| European Businesses Clamour For “Always-On” Customer Service |
21/08/2008 |
| Ninety-one percent of Europe’s senior business managers say they are more likely to choose a supplier that makes its customer service functions available 24/7, according to independent research commissioned by Avaya. In fact, more than 89 percent of respondents surveyed indicated they are willing to pay premium prices for “always-on” access.
Despite these findings, only 17 percent of European firms surveyed currently offer employees the flexible working options needed to underpin an around-the-clock customer service function of this kind, suggesting they are ill prepared to offer customers the type of service they demand themselves.
The findings come from the independent research report commissioned by Avaya, “Flexible Working in Europe and Russia,” which reflects the attitudes of more than 3,000 workers across Europe. Not only do customers want 24/7 issue resolution, but survey respondents also said that they want to be able to choose the communication channel for that interaction - email, fax, over the phone, in writing, or in person – and want all of those channels equally serviced. Respondents were very clear about which forms of communication they prefer:
Seventy percent find they get the best service using the telephone to speak to suppliers;
emailing suppliers was considered next most likely to result in top level service (59 percent), closely followed by face-to-face contact (56 percent); and
faxing and formal letters were deemed least likely to get a result (at 18 and 10 percent, respectively)
“The survey results show conclusively that the service gold standard has changed and that businesses need to adapt to accommodate customers’ new expectations and that there is a strong business case for introducing flexible working solutions across Europe as a way to plug this potentially lucrative gap,” said Martyn Lambert, vice president, EMEA Marketing, Avaya. “It is increasingly clear that not only can flexible working help companies attract better employees, retain them longer and foster business agility, it could also help increase the bottom line if flexible working is deployed to enable “always-on” customer service.”
The issue isn’t technology: research also revealed that 58 percent of employees think their company already has the technology and systems in place to enable productive, flexible working for its staff.
“Many companies have already laid the groundwork for a flexible, scalable approach to work. By allowing employees remote and mobile access, companies can create virtual customer service offerings that allow that 24/7 approach that companies are clamouring for. It could be a competitive differentiator for those companies scrambling to push forward in a difficult economic environment.” Lambert said.
For the purposes of this survey, flexible working was defined as a situation in which employees are not expected to work during set hours or from their desks but are instead able to set their own flexible working hours and to work from the location they choose. |
| MCC Trials New Telephone Service for Cricket Fans |
20/08/2008 |
| MCC has joined forces with 4D Interactive to trial a new telephone service for cricket fans across the UK, enabling them to access the Home of Cricket at any time. By simply dialling into a non-premium rate telephone service, callers have access to low cost information and entertainment from Lord’s.
The new service, based on 4D’s Sports Chat product, provides cricket fans with the opportunity to use landline and mobile phones to interact with other cricket fans, access scores from Lord’s and around the UK, hear the latest news from the Home of Cricket. They can also test their cricket knowledge and debate the very latest issues in the game, with the opportunity to send their own views direct to Lord’s, all from just 10p per minute from a BT land line.
The service was first in operation during the England v South Africa Test Match at Lord’s (July 10th to July 14th) and also delivered match day information including weather, travel and ticket news. All user-generated content was moderated in-house by 4D in real-time.
David Lee, 4D’s Managing Director said, “Cricket fans are incredibly passionate about their sport and we’re pleased to be offering them new ways to interact with matches, teams and other fans. The Lord’s Cricket Service will create a new community that will be able to access the Home of Cricket and thus take part by providing their views on the changes that are happening within the game.”
Keith Bradshaw, MCC’s Secretary & Chief Executive, commented, “MCC is constantly seeking new ways to engage with cricket fans and give them access to the Home of Cricket. Few of us leave home without our mobiles these days and so this service provides a natural way for our fans to access the Lord’s experience wherever they happen to be.” |
| Shopping for Free Wireless in Bury |
19/08/2008 |
| Mill Gate Shopping Centre in Bury now provides all its visitors and retail staff with free wireless internet access in Schorndorf Square, thanks to its sponsors Pennine Telecom.
Pennine has installed a Proxim wireless access point that links up to a public IP access server, to provide the shopping centre with the useful Wi-Fi system.
The popular shopping complex has approximately 15 million visitors a year, with 140 shops and cafés, and the Wi-Fi service is available around the Schorndorf Square area of the centre.
“This is a great new facility to offer to our visitors,” said Colin Nichol, Manager at the Mill Gate Shopping Centre. “We pride ourselves on keeping up to date with current technology, by offering visitors the latest facilities and services. Visitors will be able to read emails whilst having a coffee, and nearby shops will benefit from free internet access. We are pleased to be associated with Pennine Telecom who managed the whole project for us.”
Belinda McGee, Pennine Telecom’s Marketing Manager, said: “Having free Wi-Fi access will be of great benefit to people visiting Mill Gate. Many people use the cafes and bars for meetings and during their lunch breaks, so having Wi-Fi access means they can send and receive emails even when they are away from the office.” |
| UKCTA React to BT’s announcement on changes to BT’s Regulatory Accounts |
19/08/2008 |
| UKCTA, the trade association promoting the interests of competitive fixed-line telecommunications companies competing against BT, as well as each other is disappointed to learn that BT has uncovered problems within its Regulatory Financial Statements relating to leased line circuits. These circuits are used by BT and its competitors to connect UK businesses. As a result of the problems BT has announced that it will delay the publication of the 2007/8 Regulatory Financial Statements (commonly known as BT's 'Regulatory Accounts'), whilst it revises the methodology which it has previously used for such products in prior Regulatory Accounts.
BT's Regulatory Accounts are a cornerstone of the UK’s regulatory regime, which Ofcom use to set cost-based wholesale prices as well as acting as a first order test that BT has complied with some of its most important regulatory obligations. As a result of BT’s announcement confidence in BT’s compliance with its regulatory obligations has been severely dented. In particular, it raises questions about the reliability of BT's previous years’ Regulatory Accounts and whether BT will need to restate such Regulatory Accounts as well as whether there are other telecoms products that are affected.
The timing of BT’s announcement is of particular concern; after years of questions it comes just at the time when Ofcom and the industry need to rely on the information the most. With the announcement of BT’s plans to invest in next generation access, it is imperative that accurate financial information is available which will provide Ofcom and industry with confidence that those investments are appropriately regulated while providing BT with a fair rate of return.
UKCTA looks forward to working with Ofcom to ensure that there is no repetition of this regrettable situation. We will await further announcements from BT on the scale of the changes required and their impact. |
| Comms-care keeps their cool as temperatures rise |
19/08/2008 |
| Comms-care, the provider of channel network and IT support services are feeling the heat as the summer season reaches its peak and pushes up temperatures in comms rooms right across the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe.
Data over the last three years suggests that customers experience more network problems in the summer months during periods of higher temperature. When Comms-care referenced an existing customer record it illustrated that in the months June through to August they found on average that their Service Desk received around 36% more fault calls per month compared to December to February.
Common problems occurring across a lot of the contracts that resulted in fault calls being raised included clogged air vents in dusty environments, over heating, power fluctuations, lack of air conditioning and server temperature sensors failing.
When a fault call is logged with the Comms-care Service Desk, appropriate escalation procedures begin immediately. The Service team locate an engineer in close proximity to site and assess in detail the work and kit required. All Comms-care’s spares locations are geographically placed to suit Customers needs.
With increased pressure on engineering resource during the summer months, Comms-care has engineers on standby 24/7 for emergency call outs. With our new Rapid Response service Comms-care are able to respond to call outs promptly to avoid situations such as traffic congestion and respond to all sites within SLA.
Ewan Conlon, Service Delivery Manager at Comms-care comments: “As soon as we hit June fault calls tend to start increasing and peak in August. We are fully prepared for this and have the correct procedures in place to cope with the demand. All engineers are located in close proximity to our Customers’ sites and with our new Rapid Response service engineers can easily reach site well within SLA.” |
| Fender Picks Telecitygroup to Amplify Business Continuity |
19/08/2008 |
| Fender Musical Instruments Europe has chosen TelecityGroup, a leading European provider of data centre and value added services, to provide secure managed services for its business critical applications.
From its London HQ, Fender delivers IT applications to its European organisation including UK, France, Germany, Spain and Sweden. As the company continues to expand its European operations, it needed to ensure its IT systems were fully protected against any risk of downtime.
Dave Skorecki, European Infrastructure Manager at Fender Europe, states: “Fender Europe has grown significantly over the last 10 years, and to support our continued expansion, we needed to reassess our business continuity plans. Having worked with TelecityGroup through a third party already, we knew they could deliver the highly secure, reliable data centre facilities we needed. They also have the capacity for us to expand as and when we need to, meaning they can meet all our future requirements. We put a huge amount of trust into TelecityGroup to ensure our equipment is maintained 24/7, and we’ve been happy with the service they have provided.”
TelecityGroup provides a ‘remote hands’ service for back-up and round-the-clock first line support, giving Fender confidence its systems will be available at all times. In addition, TelecityGroup data centres offer high level of physical security; the facilities have security guards and CCTV operational at all times, and swipe cards and biometric scans are required for those visiting the facilities.
Adriaan Oosthoek, Managing Director of TelecityGroup UK and Ireland, comments: “Famous brands such as Fender need to protect their business and increasingly such companies are turning to third parties to help them optimise and maintain critical infrastructure. By relying on our expertise, Fender’s IT team is able to focus on delivering further innovation for its customers. |
| Kaspersky Reports that Trojans Accounted for 76% of all Malicious Programs |
18/08/2008 |
| Kaspersky Lab, the provider of security solutions that protect against viruses, Trojans, worms, spyware, crimeware, rootkits, phishing, hacker attacks and spam, has revealed that Trojans accounted for 76% of all malicious programs recorded on consumers’ computers in July 2008.
The figures are the first monthly statistics from the Kaspersky Security Network (KSN), a new technology implemented in Kaspersky Lab’s 2009 consumer products. Overall, in July 2008, there were 20,704 unique malicious, advertising, and potentially unwanted programs detected on consumers' computers, with data indicating that approximately 20,000 of them were found ‘in the wild’. All the programs recorded in July 2008 can be classified as follows: TrojWare (76%), AdWare (16%), VirWare (4%) and Other MalWare (4%). David Emm, Senior Technology Consultant at Kaspersky Lab comments, “Trojan variants such as Trojan.Win32.DNSChanger.ech and Trojan-Downloader.WMA.Wimad.n continue to dominate the threat landscape, and will cause major problems for anyone that fails to install effective Internet security on their computer before going online. We are currently adding 1,000 new signatures to our one-million signature strong anti-malware database daily, with Trojans accounting for 91% of these malicious programs.” The new look, and improved Top Twenty rankings (formerly the Online Scanner Top Twenty and Virus Top Twenty), use data derived from the KSN, a new technology implemented in the home user products, Kasperskyâ Internet Security 2009 and Kasperskyâ Anti-Virus 2009, launched on 1st July 2008. “Using the Kaspersky Security Network is a highly reliable source of data,” adds Emm. “It not only makes it possible for Kaspersky Lab to get timely information about threats and to track their evolution, but also makes it possible for us to detect unknown threats, and roll out that protection to all of our users, as quickly as possible.” |
| ECTA Warns of Threat to Broadband Competition from EU |
15/08/2008 |
| The European Competitive Telecoms Association, the pro competition group, gave a cautious welcome to proposals from the European Parliament to amend the EU Telecoms Framework, but warned that many of the amendments approved by the European Parliament’s Industry Committee on 7 July protect and favour dominant firms at the expense of competition in the telecoms sector. ECTA cautioned that, if adopted by the Parliament and endorsed by other European institutions, the advantages gained by the dominant firms under the proposed revisions to the EU legislation could undermine competition in high-speed broadband services.
Innocenzo Genna, Chairman of ECTA, said: “Consumers and businesses in Europe have reaped the benefits of lower telephone prices, ever-increasing broadband speeds, more investment and innovative triple-play offers that have been brought to them as a result of competition in the telecoms market. But these benefits, many of which are due to effective wholesale regulation in the sector, can disappear just as quickly as they arrived, if policy-makers make too many concessions to dominant firms.”
One of the key areas in which ECTA has been seeking support is for local loop unbundling rules to apply to fibre as well as the existing copper network.
Genna continued: “We are pleased to see that access to fibre networks has been reflected in the Parliament Committee’s proposals. This is a very positive signal. But the devil is in the detail: unless the price and the access conditions to the local loop are reasonable then the change is ineffectual and incumbents will have a return to the monopoly they are looking for. And here we fear that dominant players have gained the upper hand.”
Dominant operators have argued that regulation must be weakened to allow them to invest in expensive next generation fibre access networks. However, recent research from WIK Consult has found that incumbents would incur 30% lower costs in rolling out fibre networks than competitors because they already own crucial elements of the infrastructure. In addition, incumbents’ high share of subscriber lines and ability to make efficiency savings by selling local exchange buildings significantly reduces their risk in upgrading their access networks.
A critical concern is that the Committee has proposed to replace the current, positive, principle of ensuring a fair and risk-adjusted return on investments by dominant firms with the concept of ‘risk sharing’. ECTA believes the main result of risk sharing will be to further decrease the risk for dominant players and increase the costs and risk for competitors with substantially lower revenues and profits.
Some parts of the telecoms sector are characterised by very high scale economies, similar to energy and post. This means that essential parts of the infrastructure will inevitably be in the hands of the one or two biggest players in each country. It also means competition and consumer choice in the vital broadband market is largely dependent on competitors being able to access that infrastructure, in particular the ‘local loop’.
Genna continued: “Former incumbents’ main goal has been a clandestine return to their old monopoly position. They have sought to undermine access conditions for competitors, weakening the intense competition that has been developing in the past few years. Seemingly harmless concepts such as risk sharing among operators have been put forward with the less positive aim of pricing out smaller rivals from essential parts of the network.”
In addition to introducing ‘risk sharing’ dominant firms also succeeded in watering down the remedy of functional separation, which was proposed by the Commission and endorsed by the European Regulators Group as an option that should be available to regulators to strengthen competition in the sector. Whilst not adopted by the Committee, some MEPs had also argued that the Framework for competition as a whole should be phased out as early as 2014.
ECTA urged the European Institutions to stand up for consumers and competition, and reject deals aimed at supporting dominant firms. |
| Sarian Systems' Product Innovation Recognised |
15/08/2008 |
| The 2008 Frost & Sullivan 'European High Speed Wireless Enterprise Routers Product Innovation of the Year Award' has been won by UK-based Sarian Systems, a Digi International Inc. company, in recognition of its HR series routers.
The addition of High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) capability to Sarian’s enterprise HR routers is a novel approach that offers high speed uplink data transfer rates on par with fixed-line broadband. This allows companies to transfer larger volumes of data at speeds far superior to previously employed mobile networks.
HR routers are enterprise class routers developed by Sarian Systems to provide ‘super 3G’ high speed mobile access by employing advanced technologies such as HSUPA and HSDPA. The HR4110 router and HR4420 multi-router are both compatible with mobile technologies such as GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA and HSUPA.
“This allows enterprises to run bandwidth hungry applications and services over mobile connections in a cost-effective fashion, while also enabling a smooth migration path from GPRS, EDGE, and UMTS/3G networks to HSUPA and HSDPA,” notes Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Venkat Malleypulla. “Since their launch, HR routers have been widely used in various sectors such as surveillance, media streaming, and remote digital signage.”
Adding HSUPA to the products has aided diverse application sectors, including surveillance, which requires captured images to be transmitted in real time. The HSUPA capabilities of the HR router enable it to provide an uplink of up to 2 Mbps, thereby facilitating high quality live streaming CCTV coverage.
“This ability will assist organisations in enhancing their security surveillance even in the most remote locations which would not be possible with traditional wired networks,” remarks Malleypulla. “Furthermore, the HSUPA capability could be used to carry out VoIP and video-conferencing for companies and the router can be extended to provide high-speed data communications for over 100 users, unlike the earlier HSDPA router which provides the same service for only a limited number of users.”
Since this device is suitable for both high speed downloads and uploads, it provides an excellent opportunity for companies to stay online and on par with fixed-line networks. Since this router offers the same reliability as wired routers or an ADSL connection, it could also act as a reliable network back up in the event of a fixed-line network crisis.
“Sarian Systems has designed its HR routers that feature dual SIM cards slots to allow customers to pick the secondary wireless network of their choice,” states Malleypulla. “During a primary network crisis, it would provide reliability in mission critical applications as it offers access to secondary wireless networks in a cost-effective manner.”
The company is currently working with Fujitsu to supply similar wireless back-up technology integrated with wired broadband ADSL for a major national infrastructure project – estimated to be worth about $10 million – in the United Kingdom. Notably, the worth of this deal is equivalent to Sarian System’s turnover last year. The company also has strong ties with Motorola and Novatel in the U.S. and Option N.V in Belgium with regard to the development of wireless technologies.
The Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Innovation is presented each year to the company that has demonstrated excellence in new products and technologies within its industry. The recipient company has shown innovation by launching a broad line of emerging products and technologies.
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry. |
| Invomo Launch Self Service Business Telephony |
15/08/2008 |
| Invomo has announced the launch of Invomo2go, a new, dedicated portal offering hosted business telephony and call management services for sole traders and small and medium sized enterprises. The purpose of Invomo2go is to make it easy for these businesses to access affordable, added-value telephony services and thus improve their customer contact and customer service capabilities.
Telephony-based customer service tends to be leveraged by larger organisations, making them better placed to win and retain business. Invomo2go seeks to empower SME’s by reducing that gap in capability while also offering significant reductions in the cost and effort required to set up and manage business telephony.
To achieve this, Invomo2go is completely self-service, accessible through a simple web interface that has been designed to ensure ease of use. An interactive guided tour on the homepage at Invomo2go.com guides the potential customer through the services available on the site. Additionally, tailored segments of the interactive guide provide relevant help and support to the customer while they select and set up their required numbers and services.
Invomo2go.com offers a searchable database of the wide portfolio of telephone numbers available for purchase from Invomo. SME’s can select a number that reflects the business’ operations (e.g. a number ending in 247 for a business offering 24-hour service) or simply a memorable repeating number sequence.
The types of numbers available include 0800 freephone, 0845 / 0844 Lo-call numbers, 0870 / 0871 / 0872 National Business numbers, 09 Premium Rate and 070 Personal Numbers.
The SME can then combine the number(s) with a choice of call management packages, all of which include easy to administer web management, call statistics and basic call routing as well as flexible options to choose additional functionality, such as call divert, voicemail and call queuing - whatever best suits the business' needs.
Setup is fast and efficient - the SME simply pays by credit card on the site and the selected numbers and services are available within 48 hours, if not immediately. “Invomo2go made it easy for me to select a number for my new business and the online setup process was a piece of cake,” commented Invomo2go customer Stuart Hillston, Constellation Capital Ltd. “I need to redirect my calls regularly because I’m based at my work and home offices on different days. Now anyone can get hold of me when they need to, no matter where I am. The Invomo2go portal means I’m in control – for example, I can re-route my incoming calls in seconds. Moreover, the basic package I purchased is exactly what I need at the moment but it’s reassuring to know that additional functionality is available from Invomo2go as my business telephony needs change.”
“Today's consumers have very high expectations of customer service and want to be able to reach the right person with the minimum of delay but it can be hard for sole traders, small office / home office workers and SME’s to make sure that customer contact is handled well,” concluded Nick Wiley, CEO of Invomo. “Invomo2go is completely self-service, so SME’s can pick and choose the products and services that will help them improve this aspect of their business while benefiting from total transparency in terms of costs. Moreover, they can be assured of quality and reliability of service, thanks to our ultra-reliable carrier-grade networks and technology partnerships, all backed by 24/7 support. It’s big-business service for smaller businesses, at a sustainable price.” |
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