The Scandinavian communication and collaboration company Konftel is having a packed autumn, with a 30th anniversary, breaking into the Asian market, strong growth and the addition of video collaboration solutions to the product portfolio. To that can be added the publication of a book and winning the award for Customer Value Leadership 2018.
It all began back in 1988 in a basement in Umeå, in the far north of Scandinavia. Peter Renkel and his friend John-Erik Eriksson were commissioned to build a conference telephone for a bank in the city. This marked the birth of an advanced audio technology with echo suppression that later developed into the patented OmniSound, which now forms the backbone of all Konftel’s products.
Both Peter and John-Erik are still going strong within the company: Peter as CEO, and John-Erik as Sound Designer in the R&D department.
Peter said, “the dream in 1988 was to move up out of the basement. But the idea that we would be standing here today as a global player with a broad product range for companies large and small… No, that was beyond our wildest dreams. We’ve come this far through hard work and contributions from many talented people.”
The new book titled ‘The Sound of a Company – Konftel 30 Years’ offers the reader an insights into Konftel’s journey, including many of the ups and downs along the way, from those first years in the basement, via a tense time on the stock exchange during the IT bubble, to today’s business, which is still run from Umeå. Konftel is now one of the leading global names in collaboration solutions.
Coinciding with its 30th anniversary, Konftel is adding video to its wide range of conference phones for effective distance meetings. As a renowned audio expert, Konftel is launching its new products with a nod to its history and to the market, encouraging buyers to ‘put a face to the voice.’
Peter added, “audio is still very important, in fact it’s critical, or as we say: the picture can be good enough, but the sound has to be crystal clear. That said, image and video technology has seen such advances that we can now produce quality cameras that are easy to use and great value, adding another dimension to a meeting. The fact that it’s easy to use is important to us. Hassle free and high quality, that’s what we’re all about.”
