With hundreds of thousands of people stranded across Europe due to the recent flight bans, interest in conferencing systems are beginning to soar for the distributors who have witnessed a 20% surge in demand.
Head of Conferencing Sales, Ian Brindle, said the stylish and easy-to-use desktop devices are ‘flying off the shelves’ since clouds of ash began drifting across the UK and beyond.
It’s ironic that Ian and colleague Simon Hughes have been caught up in the travel turmoil themselves, with both initially stranded more than 1,000 miles from home after travelling to the Ice Hotel on the edge of the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden for an industry gathering with manufacturer Konftel.
“It is unfortunate we are in this situation but we have still been able to make progress with our business affairs by conducting meetings via conference phone with staff and suppliers in the UK,” Ian confirmed. “Governments across Europe have been communicating via video conferencing to discuss how best to tackle the volcanic ash situation.”
Ian and Simon have now embarked on a mammoth journey home via coach, rail, car and sea which will take until the end of the week to complete. They say the international travel chaos has had a major positive impact on sales demand as business meetings at home and abroad have been unable to take place face-to-face.
“It is well known how conferencing can save on time and fuel costs by allowing meetings to take place without the need to travel. The flight ban has opened up more opportunities for resellers to push the benefits of conferencing as the wheels of commerce began to grind to a bit of a halt. As the flight situation worsened, staff back in the UK noticed a surge in demand for both audio and video conferencing equipment spanning our Polycom, Konftel and ClearOne product portfolio. Orders are up 20% compared to before the flights were grounded.”
Nimans and Rocom are the country’s leading distributors of telecoms products, from full communication systems to headsets, handsets and data installation equipment such as cabinets and cabling. They were recently crowned Polycom’s number one distributor of audio conferencing products in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for the sixth time running.
Whilst en-route to Hamburg by train on Wednesday morning, Ian concluded: “Whilst the volcanic ash has brought misery for many - including ourselves - it has given our conferencing sales a warm glow which we expect to continue throughout the year as more businesses recognise the viable alternatives to traditional travel. The benefits of conferencing are more than just hot air.”