Comms4Business News

The company says that the principle values of honesty and integrity underpin everything that happens at Chess. Real people always answer the phones, and healthy and honest values are inherent in Chess people. The Business of the Year finalists would have to show enterprise, strong management, well-motivated employees and innovation. The MEN judges were impressed that this radiates from Chess’ feng shui’d head office and sent a film crew to capture scenes from a typical day which was shown at the Gala Dinner.

The judging process for the MEN Business of the Year award spanned a three-month period, during which scores of entrants were whittled down to the final shortlist. Chess presented to the judging panel, which was made up of a high profile selection from the North West Business community, including experts from HSBC, Hammonds, Manchester Evening News and Manchester Chamber of Commerce.

William Hague hosted the Awards dinner, which was held at Manchester’s elegant Midland Hotel and Prime Minister Tony Blair sent a video message to Chess and the finalists, congratulating the businesses on their achievement. The awards are a celebration of excellence in business in the North West and to be named as one of three finalists is solid testimony to Chess’ influence and exclusivity in the telecoms market.

David Pollock said, “I am delighted that Chess is one of three finalists for Manchester Evening News’ Business of the Year, 2005. This is the first time Chess has entered the award and to be shortlisted a great honour in itself. The awards are a showcase of Business excellence in a region in which business talent is flourishing. We are proud to be finalists and are equally determined to win in 2006.”

The calls, diverted from BT's PSTN network between exchanges in Cambridge and Woolwich, are being carried over a next generation link using IP technology. The trials have been conducted over the last six weeks using equipment from BT's preferred suppliers for 21CN.

The majority of calls carried are live customer calls closely monitored by BT network managers at the company's national network management centres at Cambridge, Oswestry and Ipswich. To date the peak level of simultaneous calls carried has been 2,500. As the trial progresses BT's goal is to increase the number of calls carried over the IP link to reflect normal loading on a similar network path.

In the spring of 2006 BT expects to start trialling telephone and broadband services across the IP network connecting around 800 BT employees. This will involve the commissioning of multi-service access nodes (MSANs) - the access point into 21CN supporting voice, data and broadband - at up to 18 locations in the south-east of England. In addition the 21CN metro nodes at Cambridge and Woolwich will be upgraded with the installation of new media gateways which provide the routing for 21CN services. To carry out the necessary technology upgrades, the first phase of the current trial is due to be completed in early December.

Paul Reynolds, chief executive of BT Wholesale, said: "This is a very exciting time for us - the 21CN program is moving from vision to reality with live calls being carried over the network. We're building momentum. We have 2,000 BT people already working on the program. We have presented a proposal to industry outlining the phasing and geography for mass migration for all of the UK which we expect to have agreed in early 2006. As we put the core network links in place in preparation for the mass migration of customers in South Wales this time next year, the entire industry will gear up for a world first - doing away with the old PSTN network and moving to a new, all IP, network world."

“We were approached by a large construction and building materials supplier who needed a call recording system that would capture voice calls, especially to sales managers who are often out of the office and only available via mobile phone.” explains Tony Knight, Group Managing Director of TeleWare Plc. “There were occasions when large orders made via mobile phone were disputed and the company needed a method to prove that an order had been made and by whom but without disruption to the normal communication process,” added Knight.

As part of the TeleWare intelligent Number solution, the optional mobile recording feature allows all calls, to be recorded, date stamped and archived to hard disk. TeleWare intelligent Number provides individual staff members with their own unique telephone number, ensuring that they can be reached on it irrespective of location or network. It provides 'here and now' registration to a virtually limitless number of telephone handsets, - internal, external, fixed or mobile - on any network at any worldwide location. The software runs on a separate server attached to any PBX or IP PBX or can be delivered as a hosted service.

“To our knowledge there is no other solution on the market that is able to provide this feature for both fixed and mobile telephone calls within the same system and we are currently in trials with a number of potential customers who have similar requirements,” Knight comments.

In addition to areas like construction, where call recording can provide an immediate return in confirmed orders, the FSA rules are making call recording from all devices, including mobiles, an issue for companies in the financial sector. Knight adds, “The mobile recording feature is also useful for professional and consulting services where critical requests delivered via telephone need to be recorded for operational, statutory and business continuity requirements.”

Anglian Water’s proposed converged IP network will enable the company to benefit from significant cost savings, particularly by reducing call costs across more than 20 regional sites. The new infrastructure has the potential to provide additional collaborative technologies, such as web and video conferencing which will increase the efficiency of working practices and reduce employee travel requirements. Anglian Water will also be able to use its new network to enhance security by streaming CCTV footage between its remote regional sites and central headquarters.

“By looking at the current market trends, it was clear that we need to embrace the cost and flexibility benefits that come with a converged IP network infrastructure,” said Paul Saunders, IS Sourcing Manager at Anglian Water. “Siemens’ expertise and experience in delivering a highly comprehensive and competitive managed service, as well as being able to source a range of fixed line telecommunications carriers and services, convinced us to select them as our preferred communications partner.”

In addition to reducing costs, the implementation will enable Anglian Water to optimise its call centre facility and enhance customer service by providing interactive channels of communication, such as web chat, email and customer self service. These new services will ensure that Anglian Water remains flexible and responsive to customer needs and increases the company’s ability to resolve queries at the first point of contact.

“Anglian Water’s proposed IP network infrastructure promises to deliver tangible benefits to the organisation and its customers,” said Andy Powell, Head of Solutions and Services at Siemens Communications. “We have proven expertise in the management and integration of voice and data networks, which has enabled us to deliver an approach that perfectly matches Anglian Water’s expanding communication requirements.”

How will the regulator know that your company exists? Well your details may be on the Retailer Identification (RID) register and you probably have a public website?

In May Ofcom tightened the rules on consumer and complaints codes and as soon as the obligation to have a sales and marketing code came into force it started two investigations, the details of which have been made public in a Competition Bulletin on www.ofcom.org.uk. At the FCS we have had calls from worried SPs who had received a “notification” from Ofcom wondering what to do. No one wants to be faced with the prospect of a fine equivalent to 10% of turnover. Be advised, “I did not know” is no defence.

During October the Fixed Service Providers Association (FSPA), played host to Ofcom, BT Wholesale and openreach at its annual Plenary event. Independently owned Service Providers and resellers have a crucial role to play in delivering competitiveness to the telecoms market as a result of the reorganisation in BT and its new regulatory agreement with Ofcom. There is a great opportunity for service providers to contribute to the design and development of the new Wholesale Line Rental 3 product and to become involved in major infrastructure changes that are coming about as BT Wholesale develops its IP-based 21st Century Network.

SPs must influence the changes to underpin their business future. However every company has the day job to do - selling services, growing the customer base, making money - very few have a separate regulatory department that can track regulation and product development.

Ash Potter, the FSPA co-chairman says there is an ever expanding list of industry working groups and consultative committees that have sprung up in the last few months. “Some of these groups meet twice a month - a major overhead for any individual company to attend every meeting.”

FSPA co-ordinates representation on behalf of SPs at the relevant groups and informs members of developments and key issues such changes to the forecasting regime, WLR pricing and the review of RIDs.

On 1 August 2005, BT voluntarily reduced its fully unbundled rental charge from £105.09 to £80.00 a year.

The charge ceiling set by Ofcom is designed to promote competition in the broadband market by ensuring that BT’s wholesale charge is maintained at a transparent, reasonable and cost-orientated level.

The statement is available at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/llu/statement/

In setting the charge ceiling, Ofcom has taken into account the conclusions of its review of how much it costs BT to lay and maintain the copper access network connecting homes and businesses to its exchanges, and its review of BT’s cost of capital. Both reviews were published on 18 August 2005.

Separately Ofcom has also today published correspondence between Ofcom and BT Group plc in relation to the Undertakings accepted by Ofcom as part of its Strategic Review of Telecoms. These letters relate to the appointment of the independent members of the Equality of Access Board (EAB), which were announced by BT Group plc on 11 October 2005.