Comms Dealer

Resellers from across the country went back to the classroom with Nimans to learn more about Unify's OpenScape Business SMB Unified Comms platform, and discover how the growing impact of UC is set to accelerate even further.

Attendees travelled from as far as Aberdeen to Nimans' Manchester headquarters for the distributor's first OpenScape Business sales training course. The day-long event ended with an exam where resellers earned official Unify certified expert status.

Stuart Trigg, Unify's UK Distribution Account Manager, explained how UC is playing a growing influence on the global comms stage, with 80% of SMBs currently implementing or planning to implement a more cohesive comms strategy.

He explained how UC provides the opportunity to improve team collaboration, enhance customer service and increase mobility. "It's important to understand customer pain points and look at why UC could be the answer," he highlighted. "Interest is growing on a massive scale."

Configurations, networking and deployment, solution manageability, sales support and also hardware and licensing were all on the agenda supported by system demonstrations of OpenScape Business, an award-winning all-in-one UC and voice solution for up to 1,500 users.

Commsworld has multiplied by six the number of connections made up to May 1st compared to the same four month period last year, registering 13,000-plus connections, which also marks a first in the company's 21-year history having already reached a record year.

This growth has been driven by demand for VoIP services, explained Commsworld CEO Ricky Nicol: "When VoIP first appeared on the scene over a decade ago it was exciting, but it struggled against the resilience, speed and practicality of landline systems," he said.

"But thanks to the advancement of networks and cloud services they no longer need rooms full of expensive hardware.

"Voice communications remains an essential tool for business. If you want to get something done instantly you don't just send a trail of emails, you more than likely pick up the phone.

"This in itself isn't new, but what is changing is how we are now using voice communications. It is much more likely to be integrated, and the growth of telephony using Internet connections is helping businesses every day, bringing down costs and improving flexibility."

Maintel is to offer a solution that removes most of the cost and complexity associated with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) when payments are taken over the phone.

The managed services provider has partnered with Semafone, the developer of secure payment software for contact centres, retailers and merchants that take Cardholder Not Present (CNP) payments.

Customers type their own card details directly into their telephone handset, meaning that no card information is seen or heard by the contact centre agent, nor does it enter the merchant's physical or virtual data environment.

It is claimed the Semafone's technology can reduce the number of required compliance controls by up to 95%.

Maintel is offering Semafone's dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) masking technology, either hosted in the cloud as part of its SIP trunk offering, or installed within the customer's own environment.

Eddie Buxton, CEO of Maintel Group, said: "In taking advantage of Semafone's patented payment method we'll be able to ensure our partners are protecting their customers' data while meeting stringent compliance criteria."

Tim Critchley, CEO of Semafone, added: "PCI compliance has always been a critical concern for those businesses that take card payments. This is even more true today as we face increasing numbers of data breaches and the looming EU data protection regulations."

The fines for non-compliance are significant. Depending on the severity of the breach, new EU data protection regulations stipulate that fines could be up to 4% of an organisation's annual worldwide turnover or 20m euros, whichever is greater.

Dutch municipal bank Stadsbank Oost Nederland has implemented Content Guru's storm Cloud Contact Centre solution.

A not-for-profit organisation, Stadsbank provides critical financial services including debt management and loan advice, to thousands of individual clients across 22 municipalities in the Netherlands.

The company chose storm to handle the increasing volumes of customer interactions generated from the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis.

By leveraging storm's intelligent Automated Contact Distribution (iACD®) technology, Stadsbank has effected a 50% reduction in repeat contacts by automating routine enquiries and prioritising time-critical interactions to achieve, wherever possible, resolution on first contact.

Custom integration with Stadsbank's own financial applications enables storm to feed customer data through to customer contact agents in real-time, creating a personalised client

Han Olthof, Call Centre Manager at Stadsbank Oost Nederland, commented: "Our customers are facing a range of financial challenges, so it is vital that our contact centre connects our customers to the information they need as quickly and efficiently as possible.

"Since the recession our contact centre has experienced much larger volumes of interactions than we were previously used to.

"Peaks in demand made the situation worse when our previous system was unable to scale accordingly, impacting on one of the most important fundamentals of our organisation delivering a seamless and positive customer experience with the best possible outcome for all of our clients.

"storm helps us to address these problems whilst its cost-effective Operating Expenditure model is a perfect fit for our not-for-profit setup, allowing us to improve services and scalability without having to leverage capital that doesn't exist."

An EMEA partnership between Enghouse Interactive and Microsoft Skype for Business specialist MeetingZone extends the geographical reach of Enghouse's contact centre applications, including its EI Communications Centre platform.

MeetingZone CTO Steven Willert said: "The relationship Enghouse has with Microsoft is significant, in particular, Microsoft's validation and advocacy of the company."

MeetingZone operates an indirect route to market and works with other Microsoft partners to deliver Skype for Business vVoice services.

Gary Bennett, Sales Director, Enghouse Interactive, added: "As a Skype for Business service provider and applications aggregator MeetingZone has a determination to get up to speed quickly with our contact centre solutions.

"This commitment has already been demonstrated by the significant investment made in ensuring their engineering and support staff are correctly certified."

US-listed Equinix is selling eight data centres in Europe to Digital Realty for $874.4m.

This comes as a condition of clearance from the European Commission in November 2015 for Equinix's acquisition of TelecityGroup plc, TelecityGroup's Bonnington House, Sovereign House, Meridian Gate and Oliver's Yard data centres and Equinix's West Drayton data centre in London; TelecityGroup's Science Park and Amstel Business Park in Amsterdam; and TelecityGroup's Lyonerstrasse data centre in Frankfurt are the ones being transferred.

The agreement is subject to certain customary closing conditions, including approval by the European Commission, as well as completion of the works council consultation process in the Netherlands.

Upon approval by the European Commission, and satisfaction of the other conditions, the transaction is expected to close in Q3.

Additionally, Equinix has separately negotiated with Digital Realty a binding option for Equinix to acquire Digital Realty's operating business including its real estate and facility in St. Denis, Paris, where Equinix has an established presence with its PA2 and PA3 International Business Exchange data centres.

The acquisition is subject to certain conditions, including confirmatory due diligence by Equinix, any mandatory governmental or local authority approvals, and any required employee consultation processes. The acquisition is expected to complete in the second half of 2016.

3CX's PBX has been natively integrated with Exact Cloud Solutions.
 
The plugin automatically opens the contact record and, if the number is not recognised, creates a new contact.

It also logs the call and opens an activity box specific to the caller so users can take notes when the call ends.
 
Launching outbound calls from the Exact interface can be done using the 3CX 'hotkey dialing' feature.

This is done by selecting the desired phone number in the Exact Interface; pressing the preconfigured hotkey dials the number and automatically initiates the call.

3CX CEO Nick Galea said: "With out-of-the-box integrations with CRM systems such as Exact, businesses will receive the boost in productivity they need while at the same time take advantage of advanced UC features."

Robin Brinkman, Partner Manager, Exact Software Germany, added: "The integration between 3CX and Exact Cloud Solutions allows us to offer functionality that a lot of our customers have been waiting for.

"Companies can deliver better support based on faster insight into the contact details.

"It also helps sales organisations to react on a more personal level to incoming calls, which results in a higher conversion rate."

Chess has bolstered its ICT, network and mobile capabilities following the acquisition of Pinnacle CDT from Pinnacle Technology Group. The deal pushes up Chess's headcount to 500-plus and adds 1,000 customers.

Chess CEO David Pollock said: "The acquisition is another important step on our growth journey.

"The people of Pinnacle CDT share our passion for delivering technological advantage to customers. It'll be a rewarding journey for us all and most importantly our customers."

Richard Btesh, Director of Chess, added: "Our acquisition machine is primed to take advantage of the consolidation of customers and relationships."

With less than six weeks until the UK referendum on EU membership only a third of IT and telco businesses have developed a clear plan for dealing with the impact of a 'leave vote', according to a snapshot survey commissioned by international law firm Pinsent Masons.

The poll of senior decision makers in over 150 businesses across Britain, France and Germany - commissioned by Pinsent Masons conducted by YouGov - found that more than half, 57%, said there had been no discussion at Board level about the potential impacts of Brexit.

Of the organisations which have undertaken board level discussions, 11% admit to having discussed or planned for the relocation of operations.

Pinsent Masons says that the figures reflect that, while many larger businesses have begun contingency planning for Brexit, a significant proportion have not yet contemplated the impact a vote to leave might have.

Guy Lougher, a Partner and Head of the Brexit Advisory Team at Pinsent Masons, stated: "If the UK vote is in favour of leaving the EU, there will be profound implications for all businesses irrespective of whether they operate or trade in - or with - the UK."

"A number of economists believe a vote in favour of Brexit would create a profound economic shock. Whether one accepts such predictions or not it is hard to imagine that - at the very least - exchange rates will not be impacted.

"The uncertainties in a Brexit scenario are so great that there may be a temptation to do nothing until the referendum result emerges. However, our advice to businesses is to start taking steps now. While one cannot protect against all risks, it is possible to identify the risk areas and start thinking about how these could be mitigated.

"Many businesses now admit to being in denial during the Scottish referendum about how close the vote would be. People are more switched on this time, but I think find the prospect of Brexit a little overwhelming."

Pinsent Masons says that there are a number of measures businesses can institute now in order to minimise the disruption of Brexit upon business, from assessing the number of workers likely to be impacted by freedom of movement rules to reviewing how and where customer data is held.

"There are some simple things that businesses can do. Foremost among those should be identifying any business-critical contracts and considering if they are future-proof.

"Any agreements which specifically reference the EU as the territory governed by the contract may lack clarity.

"It is likely to be easier to agree amendments to those agreements now, especially where contracts have not yet been signed, rather than after a vote when the people on the other side of the table will know that the clock is ticking.

"It's also surprising, given the potential for economic disruption, how few businesses have entered into discussions with investors and funders as to their attitudes to risk in the aftermath of a 'leave' vote. It would seem prudent to have those conversations now amid relatively benign conditions.

"Having said that, it is encouraging that some businesses have started to consider what commercial opportunities might arise from a vote to leave. While this emerged as being one of the top two steps most likely to have been taken by businesses in France and Germany, this was not the case in the UK."

IT services firm Agilitas has been recognised for the fast growth of its international sales by The Sunday Times.

The Sunday Times Heathrow SME Export Track 100 league table ranks the top 100 private, small & medium-sized companies with the fastest-growing international sales over the last two years.

Ranking number 45 in the UK, the recognition follows a successful year for Agilitas in which the company has seen significant growth in new business and continued expansion of export functions across European markets.

2015 saw Agilitas complete a management led buyout and a rebrand, whilst continuing to maintain international expansion.

Richard Eglon, Marketing Director at Agilitas commented: "To be recognised as one of the country's leading exporters is a fantastic achievement for Agilitas. It highlights the strength of our IT services proposition, dedicated team and quality of service across multiple markets.

"Over the last two years, the Agilitas business has gone from strength-to-strength. We've successfully replicated our comprehensive UK Inventory-as-a-service support model across mainland Europe, and this prestigious listing is a fantastic testament to these new capabilities and the Agilitas team delivering them day-in, day-out."

The SME Export Track 100 is compiled by Fast Track and published in The Sunday Times each May, with an awards event in June and regional dinners throughout the year.