VoIP a good call for the future

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As telephone producer Teledex prepares to increase its presence in the region, Tech Talk discusses current telephony trends with the firm's vice president of marketing Dean Compoginis.

Worldwide telephone producer Teledex has been in the telephony business for more than 20 years - supplying telephones to numerous hotels across the region - leaving vice president of marketing Dean Compoginis well placed to comment on emerging markets. And he's positive about the Middle East.
"We understand that the Middle East is probably the most dynamic growth market in the world right now for hotel telephones, so we're actively seeking to grow our presence in the region. Within the next year you'll see a much larger presence because our customers have been asking for that," he says.

The firm has a vast range of telephones, comprising a number of analogue and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) models, but Compoginis says that the Middle East market is only interested in a small number of those products.

"I believe our most popular products are our i-Phone and our Opal lines, which are a little bit sleeker in their presentation. We don't see as many sales of our Diamond product line, which is a more angular, older design," he adds.

"It's been our most popular design worldwide for many years, but I think that's basically because it's been out there the longest. We see more sales of our most recent products in the Middle East. It's a little bit more of a fashionable market for us."

This is perhaps understandable given the preponderance of five-star hotel chains spread across the region. As Compoginis explains, moderately-priced, limited service hotels would have "very basic requirements".

"They need a dial tone, they need a phone that a guest can pick up and make a call down to the front desk, make an international call or order room service, simple things like that," he says.

"At a higher-end hotel you have a desire for more advanced voice services, such as conference calling. So if a business traveller is staying at a hotel, using his hotel room as his office when he's on the road, a high quality conference call service can be a source of revenue for the hotel because they can set up that conference call."

If a hotel has a phone with a colour touch screen, like Teledex's iPhone SIP then personalised guest services can be delivered via the telephone.

"You're able to address that guest personally with a message on the screen that says ‘hello Mr. Smith', as well as tie that telephone into hotel databases such as the customer relationship management database or the property management system," explains Compoginis.

"Whatever you know about that guest in terms of their preferences and their habits, you can then use that information to market services and products to that guest in a very intelligent manner.

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