guy you want to grab for a cup of coffee or maybe a beer after work. But you know, let's talk to Danny, and let's get to know him a little better. In fact, let's talk collaboration with Danny Hayasaka.
Craig Durr
My name is Craig Durr. I work as a researcher and analyst in the field of workplace collaboration. Now I'm in this great spot where not only do I get to consult with the companies that produce the technologies, the devices, and the services that enable workplace collaboration, but I also get to talk to the end customers and then even the channel partners that are helping to try and figure out the solutions to the problems people are seeing in their workplace environments, the use cases, the challenges, the things that just aren't working right. It's a great place to be. I like the idea that I get to help bridge what takes place between end users and the companies that are making the solutions. So why not? Let's talk more about it. In fact, let's talk about collaboration. Danny. Danny, hi, Osaka, are you doing?
Danny Hayasaka
What's up
Craig Durr
Exactly
Danny Hayasaka
I'm doing fantastic. I'm doing fantastic.
Craig Durr
Well, hey, I really appreciate you taking the time to join me. This is the inaugural podcast that I'm doing in partnership with UC today. So it's exciting to do this. I appreciate you coming on.
Yeah, it's awesome of them to to kind of give you this platform to live here. It's one new venture.
Yeah. Well, here's the problem. They don't know if I'm going to be serious, so they're just going to get some finished film in the can, and we'll see what they think about it afterward. Let's, let's dive in. As I told you before, this is an opportunity for us to talk about collaboration. Because you, just like myself, sit in this great intersection between the vendor community and that end-user community. In fact, you speak to a lot of other partners too when you guys go to these events. So you guys get to hear a lot of what's taking place on both sides of this buy and sell equation, huh? I bet you have some good insights to share, and I'm going to dig in. All right, careful do it, all right, but first, before we do that, all right, let's make sure everyone knows who Danny Hayasaka is the person. Now, I did my research. I'm not going to hold you to it, but I want, I want you to tell me. Tell me about Danny hiasaka, let's introduce yourself to the audience. Well, Danny, I mean, I was but most people don't know this, but I was born in Mexico. We actually immigrated to the United States illegally,
Danny Hayasaka
and it was it was something that I can't even believe happened. My mother just kind of came over, my dad had already come across, and my mother came, and she had three kids with her. She put our clothes, all our belongings, inside a like a laundry bag. Essentially came to the border and said, I'm going to go do laundry. And they looked in the bag, and this, course, is laundry. And they let us through, and our uncle's on the other side, and he took us over to our tiny, little apartment, two bedroom apartment, where we started and when we lived in the shadows for many years. And then Reagan came out and said, Hey, if you in this country X number of years, haven't committed any felonies, come get your green card. And of course, everybody kind of waited. And then, you know, people were actually getting green cards, and then, bam, where they were doing it. So I got, I got my green card, and so we became permanent residents in the United States. And
Craig Durr
you've been a model US citizen. In fact, you're really proud of your service time in the military.
Danny Hayasaka
Me, right? Yeah, yeah, you were there till like 1992 I think, or something like that, right? No, I entered in 92 and got out in 1999 that's what it was. See, I told you did my research, but I had those, those dates, wrong, right? What did you do in the Army? I was a so, you know, and the recruiter did a great job of recruiting me, because I was really big into Taekwondo, into martial arts. I was competing as a national competitor, and he said, Oh, if you go in the army, you'll be on the US Army taekwondo team. And I was like, Oh, he said, you'll just be competing all the time. I said, All right, so I take my Bab and he said, Oh, look, you scored higher, so you can take a medical, so you'll never see the field, right? And I was like, oh, that's even more awesome. So I joined the Army, and, of course, basic training, and then I got my first duty station, or went to ait for medical laboratory technology, because I like, I guess that's what I scored high enough to do medical laboratory technology. And basically, I tested everything. So it's funny that that's what I'm doing now, I test things, right? So I tested every human, any, all the fluids in human body. I tested, wow, that's your analytical mind coming through you also. This is where you met your wife. You guys served together, right? Yes. So she came in the in the army and or she came to our unit, and I was standing there in formation, and I saw her. I hadn't seen her. She was new to the to our unit there. And I was like, I kind of tapped my buddy, and I said, Hey, see that girl over there. He's like, Yeah, I'm gonna marry her. He's like,
Craig Durr
and here you are. Two kids, one awesome dog, Otis. I love Otis. And you guys, do you guys work together also?
Danny Hayasaka
Yeah, so she's the Senior Director of Human Resources. It's great. I call one as well, one as well, yeah, so we can she's actually been here longer than I have, really, yeah. So I've been doing this for 25 years. She's been here, I think 26 almost 27 years. Holy cow. So 25 years. Well, that's a great segue to this next thing. So tell me, how did you come into the world of collaboration, like I see the path you talked about the analytical mind and testing, and you got out you said in 99 right? Is that when your career started in collaboration, if you will? Yeah, so, so I got out of the army and call one was gracious enough to my wife was already working here, and it's a family owned business. So her family, actually, or her aunt and uncle, started the company back in 1987 and so they had this company, and they said, you know, she let them know that I'm getting out. And they said, oh, we'll give him a job while he looks in for another job, basically. So I got out, applied to all these hospitals and clinics, and I was working as a shipping clerk. I call one. Butsomething about the company, the culture, but also the hours. So I worked eight to five, no weekends, no holidays, a whole hour for lunch. And I was just like, why? You know, The pay wasn't that great. But considering hospitals, graveyard shifts, it's gotta be the new person. Graveyard shifts, holidays, weekends, I was like, You know what? I would prefer this because then I had time with my children, which was another reason why I stayed at call. One is I never missed anything that our children were doing, whether it was a play award ceremony, a Cub Scout camping trip, you know, games, football, soccer, whatever it was, we were able to be a part of that all because of, you know, car one, they're very flexible that way. Love it. I love the family environment. I love that they open your family. You know, you mentioned your kids. I you probably weren't expecting me to ask this, but I think your son has a really cool job. Is, is he still doing the thing with the in the entertainment industry, the hospitality industry, yeah, so I my, it's so fun. So we started out. Both of them started out with call one. They they hated it. It's as young as they when they were legally enough of age to work. They started working every summer, everyone, every spring, and they just hated it, right? They did the craft job. I mean, they were facilities. They were cleaning toilets, mowing lawns, painting. I mean, they were doing all the grunt work, right? But, yeah, they kind of drifted. So my youngest son became a firefighter paramedic over in the villages. And then my oldest son, he decided that he was going to follow pursue his dream of being a knight at medieval times, and that's what he is. I love that.
Craig Durr
That's great. I mean, I'm so I'm so happy for that. I'm so happy that you guys show a supportive environment around that, which you know is it sounds like that's the call one environment. So we're jumping, we I jumped around. I appreciate you planning with this. Tell me about call one so that air.
Danny Hayasaka
Everyone understands where call one sits in this whole ecosystem of collaboration devices for personal and group devices. Yeah. So initially, we started as a headset specialty vendor back in 1987 and we were actually considered a distributor. We were direct with gn, Netcom, ACS, Unix and Plantronics, back in the day, we became this powerhouse headset of specialty vendor, and over the years, we've been pushed over to distribution or to buy from distribution, versus being distributed ourselves, because we had the bulk of our customers. In fact, all of them now are end user customers, and so yeah, now, now we are VARs resellers, authorized resellers, or these brands. And so call one provides personal and team workspace solutions. So think about your webcam, your headsets, your speakerphones, your keyboards, your mice, all the things you need to work in a personal workstation. And then think about your team workspaces. So think about any meeting room, whether it's a huddle room, small, medium or large meeting space. We provide the technology to help organizations collaborate across.
Craig Durr
Yeah, I think you out there have the reputation as one of the best I call you the best demo guy that I know, the things that you put out there online in terms of the video so is important, because people know it's something's coming afterwards. But I've seen you do headsets side by side test. I see you do camera testing. I'm seeing you showcasing the showcase rooms that you have on site at the call one offices for all the different vendors as well, too. It looks like a cool experience. Center.
Danny Hayasaka
Oh yeah, it is. And so that that actually transitioned that way. So, of course, the pandemic flipped everything on its head. Our team were able to work remotely very quickly because we had adopted cloud platforms early on. And so when the pandemic hit, within two weeks, we were all working remote. It was very simple to make that shift. And so our new CEO, because our original owners passed during that time period. And so our new CEO, Don Mays, has this work where you work best philosophy. And so we do have some folks that work in the office, because that's what they're where they choose to work. We have some folks that work hybrid, like myself, and then we have some folks that are 100% remote and will probably never come into the office because they don't live anywhere near Florida, right? We were able to retire from all over. Yeah, we were able to file some all over.
Craig Durr
You guys have great things. So quick inventory. You're at your home office right now, right? Yeah, this is my home office, yeah. What is your headset of choice today?
Danny Hayasaka
Well, today I'm using the Yealink BH 70. It's a newer headset that they've introduced, and it's actually pretty phenomenal, when you compare it to the other comparable models in terms of the price, it's super lightweight, it's super comfortable, and actually, I wanted to put the mic through its paces here, because this platform here says that you need to have a good mic. So, yeah, your pickup is great. And what about webcam or camera? What are you using right now? So I right now I'm using the lie detect, MX, Brio, 705,
Craig Durr
the brand new webcam. I got money back here. I'm, uh, you know, the good thing is you and I share some ins and outs on the side about what we're seeing and not seeing. But, yeah, I've got that one, and I've been putting it through spaces. I love putting it side by side with the old Brio, which is still a good camera, but just seeing side by side with the quality of that video is I'm going to be working on a lot of those. I'm going to be doing a comparison video that includes all the business webcams from Logitech, because people don't think know that there's a whole new lineup of Brio series from them. So those are covered. Stay tuned. I love it because I think you and I, because we're friends on the side, we kind of joke about who's getting the next new toy next and who's gonna have a chance to tear open the box and play with it? I, of course, I am not known for unboxing videos or demo videos. You've got that market well covered, so I always refer people over to your videos when I see something that I think is really interesting to try out.
Danny Hayasaka
Sounds good. Appreciate it
Craig Durr
good. All right. Hey, so this is what I love about where you are. So as a value added reseller, you are sitting in a spot which allows you to have conversation both with the vendors and with those end users. I'm curious as this, I this is a great bridge place to be. Why don't you share with me some things? Let's talk about this from where you sit right now and the conversations you having with end users. Is there anything that you would like to share with the vendor community in terms of what they are doing or what they're maybe missing with what end users are saying or need right now?
Danny Hayasaka
Yeah, so that's that's interesting. So the vendors today are creating some pPhenomenal technology and devices and equipment, and it's what I think is missing, is the complete story, right? So there's a lot of emphasis placed on selling a particular device, right? So you have this particular unit or this particular unit, but I think what we share when customers come to us, either in a virtual demo or in person demo or we're just having a conversation, I share with them that you need to have a complete collaboration ecosystem for to experience the true magic, right? So having the rally bar by itself is great, but when you have the rally bar in conjunction with the teams room or Zoom Room platform, as well as the sync software to help manage that and help improve the features and functionalities as they introduce them, that's when you start having the magic that people see in our Experience rooms, because it's not a particular piece of equipment. It's the complete collaboration ecosystem that makes that happen. And many customers don't know that. They go online, they see that thing, oh, you know, they Google, I need a video conferencing bar or something. It pops up, and that's the thing they see, and that's what they get. And then they get it in their space, and it's not doing all the cool things that they see on YouTube or they see in the videos that Danny's making, right? And so that's where I think we need to do better, which is why I do what I do in creating those demonstration videos to a highlight what's possible. But then let's book that demo, so that you can ask the questions, but more importantly, so that we can share with you what it actually takes to get this magic to happen. Got it. Got it. So those vendors, which I think many do you mentioned, a great example, Logitech, helping to create the holistic experience is one of those pieces of advice is that you're trying to share back with them. I know there's some point vendors, and there's some people that have the gadget of the day, you know what's coming out, but I it makes perfect sense. I mean, our customers that we talk to, you talk to are specific to UC platforms or ecosystems. And how does it play in teams? How's it playing? Zoom?
Craig Durr
Do you see much Google meet when the work you're doing right now?
Danny Hayasaka
Yeah. So interestingly, so we have two companies, call one helldirect. So call one focuses primarily on large enterprise, and those organizations typically have dedicated IT teams, and they are in communications with the platform providers as well as the hardware manufacturers. And so it's a easier conversation right at the top level and the kind of the decision making level, and even in the IT world. But once you start coming down a few ranks to the actual end user that's walking into the room, that's where we start to see things fall down a little bit, because while up here, they're very aware of this technology and how it works. Folks down here, not so much. And then held direct is on the SMB side, and they don't have necessarily dedicated IT teams, and they have almost zero clue about what technology is available. They're most mostly they know what they know, which is a webcam and a speakerphone and a headset. That's what they know, right? And so when they try to create a video conferencing solution for their spaces, there's a huge knowledge gap that that exists. And I think that's where folks like call one heldra can come in and help. But if they don't even know we exist, they're never going to knock it on our door. Yeah, to help, right? Which is why we create.
Craig Durr
I was just on site with another customer. They probably have in their offices. I think they have like 180 employees, and they probably had in the one office I was there about 60 to 75 great tech company based out of Austin, Texas, but you're right. It was in their conference room, because they just try and connect three locations, primarily, and then they talk to customers. But their big room, which was their team's all hands room, they had a center of table camera from a unknown provider. They had a lot of wires everywhere, either they never had it set up, right, so that the person speaking, the CEO, the CEO was was captured on film. It's a lot I call them. I have a paradox. I call that. They're either like, it lean or it robust. And there's people fall somewhere on that graph. And hello direction. I was like, you're dealing with a lot of it lean organizations.
Danny Hayasaka
Oh yes, yes. And those are the folks that actually need the most help, but also in the large enterprise world, the end users, the actual end users that are walking into those spaces, day in day out, those are the folks that need the most education. And I think that's another area where everyone can improve. Let's do better at educating people on how to actually use the technology.
Craig Durr
So you think, is that part of the message back to the vendors, or do you think that's to your peers as value added resellers? I mean, is it a Both? Both?
Danny Hayasaka
It's actually everyone, everyone. So it has to come from the manufacturers themselves, the platform providers, as well as the people that are selling the devices, because I know there are some folks out there that move boxes. They literally just someone places an order, they get the box, they ship the box, and that's it. They're wonderful. Let's do this.
Craig Durr
Let's help bridge some messages towards the end user side of the equation. Now. So again, you have a lot of great insight in terms of what vendors are doing, what they're trying to do, and you probably see a lot of common challenges at end users. If you had a chance to share a message to the end user, or even the it lean or it buyer community, what's top of mind that you would want to share?
Danny Hayasaka
On the other end of the spectrum, it can get better. There is better, and the only way to do that is to open your mind and not focus on what you Googled, but reach out to experts in the field, like call one hell direct that can actually guide them. There's usually no cost to have that conversation with a vendor, but at least start educating yourself, because I see it too often where, like you were mentioned, you walk into a space and it's massive, and they complain about the how horrible hybrid is. Hybrid meetings. Everyone should just come in. But when you're sitting there and there's a single lap, a single webcam for an individual and then a little bluetooth speakerphone in this massive space. Well, yeah, that's why you're having a poor experience, because the technology isn't aligned for this. So I think they need to learn that there is better, that there's a whole world of of cool technology that can help bridge that remote and in person world and make such a better experience. And you don't even think about it. You just walk into the room, you hit the one button, and that's all you have to do.
Craig Durr
You know, it reminds me of a conversation I my in my previous life, before I was working as an analyst and research. I worked as a product manager and managing a team, and my engineer peer had a great phrase. He said, Don't come to me with what you think the answer is. Come to me with the problem, and it's my job to help you come to the right answer. It sounds like it's the same thing. You want to message to those end users, right?
Danny Hayasaka
Oh, yeah, because they, they, they as I say, as I tell them, you don't go to headset school and you don't go to AV school. We do. There you go. And like you said, a lot of this is free, you know? Advice. I know that there's professional services wrapped around it too, but for the most part, I think people get nervous talking to vendors because they believe they're locking themselves into buying a moment, right? As opposed to having the Open dialog, right? Yeah. And, you know, and I help so many people, so because of YouTube video, because of LinkedIn, I get a lot of IMS, and a lot of people do reach out, and you'd be surprised how many people I help for free, and there's no obligation. I'm not, I don't expect anything in return. I'm truly wanting to I want to help them, because I know, because I get to use all these toys, that life is so much better when you have the right technology. I am totally there with you. I had someone reach out to me because he saw one of the presentations I gave, and he was in it. He said, you are describing a problem that I have. Can you help me with it? And I'm like, Oh, I don't do that, but I can put you in touch with people. But it's, it's rewarding, because I felt like, you know, one, I felt like, honestly connecting with those people that understands it sound like you're doing the same thing and then bringing them solutions. It's kind of fun. It's why I enjoy what I do. And I'm sure it's the same thing you do as well. Oh yeah, it's absolutely, I love to help people, because, again, you and I are in a different place, because we get to see a lot of the technology before it's even introduced to the general public. And so seeing that stuff, and then knowing what's available, knowing what's coming, it's like, hang on guys, it's coming, you know, but at the same time, there's technology today, today that would change people's lives immensely if they were aware that it existed and what it did.
Craig Durr
Yeah, I totally agree. You know, it's what I call the difference between the technology curve and the adoption curve. I mean, there's, there's a lot of technology out there. It's just the option part. All right, I'm going to transition this, okay, I've got here. We're going to end this with what I call three questions. It's an original segment here, questions, but, uh, these aren't your typical questions. Are Gonna roll this out. I think I kind of do these in the style of a late night TV show host, so I'm looking for your best honest answer, and if you crack up more, the better. You ready questions. Here's your first one. I think you got this one here. Okay, you ready if your video conferencing setup, where you have, right now, had a spirit animal. What spirit animal would that be? And why?
Danny Hayasaka
What spirit animal it would be and now, my spirit animal was monkey. I know that,
Craig Durr
but it's chaotic. That's chaotic, chaotic.
Danny Hayasaka
Yeah, so this is more I would say, like, like a dolphin.
Craig Durr
Oh, look at you pulling, pulling the the Florida ocean reference thing.
Danny Hayasaka
Yeah, I love it smooth, working the waves going through it. And they were intelligent. They work together with the good with everyone.
Craig Durr
Yeah, I love it. I love that you came up with a strong answer right out of the gate. Let's see where else I can throw you here, the dolphin. Okay, Mr dolphin, all right, here you go. You don't have a cat, you have a dog. But when you see someone have their cat walk across their keyboard in front of a video conferencing you've seen. You know what I'm talking about. Oh, yeah. What is your secret in terms of keeping a straight face? Or do you just call them out on that cat on the keyboard moment? What do you do in the beginning?
Danny Hayasaka
That was amusing, and it was but, but these days it's so commonplace that I don't even, I don't even acknowledge it. Actually, I just let it go. I mean, it's the thing that happens, you know, like a kid running in the background, a bird flying across. Yeah, right. I don't remember. Way back before we were all working from home. There was a news commentator who was working remote, I think he was in Thailand or something like that, and he was doing a BBC update, and his kid came bursting in in the background and a little card, there's a meme on it somewhere, and his wife was like, crawling on hands and knees to get that out of the video. And now it's like, whatever it's, you know it's until I was in a video call with someone, and they had a bird this year. The bird was like, right in their their shirt, just hanging around right there. I was on with one two, and the woman had a cap it the cat wasn't in screen. All you saw was, like, the tail flicking, everything going in in front of her face as it was sitting there. She was petting Yeah.
Craig Durr
Okay, here's the last one, and I'm gonna see if this works. So you do a lot of presentations, this isn't a tough one, but I'm curious, is there an unspoken rule of doing virtual meetings that you have, that you might have broken, and then how you get away with it? So is there something you try and do in every virtual presentation that you're doing with these that you're doing with these customers, and all sudden, you're like, oh, that just fell apart. You have to figure out the best way to handle it.
Danny Hayasaka
It hasn't happened yet. No, I think, actually, I think you're down to nature. Very human approach to it is what makes it worthwhile. Actually, I want to make sure I end on that note. I mean, that is why I appreciate all the work that you do. I mean, it's as if I just said in the beginning, it's, um, I finish up hearing what you want to do, and I'm like, I want to sit down have a cup of coffee with that guy. You know, if he drinks beer, I want to have a cup of beer with him afterwards. Let's do it. I do whatever it is. I'm doing it.
Craig Durr
All right. Hey, Danny, this has been an awesome inaugural webcast. I really appreciate you coming on. I think you helped set a good tone for this to be a lot of fun. Good, good. Yeah, yeah, everyone. Best, yeah. We're gonna wrap this up right now. Again, I want to thank my guest, Danny. Hayasaka. He's the marketing director for new technology, yeah,
Danny Hayasaka
but emerging technology, it's a it's, I get paid to know things and talk about it, if that that's, that's the best part of it for call one.
Craig Durr
Thank you so much, everyone. I hope you enjoyed it. There's an opportunity to go ahead and share this webcast as well as comment and like and just Danny. If you're not following Him right now on LinkedIn or on YouTube, be sure that you do that. Oh, he's got it right there, and you'll get a magic sticker from him. Look at there it is, right there you got it. And then from there, you will learn as much as I've been learning about all these great devices as he has. All right, everyone, take care. Danny, thank you so much. I appreciate your time.
Danny Hayasaka
All right, thank you. All right. Bye, everyone you.