Comms Dealer

Against a backdrop of stagnant economies and relatively rigid labour markets, the European contact centre outsourcing market is pressing ahead, observe pundits at Frost & Sullivan.

Powerful consumer trends, along with the expansion of automated and non-voice channels, are adding momentum to technology-based customer engagement.

Over the next five years, service providers that differentiate and compete on multichannel capabilities and value add technology solutions will have an edge over providers that only compete on cost, location and labour arbitrage.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan finds that the market was worth $14.04 billion in 2014 and estimates this to reach $16.48 billion in 2019. Technology-based services will experience solid momentum, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 12 percent, compared to a CAGR of more than 2 percent for traditional, agent-based services.

"Europe too is adjusting to a rapidly changing, ever-more influential consumer," noted Frost & Sullivan Information & Communication Technologies Program Director Stephen Loynd. "And when it comes to working with Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs) in an ever more connected world, enterprises are expecting agility, innovation, and best practice implementation - truly strategic partnerships, in other words."

The European market can be particularly complex. Although the market for outsourced services is counter-cyclical, benefitting from the cost-cutting of enterprises, in some cases in Europe it also has faced a lack of demand. Moreover, tech-savvy consumers are now using a variety of communication channels to express their opinions, and BPOs are aiming to offer improved multichannel solutions as a result.

Meanwhile, the outsourcing market continues to be characterised by mergers and acquisitions (M&A). In 2015, both large and small players, such as Atento, Arvato, Concentrix, Serco Global Services, Walter Services, and SNT Deutschland, were involved in M&As. BPOs would be wise to continue to push organizational change whenever necessary to promote greater focus and accountability, and improved organizational alignment when it comes to company mission, vision, strategy and execution.

Ravenswood-based charity InnerSense has received a grant from the Redwood Technologies Fund held with Berkshire Community Foundation (BCF), enabling it to run a series of Autumn Adventures workshops from October to December.

The sessions are designed to provide a multisensory theatrical experience for those who have severe, profound or multiple learning disabilities, and drive a range of positive outcomes for the participants which include improved communication skills, self-confidence and mental health.

InnerSense works with 100 disabled participants from across Berkshire on a weekly basis, and the Autumn Adventures workshops will see its studio transformed each week into a new theatrical environment filled with different props, instruments, costumes, characters and sets, designed to inspire the creative talents of the beneficiaries.

During each workshop, a team of skilled freelance professional artists take groups of up to ten participants into the studio at a time, where they are sensitively encouraged to participate and explore the world around them. These experiences lead to improved social awareness and relationships with staff and peers, as participants discover new creative ways for interaction and self-expression.

Victoria Holloway, Operations Manager at InnerSense, commented: "We are so grateful to receive a grant from the Redwood Technologies Fund. The grant will help us to run a term of our unique multisensory workshops, providing diverse creative opportunities for people with complex needs. In our workshops, people who rarely speak are inspired to sing, those who rarely move to dance, and those who are usually trapped in their own worlds break free. It is thanks to grants such as this, that we are able to continue this important work."

Claire Tyrrell, Director of Programmes at Berkshire Community Foundation, added: "At BCF, we are in a privileged position wherein we work with local charities and community groups addressing needs across Berkshire, as well as a number of extremely generous donors. As we look to facilitate our grant-making in the coming year, we hope for more and more opportunities to work with charities such as InnerSense."

Sean Taylor, Managing Director at Redwood Technologies, added: "Berkshire Community Foundation Fund and its Business Philanthropy Club enable an ever-increasing number of local organisations to engage with a wide range of excellent causes. The creative work carried out by the InnerSense team is inspiring and we're delighted to have been given the opportunity through our Fund to help support these workshops."

In recognition of its commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), DTC International, the global telecom Reverse Logistics and After Market Services business, has been awarded the Gold CSR Rating by EcoVadis, placing it in the top 5% of companies evaluated.

EcoVadis' independent sustainability rating platform monitors and improves the environmental, ethical and social performance of companies worldwide. Respect for environmental policies and a strong focus on CSR and Corporate Governance is fundamental to DTC's global operations, said the firm.

"DTC's operations place CSR practices as a key deliverable within our value proposition to a global client base. Therefore I am delighted by this Gold Rating as we continue to make further strides in this increasingly important area for the telecoms industry," said a spokesperson.

European IT infrastructure services provider SCC has partnered with Agilitas to support its inventory handling in France.

Shaun Lynn, CEO of Agilitas, said: "Growing logistics costs, in terms of manpower, maintenance, storage and control of IT inventory, were detracting SCC France from its core business activities.

"While it was important for us to provide a solution that could be effectively implemented, with clear cost benefits, more crucial was our understanding of SCC France's business and ability to listen to their needs and adapt to changes in their business."

As a 24/7 operational business, implementing a solution swiftly with no impact to SCC's current service strategy was paramount. Agilitas had to deliver a two hour SLA in place for critical inventory across France.

A key component of the Agilitas solution was purchasing SCC's entire Server and Storage inventory supply. Incorporating SCC France's stock into Agilitas' own infrastructure, while still remaining operational, was the first step in removing the costs and resources for SCC France of managing their own inventory.

In addition to this, Agilitas also took responsibility for the planning, procurement and stocking of all associated spare parts for the SCC France, to support them in its on-going IT services business across France.

Alain Brunard - SCC SA, Director Production Maintenance, commented: "For many years Agilitas has been a trusted supplier of quality spare parts for SCC Services France. As a result of their excellent track record, SCC decided to significantly increase their business with Agilitas within the last 12 months by entrusting the care of supplying necessary spare parts to support the maintenance contracts across the SCC Services France install base for Server, Storage, and Networking.

"After an in depth analysis of inventory and SLA figures, SCC and Agilitas started a collaborative project, including Agilitas taking on SCC's existing stock and assuring at the same time the replenishment, availability, and delivery of these spare parts for the SCC account. After many months delivering the service, SCC can appreciate the efforts and rigour deployed by Agilitas in order to move closer to contractual objectives.

"We can equally appreciate the technical competence provided by Agilitas to support specific operations and form a few collaborations. The finalisation of a Services Pricebook should permit SCC to have the power to construct more competitive offerings and this in turn will be quicker for our Pre-Sales collaborators."

The winners of Jabra's channel awards have been named following the one-day Jabra Velocity 2015 Partner Event, held this year at The Belfry in the West Midlands.

Nigel Dunn, Managing Director, Jabra UK and Ireland, commented "We've had another successful year where Jabra and our partners have worked together to achieve category growth in the UK and Ireland.

"Recognising these successes over the last 12 months is important and highlights the value with place on our channel relationships. We are thrilled to see valued partners Corpteluk and Computacenter winning awards in successive years, reflecting the support and commitment between partner and vendor."

Award Winners
Distributor of the Year UK&I: Nimans (pictured)
Overall Channel Partner of the Year UK&I: Computacenter
Growth Partner of the Year UK&I: Corpteluk
Outstanding Commitment Partner of the Year UK&I: Insight

Swyx used its annual International Partner Conference (Runnymede Hotel, Egham) to unveil product developments to its SwyxWare system including the new Skype for Business connector and plans for integration with wearables.

The company also celebrated the achievements of its channel partners as part of its annual awards.

Welcoming resellers from the UK, Netherlands, Sweden, France and Iceland, Swyx CEO Ralf Ebbinghaus began the day with a round-up of Swyx's latest growth figures, future strategy and the importance of its international partners as part of its on-going expansion.

He commented: "Although Swyx is of course a German company we are also committed to substantially growing our international base. Our vision is to provide our partners with a choice of both on-premise and cloud solutions that are cost-effective to both deploy and support, translating into higher profits and margins for our partners. In the future we plan to be able to offer our cloud-based solution, delivered at scale, for a competitive cost price of 1 cent/month/user."

Key products unveiled at the event included Swyx's Connector for Skype, a new Mac Client, new clients for iphone, Android and Windows 7, easier integration with support of REST API and the company's new DataCentre Advance platform that will reduce infrastructure and operational costs for cloud partners.

Swyx's CTO, Joao Gonzaga, provided an insight into Swyx's future roadmap that included 'sensor-enabled technology' allowing Swyx to be integrated into wearables, stressing that, 'this is not slideware, these are real products that are currently being prototyped to be released within the next two years'.

"The main focus for the direction of our product is that it's all about the user. That's why we with our latest announcements have focused on what is most popular with our partners' customers including the ability to add to full telephony to Skype for Business and new mobile clients for commonly used operating platforms," he said.

"We are also aware that not all customers will want to move to the cloud, so offering the choice of on-premise or hybrid is also essential. The design of our new softphone interface is also a response to feedback from our partners and customers."

Swyx Channel Awards 2015
TOP UK Reseller of the Year 2015: Elite Telecom
TOP UK Performer 2015: Smart Solutions GRP Ltd
TOP Cloud Partner 2015 - Netherlands: Adfocom Automatisering B.V.
TOP Cloud Partner 2015 - Iceland: SVAR taekni ehf.
TOP Cloud Partner 2015 - Sweden: Teleoffice AB
TOP Cloud Partner 2015 - France: Appliwave

ITSPA, the UK's voice for the VoIP and next generation communications industry, has welcomed the European Parliament's approval of the Single Telecoms Regulation.

The Parliament voted in favour of the revised proposals which had been developed through trialogue negotiations between the European institutions during the summer. Proposed amendments to the text were rejected.

Reacting to the news Eli Katz, the Chair of ITSPA said: "It's been a very long road to get to this point and ITSPA is delighted that our long-term campaign around this issue is finally bearing fruit.

"This regulation will provide real certainty to 'over-the-top' providers that their services will not be blocked or impeded by any underlying network operators who dislike the idea of competition to their own services.

"We believe the final text is a good compromise that will ensure the Internet remains open and innovative, while allowing network operators to manage their networks efficiently and develop new services. The amendments proposed would not have created the balanced approach required for adoption by the Parliament. We are pleased that this has not de-railed the whole process.

"ITSPA will continue to maintain dialogue with the European institutions, BEREC, the DCMS and Ofcom to ensure the effective implementation of the regulation. We will also maintain vigilance across the industry to ensure underhand behaviour is exposed and the principles of the Regulation are maintained."

Alternative has launched Alternative Platform as a Service (APaaS) for UC and voice, an enterprise grade, cloud-based telephone system.

APaaS uses Mitel's MiVoice Business and delivers the functionality of an on premise system, but on a per-user, per-month model, removing large up-front and on-going capital expenditure costs.

With APaaS, customers can scale when and as they need, and with access to all the latest features as they are released, it helps drive collaboration and efficiency gains across their businesses, whilst ensuring they only pay for what they use.

APaaS is hosted and managed across two of Alternative's Tier 3 data centres and directly integrates with Alternative's existing connectivity and SIP partners, providing customers with access to voice technology alongside Alternative's established cloud offering.

"The launch of Alternative Platform as a Service for UC and Voice brings together all of the capabilities from across the Alternative group, having completed a number of key acquisitions and successfully integrated them with our existing product set," said Alternative's CEO Mark Quartermaine.

In association with the KM Charity Team, True Telecom has presented an iPad Mini to Aimee Smith, the highest fundraiser at this year's KM Charity Assault Course Challenge.

Aimee individually raised a total of £434 at the charity Assault Course Challenge on Saturday 3rd October at Betteshanger Country Park, with her fundraising efforts spilt between the KM Charity and the Haemophilia society.

Thirty seven teams of six people from across the county braved water jumps, tunnels, balance beams and a rope walk to raise a record breaking £15,000 for charity.

Dominic Comins of the KM Charity Team said: "I am delighted that our intrepid teams had such a fantastic day out and raised £15,000 - beating last year's charity total by more than £1,000!"

Stuart Griffiths, CEO of True Telecom, added: " Congratulations to Aimee for raising a great deal of money for two fantastic causes - we hope she enjoys the iPad. We are always delighted to work with the KM Charity Team and support the local community in Kent."

Node4 has launched a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) defence, providing customers with a combination of volumetric and application layer security within the same service, for maximum protection against DDoS.

Forming a core part of Node4's N4Protect security service, the multi-layer N4Protect DDoS service offers dual protection, ensuring malicious application layer exploits cannot be hidden or overlooked because of an over-riding DDoS flood attack. Proactive monitoring gives 24/7/365 protection, and sees customers receive immediate reports of any threats the DDoS solution has intercepted or resolved.

Node4 has invested significantly in bringing the new N4Protect DDoS technology to its MPLS core network infrastructure, eliminating the need for customers to incur large capex. Instead, Node4 customers can integrate exceptional levels of DDoS protection alongside Node4's Cloud and Colocation services for a monthly charge.

Andrew Gilbert, CEO at Node4, said: "By the time your business has been hit by a DDoS attack it's typically too late to act, as recent high profile attacks have shown. Many companies believe they are adequately protected with approaches such as firewalls, disaster recovery plans and server duplication, but these offer no protection against DDoS attacks, which use legitimate and valid requests to subvert network security.

"With the launch of N4Protect DDoS we have made a significant investment in helping our customers to achieve the high levels of protection they need, within a flexible, highly resilient network infrastructure."