Chapter 3 Service EdenFX Systems
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EdenFX Systems Handbook | |
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Chapter 3 Service EdenFX Systems |
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Many hoteliers agree on the need to plan their IT expenditures. However, they have questions:
At Eden-FX Hospitality, we see ourselves as technology consultants to the hotel industry. Free of proprietary interest, we advise you on the use of your networking technologies including life-cycle planning, technology selection and standardization. Whatever your strategic priorities are, we want to make sure that your expenditures become economically sound strategic investments.
Being a major telecommunications operator with B2B experience across a range of industries, we are ideally positioned to advise you on the multiple uses of technology, how to apply it in your organization and how to build a unified network infrastructure.
Our consulting approach
The hotel business has specific needs, and within the industry every hotel has unique requirements. This is why we conduct a needs analysis for every individual hotel.
We conduct a technical assessment of your current network infrastructure, examine its viability based on today's and your future business needs, and investigate the life-cycle of your current software, hardware, and network equipment.
From our analysis, we will propose a technology roadmap that fits your needs and your specific situation. We also offer you a range of business models with flexible financing options to respond to your immediate needs. Once engaged, Eden-FX will be your technology partner all the way down the road. Along the road converged networks lead to the consolidation of guest entertainment and voice services, CCTV, climate control, door locks, mini-bars and many more.
Working with Eden-FX as your IT services partner, your advantages are manifold:
Reduced costs
Lower business risks
Improved service quality
More control and focus
Whether a new build or a historical property, your hotel enterprise needs to accommodate new services and process ever more data over time. Your competitiveness will increasingly depend on your ability to deliver consistently high service levels and personalization at stable cost. Only a scalable, IP-based network will allow you to do this. Our technology and integration specialists are there for you to design and implement it.
Eden-FX provides end-to-end design engineering, procurement, installation and testing of mission critical infrastructure, both wired and wireless, to meet your IP networking needs. We propose a transition plan and work with all your suppliers to fully integrate their applications. When it comes to execution, our certified IP engineers are there to configure and install all network equipment, set-up and test your circuits, configure and integrate applications, ensure connectivity, and guarantee that all components work smoothly together.
Renovating Your Infrastructure
A hotel typically has five to 15 applications or networks operating. IP convergence can hardly be achieved in one leap. Rather, it is a continuous process that requires professional guidance. Leaner budgets require the process of IP convergence to continuously pay for itself through positive bottom-line results. There are additional factors that can influence the speed of your convergence implementation: the state of the current infrastructure, the life-cycle of its existing applications, and the feasibility of conducting a major network renovation in a business that is open 365 days a year.
Whatever your situation, needs and possible inhibitors, we are here to advise you and find the most practical approach to renovating your network. One thing is for sure: IP convergence is going to happen.
Some industries, like Finance and Manufacturing, have hugely benefitted from consolidating their processes and operations. Others, like Hospitality, are lagging. This is mainly due to the speed at which technology has impacted the hospitality market. Add to this a lack of technology standardization and planning by the suppliers and you end up with today's hotel IT environment - aging applications that each requires proprietary networks, terminals, support, and reporting.
Every problem now has a different reporting and escalation process, while most applications are not centrally monitored. Software is dated, and problems are not detected until the service is affected or down. It becomes a challenge to know who to call and how to fix a problem. Every fix that involves wiring can impact other property networks, as each is worked on by a different service person.
Multiple systems do not only require high staffing levels, they also inhibit service innovation. In addition, each new service deployment adds to the complexity of the network infrastructure. Nevertheless, the potential for a truly efficient network is possible by partnering with Eden-FX.
One management platform for your systems
Eden-FX Hospitality can support all your applications and systems (including legacy systems) on one consolidated enterprise-class management platform. We have invested in the most advanced network management and performance toolset that can manage hundreds of systems and applications at once. It allows us to monitor multiple systems and drastically improve transparency across your hotel network.
Your benefits include:
We take care of all network-related tasks, from IP address procurement to software upgrades to performance reporting. The exact services can be stipulated in a Service Level Agreement (SLA).
Managing and enhancing your network
Our Network Management Services are not only designed to make your IT operations smooth and professional, they are also the first step towards a more sensible network design. Managing your status quo infrastructure, we can enhance your existing infrastructure, bandwidth and hardware, while building your convergent, mission-critical IT network.
When considering replacement of a system, it is important that you consider its ability to integrate with its surrounding systems and equipment. For example your guest room technology: As you upgrade to an IP-based TV and VoD system, why not have a look at other IP-based guest services such as Voice over IP, mini-bar, door locks or thermostats? We are available to advise you on options and guide you on strategic technology decisions.
Hoteliers are dealing with a wide array of movable items. During stock takes, they regularly find furniture, antiques, artwork and consumer technology missing. Without an automated tracking solution, it is difficult to keep track and ensure regular maintenance procedures. Our RFID Inventory Management solution is designed to reduce asset loss and ensure effective asset maintenance.
Making RFID work for your hotel
In logistics, manufacturing and retail industries, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has been used for many years to improve inventory and supply chain management. For hotel operators, as well, RFID has business value in that it helps them save money and become more efficient at an attractive cost.
We offer you a turn-key RFID solution for your hotel: We install RFID gates and cells to provide the adequate coverage as required by your system: tag all required items, set up the software in your local server environment, and interface all components with your Maintenance and Finance systems to always reflect the actual "live" inventory on your balance sheet.
Rapid Return on Investment
A five-star hotel with 250 rooms, for instance, can achieve ROI in less than a year by decreasing theft and shrinkage by up to 50 percent, cutting manual labor cost associated with taking and maintaining its stock by 90 percent, and benefitting from reduced asset insurance premiums.
Hotels typically run their back-office applications on a separate network. While it is clear that back-office data must be safe and confidential at all times, there is no need for you to build and maintain two separate infrastructures and pay twice for technical support. With Eden-FX as your partner, you can securely use your guest-facing IP network for your internal use and save money.
What applies to convergent guest room technologies holds true for your back-office, as well. You can cut your costs, simplify your network infrastructure and establish consistency across all your systems when it comes to maintenance and escalation processes. We are here for you to help make it happen.
Thanks to our enterprise-grade network management tools, we can manage separate connectivity needs and areas within one network. In this context, data security is imperative. We ensure that any traffic over the network is seamless with no visibility to others, resulting in complete separation of data between you and your guests.
Customized support for your back-office
Our services are modular and our service levels flexible. Depending on your business requirements, we can respond to the following needs:
Dynamic bandwidth allocation
We can assign specific priority rules for and within each area and manage your bandwidth needs dynamically, thus taking advantage of different usage peaks.
Contingency planning / redundancy
Our network architecture can manage a second Wide Area Network (WAN) circuit as a back-up solution.
Dynamic bandwidth augmentation
In response to your needs, we can increase bandwidth capacity, offering maximum speed to both your staff and guests.
Through our Network Operations Centers, we can monitor your back office network 24/7, spot potential issues and resolve them before you or any user actually notices them. If required, our local technical support teams are available for onsite interventions.
Depending on their expectations, you may want your HSIA partner to provide a robust standard service or a custom-designed package to help you differentiate from competition. Eden-FX knows that no two hotels have the exact same needs. This is why we are introducing a modular approach to servicing your guests.
With our modular offering, the choice is yours. For instance, you can select our standard broadband connectivity without any extras, or couple it with our full bandwidth management that gives your guests priority access. Our standard service can also be combined with one or several of our value-added guest services such as Remote Printing, worldwide phone calls or newspaper downloads. Likewise, you decide about the level of client support for your guests and the bandwidth available to other hotel areas such as your conference area, your lobby or your back-office. Whatever your needs, we let you choose those service elements that make most sense to you and your guests.
Smartphones creating a superior experience for your guests
Eden-FX provides HSIA service to thousends clients every month on their laptops. However, more and more guests travel with their personal, Wifi-enabled mobile phones so-called Smartphones. Many say they prefer to connect with these small devices rather than their laptops whenever possible. However, cost is an important consideration, especially for international travelers who are keenly aware of potentially high roaming charges.
Eden-FX is proud to introduce a new Smartphone service that leverages your Wireless hotel network for a superior guest experience. Through our optimized web portal, Smartphone users can log on in three clicks - and stay connected for 24 hours whilst on your property. You can offer them unlimited up- and downloads for 24 hours of uninterrupted connectivity. For you as a hotelier, this opens up an attractive new communication channel: Through your guests preferred devices, you can promote your own guest services and personalize your communication. To make it happen, we integrate your guests mobile devices with your Property Management System.
HSIA in hotels - legal implications
From a legal point of view, providing Internet access service makes you subject to specific legislation. This encompasses different aspects from data retention to user privacy. You may be required, for instance, to process and store all user data securely for a determined period of time after which you may be required to discard all data immediately. Eden-FX takes this burden off your shoulders. Managing critical data for more than 2'000 partner locations, we have the experience and the methods in place to ensure that all relevant legislation is met. We let you have full peace of mind to concentrate on what you are best at - providing hospitality.
We can customize your hotel's login page or propose our standard Web portal, as shown.
Convergence is not just the consolidation of guest-facing applications, but is also becoming an economic necessity for back-of-the-house operations. New applications that are hosted off site and numerous electronic business transactions are clogging up networks. Through our secure applications platform we can host different applications from your back-office while ensuring full applications and data security as well as most efficient bandwidth use.
Together but separate
Making sure that your mission-critical applications have secure access to network resources and fast access to off-site resources is one of the challenges of convergence. Even though all data share the same network elements, convergence does not mean that all data is equal all of the time. We can virtually segment the networks on our applications platform to secure data, manage access and allocate bandwidth on an application by application basis.
Making the most of your infrastructure
It is mandatory to ensure that all applications and users get the speed and bandwidth they need when they need it. We can configure your network and Wide Area Network (WAN) access to make the best use of the existing infrastructure, then monitor it to make sure that performance is never compromised. Re-using access bandwidth, we have fail-over plans to back up your financial transactions to a secure server, while your guests are streaming videos, without requiring you to install separate circuits and carriers. Furthermore, through intelligent load balancing between existing services we can ensure that you get the most efficient utilization of resources now and in the future.
The Back Office is at the heart of the hotel operations: It’s the place where reservations, orders and invoices come together, invoices are paid and assets tracked. Nevertheless, limited integration of their back-office systems requires hoteliers to spend a disproportional amount of their time and energy on how to get things done rather than what to do.
We assist hoteliers to explore synergies between their back-office and their property-wide IP network, with the objectives of greater service integration and lower operational cost. We also leverage our telecommunications know-how when it comes to employing new technologies, such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), for the specific needs of the hotel business.
We can host different applications from your back-office while ensuring full applications & data security and most efficient bandwidth use.
Use available bandwidth in your guest-facing network for your back office, reduce your costs and obtain all network services from one source.
Keep track of your assets, cut administrative costs and remove the hassle from your annual inventory audit.
Remote Printing is an easy and secure service that provides your guests with full autonomy when printing their documents. This is an excellent example of how you can provide extra value to your guests at no additional cost. Remote Printing runs on your existing Wi-Fi infrastructure and is completely managed by Eden-FX.
Data security for you and your guests
With Remote Printing, there is no need for your guests to request print jobs at the reception desk; your staff can stay focused on their tasks. Furthermore, remote printing works across its own dedicated network so your internal networks remain secure.
This service has been carefully designed to guarantee complete document and data confidentiality. For each print job, a unique document ID is issued to the user; thus, only the user can retrieve the printed documents. From his laptop, the guest uploads the documents he needs to print, irrespective of where he is within your hotel. The documents are then printed upon command at the Business Center PC, without the need to install any special software.
To enable Remote Printing at your hotel, you need to have wireless high-speed Internet access coverage and the Business Center Solution from Eden-FX.
Our Business Center Solution allows your guests to connect, print documents, and accomplish their tasks in complete security. They are free to use the service at any time, and logging on takes just a few seconds. It’s a priceless amenity especially for those traveling without their own office equipment.
The Business Center PC is a visible asset to your property and a welcome, extra service for your guests. State-of-the-art technology makes your hotel stand out, while its user-friendly interface appeals to the guest. Best of all: the solution is centrally managed, monitored, and maintained by Eden-FX. With 24/7 user support included for your guests, minimal maintenance efforts are needed from your staff.
Product features
Our Business Center Solution offers your guests:
To protect user privacy, the Business Center PC is automatically wiped clean after every session and any trace of previous user activity is completely erased. Concurrently, Eden-FX safely stores relevant data for the required amount of time in line with the relevant legislation in your country.
Your public area needs to offer your guests seamless broadband connectivity, add value to your venue and enhance the guest experience. Our turn-key solutions respond to all of the above – without increasing your cost or the workload for your staff.
We provide secured Wi-Fi network coverage, enabling your guests to access the Internet anytime, anywhere on your property simply by using their preferred device, be it a laptop or a Smartphone. And thanks to our Business Center Solution, your guests can connect, email and get work done 24/7 as if they were at home or in the office.
Demand for videoconferencing is rapidly increasing in business hotels. Sooner or later, every meeting is going to have a telepresence or “virtual communication� component. Why not make it part of your guest service portfolio today? Our turnkey HD videoconferencing solution covers all your needs, from hardware to network management and bandwidth provisioning.
Corporate clients are looking for ways to make their travel budgets lighter and their meetings more efficient. Videoconferencing supports both objectives: It enables conference organizers to gather delegates from different locations at reduced cost; to invite speakers that could otherwise not attend; or to manage a product launch in several locations simultaneously.
Eden-FX proposed a complete full HD videoconferencing solution that is guaranteed to impress your guests. It combines state-of-the-art equipment from our hardware partner, Lifesize, with Eden-FX’s expertise in deploying and managing conference networks. Our practiced conference architects take care of all your needs, including hardware installation, network setup, staging, testing, and bandwidth management and on-site support.
Eden-FX HD Videoconferencing can be deployed at short notice – and removed just as quickly to free up your conference space for the next event. This means you have no capital expenditure, while your operational cost stays variable, in line with your actual business activity. An important argument for hotel chains: Our solution is consistently maintained and deployed across our entire hotel footprint in Europe and North America.
For your standard conference business, Eden-FX provides your property with a certified conference network and a number of turn-key solutions. They enable you to service your clients’ connectivity needs with the greatest autonomy. To ensure reliable performance, we manage and monitor your conference network remotely, while our dedicated Customer Support is available for your meeting guests any time.
Meeting Room Port Scheduler
The Meeting Room Port Scheduler is a web-based application for your staff to set up, manage and invoice meetings. It schedules Internet service delivery based on your wired conference network, down to the port level, without the use of an on-property server platform i.e., remotely.
The Port Scheduler is an ideal tool for you to respond to your guests’ connectivity needs quickly and effectively. Through your property-specific Client Portal, your staff can set up any meeting with a few keystrokes. At the same time, they can access a variety of services and reports including: user statistics, circuit performance, quality assurance, factsheets and support request forms.
Wireless Group Access
Eden-FX can provide your property with seamless connectivity and an office-like infrastructure throughout your meeting space, based on latest wireless technology. Thanks to our Wireless Group Access, you can offer your meeting attendees global Internet access at any time. Through our secured online portal, your guests can connect instantly – without having to go through your reception desk first. It’s the easiest way to get online for a limited number of meeting guests.
For large and more complex events, we can deliver customized network solutions and add sales support to our network services. Please see our Full Conference Service for more information.
Our Full Conference Service departs from the belief that a consistent approach to selling and managing your meeting room capabilities will yield the greatest results. Through seamless integration with your sales team and regular consultations with your meeting clients, we will help you market your IT capabilities to their full extent; plan, execute, and manage your events; and accommodate your clients’ most demanding technical needs.
Having worked with many Fortune-500 companies, we understand not only your clients’ technology needs but also their multiple challenges in terms of attendee participation, message effectiveness, and return on investment.
Full onsite support
Whatever the nature of your event, we plan it with you and implement the defined solution. Eden-FX Account Managers work with your sales team on-site to handle client and technology needs. They accompany you through all the stages of a successful event management process, from client acquisition and consultation through the event planning to after-sales.
Our Network Solutions Team provides the IT know-how and resources required to build a custom-made network solution for any event format: be it an investors’ day, an annual staff conference, a product show at an exhibit or a web-based training. Our experienced engineers can create fully secured VLANs, integrate third-party applications, and engineer wired/wireless environments. They can also incorporate digital signage and interactive media such as web-casts and videoconferencing.
During the event, our Conference Architects provide you and your clients with valuable on-site technical support. They assist speakers and attendees, provide streaming media, archiving, and address last-minute changes. And while your attendees are sleeping, they prepare the network, required applications, and data to be ready for the next meeting day.
Last but not least, we provide you with a post-event support analysis. Our conference team evaluates all services delivered jointly with you and your client, measures customer satisfaction, and addresses gained knowledge. This strategic measure assists you and us in preparing for future events so that you can optimize your client retention.
Event Services beyond traditional meeting venues
For some event formats such as an investors’ day, a press conference or a product launch, we have experienced demand for advanced network services in exceptional meeting venues, be it a theatre, a sports arena or an industrial facility. In response to this need, Eden-FX Hospitality set up a specialized Event Solutions unit. It can deliver the complete networking needs of the meeting room client in any given location that has a sufficient base infrastructure.
Having serviced corporate and association clients for many years, we are experts in delivering fully customized, temporary event networks. Our field engineers have built ad-hoc conference networks at a variety of locations throughout North America, Europe and Asia, and in conjunction with a variety of on-site network providers. We consult corporate and association clients on their needs and help them identify the most suitable event locations as well as the most efficient network solution meeting their specific event objectives. Finally, our proven event management process is a clear value-add: We accompany clients through all event stages, from planning to execution to issuing a post-event report that highlights the lessons learned for future engagements.
Conference hotels are expected to be at the cutting-edge of technology. Today's meetings and events must be cost-efficient while providing attendees with uninterrupted, secure connectivity and on top of that, a unique meeting experience.
Eden-FX supports more than 15'000 events every year. We deliver automized connectivity solutions for your meeting rooms as well as technically complex solutions. We also support you with your videoconferencing needs. Let us help you distinguish your property as a premier meeting facility.
"Eden-FX’s comprehensive service and technology are essential ingredients to our success throughout the meeting space."
Associate Director of Convention Services, Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego, California, USA
Eden-FX IPTV represents the next generation of in-room entertainment. Our solution brings any number of content choices - including HD blockbusters -digital to the glass, with many interactive features for your guests to check out. Looking forward in terms of guest demand, Eden-FX IPTV is fully scalable and open to integrate with other services, from Internet access to room controls.
Preserve your room for manoeuvre
If you already have your HD TV screens, or prefer to work with your own hardware supplier, the Eden-FX IPTV is ideal for you: Our solution is compatible with almost any TV screen available and leaves you the greatest room for manoeuvre.
With Eden-FX IPTV you can always start small (e.g. by offering live-TV and limited number of VoD contents only), then bundle your intitial offering with other services and grow your system as your business expands. Or decide to use your IP network for other guest services, for instance IP-based telephony or integrated room controls (lighting, temperature control, air conditioning, window blinds).
Treat your guests with our proven IPTV features
An interactive program guide and a dynamic channel line-up matching the PMS profile of your guest: This kind of television is fun for your guests – and a revenue generator for you!
Here is an overview of our proven IPTV features:
Dynamic, personalised user interface
TV Mosaic
Electronic program guide
Virtual DVD Player
Customization
Technology has a lot to do with guest satisfaction and your TV solution is right at the heart of the issue. It is during the first ten minutes in the hotel room that 80% of your guests are drawn to the TV set. The kind of viewing experience that you offer can be decisive – for them to stay or leave their room and for you to lose or win a life-long customer.
Eden-FX serves hoteliers with tailored TV solutions through three distinct product lines: Eden-FX Digital TV, Eden-FX IPTV and ConnectedHotel TV.
Eden-FX Digital TV
Eden-FX Digital TV allows hoteliers to propose a large choice of digital live-TV channels through their existing TV network. Our one-stop solution includes a Philips Ultimate HD TV set in every room, installation and 7/24 service monitoring.
Eden-FX IPTV
Eden-FX IPTV represents the next generation of guest room entertainment. Interactive Video-on-demand, Internet on TV, guest messaging and service personalization, embedded room controls – your possibilities are almost unlimited given the interactive message switching qualities of our IP network technology.
ConnectedHotel TV
ConnectedHotel TV is the first all-in-one hospitality solution that delivers interactive HD television, video-on-demand, wired and wireless Internet connectivity through one converged network and one TV without a set-top box. It runs on Coax, Ethernet and the hotel telephone network via VDSL.
ConnectedHotel TV, developed in partnership with LG, is the first all-in-one hospitality solution that delivers TV, VoD, wired and wireless HSIA through one network and one single device. With the new LG ConnectedHotel TV screen, you will achieve major savings compared to traditional installs while keeping your guest rooms free of unnecessary hardware.
Coax, Ethernet or VDSL:
The LG ConnectedHotel TV is compatible with any functional distribution network – Coax, Ethernet or the telephone cable – to delight your guests with a personalized, interactive HD TV experience in combination with our proven IPTV features.
HD videos and Flash - Without a set-top box
The LG ConnectedHotel TV fully supports two-way communication, streaming media and Flash technology without an external device. This translates into lower acquisition and installation cost (capital expenditure) as well as reduced energy consumption and maintenance cost (operational expenditure).
Wired & Wireless Internet - Through the TV screen
The LG ConnectedHotel TV comes with an embedded IP switch enabling Wired and Wireless Internet connectivity, making your WiFi access points redundant. Nor do you need any separate Ethernet jacks to offer wired Internet access: This all-in-one screen has an extendable Ethernet cable on its back.
Fully managed
Being the first connected hospitality TV set, the LG ConnectedHotel TV can be completely monitored through our IP network. Remember that with our advanced network management toolset we can monitor thousands of different devices remotely, define escalation procedures and service levels for all your applications.
Tap into the Web
With your ConnectedHotel TVs, you can feature Web-based services such as local weather forecasts, real-time flight information, news portals, stock exchange data or video sharing sites through customized widgets. Working with the Web as an additional content source, you can quickly react to emerging guest demand and exploit new revenue models.
Post and manage your own content
Our solution provides an excellent platform for you to promote your services on screen. For example, when your guests return from a hard day’s work, why not advertise your in-house spa facilities? Moreover, you can offer express checkout and communicate with every guest through the TV screen using our dedicated messaging system.
Television worldwide is going digital. Sooner or later, your guests will want the same full-HD viewing experience at your hotel that they enjoy at home. If you plan to renew your TV system while keeping your infrastructure investment to a minimum, then Swissom Digital TV is the ideal choice.
Eden-FX Digital TV delivers live-TV in full HD by making best use of your existing TV network infrastructure.
Our solution package includes:
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