Displaying present location in the site. Taj Resorts and Palaces Unified Communications Solution Latest unified communications solution for The Taj, a symbol of Indian hospitality

Mr. Prakash Shukla, "Being a leader in the industry, our endeavor at the Taj Group of Sr. Vice President hotels is to bring the most compelling environment and experiences to our Technology & Chief guests. We are gratified to utilize NEC's technology expertise for our Information Officer Hotels. With the robust, feature-rich, scalable and interoperable solutions The Indian Hotels by NEC, we are assured that our network delivers the highest quality Company Limted services that our customers demand."

Introduction "Latest technology in the most simplified manner" The Taj, a symbol of Indian hospitality, renowned for its world-class service and modern luxury is now equipped with NEC's latest Unified Communications Solution. It empowers Taj to offer bouquet of value added services thereby generating greater revenues, increasing customer responsiveness, and simultaneously improving efficiency and reducing costs.

Challenges Client Requirement Taj wanted the latest IP based Hotel Communication Solutions with future migration option to IP Telephony and Unified communications.

Business Challenge Like any other industry, opportunities and challenges in the hospitality sector are equally predominant. To increase revenues, hotels often look at offering a bouquet of value added services which will entice the guest and also increase revenue.

Earlier ‘in room’ telephony was a good revenue earner for hotels. When guests made calls from the room, the hotels could charge a premium on the service but with mobile becoming mainstream and low mobile call tarrifs, the revenues generated from the room phones decreased, making it unviable for hotels to buy good systems. Thereafter due to diminishing returns on phone equipments, hotels resorted to low end phone systems.

To add to it, global recession has led to lower occupancy levels. Whilst hoteliers want to improve their guest experience, they are constantly striving to reduce the total cost of ownership. With the influx of technology and sophisticated solutions, conventional sources of earning revenue have dwindled.

Solution 8 properties of Taj have opted for NEC solutions:  Taj Falaknuma Palace- Hyderabad  Taj Nadesar Palace- Varanasi  Taj Begumpeth -GVK, Hyderabad  3 properties of Taj in Jaipur- Rambagh Palace, SawaiMadhopur, SMS Hotel  Taj Yeshwantpur- Bangalore  Taj Srinagar- Saifco Hill Crest - Srinagar Keeping in mind the challenges faced by the Taj, NEC in association with its esteemed partner Enkay Technologies offered a solution that not only brought down the total cost of ownership but also helped in providing an array of services that will enable Taj to offer better guest experience.

NEC India leveraged the services of it's partner Enkay Technologies and offered them a road map of next generation technology through NEC's latest UNIVERGE SV 8000 series IP Telephony Server with prominent hospitality features such as PMS Integration interoperable with multiple vendors, hotel operator console, Contact center applications, suite room services, open interface to various hospitality partners for call accounting applications, rapid response systems, messaging service over wireless devices and aesthetically designed digital and IP phones for their front and back office and key guest interaction areas.

Zoom The UNIVERGE SV8000 Series from NEC creates new ways of generating revenue and increasing customer responsiveness, while simultaneously improving efficiency and reducing costs. Designed to deliver next-generation, open standards-based solutions, it is a bridge to the future and protects the existing telephone infrastructure investment while providing a migration path to pure IP.

Key USPs 1. Scalability for growing business and investment Protection. 2. Enhanced centralized management 3. Diverse features 4. Guaranteed PMS compatibility 5. Open standards and open application interface including SIP & XML. 6. Enabled Unified communications Integration 7. Mobility - IP Dect, Voice over WLAN, Fixed Mobile Convergence 8. Reachability - Contact Centre, Voice mail, IVR Tailor-made to reduce operational costs, NEC offers a wide range of solutions that are applicable for the hospitality sector, including state-of-the-art IP telephony solutions that enhance business productivity, energy efficient IT solutions that reduce total cost of ownership, intelligent display and digital signage solutions for effective and impactful communication.

Results Needless to say the Solution perfectly fitted the Taj requirements and this made them choose NEC Solutions and Enkay as their trusted partner.

The UNIVERGE SV8000 Series from NEC has been beneficial for the Taj group of hotels. It has helped then (to be replaced by them) create new ways of generating revenue and increasing customer responsiveness, while simultaneously improving efficiency and reducing costs.

Mr. Prakash Shukla, Sr. Vice President Technology & Chief Information Officer, The Indian Hotels Company Limted said - "Being a leader in the Hotel industry, our endeavor at the Taj Group of hotels is to bring the most compelling environment and experiences to our guests. We are gratified to utilize NEC's technology expertise for our Hotels. With the robust, feature-rich, scalable and interoperable solutions by NEC, we are assured that our network delivers the highest quality services that our customers demand."

Next Steps NEC has a roadmap to increase focus on delivering hospitality solutions. NEC and will constantly invest in their relationship to introduce unique features in India to become a leader in the growing hospitality market.

About TAJ

The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) and its subsidiaries are collectively known as Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, which is recognized as one of Asia's largest and finest hotel companies. Incorporated by the founder of the , , the company opened its first property, the Palace hotel, Bombay in 1903. The Taj, a symbol of Indian hospitality, completed its centenary year in 2003.

Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces comprises 64 hotels in 45 locations across India with an additional 15 international hotels. The most significant additions to the Taj portfolio have been The Pierre, the iconic landmark hotel on New York's Fifth Avenue, the Taj Boston and the Blue, Sydney.

From world-renowned landmarks to modern business hotels, idyllic beach resorts to authentic Rajput palaces, each Taj hotel offers an unrivalled fusion of warm Indian hospitality, world-class service and modern luxury. Related Links More about Unified Communications Product Information

NEC India

Customer profile The Indian Hotels Company Limited

Type of Business Hospitality

Address Oxford House, 15/17 N.F. Road, Apollo Bunder, 400 001, India

Established 1903

URL http://tajhotels.com/

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