Comms Dealer

Jabra's technical innovation and design supremos kept one eye firmly fixed on the future when creating the just-launched Jabra BIZ 2300, positioned as a device fit for the customer service requirements of tomorrow.

"The Jabra BIZ 2300 is a direct response to the changing face of the global contact centre industry," explained Nigel Dunn, Managing Director, Jabra Business Solutions UK&I.

"It completely rethinks the role of the headset and will play an even greater strategic role in shaping brand perception and maintaining customer satisfaction."

He pointed out that ccontact centres play an increasingly important role as the customer's first point of contact and the role of the contact centre agent is being redefined as brand ambassadors.

"This highlights that the battle to win and maintain customers is fought in the contact centre," added Dunn. "For that reason it is paramount that each call is dealt with as professionally as possible with crystal clear sound, no background noise and quick handling of the customers' needs through the channels of communication that the customer prefers.

"We can see that contact centre agents are major contributors in safeguarding brand perception and this will only increase in the future. With the Jabra BIZ 2300 we set ourselves the challenge of developing an audio device for brand ambassadors with an emphasis on sound performance, durability and comfort."

Linda Hartig, Avaya Vice President of Global Support Services, commented: "Today, companies like Avaya need to execute to perfection at all customer touch-points, with a crisp and clear voice. Our Services Desk in Westminster, Colorado, USA has piloted the Jabra BIZ 2300 and it is spot-on in terms of delivering that superior sound quality Avaya and our customers expect."

The Jabra BIZ 2300 is now available for channel partners to order via Authorised Jabra Distributors and is available for customers to purchase via their authorised Jabra Reseller partner.

A national property association based in Manchester has turned to a Lancashire telecoms provider to help manage a sustained period of rapid business growth.

The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) has experienced an increase of more than 50% in its membership in the last two years, now serving over 17,000 landlords across England and Wales.

The surge in membership has resulted in a substantial increase in inbound enquiries to the RLA's advice lines, and so the organisation has partnered up with leading North West installer Abbey Telecom to implement a new call handling system.

"Inbound calls to our advice lines have more than doubled in the last few years due to the huge increase in members and the increasing complexity of legislation faced by residential landlords," explained Andrew Goodacre from the Residential Landlords Association.

"We needed hi tech, rapid solutions to ensure that our callers are efficiently funnelled to the right person and can access the area of expertise they require at the first time of asking."

The new system comes with real time, intelligent reporting and management information which allows the association to monitor call volumes and deploy its professionally trained advisors to areas of greatest need.

Abbey Telecom managing director Tony Raynor added: "Tackling a change in call handling capabilities whilst continuing to serve its members involved a complete overhaul of the RLA's traditional phone lines, which we have replaced with a brand new server and call routing system.

"It's crucial for landlords' peace of mind to be able to access round-the-clock professional advice, information and services."

M2M (machine-to-machine) managed services specialist Wyless is to buy Netherlands-based ASPIDER M2M.

ASPIDER M2M provides a range of M2M and Internet of Things (IOT) applications to global customers, principally in the Benelux and for the German speaking markets, where they maintain multiple offices. ASPIDER M2M runs its own Cisco and Oracle-based core network of Gateway GPRS Support Nodes, Home Location Registers and Intelligent Networks.

This allows ASPIDER M2M to act as an mobile virtual network enable for M2M/IOT and to provide an operator independent solution. Wyless will complement its portfolio with these solutions that ASPIDER M2M has deployed to large customers like Philips Lighting and Stedin, a public utility in Holland.

As part of the acquisition, ASPIDER Holding Chairman & founder Jan Willem van Doorn, will join the Wyless Board of Directors, and Michel Zwijnenberg, ASPIDER M2M Vice President, will take a Senior Exec role within Wyless Europe PLC, resulting from Aspider's integration with Wyless UK.

Michel Zwijnenberg, Vice President ASPIDER M2M said: "I believe strongly in the emerging Internet of Things market. There will be a premium for the company being the first to claim leadership in this market and I want to be a part of that company."

Security solutions specialist WatchGuard has appointed Irish firm Micro Warehouse as its new distributor of Unified Threat Management (UTM) platforms portfolio.

Rory Wilson, Managing Director at Micro Warehouse, said: "With WatchGuard's new wireless access points customers can have the same level of security and centralised management for corporate and personal mobile devices in the business environment."

Micro Warehouse, which has over 1,200 resellers, will help grow WatchGuard's presence in markets in Ireland and Northern Ireland, it says.

"MicroWarehouse is the ideal partner to help take our products to market and provide a high level of support through its established network of resellers, experienced sales team, rapid delivery and flexible credit facilities. We are committed to growing our presence in Ireland and N. Ireland," stated Jon-Marc Wilkinson, Distribution Manager UK and Ireland at WatchGuard.

Micro Warehouse was set up in 1987 and is presently headquartered in Dublin.

Instant Messaging to account for 75% of mobile messaging traffic by 2018, but only generate 2% of revenues, according to Juniper Research.

A new report highlights the growing disparity between traffic volumes and revenues in the mobile messaging market. And states that despite accounting for 75% of the traffic, or 63 trillion message by 2018, IM apps will only generate 2% of the mobile messaging market's revenue, at just over $3 billion.

The report stated that the increasingly high IM traffic volumes are the result of a number of factors, but chief among them is the fact that usage of IM apps is inherently different to usage of SMS. Users typically send up to 10 'chats' to convey a message which could be contained in 1 SMS.

In addition, stickers, emoticons, images and group conversations all add significantly to IM traffic, as well as the fact that handset users (the younger demographic in particular), typically install multiple IM apps.

Report author Sian Rowlands said: "Adoption of IM apps has rapidly accelerated over the past 18 months, something which has led Juniper to revise upwards our forecast for the volume of IM traffic."

Nevertheless IM apps are continuing to encounter difficulties in generating revenues, given the infancy of the market.

The hundreds of IM apps available are taking different approaches, some utilising in-app purchases and games, others with advertising or subscriptions.

Some apps, such as Facebook Messenger, are loss leaders and only serve to increase engagement with a companies' separate revenue generating app, noted Rowlands.

Exponential-e is to enable Anthony Nolan, the UK's blood cancer charity and bone marrow register, to safeguard its future by providing a secure and resilient infrastructure for the data at the heart of the organisation. 
 
Anthony Nolan's database enables the charity to provide over 1,000 blood cancer patients with a matching stem cell donor every year.

The pioneering charity needed to ensure the longevity of this service as the volume of the critical data continues to grow. With Exponential-e's private Cloud infrastructure and a virtual private LAN service (VPLS), Anthony Nolan now has the flexibility and scalability to support this growth.
 
Underpinning its core business function is Anthony Nolan's global database of over 500,000 bone marrow, or stem cell, donors.

Registries across the world access the database 24 hours a day in the search for a potential match for people with blood cancer. With over 60,000 new donors registering per year, the rapid growth of the organisation and the volume of data meant it was essential for Anthony Nolan to safeguard the management of its data to ensure business continuity. 
 
By migrating its servers to Exponential-e's tier 3 data centres, connected using its virtual private LAN, Anthony Nolan is able to extend its own network to capture all of its offices on one private WAN, significantly enhancing the control and security of its network.

The network also provides dual resilience enabling further contingency and security. This is critical for Anthony Nolan to continue expanding and increasing the research and services it provides.
 
Anil Majevadia, IT director at Anthony Nolan, commented: "Our database is accessed 24 hours a day and is essential in ensuring people with blood cancer have the best chance of finding a match. We need to ensure our data is safe, accessible and available at all times, now and in the future. 

"As we continue growing year on year this demand is only increasing and we need to ensure we have the ability to expand our capacity in the future. By moving to Exponential-e's data centre and migrating to its VPLS layer 2 network we have future proofed the organisation."  
 
Mukesh Bavisi, Managing Director, Exponential-e, adds: "Fundamental to many organisations is the data it manages and processes, Anthony Nolan is a fantastic example of this. 

"With large amounts of sensitive data it's essential to adopt a Cloud infrastructure that is highly secure and private, but also retains the benefits of flexibility that Cloud infrastructure promises. 

"Anthony Nolan has recognised the importance of combining a flexible Cloud environment with a fast and secure network to ensure it achieves this level of resilience and security."

A power saving product called energyEGG, available through Nimans, is to appear on the BBC2 TV show Dragons' Den this Sunday, February 23rd.

It's the brainchild of Brian O'Reilly, a 38-year-old entrepreneur and father of four who found himself constantly nagging his wife and children for leaving appliances on when nobody was using them around their home.

The invention automatically turns off devices such as TVs, games consoles, DVD players and lights when they're not being used - typically saving 30% on the running costs of connected appliances and lights.

O'Reilly said: "Energy has become such a valuable commodity it's simply too expensive to waste. As energy prices continue to rise, so does demand for the energyEGG. People want to take control and fight back. The energyEGG is a very cost effective solution and allows them to do just that."

O'Reilly is remaining tight-lipped about how the TV judges react to his pitch in the Den, as he concluded: "Appearing in front of the Dragons' was a nerve-wracking experience but I'm hoping the exposure will help as we continue to grow the business", he explained.

Just weeks into the job incoming Group Operations Director for Maintel Kevin Stevens has outlined the firm's future strategy and he is cock-a-hoop about the company's prospects as it enters a new phase of development.

He enthused: "I'm delighted to have been elevated to the main board and to be part of a strong team that works well together and shares similar ideas on strategy, organic growth and acquisition.

"Maintel is a profitable business and its ability to transform the business quickly moving forward provides exciting opportunities.

"A recent example of this has been the way in which Maintel has gone from being a fairly small reseller for Avaya to now being one of its most valued partners."

Maintel began 2014 by winning the Technical Excellence Award 2014 at the Avaya National Partner Conference.

In December, Maintel announced that it had achieved Avaya Platinum Business Partner status having recently become the only Avaya partner in the UK to gain all five Expert accreditations: Networking, SME, Contact Centre, Unified Communications, and Unified Messaging.

Stevens noted that part of Maintel's future strategy will be determined by the recent £3.5m acquisition of Datapoint. The purchase is a key component of Maintel's strategy to diversify its revenue base and significantly increase its presence in new markets.

The acquisition brings into the Maintel portfolio enhanced consulting and professional expertise in Unified Communications, with a particular strength in the Contact Centre sector. Other services include managed services and equipment sales.

Stevens added: "The Datapoint acquisition gives us the ability to execute in the Contact Centre arena and with an exciting product strategy and forge relationships with the right vendors at the right level.

"Skills picked up from the acquisition will also allow for a broader operations structure, strengthening our product portfolio, bringing IT and high end contact centre skills, across design, deployment and support, as well as an expanded foot print across our business.

"A key part of our overall strategy is of course cloud and other emerging technologies, though we must always bear in mind that some businesses will always want in-premise solutions or private cloud - it's about offering the right services to the right businesses.

"We also need to evolve our strategy in regards to Microsoft and indeed Google, both representing really intriguing challenges."

Advanced Mobile Communications has won a multi million pound contract to provide EE 4G mobile airtime to 4,000 Care UK employees.

Based on its delivery and support platform the five year contract is Advanced Mobile's largest mobile contract win to date.

Care UK is a leading independent provider of health and social care services. The organisation works with health commissioners to deliver care and support for older people and those living with learning disabilities or mental health conditions, in addition to a range of healthcare services for NHS patients including primary, secondary and urgent care.

Chris Griffin, Director, Advanced Mobile Communications, said: "We understand workforce mobilisation and we are a natural partner for a forward thinking organisations such as Care UK."

James Greenman, Group IT Director at Care UK, added: "Advanced's team understands the commercial characteristics of the health and social care sector and we are pleased to be working with them to deliver improved mobile access to our colleagues."

Advanced has worked with Care UK since 2006 and provides software solutions which are used across urgent care, residential homes and mental health services.

Solutions include Caresys to manage financials, time and attendance and care planning and Adastra, a clinical patient management system for urgent and unscheduled care.

Established in 2011, Advanced Mobile Communications is an Advanced Computer Software Group plc company.

Sinclair Voicenet has launched QM Plus, a new contact centre application from NICE Systems. This analytics-enabled quality management solution will enable contact centres to improve performance, enhance the customer experience and meet organisational business objectives.

According to Peter Gough, a Director of Sinclair Voicenet: "QM Plus allows contact centres to automate the time-consuming and inefficient manual review processes currently required to monitor all calls and identify interactions that require immediate attention. It will improve contact centre performance and increase the effectiveness of managers by empowering managers to focus their attention and support on agents that need it the most."

QM Plus brings automatic performance management capabilities to the quality management process and automatically alerts managers to calls which cause breaches in quality KPIs, with insights that are both targeted and actionable.

Problems are identified in real-time using advanced speech analytics that categorises calls by content and characteristics then associates them with pre-defined business KPIs.

To enhance the call analysis process, agent interactions can be separated from customer interactions in a mono recording environment. This allows a more detailed view of agent and customer talk time including emotion detection. It also allows categorisation and root cause analysis to be carried out to identify key words and phrases spoken by customers or agents during interactions.

QM Plus also has a central, easy to use dashboard that enables contact centres to manage their quality programmes and processes, providing a real-time view of how well agents, groups or departments are meeting their goals. This ensures complete, continuous and central management of the quality process.