Cloud Solution - Communications as a Service -

Movie script

Introduction

"The new CitizenM hotel in Glasgow is designed to appeal to the new - mobile and connected - traveller.

Swisscom Hospitality Services has used NEC’s solution to merge with its Property Management service, providing the hotel with a fully integrated solution for business management.

Their fully hosted solution is made possible by NEC's software-based communications platform hosted within its local data centre, delivering communications as a service."

CHALLENGES

[Michael Levie, citizenM]

I think IT challenges in hospitality in general deal more with how much money do I spend on the television and what size should it be?

Whereas we feel that technology is such an enabler and when you look at the different opportunities that we can create through technology, we can create different ambiences, we can tailor make a mass product to an individual; and in doing so, you all of a sudden realise you need to take that to the room; and when you bring it to the room, then that works become your big convergence.

And hotels do so little with network still today in their buildings, that it's not a real complexity.

Where we're going and where we are today networks are a lifeline.

SOLUTIONS

"CitizenM was looking for a solution which could increase profitability while also providing complete guest satisfaction, which made NEC’s cloud-based service the perfect choice"

[Simon I'Anson, Swisscom]

Citizen M tasked up to help them digitise their processes.

To help them remove IT staff from the property.

What Swisscom has deployed with NEC is a fully hosted, integrated hotel management system.

[Gerard Citroen, NEC]

Offering PBX Services in a remote hosted concept enables us to really focus on delivering day to day telephony functionality.

At the same time it helps Swisscom and Citizen M to focus on their respective key processes.

[Simon I'Anson, Swisscom]

It allows us to deliver our design philosophy of hosted cloud-based solutions.

It allows us to manage and support a network remotely, which drives cost savings through to the client.

And ultimately for the guests it allows them access to very competitively priced telephony in the guest bedrooms.

[Michael Levie, citizenM]

The system and technology to us in an enabler, by using the cloud, we do not have anybody focused on technology on-site, rather we just focus on guest satisfaction.

TECHNOLOGY

"NEC's Cloud-based solution, combines a 'Software-based communications platform' and virtual server technology all hosted within a single data center.

This enables them to deliver "Communications as a Service" to the CitizenM hotel with scalability, and openness to embedded business- critical applications and processes across the hotel."

[Gerard Citroen, NEC]

The cloud concept consists for instance of components like an NEC developed software based IP switch.

One of the key features of a cloud solution is it's not location based nor time based.

So you really have 24-7 support in a flexible way, enabling and offering a low-cost, high-level, telephony functionality.

BENEFITS

[Simon I'Anson, Swisscom]

Swisscom always selects best of breed partners for any solutions it looks to deliver within hospitality.

were looking for an innovative partner with a true cloud-based solution which made NEC the logical choice in this case.

At present we have 10,000 extensions active through the NEC system, it's simply a case of connectivity from wherever those extensions are needed back to the NEC data centre.

[Michael Levie, citizenM]

Swisscom, NEC, and citizenM have only one aim.

We want to use technology as an enabler to create an incredible experience for a guest and use that same technology for staff within the hotel to be able to provide a true focus on guest satisfaction so that those two together make an incredible experience.

The systems converge, the system lives in the cloud, and everywhere all the information is available to us.

So I think we're extremely happy that the technology is really provided but people do not notice it at all.