Ernst & Young Case Study

A global organization with over 130,000 people throughout 140 countries, Ernst & Young provides a broad array of professional services relating to audit and risk-related services, tax, and transactions to both emerging growth companies and global powerhouses in a wide range of business disciplines. With an operation of this magnitude, clear, effective audio quality is essential to the company’s numerous presentations, webcasts, and meetings.

Daniel Palkowski, Audio Specialist for the Multimedia Group of the Americas Communications and Marketing Division at Ernst & Young, serves as staff composer for multimedia productions, video editor, audio engineer for recording and live sound reinforcement, and manages audio and encoders for the company’s internal webcasts. Working in these varied capacities, he is well qualified to weigh in on those attributes that make an audio product the right choice for business applications.

Palkowski reports that Ernst & Young also makes considerable use of the Revolabs wireless microphones for webcasting. Click Here to listen to an Ernst & Young Webcast.  “A singular problem with our headset phones was their sensitivity to RF (radio frequency) interference, and we’ve been searching for an improvement in that area. Every time someone received an incoming call or an email, the audio took a hit due to radio interference, and that went right down the pipe into the webcast. The characteristic chatter of the blackberry has become something of a joke, in fact.  So it was crucial that this problem be addressed.”

“While wired microphones present their own challenges as a result of cable clutter and the inability to easily relocate the microphone, most wireless mics present a similar set of issues,” says Palkowski. “While they may eliminate such clutter on the floor or table, most wireless systems involve some sort of lavalier mic with a wire running down the person’s back to a beltpack transmitter, and this arrangement can be just as frustrating—particularly in a business environment. Such systems tend to be cumbersome and uncomfortable, with the end result being that they can easily distract one from focusing on business matters. Headset mic systems create their own problems with the mics facing the wrong way, festooning cables, proximity issues, etc.”

“We investigated wireless mic systems previously,” says Palkowski, “but one of the big issues was encryption, as we needed a means of securing the conversations that take place in our meetings.  Other criteria in our search were portability, e.g., the complete elimination of wiring, ease of use, visual feedback to the user as to whether they were muted/unmuted, battery life, and freedom from RF interference.”

According to Palkowski, Ernst & Young is using their Revolabs wireless microphones as part of a mobile audio system that addresses a wide range of applications. Currently, the company uses a combination of lapel microphones with four wireless boundary microphones.  “We’ve been using the microphones primarily for meetings and presentations,” notes Palkowski. “Most of the mics are lapel models, but we also have four Revolabs’ boundary mics for tabletop use during meetings, and the dynamic mic adaptor, to facilitate handheld use. The tabletop model was purchased with the intent of accommodating larger situations where we might run out of lavs and need to ‘buddy-up’ two or three people, who can share one microphone. Given the size of some of the tables in our meeting rooms, such a configuration possibility is typical.”