Comms Dealer

JMC IT has reinforced its reputation as a forward-thinking businesses by becoming one of the UK's first IT firms to invest in an in-house video and photography studio.

The new suite of equipment enables staff to produce content for online and marketing use. These include client testimonials, video blogs and interactive overviews of complex IT solutions, all of which are presented by the firm's own members of staff.

The studio was recently used to create a supporting video for JMC's entry in the Service Desk Institute (SDI) Awards in June, in which the company was named runner-up to Fujitsu UK and Ireland.

JMC's tongue-in-cheek video, which offered a comical insight into life in the North of England, has since been viewed more than 2,300 times on YouTube. Judges were so impressed by the quality that they presented staff with a special 'Best Video 2013' award at the SDI Experience event in Manchester.

Alistair Mackay, JMC's Digital Marketing Specialist, said: "Our colleagues gave such great performances of the script that we struggled to keep a straight face during filming and editing."

Since launching the video production suite, the entire workforce has been involved with the creative process, drafting scripts and assisting with filming and presenting an array of quality video resources.

The studio includes a HD video camera, green screen facilities, a lighting kit, teleprompter and professional sound equipment, as well as a dual-monitor editing workstation PC for post-production.

Mackay added: "Bringing this service in-house is not only more cost-effective, but also means we have complete control over these valuable resources. Instead of using actors to present rehearsed scripts, our personable staff can ensure the JMC message remains clear throughout."

Comms-care has been awarded Gold Partner status for the sixth successive year by Cisco following an independent third party audit of Comms-care's processes and people.

Mark Forster, Operations Director, Comms-care, said: "To have been commended by Cisco in areas we, as a company, pride ourselves on is a testament not just to Comms-care but also our people who make everything run smoothly day to day."

Thirty resellers and distributors descended on Mercedes-Benz World on the Brooklands site in Weybridge, Surrey, to attend a roadshow hosted by Aastra.

Guests had the chance to take part in a driving experience, as well as the opportunity to enjoy the exhibition, which showcased a variety of Formula 1 vehicles. Other highlights included a prize draw, which saw three lucky guests win a Mercedes-Benz World track experience day as well as a number of other prizes.

The attendees were provided with an insight into new releases, applications and solutions available from Aastra with a particular focus on Aastra's range of Unified Communications applications.

They were also able to take part in touch-and-see demonstrations of Aastra's technology including the BluStar collaboration eco-system, Solidus eCare multimedia contact centre, and the Aastra 400 communications platform.

Alan Reeve, Managing Director of Aastra UK & Ireland, said: "Our guests had a great opportunity to experience the benefits of our portfolio of unified communications technology through the interactive product demos and to hear more about our solutions in a relaxed and fun environment."

Plantronics UK has presented Go2 Telecom with an award to celebrate 10 years of business together during a ceremony at the Radisson Hotel, Manchester.

Paul Dunne, Head of Channels, Plantronics UK and Ireland, commented: "Plantronics have worked closely with Go2 Telecom for 10 years. It serves many large and mid-sized contact centres in the UK and is well versed in offering Plantronics end point advice to contact centres of all sizes.

"The team understands the importance of quality, comfort and acoustics in today's busy contact centre and office environments, and has developed a insight on mobile products over 10 years of selling to this market."

Comms-care has hosted a Ryder Cup experience at its annual Partner Golf Day at the Celtic Manor 2010 Golf Course.

Kelway emerged as the wining team with prizes for runner up, best individual score, longest drive and nearest the pin also handed out during the evening, as well as some joke prizes such as worst dressed, most in the water and Mr Sand man for most time spent in the bunkers.

Richard Eglon, Marketing Director, said: "This is our pinnacle partner event of the year where we get chance to say thank you to all our loyal partners. It is a competitive day where many stories are shared afterwards of how the 2010 course picks up and spits out the best of golfers. That said, our partners still feel it is the number one course to play in the UK so that is why we keep returning each year."

Avaya has been positioned in the Leaders Quadrant in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure for 2013.

This is the 13th consecutive year that Avaya has been placed in the Leaders Quadrant as the only company that has consistently appeared in this section since the inception of the Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure in 2001.

The annual report covers vendors that provide equipment, software and services to operate contact centres used for customer, employee and service support, including outbound telemarketing, helpdesks and other structured communications operations.

Mark de la Vega, vice president, Contact Center Solutions, Avaya, said: "Too many businesses are serving today's consumers using yesterday's technology out of fear that an IT disruption will negatively affect their service operations.

"The reality is that they may already be risking customer relationships through inconvenient, high effort experiences. Avaya Customer Experience Management solutions offer an end-to-end portfolio of solutions that minimise disruption while enabling mobile, multichannel interactions and providing new, actionable insights into consumer behaviour which help build loyalty, brand and revenue."

VMware has revealed new European research highlighting the pressures businesses face concerning mobile devices and applications in the workplace.

The majority (67 per cent) of UK office workers surveyed said they do not believe their organisation provides them with the mobile tools and applications to be productive and efficient, or mobility policies that provide the flexibility to work effectively on the move (62 per cent).

More than a third (39 per cent) of UK employees said they would actually consider leaving their organisation if told they couldn't use their mobile device for work.

IT departments, however, are currently unable to meet employee requirements, with the European research, conducted by Vanson Bourne and commissioned by VMware, revealing that almost half of IT decision makers across Europe (47 per cent) do not agree that their department can meet the mobile needs of staff across the business.

Encouragingly, businesses are recognising that Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies can boost productivity and employee satisfaction, and are looking to take action. Nearly three quarters (70 per cent) of UK IT decision makers said they have implemented or plan to implement BYOD, with almost a third (32 per cent) of those respondents saying it was to attract and retain talent. Furthermore, almost half (46 per cent) of UK IT leaders questioned said they are or will be designing systems and policies in 2013 that assume employees are mobile and accessing data remotely as the norm rather than the exception.

"This is evidence of an emerging class of mobile rebels with a real cause - a new wave of employees using mobile devices to their advantage, to work more effectively and drive innovation," says Joe Baguley, CTO at VMware, EMEA.

"Many companies are playing catch up to this trend. If workers aren't provided with the mobile resources they require, many will take the initiative and drive change themselves.

"Savvy businesses are recognising this and are prioritising formal mobility strategies to harness the initiative of their workers and deliver competitive edge."

The research also highlights the security dangers that await IT departments not getting involved. In the UK, more than two thirds (69 per cent) of IT leaders believe company information is being stored on personal devices, with almost half (43 per cent) of them suspecting the information could be commercially sensitive. Their suspicions are legitimate: only a third (35 per cent) of employees questioned across Europe (and 41 per cent of British) were confident the data they stored on their personal devices was not commercially sensitive, implying that the vast majority cannot be sure on the issue.

"Businesses must tread a fine line between embracing and promoting a flexible working culture, while protecting corporate intellectual property and customer data. There's a mobile uprising occurring, and it's creating management and security challenges for IT departments," said Baguley.

"There's also a great opportunity here, however. VMware believes alternative ownership models for companies, such as BYOD, can be implemented using an integrated workforce mobility approach. This can help businesses improve workforce productivity, gain faster access to new innovation and achieve differentiation, without compromising information security or business resilience."

ISP and Internet Telephony Service Provider Spitfire has continued its successful graduate recruitment programme for a fourth successive year.

Last year saw the company take on over a dozen graduates under a scheme that was introduced to nurture future talent and to address a growing skills shortage experienced by the company.

The specialised nature of Spitfire's service has created the necessity to train graduates from scratch which is overseen by highly skilled and experienced members of Spitfire.

Despite the recent economic downturn the company has found recruiting the right calibre staff challenging. This year graduates attended a recruitment day at the company's headquarters in London and participated in a number of exercises designed to evaluate their skills in negotiation and presentation. Successful candidates were then offered graduate entry sales jobs with the company.

Susie Ward, Spitfire's Marketing & HR Director, commented: "Our continued growth means we now require a steady stream of new personnel across all departments of the business.

"Experience has shown that recruiting graduates straight from university produces better outcomes as they learn their craft the 'spitfire way' untainted by preconceptions and bad habits learnt elsewhere.

"Consequently retention rates are higher and career progression is faster. While this represents a major financial investment and a big commitment in staff mentoring time it has proved very worthwhile."

This year the employment news has been widely positive with government, surveys and business leaders all indicating a broad upswing in staffing plans from here on. If the June REC survey is correct, '60 per cent of companies are now looking to increase headcount'. So where on earth are these candidates going to come from? Asks Clive Jefferys, JMA Network.

The UK employed workforce is already the biggest ever at 30 million and the only immediate gain to be had is part-timers increasing their hours. This will mostly benefit lower skilled positions in the broad economy, but it's not much use to us in telecoms!

Well I've seen this before in the early 90s and the consequence is a salary war. Last time around salaries increased by 45 per cent over a five year period! So to win the best people the obvious option telecoms employers have is to outbid their competitors. I don't say this gleefully. While it will improve agency fee cash pro rata, the real cost will be ever more intense, frustrating, often fruitless negotiation as companies gazump each other left, right and centre.

So this is not a game for greenhorns. Your best recruitment partner is someone who is well connected to find people and has the maturity to secure the offer in a lasting way. It's no good using hard closing techniques. If the job offer isn't presented properly it will come unstuck later on.

Fast-talking sales bullies never prosper for long.

The top candidates are only going to leave a secure job if you are able to meet their buying criteria and improve their lot. However it's never ALL about money. If the candidate's best offers are financially similar, the deciding factors will be how the company targets its products, working conditions, the people and management style.

Smart hirers aren't afraid to woo their candidates quickly.

So with the summer slowdown here already, it's time to start thinking about your recruitment plans for September and beyond. If you already have empty chairs, recruitment is only going to get a lot tougher for you unless you change how you do it!

The new ShoreTel Mobility 7 software release incorporates a new user interface and simplified integration to boost workforce productivity for iPhone and Android users.

With ShoreTel Mobility 7, users can 'transform' their iOS smartphone or tablet into a desk phone with the ShoreTel Dock.

The new Today screen in the application integrates with the native calendar on Android and iOS platforms. The ShoreTel Mobility Client automatically displays conference calls on the mobile user's calendar and enables one click access to web and audio conferences.

A Join button automatically dials the specific conference call and enters the conference participant code.

ShoreTel Mobility 7 also integrates with ShoreTel Conferencing so that users can switch to the presentation view with a single click, which provides both audio and visual participation.

"Enterprise end users expect mobile UC clients to be as intuitive and easy to use as consumer apps found on a wide variety of smart phones and tablets," said Brian Riggs, principal analyst at Ovum. "This increases adoption of UC in the enterprise, helping businesses to derive the most benefit from their IT investments, while reducing training costs, resulting in a lower TCO of UC solutions purchased.

"ShoreTel Mobility 7's rich set of integrated voice, conferencing and collaboration, presence, IM, and other features presents businesses with the communications tools central to successfully deploying UC."

David Petts, senior VP of worldwide sales at ShoreTel, said: "Customers are able to integrate leading smartphones and tablets securely, simply and cost-effectively into existing enterprise communication applications and infrastructure to provide greater flexibility and increased productivity."