Hany Aly, executive vice president enterprise business, du, on why the Leaders in Hospitality Awards are so crucial to the industry…
Why have you chosen to support the Leaders in Hospitality Awards? In recent years, we have seen how the hospitality industry, much like many others, has become increasingly dependent on technology and connectivity to operate at its fullest potential. Beyond soaring network traffic and bandwidth demand in hotels around the world, advanced technologies like IoT are also carving a space in the industry. As technology becomes more closely involved in the hospitality sphere, we believe telcos have a role to play in providing the necessary tools and services to keep hotels up to speed with the digital transformation. This is why du is participating as a connectivity and ICT provider in the Leaders in Hospitality Awards.
What is your opinion of the Middle East’s hospitality landscape? Additionally, in the Middle East, and especially in the UAE and other Gulf countries, tourism is a growing industry that plays an integral role in economic diversification and versatility. It is a vital element of our goal to create a competitive knowledge-based economy in the UAE in line with the wise leadership’s vision, and it contributes to the non-oil GDP component of UAE Vision 2021. In fact, in Dubai, we have a dedicated Tourism Vision 2020 which serves as a strategic roadmap with the key objective of attracting 20 million visitors per year by 2020. As such, the hospitality industry in the region has a strong foundation and support system, that will ensure its continued growth. From an ICT perspective, the hospitality sector serves as a valuable test-bed for technologies that will attract more visitors in the coming years. Given that the hospitality industry is highly customer-focused, with a constant commitment to finding new ways to improve the customer experience and guarantee customer satisfaction, there are ample opportunities for ICT providers to offer digital services that will help achieve these goals. At du, our services in this area include Bandwidth-on-Demand, Business Managed Services, IPTV and IoT solutions designed to meet the needs of the hospitality sector.
What new products are you launching this year? We have a range of innovative and exciting product launches coming up in the hospitality sector this year, all of which leverage du’s experience and technology know-how to deliver comprehensive, tailor-made solutions for hospitality customers. We look forward to unveiling innovations that will continue to drive the digital and media transformation throughout the hospitality sector.
What are your company’s plans for the next 12 months? This year, we are focusing heavily on digitalisation – in terms of our own product lines and business as well as the digital services our customers depend on. In the midst of the technological transformation, digitalisation is among our most pressing priorities as we lay the groundwork for the smart and connected future. Additionally, we continue to focus on enhancing the customer experience in every way possible. By dedicating more resources to developments in the hospitality sector, which is very service-oriented by nature, we aim to find new ways to improve customer experiences beyond the traditional ICT service portfolio.
