Comms Dealer

Alternative Networks has been accredited with five ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) international standards. The accreditation follows Alternative's recent award of ISO20000 for IT Service Management. Only 5% of the BSI's global database have four or more ISOs.

Alternative now has six offices throughout the UK and employs more than 600 people in the provision of a complete communications and technology portfolio, including cloud computing, virtualisation, managed hosting, fixed-line voice, mobile, systems, IP networks and complex billing software solutions.

"As one of the few BSI customers of its size to hold certification to five management system standards, Alternative should be very proud of this latest achievement," commented Suzanne Fribbins, EMEA Product Marketing Manager at BSI Group.

Advanced Business Solutions has launched OpenMobile Expenses - a new app that enables business workers to submit expense claims via their smartphones or tablets when working remotely.

OpenMobile Expenses is said to reduce processing time between the submission of a claim and its approval. Users are also able to submit photographs of receipts to evidence their expense claims, eliminating the time and costs involved in paper-based administration and reporting.

A new comparison web site could be a godsend to resellers aiming to give SME customers the best possible deal on their mobile comms estates.

CompareBusinessPhones.co.uk,is the brainchild of Manchester-based telecommunications entrepreneur Ashley Bailey.

"Large corporates understand the telecoms market and get the deal that is right for them and their users' needs, but the picture is very different for smaller businesses," he said.

"With limited knowledge and less time available to research a dozen websites for the best tariff or tablet price, these smaller businesses need to be able to see, in one place, all the deals that might better suit their needs. 

"At a time when every business is looking to cut costs and improve efficiency, our site makes finding the best deal easy for businesses of every size."

Bailey claims Blackburn Alarms, a security business with 11 mobiles, using 1500 minutes per device has saved £5280 (66.7%) over the term of the new two year contract by working through his website.

"Any business user can simply work through the site and discover the best tariff for their needs, then click the link and deal direct with service provider, with the option to buy online or over the phone. Transparency is the key to our offering, with the site providing live tariffs, updated daily direct from the networks; it's why we're so confident SME's will get the best deal.

"Importantly, we make our money from delivering new customers to the service providers. CompareBusinessPhones adds nothing extra to the cost of the contract. What the business sees, the business pays," added Bailey.

Cloud customer contact vendor NewVoiceMedia has raised $50m to accelerate its global growth programme.

New investor Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) led the funding round, joined by existing shareholders Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), Highland Capital Partners Europe, Eden Ventures, Notion Capital and salesforce.com. This takes the total raised by the company over the last 18 months to $105m.

The UK's broadband target for 2030 is not suitable for purpose especially when compared to other nations.

That's the view of Mike Smith, Virgin Media Business Director of Small and Medium Business propositions, who believes that more education and a 'tailored' approach is need to truly benefit UK SMEs.  
 
In response to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) report on UK broadband for SMBs, Smith said: "Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy and digital is vital in helping them seize new opportunities. There is some great work already underway with initiatives such as the 'superConnected Cities', but further collaboration needs to focus on tailored solutions that meet the diverse needs of the UK's small businesses.

"It's also about educating the market, driving adoption and upskilling the UK to make the most of digital, for example 36% of businesses have no web presence and 46% would like to make more use of being online. In doing so, we can drive a stronger marketplace.

"It is only through looking at the challenge that the FSB raises from multiple angles that we, as an industry, can affect change," added Smith.

After a 'year of change' The Federation of Communications Services has a clear vision to become the leading lobbyist and mouthpiece for the comms provider industry, according to chairman Justin Orde.

In his his annual report Orde told members: "The need for a clear and all-embracing voice to speak out for B2B communications has never been clearer or more urgent.

"The FCS is also the only organisation with the history, the breadth and the membership firepower to represent our industry's big-picture aspirations to policy makers and pundits.

"FCS's relationships with Ofcom, PhonepayPlus and the various industry stakeholder groups is not enough, by itself, to gain the kind of traction our industry needs to ensure markets are transparent, competition is free, and the vital, enabling capabilities of high quality business-grade communications are understood and appreciated beyond the confines of our own industry."

Orde said the FCS Board members have committed their time and experience to developing FCS into an articulate and future-proof mouthpiece for the industry.

"It's a big vision that will see FCS growing and developing to embrace new members and new technologies in the years to come."

Manchester has the potential to be one of the top digital cities of the world according to ANS Group founder Scott Fletcher MBE.

??Speaking at the 2014 Institute of Directors Conference Fletcher, who founded £100m cloud computing firm ANS Group in his Droylsden bedroom aged 22, told delegates:
"In my view we have the best universities in the world here in Greater Manchester, certainly the best in the country. And we have the best internet connectivity in the UK outside of London.

"Plus, we already have a huge base of businesses that are digital success stories. It is just joining it all up and getting the investments required."

Fletcher, who managed to keep his recent MBE secret from family, friends and colleagues for a month, discussed the challenges he faced before getting to where he is today.

"I think a business has to be a fun place to work. Investment is key if we are to compete globally and with the rest of the UK. We need to upskill our workforce, get them on a living wage not minimum wage. It does all come down to confidence. We have also got to start looking at outcomes rather than 9 to 5, and trust people to get on with it."

Kcom Group apprentice Thomas Herring has won this year's Microsoft Apprentice of the Year Award in the Large Employer category out of hundreds of apprentices employed by Microsoft and its partner businesses.\

The young software engineer attended a parliamentary reception at the House of Commons where he was presented with his award by Nadhim Zahawi MP, Member of the No 10 Policy Board with special responsibility for business and the economy.

Thomas, who is based at KCOM Group's Hull office and works in its IT team, began his apprenticeship in October 2013.

"Being able to study and work at the same time has been a great benefit to me and my development. I've been helping deliver a wide variety of projects including for a national power services supplier, a customer portal project and a corporate web application that gave me experience working to a budget and a deadline," said Thomas.

Another apprentice at KCOM Group, Liam Walker, was also a finalist in the same category of the awards and was named runner-up behind Thomas.

Managed and cloud-based services provider ControlCircle, which was acquired by the Alternative Networks group earlier this year, has been awarded Managed Services Provider of the Year for the third year in a row at the International Data centre Awards 2014.

Edward Spurrier, CEO of the Alternative Networks group told Comms Dealer: "This is a great achievement and reaffirms ControlCircle's reputation and ability as a professional managed service provider in the worldwide arena."

US-based NetMotion Wireless, provider of mobility management software and solutions for mobile workforces, is being distributed under a new deal with Ingram Micro Europe BVBA, (Ingram Micro Mobility). The privately-held supplier wants to grow into several new European markets.

"Ingram Micro Mobility is the ideal mobile-centric distribution partner to help us expand our presence with enterprises globally," said Erik Prusch, CEO, NetMotion Wireless. "This partnership comes on the heels of opening our new European headquarters and will help us quickly increase both market traction and partner responsiveness."

"Mobile productivity is becoming increasingly important to enterprises across Europe," said Marios Ktisti, senior manager, companion products (software and services Europe), Ingram Micro Mobility. "NetMotion's software fits well within our enterprise mobility software portfolio as an enabler of secure and optimised mobile deployments."

"We are excited by the opportunity of working with Ingram Micro Mobility and their reseller channel to reach a wider range of enterprise customers to ensure the success of their mobile deployments," said Erik Helms, general manager, EMEA & ROW, NetMotion Wireless.