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In 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and associated work from home (WFH) realities triggered unprecedented demand for cloud software communications and collaboration services and professional headsets across the world. With the COVID-19 social-distancing mandates, the number of telecommuters in 2020 increased multi-fold to an estimated 270 million workers globally.

In 2020, professional headset penetration among business workers reached 22.9 percent with 124.0 million users out of 542.5 million business workers using pro gear. The installed base of headset users grew by 24.4 percent from 99.7 million in 2019 to 124.0 million with net new adds growing by 70.6 percent.

The first half of 2020 was characterized by panic buying with people and businesses purchasing and using whatever tools they could to work as best as they could. As a result of the race to equip the dramatically increased number of remote workers, consumer and professional headsets quickly ran out of stock. Professional headset vendors had to adjust rapidly to new realities—including unprecedented supply-chain challenges.