Getting people talking
Published: MEA
While much of the pro audio market has its sights set on entertainment and hospitality, conferencing systems look more to business and government. DIS has been specialising in this market for over 50 years
Conferencing systems don’t have the glamour of live sound or the ubiquity of BGM, but they do play a vital role in many of the decisions that affect all of our lives. Governments and corporations around the world rely on these systems as the key acoustic tool of any meeting room. And as technology becomes increasingly more important in this environment, interest in these systems is growing. One company that has specialised in this field is DIS – Danish Interpretation Systems.
DIS was founded in 1952 in Copenhagen when it was known as the Danish International Students Committee, but a change in the ownership structure in 1988 gave rise to its current identity. The DIS product line belongs to Informationsteknik Scandinavia A/S – Scandinavia’s leading supplier of conference and audio-visual systems and equipment.
As a company, DIS designs and manufactures microphone management and discussion systems; simultaneous interpretation and translation systems; wired and infrared language distribution systems; congress voting and audience response systems; fully digital conference systems; and conference management software including streaming and archiving. Its aim is to provide complete system solutions of advanced electronic conference and congress products to the global meeting industry on a permanent or rental supply basis.
DIS has built up its product portfolio by combining the accumulated knowledge of the last five decades with the latest advances in digital and analogue technology. Of course, it is one thing to build the kit, but it is a different proposition entirely to install it and put it to use.
With a history stretching back over 50 years it is not surprising that the company measures project numbers in the hundreds of thousands and has an illustrious client list. On the installation side, DIS has supplied systems to parliaments in Saudi Arabia, Brussels, Copenhagen, Georgia, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Whereas its international rental service has seen its kit used at The World Bank, The International Monetary Fund, The United Nations, The European Union, NATO, and ASEM to name but a few.
While its roots are definitely Scandinavian, the company has spread out across the world. DIS headquarters, which houses its research and development facilities as well as its European sales offices, are located in Denmark’s capital city, Copenhagen. However, the production and logistics nerve centre of DIS was relocated in 1998 some 10,000km south east of the Danish capital to Bangkok, Thailand. Regional sales offices can also be found in the UAE, Mexico, Thailand and now India, and the company currently distributes to over 80 countries worldwide.
‘We started the Middle Eastern office as we had experienced high volumes of sales for the past 30 years in the region,’ says regional sales manager Jan Villumsen, who initiated the Dubai office in 2002. ‘We realised that the potential was definitely there to build the brand further. Back then our main competitors were largely absent, so it was easier to establish a dealer network,’ he explains. ‘As a manufacturer, we wanted to work more closely with our dealer and distributor network and nurture personal relationships even further, although we were acting more like a distributor supporting its dealer network,’ he admits. ‘It took a year or two to set everything up properly at our Jebel Ali office, which coincided with a mental adjustment.’ Mr Villumsen spends most of his time developing the African market and seeing clients, while area sales manager Chris Hellmuth oversees other territories such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt.
In the UAE, the World Trade Centre and Almoe are two of DIS’s biggest customers. These companies play an important role for the rental of DIS equipment and regularly supply kit for meetings and conferences. However, during periods of peak demand, there is sometimes a deficit and other rental partners come into play. Fostering the relationships with rental companies early on has been key to the success of DIS in the region. ‘We have worked with some of our bigger clients such as Almoe Rentals since the beginning. They have used our interpretation units for numerous conferences and seminars,’ says Mr Villumsen. The World Trade Centre initially acquired a DCS 6000 system from DIS for the World Bank meetings in 2003, and it has progressively added stock and upgraded ever since.
Building relationships clearly plays an important role for the manufacturer, and this has seen its staff work very closely with some of its most important clients. DIS’s product managers often have to work directly with some of their bigger clients, such as the Saudi Arabian parliament, as such clients don’t want to work with dealers. Such relationships have built up over the years leading to trust and familiarity. ‘Whether we’re promoting dry hired or full turnkey solutions, DIS can provide for all manner of clients with varying needs,’ says Mr Villumsen.
This willingness to work directly with customers has seen it pick up deals in territories where it does not have a large presence. ‘We’re involved in quite a number of projects where we’re not too well represented by dealers,’ says Mr Villumsen. ‘For example, we recently upgraded a system in the UN HQ in Nairobi.’
While working directly with large customers is something not unfamiliar to most manufacturers, this has led to DIS receiving some challenging requests. ‘In one particular year, a new African customer visited us during a Copenhagen conference. Having bought a system, he then asked our colleague Anja Louise Schmidt to fly out to Chad within 24 hours,’ recalls Mr Villumsen. ‘Even though it was just before Christmas, she arranged the flights and acquired a visa on the same day and then took a system with her on the following day to be set up and configured.’
It is not only with support where DIS strives to meet its customers’ needs, it also makes modifications to its kit to fit the requirements of the user. ‘We customised both our hardware and our software for the Al Shura Parliament in Saudi Arabia,’ says Mr Villumsen. ‘Ninety-eight per cent of our sales enquiries can be fulfilled via software development. AMX and Crestron control interfaces are common and so we work closely with both manufacturers.’
As a manufacturer of software and IT-based product solutions, DIS has long recognised the fact that it needs to assure its customers that its systems are both easy to set up and use. ‘Training plays a large part in reassuring our customers of these values and as such it plays a vital part in what we do in the region,’ explains Mr Villumsen. ‘Once trained, our dealers and customers take that knowledge with them into the field and become specialists themselves. Architects and consultants are big players in our markets and so we have to convince them that our products are right for their designs.’
This philosophy of going the extra mile for its clients has ensured that business across the Middle East has been good for the company. On top of recent installations through Iranian distributor Cimatech at Pars Oil and Gas Co and the Provincial Government of Kerman, the company has seen new business coming in with the Iraqi Parliament recently ordering a DIS system and the Saudi Arabian educational sector continuing to flourish for the manufacturer, both good signs for its continued growth.
DIS is here to stay in the Middle East. Its recent joining of the Middle East Communications Industries Association (MECIA) and the appointment of Mr Hellmuth, who was previously an employee at Beyerdynamic in Germany, is a testimony to that commitment. ‘We work extremely closely with our customers and provide them with expertise and full training. We cover a large area from Chad and Nigeria to Pakistan and Iran and to Libya and Egypt. The future will require more technical expertise from the manufacturers’ side and with more new products being developed to satisfy custom solutions, which is entirely possible. With more software development, we’ll need to provide more training assistance. Dubai is a great regional hub – particularly for Iraq, Iran, East Africa and the GCC in general. We’ve been here for eight years now and receive a lot of word of mouth endorsements and referrals owing to the time we have been out here supporting the market.’
The Middle East has certainly been a fruitful market for DIS and Mr Villumsen for one is happy to be a player in this area. ‘For me it’s like an adventure. I like this region and the culture immensely and can’t see myself returning to Denmark in all honesty. The greatest satisfaction that I have taken since I arrived here in 2002 is witnessing our brand awareness grow so much in the market.’
DIS has proven that it has what it takes to be a successful company in the Middle East. By building a good dealer network, focusing on training its users and showing a willingness to meet its customers’ needs it has built a good reputation for the brand across the region. While conferencing systems are not necessarily glamorous, they are certainly important and as DIS has shown, they can also be big business.