Success Stories

Yodeck Customer Interview: Kai Wolffram From TUI

Yodeck customer interview Kai Wolffram from TUI

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I was curious to see what kind of impact the use of Yodeck had had on an actual customer engaging the digital signage platform.

TUI, as one of the world’s leading tourism groups, had major changes when it stopped printing circulating daily printouts and sticking to USB sticks, and it adopted a more dynamic and carbon-efficient approach.

So, they asked Kai Wolffram, Director of IT Operations and Analytics at TUI, to share a few insights from his experience.

His interview unveils the stunning increase in brand engagement after the Yodeck implementation, following numerous challenges beforehand that make this company video a true before-and-after operational efficiency portrayal.

But that’s not all. They discussed the challenges of international scalability, vendor comparison, selection process, and the strength of hardware independence in streaming platforms.

Check the interview out!

Topics Discussed by Kai Wolffram

  • Disadvantages of routine printouts for daily advertising.
  • Increased brand engagement post-Yodeck implementation.
  • Difficulties with prior, inflexible technologies.
  • Global adaptability and various screen compatibility.
  • Vendor evaluation via a narrowed supplier list and product trials.
  • Yodeck’s notable strength—diverse TV hardware independence.
Yodeck Customer Interview: TUI

Transcription

Interviewer: Hey guys! Here at Yodeck, we have been chatting to some of our clients for feedback on our service and software. And we wanted to share their response with you.

We spoke to Kai Wolffram from TUI, who use Yodeck digital signage in their hotels around the world, from Thailand to the Dominican Republic. 

TUI currently operates Yodeck on roughly 100 screens and counting. With more hotels opening in Summer ’22, they will soon be reaching 300 screens.

And here’s what they had to say about Yodeck.

So why did you choose Yodeck over another digital signage company?

Kai Wolffram: Well, we chose Yodeck because we were missing a global strategy and a global standard for all our properties. We operate so many hotels in different destinations, and we need to have the same content in our guest-facing facilities everywhere around the world.

Plus, we are operating in destinations where sometimes the internet connection is not too good. So we were looking at the solution that not just streams the content from somewhere else, but has the possibility for. let’s say, a download or offline copy to continue to run and something which supports various screen types.

Because around the globe, we do have small TV screens, big digital signage screens, horizontal, vertical different brands. We needed a solution that can cope with everything.

Interviewer: How many other companies did you look into when you were looking for a digital signage solution?

Kai Wolffram: We shrink the list to five different suppliers, we really try to get a big picture of what is currently there at the market. And then we did POCs (proof of concept) with all of them to finally come to our decision.

Interviewer: What would you say is the number one reason that someone would use Yodeck? So let’s say you are recommending Yodeck to another company—why would you recommend us? What is the best feature or features you would mention?

Kai Wolffram: That the strength of Yodeck really is the the independence from different TV hardware. You can use Yodeck to run on nearly any screen. So there is a lot of flexibility—that flexibility continues in terms of the media types. It just gives you a broad variety of use cases, and you’re not limited. 

What is very important in our use case, because we are rolling it out in so many different locations (and not in every location, because we do have a dedicated IT team member or some IT staff), it was very important that we find a solution that can be easily rolled out by someone who has maybe not deep IT skills.

I think for us the top feature is to have a global control about all our screens worldwide. So we can see what is actually being played in Vietnam, and at the same time in the Dominican Republic. And we can change the content from anywhere in the world at any time. And that’s for us the biggest strength and functionality of Yodeck.

Interviewer: So how do you feel about the Raspberry Pi based solution? You know, does the Raspberry Pi work for you?

Kai Wolffram: Overall, the Yodeck Raspberry Pi solution I feel is good because the quality of the case is very good. It’s quite good also in regions where we have hot climates. So when we are operating in Asia or Africa, temperatures of 40ºC and more are normal. So for us, it’s also important to have a solution that works in different regions.

Interviewer: The overall setup of Yodeck. How easy would you say it is to deploy and get going?

Kai Wolffram: The overall process of deploying Yodeck is very straightforward—very easy implementation. And normally we complete the go live of one property within 45 minutes.

Interviewer: What do you think about Yodeck pricing plan? Do you think it’s a fair plan? And also how does this compare to the other companies that you looked into before going with Yodeck?

Kai Wolffram: I think the Yodeck pricing is fair because the initial upfront cost is very low. I mean, that makes it easy to start, which is different with other suppliers. Some require quite high initial efforts. In our case this was important because we wanted to start small, and then grow.

And, of course now in our case, we’ve reached a certain amount of screens, where we also negotiated a customised pricing for us. The more screens we get, the higher the discount is, for the next level.

So, from my point of view, the pricing is fair, and also very competitive. 

Interviewer: But once you had Yodeck implemented up and running, what benefits did you see from the company? What benefits did Yodeck bring in to you?

Kai Wolffram: Well, I mean, the biggest benefit that we are seeing is that we are now able to bring the content that was already there to our guests. And what we definitely see as a higher engagement with the brand overall, but also higher engagement with the property, with the different excursions that we are offering.

We do see a higher usage of the technic digital functionalities, app usage, stuff like that. And we tend to see also a tendency of higher upselling capabilities when we offer special treatment, special offers, something where we didn’t have a solution in place to bring that information to our guests before.

Interviewer: Cool, that’s great! So, before Yodeck, how did you get this content across to your customers? Or was it very hard to get it across?

Kai Wolffram: Well, it was very hard to get it across because we had different technologies. We had USB sticks with ready presentations plugged into a TV. But when the information needed to change, someone needed to go to that screen and plug the USB stick, change it and go back—it wasn’t flexible enough.

And then we had sorts of print outs, which are also both environmental. And also, I don’t know. It doesn’t feel good anymore to create lots of printouts every day to create or to advertise something which is happening on that specific day. Because the information is important on that day and it’s no longer important on the next one. So we were looking for something to get something out to the customer right now.

I can only say that we are very happy that we engaged with Yodeck. We feel that we have a good solution in place. We created a great product using the technology with Yodeck and we will definitely continue to use it and scale it over the next few months.

Interviewer: That’s great! Thank you very much!

Vaslou is a passionate digital creator and blogger who loves to explore unique paths to generate online income. He’s also a musician, always looking for exciting paths to articulate his inventive spirit in the musical realm. When he’s not at work on his online endeavors, Vasco loves to delve into spiritual realms to become a better version of himself.

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