Comms Dealer

Chess has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Technology and Telecoms category of the UK Customer Experience Awards 2016.

Chess has made a £1.4m investment in better systems for the future and developed the Chess Wiki instant-knowledge access system that enables teams to deliver accurate information to customers.

Chess also launched a customer service academy for new starters as well as customer passion training that teaches their teams how to deal with different customer personality types.

Each team has a dedicated Knowledge Champion who has increased knowledge in specialist areas.

Chess also has Lean Six Sigma trained Quality Champions who ensure processes across the business are adding value for the customer. All of Chess's customer care superstars are UK based, fully trained, and regularly measured on attitude and energy.

Andrew Green, Chess Group Customer Service Director, said:
"Our customers are our number one priority and it's fantastic to see that we are being recognised as a great place to be a customer. I am looking forward to sharing our innovative customer service achievements during the award finals in September."

Team Channel Telecom has been on the fund raising offensive this month, raising £1,500 (and rising) for Cancer Research and NewLife (a funder of children's specialist disability equipment).

Rachel Verguson, IP service coordinator and one of five runners (pictured) in the North Weald 10km Race for Life, said: "It wasn't easy, 10km is a long way especially when you run the same circuit but I'm glad we did it and am very proud of what we achieved."

Stuart Burdett and James Moores, both part of the Channel Telecom Sales Team, will be running the Boys Beating Cancer 10km, Newbury, at the end of July

Clifford Norton, MD, said: "I am very proud of all those who have put themselves out there and done something for equally fantastic causes. We encourage all our staff to undertake some form of charity work. Well done to everyone who raised money and thank you to those who donated!".

www.justgiving.com/teams/Channel10kChallenge
www.mydonate.bt.com/events/stu10km/

Vaioni Wholesale has launched a campaign to help channel partners win more connectivity business through its 100Mb and 1Gb promotion.

"The cost of 100Mb and 1Gb Ethernet connections has dropped significantly over the years," said Vaioni Wholesale MD Sachin Vaish.

"In 2008, we were selling 100Mb at £9,600 per annum and 1Gb connections for £18,000, which was very special at that time.

"Today you can generally buy a 100Mb for less than £4,000 per annum and a 1Gb for less than £12,000 per annum.

"Our new promo starts 1st August 2016 until 31st December 2016 and offers a free router on all 100Mb and 1Gb connections, and rich features such as free SIP trunks, free backup connection (with diverse operator), free QoS and a 30-day money back guarantee if we fail to deliver a high quality service," said Vaish.

TES Wireless Communications Solutions has launched a high-speed voice and data service that it says will significantly undercut the cost of traditional leased lines.

Leyland-based TES Wireless specialises in radio technology and infrastructure systems, and plans to help businesses use a radio-based system rather than leased lines.

Keith Edwards, MD of TES Wireless Communications, said: "Our wireless broadband portfolio will allow businesses to transmit high data rates over long distances in a more cost effective way than with a traditional leased line.

"We believe that our solution will liberate businesses from preclusive leased line costs, while comfortably delivering comparable levels of bandwidth.

"And due to having fewer points of potential failure we expect to offer greater reliability - unlike with copper or fibre, a radio connection can't be dug up by a utilities company!

"We can also offer a reduced lead time where clients will be operational in under a month, as opposed to six months which is commonplace with leased lines."

Comms Dealer has teamed up with children's charity Sparks to give ICT companies the chance to play at the most beautiful cricket ground in the UK alongside your colleagues or clients and a professional player.

The inaugural Comms/IT Six-a-side cricket tournament at Sir Paul Getty's famous Wormsley Cricket Ground near Beaconsfield (just 40 seconds off the M40), will take place on Tuesday September 6th 2016. This unforgettable day out will include: Places for five players, a draw for a professional to play in your team and a luxurious lunch/tea with guest speaker.

Team places at this 'Once in a Lifetime' event are likely to sell out fast so don't delay - confirm your interest in participating by emailing Nigel Sergent at: nsergent@bpl-business.com

A1 Comms is ramping up its strategy to simplify the provision of modern comms solutions to organisations of all sizes while cutting costs under its Yodekoo brand, launched in April across all channels including digital, high street retail, corporate and partners.

CEO and owner Paul Sisson commented: "Yodekoo is targeted at the B2B sector and its strap line 'business communication made easy' reflects our ambition to demystify hosted telephony, broadband services and products and solutions such as unified comms."

A1 Comms is currently recruiting for resellers in a natiowide campaign to further establish the Yodekoo brand.

Chris Pateman, CEO of the Federation of Communication Services, has welcomed today's CMS Select Committee report and urged Ofcom to implement its recommendations without delay.

"After years of Openreach's customers calling for fundamental reform, it's encouraging that the CMS Select Committee has come independently to the same conclusion," he said.

"FCS members focus on providing the crucial business-to-business connectivity that enables British companies to prosper, grow and trade.

"Our members' success and vitality is testament to the success of Ofcom's deregulation of the resale market. But it's clear from the report that we now need to see the same focus on liberalising the network and infrastructure level.

"We have already approached Ofcom with some robust suggestions for a more responsive and accountable Openreach.

"We're glad to see the Committee recommendations go further, including liberalising access to fibre backhaul.

"FCS believes this is the crucial key to deliver broadband to the ‘last 5%'. It should be up to communities and local councils to determine what levels of connectivity they need, and freeing up wholesale access to dark fibre and the lit fibre network is a crucial key to unlocking that empowerment.

"Ofcom should be encouraged by the Committee's helpful investigation, and move quickly to implement a new regime which will make Openreach more accountable and transparent, and open up the market to greater competition."

8x8 is expanding its international footprint with new investments in Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America to support growing demand from global and distributed mid-market and enterprise customers.

The move includes the addition of three new data centres in Singapore, The Netherlands and Brazil; full localisation capabilities (end user application and portal localisation) for an additional six languages - French (two dialects), German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese; and new support centres in the Philippines and Romania delivering 24x7 follow-the-sun support.

With this expansion, 8x8 will have a total of 12 data centres in eight regions of the world.

From a localisation perspective, 8x8 will support a total of 13 languages in addition to English for its desktop IVR services by the end of this calendar year, including Japanese.

The company is also opening new support hubs in the Philippines and Romania, bringing the total number of centres to seven.

"Our mid-market and enterprise customers demand the highest levels of quality of service with minimal latency across the globe," said Bryan Martin, Chairman and CTO, 8x8.

"These new investments will enhance our international footprint and better enable us to support the global and regional efforts of our customers, giving them the proximity to their data, local language capabilities, and follow-the-sun support."

Orpington-based Telecoms World provided the freephone number for the Ghostbusters main promotional campaign in the UK. The movie opened last month and was promoted at Waterloo station via a striking marketing installation (pictured).

The number also appeared on phone boxes across the country and callers were routed to a voice message from cast member Chris Hemsworth who plays the secretary at Ghostbusters HQ.

Sam Diamond, Director of Telecoms World, said: "Working with the Ghostbusters promotional team in the UK has been an adventure. With the majority of movies now being wholly promoted through digital channels it was refreshing to see the use a freephone number as a main point of contact."

The European rival to the Global Technology Distributors Council (GTDC), the Technology Channels Alliance (TCA), has been formally incorporated in Dublin and is looking to add members from both local and regional distributors across EMEA to share information, ideas and best practice.

The TCA is emphasising its regional nature and strengths, though current members' total revenues are well below the scale of the GTDC's European members.

Three former members of the Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC) are founder members of the TCA and will sit on the board of the EMEA-focused organisation.

Multi-regional distributors Westcoast, Exertis and Esprinet say they will work with the vendor community to help it understand and make full use of the benefits of working with local and regional channel partners across EMEA.

Robert Norum, chief executive of the TCA: "Our intention is to provide local and regional distributors in EMEA with a voice, and the TCA will represent the interests of local and regional channel players.

"We will be asking our members to sign up to a charter. They need to be professionally run, have a good reputation and be trustworthy to do business with. New members will have to be ratified by the board, but genuine technology distributors headquartered in EMEA will be welcome."

In addition to full membership for EMEA-headquartered distributors, there is also the opportunity for corporate resellers and retailers to join as associate members, and for distributors with headquarters outside EMEA to join as affiliate members.

"We don't want anyone to feel excluded. It is going to be a democratic organisation with a one member, one vote approach on key decisions," he said, adding that the TCA plans to establish a social charter and set up a charitable foundation with a portion of its member fees.

The organisation wants to run events, conduct research and produce case studies to help its members work more closely with vendors and each other to address issues and capitalise on local and regional opportunities.