MXA920 Installation Elevates Zurich Agile Workspace

Customer Profile

Zurich Financial Services Australia is the local arm of Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) – a leading multi-line insurer that serves its customers in global and local markets. For 100 years, Zurich has combined global expertise with local care to provide leading wealth and insurance solutions for our customers.

Challenge

Zurich’s North Sydney office features two multi-function spaces designed to support a wide range of corporate activities. The newest, located on Level 17, is used for customer events, internal functions, quarterly reviews, and planning sessions – each with differing layout and technology requirements. The auditorium on Level 2 is primarily used for town hall-style gatherings but can be reconfigured to suit various needs. With a workforce now largely hybrid, Zurich places strong emphasis on ensuring all attendees receive a high-quality experience, whether they’re in the room or joining remotely. To achieve this, reliable and adaptable technology is considered essential.

Solution

The firmware rollout and system tuning became a collaborative effort between Jands and the systems integrator, Diversified. Prior to the Shure MXA920-led upgrade, the AV team met the demand for improved far-end audio on Teams calls with a mix of handheld wireless and boundary microphones placed on tables. The results were variable… patchy at best. Nigel, whose title is Voice, Video, UC Strategy – APAC at Zurich, outlines the impact the MXA920 ceiling mics have made:

“We no longer need handhelds to run around the room during Q&As. For presentation-heavy meetings, the ceiling mics mainly come into play during Q&A. That means no more mic runners or interruptions."
“For forums – highly interactive sessions with 60–70 people around tables – we just leave the ceiling mics on, allowing for seamless contributions from both in-room and online participants. That use-case is probably the strongest demonstration of the difference the ceiling mics have made.”

Advantages

With firmware version 6.2, MXA920 ceiling array microphones add some exciting new features to eliminate unwanted sounds and improve interactivity. The update introduced virtual acoustic boundaries, allowing for much more precise microphone pickup – sharply defining zones and preventing unwanted audio from outside those areas. Zurich experienced a marked reduction in interference between wireless microphones and the in-room reinforcement system – especially around the lectern, where clarity is essential for training sessions and hybrid presentations. As a result, the AV team has been leaning more and more on the Shure Microflex® Advance™ Array Microphones 

The configuration and visualisation tools within Shure Designer software have also been a game-changer. “From a design and maintenance perspective, the visual layout in Shure Designer – showing the MXA920 mics in their physical space – has been a really useful tool for Nigel,” says Christopher Ling, BDM at Jands. “It’s helped them understand mic interaction and plan for future upgrades, like re-zoning speakers in the Level 17 space for proper voice-lift.”