Comms Dealer

Multi-channel contact centre and telephony applications software vendor CyTrack Intelligence Systems has appointed Steve Cobley to oversee its UK operations.

The appointment follows CyTrack's certification as a Gold and Highlighted product by Panasonic head office in Japan and its recommendation as the preferred product for contact centre solutions.

CyTrack MD Nick Milan said: "We have had a long relationship with Panasonic and this endorsement of our products by Panasonic in Japan gives surety for Panasonic National offices.

"We have direct engagement with the Panasonic Japan R&D teams and that provides great confidence that the right people can get together for creating better solutions."

CyTrack has successful implementations on the Panasonic platform all over the globe including UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and more.

Now being launched in the UK, Panasonic resellers can benefit from CyTrack's suite of modular business solutions including inbound and outbound multi-channel contact centre technology, call reporting, call recording, IVR, customer satisfaction survey tools and team training and evaluation modules.

CyTrack has appointed Steve Cobley to head up UK sales and support, and Gary Moss to lead professional services.

Cobley has been in the industry for nearly four decades at KCom, Rocom and as a former managing director at call recording vendor Retell, while Moss has over a decade of hands-on call centre software and dialler experience.

Cobley said: "Support is a key issue for resellers and I'm confident that they will be impressed by the systems and staff that CyTrack have in place. Helping resellers prepare quotes and providing online product tutorials is just the start.

"We have a project management system based on the Asana collaboration software so resellers and their customers can check plans and progress, and leave comments as required.

"For our issue resolution ticketing system we selected the Zendesk customer service software because - like CyTrack's own software - it handles multiple communication channels, and enables us to stay on top of any problems our partners or their customers are experiencing."

The CyTrack suite of products is available to Panasonic resellers in the UK via Trust Distribution.

One of the UK's fastest growing ice hockey clubs has brought in Excalibur Communications to enhance and manage its mobile and fixed line telephone system.

With attendances increasing every year for the past five seasons, Swindon Wildcats of the English Premier League had expanded its operations to include ticket bookings (previously managed by the local council), requiring its communications to be far more robust, flexible and easily managed.

Wildcats staff also needed more scope away from the office to network at events, raise awareness of the club and attract sponsors.

Excalibur has introduced Vodafone's One Net, a hosted telephone system that integrates fixed and mobile devices through a fully managed platform. One Net provides online access for managing call routing and handling, which ensures calls aren't missed.

Steve Nell, Managing Director of the Swindon Wildcats, commented: "Excalibur soon grasped what we wanted to achieve and their consultative approach has seamlessly developed into great service to support our revenue streams. We already feel like Excalibur is another arm to our business."

Wildcats' personnel can now leave the office and divert calls to mobile or engage their 'virtual secretary' to take messages. With one central voicemail, everyone can retrieve messages so that they can be dealt with much faster, including the large number of out of hours calls.

Lines into the club have been increased and are now more reliable, with calls immediately routed to the right member of staff. As the whole Swindon Wildcats operation continues to grow, the club can now add lines as and when required to support its expansion.

Content Guru has been named as a finalist in two categories at this year's Thames Valley Business Magazine Awards (TVBMAs), making the shortlist for the Dynamic Business and also the flagship Business of the Year categories.

The annual Awards, organised by the Thames Valley Business Magazine, will be held again at the Madejski Stadium in Reading on 19th November.

This year's TVBMAs will be hosted by BAFTA award-winning news presenter Huw Edwards and award-winning journalist Nadine Dereza.

It is the first time that Content Guru has been nominated for the Dynamic Business of the Year award, which celebrates businesses that have demonstrated ambition and drive to seize opportunities in their marketplace.

It is the third year running that Content Guru has been shortlisted for the overall Business of the Year award.

Content Guru CEO, Sean Taylor, commented: "2015 has marked our most successful year yet, with expansion into both Germany and the US and Content Guru's recognition by Gartner as the leading Challenger in the European Cloud Contact Centre market.

"With our tenth anniversary just around the corner, it is wonderful to have our achievements recognised in our home region as we continue to expand internationally."

CDI Comms, part of the CDI Group of companies, has laid the foundations for a 20% rise in revenue in 2016, backed by a new-look website, its first ever telemarketing team and an expanded engineering workforce.

The Birmingham-based company works in close partnership with distributor Nimans and specialises in providing clients with a competitive market advantage through advanced communication technologies such as telephone systems, hosted platforms, call recording, data networks and unified communications.

CDI Comms supplies and installs equipment from Panasonic as well as Wi-Fi solutions from Samsung.

"CDI Comms is the telecommunications division of CDI Group which was founded in 1987 as a data specialist company," said Sales Director Andrew Forster. "By comparison, CDI Comms is a relatively new trading division set-up last year. Business is brisk and exceeding all expectations."

"We are committed to helping our customers solve their ICT problems with innovative technology. The CDI Group operates across many market sectors, not only in the UK but across Europe, Asia and America.

"We employ over 60 technical staff at our Birmingham and Newcastle offices, which affords us the flexibility and control essential to make sure we provide the very best service to a demanding market."

The transition to managed services and professional services continues to drive revenue and profit growth for Comms-care.

The UK provider of outsourced IT services for the channel community has announced a successive year of continuous growth for the 2014/2015 financial year.

Revenue over the year grew by 33% from £19.6 million to £26.1 million bringing CAGR for the past five years to 35%.

Almost half (44%) of revenues were derived from managed and professional services; while operating profit increased by 13% from £3 million to £3.4 million. Headcount also increased to 204 by end of March 2015; and the firm's network of new IT channel partners grew by 14% to more than 800 in the UK and Ireland.

Comms-care Managing Director Ben Davies said: "We have taken decisive steps over the past 12 months to respond to big changes in the technology industry, which saw our channel partners requiring access to a broader range of professional and managed services to sell on to their customers."

Comms-care's share of 2014/2015 annual revenue by service type saw professional services brig in £9 million (34%), managed services generated £2.5 million (10%), while maintenance services accounted for £14.6 million (56%).

Commenting on the future direction of the business, Comms-care Chairman, Peter Lloyd said: "We are particularly pleased with the seamless integration of the Platform Consultancy team into the company, which has enabled us to develop a broader range of high value professional services to offer our partners.

"Following the successful acquisition of Platform Consulting, we will continue to invest in the skills and capabilities required to grow our professional services and managed services business, which already equate to nearly half of our revenues."

Nimans has achieved an Investors In People (IIP) Gold Standard, the highest level of status available.

"People are our biggest asset and IIP is the vehicle to demonstrate to everyone across the company, as well as suppliers and customers, that Nimans is about leading and inspiring people, living the organisation's values and behaviours and empowering and involving people. It's a proud moment in the history of our company," said Chairman Julian Niman.

Key to achieving the Gold Standard is Nimans' MARS group, a team of individuals put in place to shape the firm's values and drive the business forward.

One of the first tasks of MARS was to set out a series of core values that support the vision, shape the culture and reflect the company's overall pedigree.

These values are, Let's keep our promises, share our passion, strive for excellence, support our people and dare to challenge.

"These are much more than just words or a badge," added Niman. "Together with Gold accreditation they reflect the culture of Nimans where everyone plays an important role in our continued prosperity."

Tech Data UK has been appointed as a business-to-business distributor for Garmin's range of wearable products and is aiming to build opportunities with companies that want to encourage healthy lifestyles and behaviours among their staff.
  
Jason Clegg, Consumer Business Development Manager at Tech Data, says that the agreement represents a step forward for Tech Data in the wearables market and presents a good opportunity for retailers and resellers.

"Garmin offers a range of activity tracker products that addresses the growth in the corporate wellness sector. We see this as a big opportunity and one that has the potential to grow quickly.
 
"Improving employee health and wellness is a common goal for employers, but addressing the needs of individuals at varying levels of fitness can be a challenge.

"Garmin offers a solution to this problem, providing a range of devices to suit different requirements. These devices can be seamlessly integrated into a corporate wellness programme, providing motivation and recognition for the efforts of employees."
 
Garmin has created an online fitness community through the Garmin Connect portal. This allows individuals to save and share their progress, access free training plans and join online challenges. It also allows users to compete with other participants of the same corporate wellness programme, or with other users and companies from around the world.

A giant bra that was made to raise awareness of breast cancer has been won at auction on ebay by Excalibur Communications.

Two metres high and more than six metres in length, the bra took four months of crocheting by the Swindon Bitch and Stitch knitting group which thanks to Excalibur's purchase, have raised £560 for the Against Breast Cancer charity.

Despite attracting around 200 views on ebay, the bra, listed as 'used', initially failed to sell, but following interest from the BBC which put the story on to its website, there was no shortage of bids when the giant crochet was relisted.

The bra had been on display at Swindon's Brunel shopping centre, as Tracey Major, from the knitting group, explained: "I'd listed it as 'used' because so many people were touching it and doing selfies with it and I thought I can't sell that as new."

Excalibur, whose managed communications services include mobiles and IT, has yet to decide exactly where to put the giant bra at its new Arclite House home, although Tracey Major did comment: "Each cup weighs about five kilograms so it could be used as beanbags."

Karen Thornley, Head of Marketing at Excalibur added: "Housing a giant bra wasn't exactly part of the plan for our new-look office space, but when we read on the BBC about the auction for Against Breast Cancer, we were very keen to help such a worthwhile charity."

VoIP distributor ProVu teamed up with Panasonic to offer a free SIP demonstration workshop at the vendor's Solutions Centre in Bracknell.

The 30-plus delegates were introduced to Panasonic's existing and future SIP products and received a complimentary TGP-600 DECT base and handset.

ProVu's Managing Director Darren Garland said: "The event was a great day for all that attended, and we now have a clear idea of what the future may hold for Panasonic and have equipped our resellers with the knowledge to enter the New Year with a clear insight."

Radius Communications GmbH has entered into partnership with Northcraft Germany to deliver storm Cloud Contact Centre, PBX and Unified Communications solutions to companies across Germany.

Based in Ottobrunn, Northcraft is an ICT consulting and outsourcing company that specialises in PBX services.

Initially founded in Johannesburg in 2002, Northcraft rapidly expanded into the European market with the opening of its inaugural German office in Frankfurt the following year.

As one of the first companies to provide Telecommunications Field Services in Europe and Africa, Northcraft has since established a strong client base within the German SME market as a PBX specialist.

Anne-Meine Gramsma, German Country Manager for Radius Communications, commented: "With over 14 billion euros in annual revenues, the German contact centre industry is one of the strongest in Europe and it continues to grow exponentially.

"Our partnership with Northcraft presents us with an exciting new channel to market, giving us an opportunity to leverage the established storm brand."