Welsh telephone & web conferencing company shaking up market in the Netherlands

Press release: for immediate release May 9th 2008

A Welsh telephone and web conferencing company has proved a hit in the Netherlands, just one month after expanding into the country.

Cowbridge-based Miura Conference – which already has offices in the UK, Ireland and France – opened its Netherlands’ office in Maassluis in April.

Managing Director Tom Stroud said he was overwhelmed by the amount of interest and enquiries the company had received so far and hoped that their arrival in the country would help transform the conferencing market there.

He said: “When it comes to telephone and web conferencing, the market in the Netherlands is not yet as competitive as those in the UK, USA or Germany. However, the Netherlands has excellent telecommunications infrastructure and one of the highest levels of internet and broadband penetration in Europe, so we believe the country offers strong potential growth.”

“With the launch of Miura Conference in the Netherlands we aim to offer Dutch customers the most advanced telephone and web conferencing solutions, along with our outstanding customer service and great value for money”.

“Our entry into the Netherlands is also challenging the pre-eminence of KPN (the country’s equivalent to BT), which has dominated the conferencing market. From our experience so far, businesses in the Netherlands appear to have been paying proportionately higher than their counterparts across Europe for conferencing services. As a cost-effective business, we are able to offer extremely competitive rates which can save customers a great deal of money”.

Such conferencing solutions can benefit businesses on a number of levels, Tom explains.

He said: “Firstly, it saves the company money by not having to pay for staff to travel around the country for meetings. This increases staff productivity, as travel time is dead time. When an employee is sat on a train or driving their car for two hours to get to a meeting, they are not working. They are also likely to be tired and lacking in motivation when they get back, which is not good news for the employee or for the business.

He added: “Conferencing is also great news for the environment and can dramatically reduce your carbon footprint. All businesses need to look at corporate responsibility, and ensure that their practices are not harming the world around us unnecessarily.”

And practicing what the company preaches, Miura’s Netherlands’ staff communicate daily with the company’s Cowbridge HQ and other offices in France and Ireland via the very communication tools Miura promotes.

Tom said: “To be a global operation, there will inevitably be times when it is necessary to fly by plane to the countries in which we operate. But that will be kept to a minimum, with staff instead keeping in touch and holding regular meetings by web-conference.”

He added that the last year had been an exceptional one for the company and that he expected to be expanding further with a new office in the US in the next few months and one in the Far East in 2009.

For more information on Miura Conference in the Netherlands, visit www.miuraconference.nl, email tom.stroud@miuraconference.co.uk, or telephone 0800 970 2750.

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For press enquiries and interview opportunities, please contact Cathryn Scott on cathryn.scott@miuraconference.co.uk or telephone 07967 818 353.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Miura Conference is a Cowbridge-based business with staff based in Bristol, Ireland, the Netherlands and France.

Miura is a well-respected provider of audio, web and video conferencing solutions and specialises in supplying the very latest, next-generation integrated communication, conferencing and virtual meeting solutions. ? Tele-conferencing services starts at 4p a minute and web-conferencing from £35 a month. Unlike other conference providers, you will not need to download any special programmes, which can be costly and affect your computer’s Firewalls and virus protectors.