Safaricom and Microsoft Launch Revmeet for Videoconferencing in Hotels

Safaricom and software tech giant, Microsoft have teamed up to launch a videoconferencing facility, Revmeet. The product will enable hotels to facilitate meetings between businesses. Revmeet was launched after a one and a half month pilot in eight different locations in Nairobi hosting various groups attending the same meeting.

Safaricom’s task in the project is to provide reliable internet bandwdth within the country and to other networks globally. Microsoft said that the virtual product had been encrypted to provide secure one on one engagements for specific meetings. Hasnain Noorani, founder and group managing director of PrideInn Hotels, lauded the development saying the hospitality industry had found an avenue to host small groups of people attending meetings. “Concentration is high when one is with like-minded attendees of such meetings.

We did host 350 people in Nairobi and Mombasa during meetings addressed by speakers from Spain and Canada,” he said. Mr. Noorani pointed out that for business to thrive, a blend of virtual and physical meetings were needed. He also noted that the hospitality business benefits from the footfall from such events and that other unrelated businesses, including those that provide services to the hotels indirectly, also stood to gain.

Revmeet can now be used in annual company general meetings and employee trainings sessions across the country. Mr. Noorani said that for this, the employers can book their employees in hotels that have adequate IT infrastructure for holding virtual meetings Among the hotels that have invested in similar IT facilities include Enashipai Lodge, Sarove and Serena Hotels. Revmeet costs Sh10,000 for sessions lasting up to two hours, Sh15,000 for sessions lasting up to five hours and Sh20,000 for a day-long virtual session.