Comms Dealer

Sabio has optimised BGL Group's customer engagement with pro-active outbound SMS messaging, leading to a 12% reduction in call volumes across key customer touch points.

BGL Group, a financial services business with more than eight million customers, worked with Sabio on the project to strengthen multi-channel customer engagement through the addition of context-sensitive SMS messaging.

Following an initial consultancy engagement and a successful messaging trial, BGL is now deploying outbound SMS messaging across its multiple businesses, providing pro-active support for customers at key touch points where, previously, they would have had to contact the company themselves.

The project, fulfilled through Sabio Network Services, has seen BGL significantly increase its volume of outbound SMS messages - from an initial volume of 50,000 every three to four months to a rate now approaching 500,000.

Key to the success of the BGL outbound project has been a determination to only deploy SMS messages at the right points of the customer journey. Areas identified - including customer confirmation messages, critical calls to action, and the sharing of address details for documents - followed a joint analysis exercise with Sabio identifying specific instances of caller frustration.

"Customers quite rightly expect to be kept informed on insurance policy details and claims, however we need to be smart about the communications channels we use.

In trialling outbound SMS we were determined to identify only those areas where we could intervene that would be both beneficial to customer engagement as well as our own internal processes," commented Paul Thorley, Senior Project Manager, Fusion Contact Centre Services at BGL Group.

"Working closely with Sabio, we have clearly been able to show how the appropriate use of outbound SMS confirmations across brands has proved helpful for customers - indeed we've already seen a 12% reduction in calls from customers wanting to confirm the status of their no claims documentation, and a similar improvement in customers registering for our online self-service portal."

Before deploying outbound SMS, BGL's Fusion Contact Centre Services team first worked with Sabio to identify current industry best practice in this area, and developed a set of specific BGL guidelines for SMS outreach.

Central to this approach is the need to simplify processes for customers, whether by pre-empting a customer's need to call, alerting them to upcoming card payment issues, or providing contact details.

"BGL was already strong in multi-channel customer engagement, however just because a business is active across a range of innovative online channels doesn't mean there still isn't a role for more traditional communications such as outbound SMS," added Sabio Director, Kenneth Hitchen.

"Detailed repetition analysis for BGL showed a number of specific areas where challenging contact centre demand via SMS was appropriate, and it's clear from BGL's analysis that this is a solution that works well for both customers and the different BGL businesses that have added SMS outreach to their contact channels."

True Telecom has taken a 'natural next step' with the introduction of payment services for SMEs following the launch of True.

Offering the latest terminal equipment at what the company describes competitive rates True aims to give UK SMEs the ability to effectively manage and process card transactions.

True offers a selection of card payment machines for different business needs - Countertop, Portable and Mobile, meaning that business owners do not need to worry if they are looking to take credit and debit card payments at the till point, away from the till or on the move.

True payment machines include built-in contactless technology to reduce customer waiting time, creating a simpler and more flexible way for business owners to take payments anywhere around their business, as well as customers being able to take advantage of a global roaming SIM with all mobile payment machine devices.

Behind the scenes, True payment machine customers are equipped with the ability to access transaction information and intelligent management reports, on the exclusive Revolution platform, in addition to a full 24/7, 365 day customer support, from a dedicated UK based customer service team.

Stuart Griffiths (pictured), CEO of True Telecom, commented: "We noticed a gap in the market and have taken advantage of cost-effective card payment solutions, reducing risk, speeding up cash flow and making payments more flexible for small and medium sized business owners across the UK."

Polycom has unveiled two new 'affordable' entry-level desktop phones as part of its voice solutions portfolio.

The new Polycom VVX 101 business media phone is designed for small and home offices, lobby areas and shared workspaces where people need access to a simple phone with a single line, said the vendor.

The VVX 201 business media phone is designed for organisations of all sizes and features two line support and a range of enterprise telephony features.

Both offer 'life-like' conversations with Polycom's HD voice, Polycom Acoustic Clarity and Polycom Acoustic Fence technology.

Ashan Willy, Senior Vice President Worldwide Product Management & Systems Engineers at Polycom., said "With the right combination of technology, people, and processes, organisations can improve productivity, boost innovation and hone their competitive edge."

In its financial results for the year to 31st March 2015 Adept posted its 12th year of rising EBITDA, up 13.5% to £4.6m on revenues, a rise of just under 6% at £22.1m. Debt was down to £1.5m.

"We have no intention of going cash positive as with interest rates so low, £1m in the bank at 0.5% interest pays about £400 per month income," said Ian Fishwick, CEO.

"It's quite scary when you look at it like that. We will therefore continue to buy companies."

In April 2015 Adept announced a new £15m debt facility with Barclays to fund more acquisitions, and just weeks later the company bagged Centrix, an Avaya Aura specialist based in Hampshire.

"This is the first time we have moved to a two site operation," added Fishwick. "Our capabilities are now much enhanced in the areas of IP Telephony, UC and Wi-Fi.

"And our 1,250 larger customers now represent around 70% of our sales revenue."

Billing provider ebillz has struck up a new partnership with IP telephony software provider VOIspeed, enabling it to offer additional services to its customers and resellers including white label billing with detailed itemised billing for end user customers.

Resellers will also benefit from regular commission statements and a breakdown of all their customers' invoices.

Combined with enhanced billing management reporting that updates relative to daily CDR loads, ebillz Enterprise also gives VOIspeed and its resellers an accurate snapshot of billing revenue at any point in the month.

Giuseppe Venturini, Director of VOIspeed, said:
"VOIspeed provides converged telephony, enabling clients to use existing analogue or ISDN lines as well as VoIP both in a cloud or premises-based environment.

"To complete our offering we also provide additional services like VoIP and broadband connectivity so this new billing service is great news for us.

"It highlights the advantages of VOIspeed technology in addition to providing our customers with compatible and value add services.

"Our existing resellers and customers are very positive about this enhanced offering and I trust it will attract great interest from prospective clients."

Arvind Meghani, MD of ebillz, added: "This is an exciting time for us as we continue to invest in our systems, and we look forward to being able to add even more value for our partners in future."

C4L and TalkTalk Business have joined forces to roll out superfast EoFTTC across the UK based in C4L's coreTX network.

The collaboration widens availability of EoFTTC and has attracted markets with its dual purpose of acting as a solution during provisioning of Leased Lines, then performing as a failover circuit.

"EFM is a solid connectivity option and will continue to be widely used, however the foresight is that this may be the beginning of the end of EFM as EoFTTC provides higher performance at a lower cost where it is available," said Matt Hawkins, Chairman and founder, C4L.

Alex Tempest, Director of Partners at TalkTalk Business, added: "We're excited to be able to roll out EoFTTC with C4L and we believe that it will give their customers unbeatable connectivity and flexibility."

This service is also Connection Voucher eligible meaning the install costs can be covered by the government scheme.

An upgrade to GCI Channel Solutions' Customer Control Portal (CCP) gives partners with their own reseller base a 'Parent Child' facility, enabling their customers to deploy to end users directly via self-serve.

"The web-based application tool is a one-stop-shop that supports the ordering and automatic configuration of GCI Channel Solutions FTTC and ADSL Broadband offering, enabling partners to drive volume in sales to their resellers, explained Mark Whitehead (pictured), Director of Channel Sales.

"CCP allows partners to check product availability, track orders, bill users, provide reports and use diagnostic tools, eliminating some of the issues faced by partners including limitations on resources and strict time constraints."

Daisy Group has positioned itself as the first scaled UK-based UC and IT infrastructure managed services provider capable of reaching £1bn annual revenue following the completion of its acquisition of Phoenix IT Group.

The deal adds more than 3,600 businesses to the Daisy customer base and brings particular strength in the education, retail and financial services markets.

Phoenix is a good fit with Daisy's corporate and partner businesses, serving the Group's mid-market customer base with a broader portfolio and enhancing its offering to system integrator partners.

Underpinning this will be Phoenix's expertise in Business Continuity and IT Service Continuity Management as well as scale in key market growth areas in hybrid cloud and field services.

The complementary product sets provide cross-selling opportunities and significant economies of scale, enabling Daisy to provide both its existing customers and the customers of Phoenix with access to additional services.

The addition of Phoenix extends the scale and range of white label services in the Daisy Daisy Partner Services portfolio, in particular in desk-side and retail support, such that the portfolio now spans the breadth of traditional and contemporary Unified Communications and IT Infrastructure.

Matthew Riley, Daisy Group founder and Executive Chairman commented: "Throughout our development it has been important that Daisy continues to evolve in line with market dynamics and alongside the specific needs of customers in a rapidly changing marketplace.

"The worlds of Unified Communications and IT Services are rapidly converging and our customers and partners are asking us to provide a broader range of services under one roof.

"As such, our ambition is to be the leading provider of unified business communications and IT infrastructure managed services and solutions via our SMB, Corporate and Partner Services businesses in the UK - a marketplace we believe to be worth over £10billion per annum.

"For the last decade we have been consolidating the fragmented market and the acquisition of Phoenix is evidence of Daisy's intent to provide its customers and partners with a truly holistic service."

Neil Muller, Daisy Group CEO commented: "Through a combination of Daisy's strength in networking and unified communications and Phoenix's heritage in IT Services, we believe the enlarged group will occupy a unique position in the market.
?"As businesses become more digital there is an ever-increasing reliance on the management and availability of customers' business communications and IT Infrastructure.

"By combining capabilities, we are well positioned to offer true differentiation to our mid-market customers, providing them with a breadth of solutions and expertise, ensuring their critical systems are 'always on'.

"Likewise, for our partners serving enterprise customers, our scaled partner services division will allow us to add value through both our enhanced expertise and engineering support, with a commitment that we will collaborate with our partners at all times.

"Over the coming weeks and months we will be combining the core strengths of both businesses, and we believe that the enlarged Group will become the 'go to' provider for end-to-end Unified Communications and IT Infrastructure Managed Services and solutions."

Increased adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) demonstrates the growing demands for Wi-Fi networks to deliver optimal performance, reliability and security, according to wireless network provider Xirrus.
 
"The rapid expansion of IoT and BYOD necessitate that all businesses re-evaluate how they design their Wi-Fi networks to meet users' expectations to connect anywhere, on any device, at any time," said Shane Buckley, Xirrus CEO, commenting after the results of the firm's 'Where the Wires End' survey were announced.

The study found that a vast majority of consumers (76%) connect to Wi-Fi outside of their home on a regular basis. Moreover, the study revealed the growing expectation of connectivity everywhere. Additional key findings include:
 
• Wi-Fi usage trumps security: Most respondents (79%) do not feel that public Wi-Fi is secure; however, the majority of users (62 percent) still connect to public Wi-Fi.
 
• Travellers would change hotels and airlines for better Wi-Fi: More than half (66%) of travelers would change hotels for a better Wi-Fi experience; 49% would change their preferred airline provider.
 
• 'Bad' Wi-Fi keeps workers from doing their jobs: A large majority (84%) of respondents reported bad Wi-Fi has kept them from doing their job.
 
• Wearables and IoT adoption create demand for high-density Wi-Fi: Today, almost all consumers (90%) own at least one once connected device (e.g., laptop, smartphone or tablet). However, a surprising number (one in three) own a wearable device of some kind (e.g., smartwatch, fitness band).
 
"We are now more than ever a mobile, wireless-reliant society," added Buckley.

"The proliferation of Wi-Fi connected devices combined with the expectation of steadfast connectivity has put increased demand on Wi-Fi networks everywhere.

"Nowhere is this more apparent than in the enterprise. Our study highlights the need for organisations to reinforce their networks to ensure a seamless connected experience for users at all times, no matter the location."

Fast growing London fibre network provider Venus Business Communications is offering its top performing reseller partners a summer bonanza with tickets to top UK events including The Rugby World Cup, Premier League Football and West End shows.

"Our new summer incentives are a great way to reward hard work and loyalty," said Brian Iddon, Director of Venus.

The company is also hosting a private summer event at The Sanderson Hotel to celebrate the success of its reseller channel and provide potential partners with an insight into the benefits of joining Venus.