NEC Corporation of America
Integrated Communications Solutions bolstering hospitality efficiencies

The enduring mission at NEC Corporation of America is to leverage the power of innovation and technology to improve the way people work, communicate and collaborate. “This mission stands true in the hospitality vertical, where hoteliers have an expectation that NEC will always deliver the same high quality and attention that they give to their guests,” says Larry Levenberg, VP Enterprise Technology, NEC Corporation of America.

Best known for its experience in the hospitality PBX market, NEC has been a dominant player in the convergence of voice and data networks. Virtualization of the company’s PBX products and applications and “above property” PBX platforms are coming to the hospitality market which will eventually provide hoteliers with a more cost effective solution. Recognizing the changing roles of the guestroom telephone, the company’s focus is currently on moving the hotels to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) model just like their guests, increasing staff mobility and efficiency. Alongside basic telephony, the company has developed applications and products such as Digital Signage and Biometrics systems for security and access control—all of which directly benefit the hotel and the guest. Today, NEC meets every aspect of communications a hospitality company requires, including wireless mobility, on-property Wi-Fi, emergency notification, and video conferencing.

Successful hotels are strictly measured by their ability to deliver to guests via Key Performance Index, an example would be room service within the next 30 minutes. A four star hotel chain asked NEC to help improve their processes for guest requests wherein the prevalent method was to write down the guest name, room number, and request; then switch screens to MTech’s HotSOS system for input. Using the NEC UA5200 PC Attendant Console, HotSOS tickets are created within the NEC console without switching the screens. The guest name and the room number are automatically populated, the correct service is added from a drop-down menu and is sent to the appropriate staff to carry out the task–one among many examples where NEC’s competitive technical advantage drives in the ROI in terms of time saved, translating to increased efficiency of the hotel staff to better serve guests.

“Alongside basic telephony, the company has developed applications and products such as Digital Signage and Biometrics systems for security and access control”

“Hotel chains appreciate a consistent and reliable set of products and applications regardless of wherever in the world they operate,” says Levenberg. NEC’s dedicated global hospitality team provides the reach that hotel chains appreciate by helping them introduce, install, and support a reliable set of products and applications. Swisscom, a provider of the “triple play” of voice, high-speed internet, and television content services was working with the new Citizen M chain of hotels in Europe. Their vision and requirement was to incorporate all these applications in the cloud, in a fully hosted and virtualized product. Swisscom selected NEC and its UNIVERGE© 3C platform along with the mobility solutions that made the hotel staff more efficient and meet guest’s expectations. “NEC met and in many cases exceeded Citizen M’s requirements,” says Levenberg.

On the company’s roadmap ahead, Levenberg says, “As communications solutions have evolved to IT-oriented technology the shift to have more natural integration of communications with the business, and it’s related IT business components has been an ongoing trend in our industry. The focus at NEC is to leverage our strengths in IT and communications solutions for Enterprises and to benefit our vertical markets, such as Hospitality. We are going to see a lot more of that convergence in the future and NEC is uniquely positioned here.”