Comms Dealer

Nimans' Head of Network Services Mark Curtis-Wood has declared mobile apps a potential deal-maker or breaker, and resellers who ignore the mobile tide could founder, he warned.

"Mobile apps could be the difference between winning and losing customers in a world increasingly dominated by smartphones," he said. "The influence of mobile technology should not be underestimated as smartphones are the one device always within reach."

He pointed to stats that must be fully considered. "It's said there are more smartphones than toothbrushes in the world today, and in the last five years ownership has increased by 400%," noted Curtis-Wood.

Faced with such numbers it is easy to understand the scale of the opportunity. "The market for mobile apps is huge," added Curtis-Wood.

"From a marketing perspective, mobile is a powerful channel, never more than a foot away from a mobile user, so more compelling than TV advertising, radio and newspapers.

"There's some great push technology around mobile apps that can target an audience within a particular geographical region. This could be a boutique hotel or a restaurant with a special offer.

"Businesses now have the ability to hone in on a customer and almost build a personal relationship and develop brand loyalty. It becomes a habit to use an app that's brand-based."

It's important for resellers to recognise that mobile apps are part of the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) value chain, believes Curtis-Wood.

"Resellers can't be masters of everything, but they need to be aware of where additional pockets of margin can be generated," he added.

"Voice is just going to be a mobile app. Whether it's an extension from an existing phone system, a SIP application, from a mobile network via Wi-Fi or even something like WhatsApp, the world is changing."

In our era of fundamental technology upheaval and advancement, a key messages for resellers is that mobile apps are migrating desktop applications enabling users to be 'truly mobile', observed Curtis-Wood, which translates into additional revenue for resellers.

But there is a flip side. "There can also be revenue reductions," warned Curtis-Wood. "For example, the popularity of WhatsApp had a big impact on traditional mobile networks, something like $1bn was lost because people were texting and messaging in a different way.

"Therefore resellers need to identify areas of margin erosion as well as opportunities to make money. One of the best ways forward is to bundle as many solutions together as possible as part of a whole service wrap to drive ARPU and encourage businesses to work smarter and more effectively."

The mobile phenomena means that websites need to be mobile optimised. "People make quick buying decisions and require an easy and intuitive experience to create brand loyalty," added Curtis-Wood.

"This can be the difference between keeping or losing a customer. Even if your price is cheaper, if people feel they can consume products easier elsewhere that's what they will do. Mobile apps make this possible."

The Federation of Communication Services (FCS) Billing Group is launching a new version of the UK's Standard CDR Format.

The FCS Billing Group's stakeholders, which include the UK's major billing vendors and representatives from several large communication providers, voted unanimously in a recent meeting to pass version 3.0 of the Standard CDR Format which will be released in July 2015.

Version 3.0 will co-exist with the existing version 2.0 for 12 months at which point version 2.0 will be withdrawn.

The update comes following a review of the Standard CDR Format, first introduced in January 2013, which identified a number of items that could be enhanced to provide additional benefits for the channel.

One such enhancement is the inclusion of new fields to separate Access and Service charges for non-geographic call services in response to Ofcom's new regulations for how these services should be billed to consumers.

Version 3.0 will also feature an improved range of fields for holding data on calls made using hosted and IP telephony.

Tony Cook, Chairman of the FCS Billing Group, said: "Our enhancements to the Standard CDR Format mean that it will now hold an even greater range of data and can also cater for Ofcom's new requirements around non-geographic services.

"The fact that some of the channel's largest suppliers have now decided to adopt the format is encouraging. We hope that other carriers and producers of wholesale CDRs will follow suit and embrace the UK CDR Standard."

Chris Pateman, FCS CEO, added: "The FCS Billing Group is ahead of the game in planning and producing an updated version of the Standard that will assist those who adopt it in dealing with the changes coming into effect on 1st July."

A global employment survey entitled 'Why is Hiring Taking Longer?' reveals that the average time to make a job offer has doubled to 30 days across the USA, Europe and Australia in the last five years.

Complicated HR methods, internal processes and uncertainty in decision making are the principle causes, according to the report by Glassdoor.

"It seems that the larger the company, the lengthier the process, with many corporates taking up to 60 days to make a job offer," said Clive Jefferys, MD of Telecoms Recruiter, JMA Network.

"Conversely, organisations with less than 50 employees are the most decisive, offering candidates within just 15 days of first contact.

"This has a profound impact on UK hiring processes. Britain has one of the highest proportions of small business employment in the G20. It seems that small companies secure the best candidates first, much to the frustration of the PLCs."

Data centre based-virtual machines combined with the virtual MultiApp Platform (vMAP) configuration GUI is the key to easily deploying cloud and hybrid solutions, claims SpliceCom, which is beating the drum about the SpliceCom Select Cloud Server that enables VARs to deliver private voice service over a virtualised cloud infrastructure.
 
SpliceCom's data centres offer virtual machines in three sizes - small (for single SME application deployment), medium (to support multiple SME applications) or large (for Enterprise class requirements).

The vMAP configuration GUI allows SpliceCom Partners to chose which application(s) they want to load on these virtual machines, offering a choice of Soft PBX, Vision Business Management, Secure Mobility Gateway and standalone Voice Processing. 

"Our system components interoperate and everything works in the same way from a configuration, management and use perspective, totally independent of how they're deployed," said Robin Hayman, SpliceCom's Director of Marketing & Product Management.

"We treat Cloud, On-Premise & Hybrid architectures in exactly the same manner. Products, applications, features and benefits are common across all, making it easy to sell and now with MAP for on premise and vMAP for Cloud and Hybrid systems, installation and configuration is identical too." 

Research from Gartner, Saugatuck and IT Europa has highlighted some fundamental shifts in the way information technology is being bought and consumed that has significant implications on the role of channels in providing products and services over the coming years.

The Managed Services and Hosting Summit 2015 will examine the changing face of managed services as the sector responds to such fast-evolving customer needs.

It is clear that the nature of selling and salesmanship, particularly by the traditional channel, is changing and needs to change.

As researcher Saugatuck Technology said just in May 2015: "While the traditional IT organisation profile (supporting on premise) is the most common today, by 2019 it shrinks from 41% to only 12%."

Featured Gartner analyst Mark Paine will be delivering the morning keynote presentation at the Managed Services and Hosting Summit 2015 on trends in buying behaviours for purchasing products and services from Gartner's Tech Go-to Market: The B2B Customer Buying Cycle for Technology Products and Services report.

During his session Paine will explain the results and implications of this buying shift and give guidance on how to approach the problem in terms of what to sell, who to sell it to and how.

Other content at the event includes sessions looking into Service Management and Support services which has been among the fastest growing segments of the managed services market as what the channel is providing has changed enormously in the face of customer demand. Access security and backup and retrieval is another critical area where the boom in enterprise mobile access has put organisations' intellectual property at risk. We will review the reality of this market segment and address the different architectural models that companies deploy and what solutions fit particular businesses and vertical sectors.

At the heart of a successful managed services deployment must lay improvement in the customer experience, so sessions will look at the key to creating value, gaining competitive advantage and customer relationships with a view to expanding the range of offerings.

The Managed Services and Hosting Summit 2015, which is organised by IT Europa and Angel Business Communications will take place at 155 Bishopsgate, London, on 17th September 2015.

www.mshsummit.com

The restaurant at the top of the BT Tower is set to open to the public this summer as part of the iconic building's golden anniversary celebrations.

The re-opening, for two weeks only, will enable around 1,400 members of the public to enjoy a unique dining experience in the famous revolving restaurant which boasts unparalleled views across London.

The BT Tower is one of London's most iconic landmarks, famous to visitors from all over the world. It has featured in several movies - including Bedazzled and The Bourne Ultimatum. It was also in a 1966 series of Doctor Who and was memorably in a famous 1970's Goodies comedy sketch involving a giant kitten known as Kitten Kong. It was London's tallest building from its opening through to 1980 during which period it was known as the Post Office Tower.

The building was officially opened by Prime Minister Harold Wilson on 8th October 1965, with the public restaurant opened by Tony Benn MP and Billy Butlin on 19th May, 1966.

The 189m (620ft) Tower, equivalent to a line of 25 double-decker buses parked end-to-end, was closed to the public in 1971, except for the restaurant which remained open until 1980.

Amazingly, the Tower was designated an official secret and did not appear on Ordnance Survey maps until after it was officially revealed by Kate Hoey MP under parliamentary privilege in 1993.

Gavin Patterson, BT Group Chief Executive, said: "I'm delighted we're able to re-open the restaurant to the public. The BT Tower was a unique feat of engineering when it was first built and it remains an important and much loved building today.

"It has been a working icon of technological innovation for fifty years and what better way to celebrate that than by opening it to the public.

"The ballot winners are in for a treat as they will be able to see London in all its glory. People who choose the dinner option will have the added bonus of seeing the sun set followed by the dazzling spectacle of London at night."

BT is expecting there to be huge demand for places so it has decided to give members of the public an equal chance by holding a ballot with the lucky winners drawn at random.

Anyone over the age of 18 will be able to enter the ballot with the winners having the choice of a champagne lunch or dinner[1] in the famous revolving 34th floor at the top of the BT Tower. A four course lunch will cost £49.95 per head whilst the seven course dinner will cost £67.95 per head.

Anyone who is not successful in the restaurant ballot will get another opportunity to visit the top of the BT Tower this autumn, when BT will hold a further ballot to offer more than 2,500 people the opportunity to visit the 34th floor when they will be served free drinks and snacks.
 
The restaurant will be open for lunch and dinner between Saturday, 25 July and Friday, 7 August, excluding Mondays, with one sitting for lunch and dinner each day. This means the lucky winners will be able to spend several hours at the top if they wish with no pressure to make way for other diners.

Each winner will be able to bring up to three guests.

Avaya has unwrapped a new model of its Collaboration Pod designed for mid-size enterprises.

The Collaboration Pod 2400 Series combines applications, servers, storage, networking and management components in an easy-to-deploy, ready-to-operate package.

Avaya is also launching a fast-track Collaboration Pod onboarding programME for qualified Avaya channel partners to help them deliver the new Collaboration Pod 2400 to customers, as well as a demo programme for customers and channel partners.
 
Based on solutions from Avaya, HP, EMC, and VMware, the fully-integrated, tested Avaya Collaboration Pod 2400 can reduce the time to service for Engagement Solutions to weeks from months, claimed the vendor.

The Collaboration Pod is customised to the requirements of each customer and can be expanded as needs change.

Authorised channel partners can provide 'single source' support for all Collaboration Pod components, simplifying software upgrades and eliminating the need for support coverage from multiple vendors.
 
"Midsize enterprises understand the strategic value of technology, but typically have more financial and skills support restraints than larger enterprises," said Liam Kiely, VP, Networking Infrastructure, Avaya.

"The Collaboration Pod 2400 enables them to rapidly utilise our Engagement Solutions via a streamlined deployment model."

Software Box, a provider of information security solutions to the public and private sector, has linked up with Sinclair Voicenet, a provider of multimedia call recording, contact centre applications and PCI security solutions.

This new partnership enables Software Box to take PCI DSS-compliant solutions to contact centres handling sensitive personal information during telephone-based Cardholder Not Present (CNP) transactions," commented Samantha Hickman, Strategic Manager at Software Box.

Software Box and Sinclair Voicenet will jointly explore new opportunities throughout the public sector for SmartVoice Protect, a PCI compliance solution that ensures that Sensitive Authentication Data relating to credit and debit cards is not overheard, recorded or stored in contact centres.

Mitel has retooled its MiContact Center portfolio and formed a new reseller agreement with global workforce management provider Teleopti, offering a suite of scheduling products.

The new release of MiContact Center Solidus features multi-language advanced multimedia capability with multi-platform email support for any SMTP server, an improved integrated interaction workflow designer, searchable chat/email history and social and enhanced blending for common agent handling of all media types.

Mitel has expanded the scalability of MiContact Center Enterprise Edition and introduced a replay capability.

Enhancements to MiContact Center Outbound include three-way conferencing for agents, dynamic calling party number presentation, intelligent time zone scheduling, call recording integration, voice resiliency and more.

"The contact centre market is dramatically different than it was even two years ago, with a radical shift in terms of where customer conversations are happening and the increasing use of non-traditional platforms like chat and social," said Ron Wellard, Chief Products and Solutions Officer, Mitel.

"These shifts create a fantastic opportunity for contact centres to drive a new level of customer engagement and experience to improve satisfaction, loyalty, and spend while lowering operational costs and complexity."

Industry analyst Sheila McGee-Smith said: "With consumers rapidly shifting to digital channels for interactions, constant enhancements to multi-channel capabilities are essential, as are workforce optimisation tools to manage how agents performing mobile, social and other web-based transactions are scheduled and managed."

Although video conferencing is becoming pervasive within enterprises worldwide, many CIOs find that the technology does not always reach its full potential, according to Ovum.

Older infrastructure, complicated client software, limited integration with business applications, and ineffectual end user training are among the issues that can prevent a company deriving maximum value from its investments in video conferencing technology.

An Ovum white paper, 'CIO Guide to Video Conferencing', provides insight into how CIOs can combat these issues.

Specifically, CIOs need to provide a seamless and easy user experience that is available on all devices and networks; deliver an engagement plan that solicits end-user input; establish an internal marketing programme to promote the use of video conferencing; document best practices around the effective use of video conferencing and encourage top management to embrace video conferencing.

"In the end, employees, not the technology they use, need to be at the center of the experience," said Brian Riggs, Principal Analyst in Ovum's Enterprise Services practice and author of the white paper. "They need to have easy-to-use video communications tools that let them call any device, on any network, and from any location."

In addition, enterprises are leveraging cloud services to get the most out of video conferencing with minimal capital expense. With cloud-based video conferencing, CIOs can avoid many of the capital expenses traditionally associated with video conferencing, turning it instead into an operational expense.

This not only lowers the barrier of entry for enterprises looking to invest in video conferencing for the first time, but can also reduce the cost of introducing improvements to an existing video implementation.

"Tapping into the many benefits of video conferencing can be a daunting proposition for CIOs. But using cloud-based services enterprises can experiment with many of the different ways video communications can be delivered to employees," added Riggs.