Comms Dealer

Consumer preferences for self-education and self-help, coupled with the prolific way they broadcast thoughts, ideas, compliments and complaints about brands on social media, is forcing a sea change within the contact centre industry, according to analysis from Frost & Sullivan.

Vendors and end users alike are adapting to new interaction channels that provide richer self-service capabilities, said the firm.

"Contact centre systems suppliers in EMEA will need to expand more heavily into adjacent customer support areas such as omni-channel support, big data, and mobility," said Frost & Sullivan Information & Communication Technologies Principal Analyst Nancy Jamison. "Integrating disparate solutions will quicken the move to omni-channel customer care."

In the past few years, the slowly recovering global economy has affected buying decisions and held back investment in new systems and upgrades. The emergence of hosted and cloud services, which allow companies to reduce capital and operational expenditure on contact centre solutions, is further affecting market revenues.

While contact centre systems providers continue to produce feature-rich premise-based solutions, the spectre of the cloud will not go away. Hence, providers are bound to take an 'if you cannot beat them join them' attitude and answer with cloud-based options of their own, says the research firm.

"Over and above discussing roadmap plans for various trends, buyers should understand how contact centre systems providers are addressing the cloud," added Jamison. "Whether it makes sense for a company to move all or part of their systems to the cloud, it is imperative for end users to understand its bearing on their infrastructure and business in the long run and make the right choice."

A10 Networks has introduced a new partner programme in Europe called Affinity, giving partners access to deal registration which EMEA channel director Chris Gale says will give him deeper insights into the state of its pipeline.

With enterprise sales in the ascendency A10 Networks has a core of around 20 UK specialist partners in network security and product bundling.

With the new programme in place, Gale is looking to do mutual demand creation, recognising that there is a limited number of potential partners with the right customer base and skills to play here, but he is also looking at the US market which is about a year ahead and foresees the expected growth in EMEA.

With the EMEA programme, he expects the European market to have just slightly fewer partners - perhaps 160 compared to the 200 in the US. Service providers can also be both partners and end users, so represent another part of the market.

"In the last six months we have come to recognise the need for a better partner programme and training. Customers expect partners with a certain knowledge and who can solve problems," said Gale.

The new A10 Affinity Partner Programme offers three tiers, Platinum, Gold, and Bronze that specify investments, discounts, and enablement levels.

Kirsten Lee, A10 Networks vice president of worldwide channels: "Our data shows that a significant part of our customer base will buy in excess of eight times their initial purchase. That says a lot about the value we give partners."

A new report from Juniper Research forecasts rapid adoption for 5G from 2025 onwards, with active connections representing a threefold increase from 2024 to reach 240 million by then.

However, this will represent a limited global reach, accounting for approximately 3% of global mobile connections.

Juniper found that the many advantages of 5G such as higher data rates, longer battery life, greater user/device support, and reduced latency will result in an ideal environment for the proliferation of new connected service applications and devices. 5G will be the subject of the most complex set of standardisation activities over the next 5 years before first roll-out of commercial services in 2020.

The new research - 5G Market Strategies: 4G LTE Evolution, Spectrum Analysis & Opportunities 2015-2025 - observed that getting the spectrum issues right will be a critical factor in the success of 5G.

"It is critical to 5G's success that the most feasible and appropriate spectrum bands are assigned, not only to support existing high bandwidth and capacity requirements, but also the wide ranging devices and applications contributing towards the Internet of Everything," said research author Nitin Bhas.

While it has not yet been confirmed which frequency bands are going to be utilised for 5G by operators, the twin issues that need to be surmounted are the timing and cost of the spectrum. These will play pivotal roles in deciding the speed of 5G roll-outs.

Juniper expects Japan and South Korea to be among the first countries to launch commercial 5G services.

A number of operators from this region have chosen their suppliers and set a commercial service dates.

The region will witness a very high rate of growth in connections similar to that of North America.

While none of the US operators have made any public announcements regarding 5G trials or pilots, Juniper feels that given its current 4G leadership, the US will closely follow the Far East and China in deployment and adoption.

Tech Data has appointed its first dedicated business development executive for HP multifunctional devices covering the UK and Ireland markets.

Mike Leary has moved across to this newly-created post having spent the last three years working on cross-vendor business development within the Print and Supplies team.

He previously held the position of Senior Retail Account Manager and has worked at Tech Data for almost a decade in total.

Leary said: "HP's managed print offerings will be one of the key areas I'll be working on, helping resellers to optimise the usage of print devices and consumption of accessories. This is a big opportunity and one we really want to develop."

Tech Data distributes the vendor's full range of laser and inkjet, single and multi-function devices.

Romford-based Cloud Telephones is on the hunt for additional sales staff and new partners to join its channel programme.

The VoIP and connectivity services provider has witnessed a sales spurt this summer and expects the trend to continue at pace.

Cloud Telephones markets hosted voice and connectivity services to UK SMBs and converts leads into confirmed sales before passing them over to local reseller partners to fulfil and manage.

Income on the sale is shared between Cloud Telephones and the reseller, and an increase in new business has forced the firm to recruit more staff to deal with the number of enquiries.

John Carter, Managing Director, said: "The market is being driven by strong uptake of higher speed fibre-based broadband services that make hosted VoIP practical. Businesses are starting to understand that it works and is reliable.

"VoIP is usually the starting point for hosted services. Once they know it works, businesses soon start to ask about online storage and backup, Office 365 and other applications. The resellers who own these subscriptions will own those customers."

Cloud Telephones currently has 80 resellers on the programme across the UK.

Westcon is to market and distribute Pulse Secure's full line of SSL VPN and Mobile Security solutions including the latest centralised management, policy control and governance console, Pulse One. 

Pulse Secure solutions are sold into BYOD and cloud environments and are said to be easy to configure, install and deploy out of the box in as little as 30 minutes. 

Pulse One provides added visibility through a single collective view of compliance including security alerts and appliance health checks.   

"The expansion of Pulse Secure's distributor network reflects growing acceptance of our mobile security solutions and increasing demand for our products incorporating advanced security features," said Doug Erickson, VP Worldwide Partners at Pulse secure. 

Willem de Haan, Senior VP and practice lead of Westcon Security Solutions, EMEA, said: "Our solution provider partners count on Westcon Group to identify, help bring to market and support technologies that solve business issues and position them as business advisors.

"The Pulse Secure portfolio - supported by Westcon Security Solutions - enables our partners to manage and enforce a BYOD security strategy that can distinguish them in the fast-changing IoT landscape."

Three quarters (74%) of UK employers think that confidence in the economic climate is improving and businesses are changing their hiring strategy to make the most of available opportunities, according to the latest JobsOutlook survey by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).

With 94% of businesses reporting to have limited capacity to take on more work without more staff, almost all employers (98%) say they will either maintain or increase their reliance on agency workers. Eight-in-ten (80%) plan to increase their number of permanent workers in the next three months.

"This environment offers the brightest prospects for job seekers seen for over ten years!" said Clive Jefferys of recruiter JMA Network. "Even the BBC recently admitted that the country has a rapidly growing skills shortage and this will undoubtedly lead to wage inflation."

Openreach CEO Joe Garner has said he is open-minded on the question of whether end customers should be able to contact Openreach directly, and in a message to CPs he asked for their feedback on the proposal.

He broached the idea at BT's Delivering Britain's Digital Future conference in London, saying that an issue arises because customers often cannot deal direct with Openreach, but can only deal with their retail broadband provider.

"I am open to having Openreach deal directly with end customers, subject to consulting Ofcom and telecom providers," he said.

At the conference Garner also underlined his commitment to the Openreach Charter, launched at the event.

The document outlines Openreach's pledge to go beyond the UK's 95% target for fibre broadband; deliver on its proposal to give 10 million homes and businesses access to ultrafast broadband by the end of 2020; raise service standards, offer quicker installations and faster fixes; guarantee 'fair and equal treatment' for all comms providers; and invest £3bn to create a nationwide fibre network that provides affordable high-speed broadband to the vast majority of the UK.

In a message to CPs Garner said: "Openreach is determined to help you provide the communication services that the country needs to sustain a vibrant digital economy.

"The most important part of this mission is improving our service. While I am the first to acknowledge there is much more to do, there are areas where I believe that we are making progress.

"We have cut the waiting time for installation appointments and we're fixing faults faster. But as the pace of technology change accelerates, and customer expectations move ever higher, we know we have to move with them."

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8x8 Solutions has secured Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation and has been accepted onto the Network Services framework agreement for Unified Communications.

The accreditation helps 8x8 Solutions strengthen its public sector offering and demonstrates the commitment and robustness of its IT infrastructure, while validating its willingness and dedication to data integrity and security.

The company exceeded all standards put in place by the Government to make the procurement process simpler for public sector organisations.

The external auditor also praised 8x8 for meeting international governmental standards, meaning companies can also be assured of global security.

8x8 Solutions has also been accepted onto the Network Services framework agreement for Unified Communications. This reinforces the company as a supplier of services to the public sector, having already worked with a large number of governmental organisations under G-Cloud.

As part of the Network Services agreement 8x8 Solutions will continue to offer public sector bodies a variety of services. These range from a broad suite of UCC services to in-office and mobile devices spanning cloud business VoIP phone service, virtual meeting web conferencing, contact centre software and virtual desktop.

Network Services is a Crown Commercial Service (CCS) agreement designed to support the Government's policy to centrally manage the procurement of common goods and services.

It is available for use by organisations across the UK Public Sector including central government, local government, health, education, emergency services and not-for-profit organisations.

The agreement is fully EU compliant and provides organisations within the public sector easy access to unified communications services, such as 8x8 Solutions, saving them time and money.

IT infrastructure and service provider Keltec, part of the Annodata Group, rapidly escalated a planned deployment following an arson attack on the main offices of the South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils.

A member of the public drove their car into the council's HQ before setting it alight and causing a fire that gutted the entire building.

The attack put an immediate stop to the council's core activities which include waste collection, housing services and legal administration for the greater South Oxfordshire area.

Given the altered circumstances, the benefits of remote working offered by Keltec's VDI (Virtual desktop infrastructure) were urgently required to enable employees to remotely work from their laptops.

As the contract had already been signed, the council asked for the solution to be introduced immediately. With all of the necessary hardware already in storage, Keltec was able to provide a temporary workspace by introducing a network within days, before rolling out the rest of the solution.

Simon Turner, IT Manager for the councils, explained: "Although we originally chose Keltec for their strong track record in the public sector, their outstanding response to our demanding situation has been invaluable to restoring our regular activities. The staff at Keltec went out of their way to assist at a critical point in the councils' history, and quickly delivered a solution that has allowed the councils to continue to function in an especially difficult time."

The VDI solution itself consists of the physical hardware, thin clients, a virtualisation platform, and the VDI manager. Unlike traditional desktops that need to be set up manually and individually, designated administrators centrally manage all desktops. This enabled users to log on to any device with their username and passwords in order to access their personal desktops from their hot desk or from home, while Keltec restored the councils' systems and applications.

Dave Kerner, Head of Professional Services at Keltec, added: "It's very rare we're asked to introduce a solution within such a short window of time, however, given the council's situation, our engineers were dedicated to a quick and thorough installation.

"This took place considerably faster than manually setting up and provisioning over 200 traditional desktop computers ever could, and so served to significantly dampen the blow delivered by the fire.

"Seeing our work have a directly positive impact in those first difficult months for the councils has been fantastic, although now we're focused on ensuring the solution's long term benefits are realised."