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Telecom News
Established in 1999, SynergyOne are based in North London with UK wide coverage for
the SoHo, SME and Enterprise market sectors. Our objective is to design bespoke
telephony solutions that deliver cost savings and improvements in business productivity
and efficiency.
With over 20 years Industry experience the Directors of SynergyOne have established
relationships with market leading telecommunications carriers and suppliers which
enables us to offer competitive business packages using the latest business communication
technologies.
January 2010
Focus groups highlight SME needs
What are the UK's 4.7 million small and medium-size businesses looking for in 2010?
SynergyOne has been talking to them to find out. We held focus groups with a number
of SME business owners and managers late in 2009 to discover what's on their wish-list.
Our dialogues with our focus group members highlighted a number of key 'wants'.
These are now guiding our product and proposition thinking for 2010. They told us
that:
- They often lack any ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) expertise
in-house - outsource this to your communications provider.
- As a result they lack confidence when sourcing and dealing with ICT suppliers.
- They want straightforward support - and essentially, it has to be jargon-free.
- They'd welcome help and advice to guide them in making the right purchase decision.
- They want to know the bottom-line impact of buying a product or service - for example,
hard evidence of the cost savings it brings - not how many features it has.
- They want a more personalised service - and ideally from a local contact.
The Focus Groups have proved to be invaluable to the Directors and Senior Management
within SynergyOne who are striving to deliver these key messages - and others -
to our staff, clients and potential clients alike.
Should you wish to discuss how SynergyOne can assist your business please call 01707
244000 or enter your
contact details
Lib Dems go down the Hosted IP Route
Liberal Democrats Councillor for Aylesbury - Mark Willis - recently contacted SynergyOne
as he wanted a fast, easy and cost effective way of setting up communications for
his campaign office. He had been quoted by British Telecom however decided to place
the business with SynergyOne after he received an immediate telephone response to
his web enquiry and a quotation within minutes.
When asked how he found the overall service provided by SynergyOne Cllr Willis stated
"It was easy to install and worked first time, this sort of thing will never catch
on in the IT industry! Really good service, good product, we've been using them
all weekend."
To find out how SynergyOne's unique range of BT Wholesale based
IP services
can assist your business please
click here
for an immediate call back or call 01707 244000.
SynergyOne can offer the iPhone
Vodafone will launch iPhone in the UK on January 14, with a range of contract price
plans tailored to let customers make the most of the UK's outstanding network. Available
from as little as £30 a month (on a 24 month contract) customers are now able
to pre-order their iPhone through their SynergyOne account manager or new customers
can call 01707 244000.
Average broadband speeds in the UK grow by 22% during 2009
Research by analysts at SynergyOne have shown that average broadband speeds grew
by 22% during 2009. "At the start of the year the average broadband speed test UK
wide was 3.667Mbps. At the end of the year this had grown to an average speed of
4.478Mbps, a rise of 22%," says Chris Riggs, Executive Director for SynergyOne.
The results were calculated from hundreds of thousands of broadband speed tests
taken on the broadband.co.uk site during 2009 by ordinary broadband users UK wide.
The providers that showed the most impressive improvements were those that rolled
out faster deals over the year such as BT (up 24%) and Plusnet (up 28%) with its
up to 20Mbps deals and Virgin Media (up 22%) with its 50Mbps fibre optic packages.
Not all providers managed improvements over the year however; Be/O2 saw their average
speed test drop by just under 13% year on year, and Sky saw a smaller drop of just
over 4%. "The providers that show stagnation are those who haven't rolled out new
higher speed products during the last year, so we'll watch with interest as to how
they respond to competition over the course of 2010," Chris continued.
SynergyOne offer a wide range of
Broadband services
from some of the key providers in the UK including - Tiscali, Opal (TalkTalk) and
BT.
Click here
for a immediate response or call 01707 244000.
Companies could beat the snow by working from home
Chris Riggs, Executive Director of SynergyOne says the British weather seems to
be getting even less predictable placing greater emphasis on organisations to have
a continuity plan in place to ensure that operations do not hit a standstill when
the worst happens.
"Severe snow always means travel disruption whereby employees cannot make it in
to the office - in fact, business groups have estimated that the cost of absenteeism
to the economy because of this week's snowfalls could reach £2 billion. Businesses
can prepare for this with a remote working policy so that employees can still be
productive and continue their work, wherever they are."
"All businesses face disruption by weather like this, so firms need to adequately
prepare to ensure that they can maintain a competitive advantage and avoid unnecessary
downtime. With a home broadband connection and remote working facilities, a business
can easily continue its operations and avoid any lost revenue - which is crucial
in any economic climate."
SynergyOne's range of
IP products
from BT Wholesale offer clients the ability to instantantly re-organise their office
phones at the click of a button via an on-line portal.
To find out how to keep your business running and you staff safe from the icy conditions
click here
or call 01707 244000.
December 2009
New 111 non-emergency healthcare phone number confirmed
Ofcom today confirmed that it will allocate a new memorable three-digit phone number
- 111 - for NHS non-emergency healthcare services. This will enable the Department
of Health to introduce the service to make it easier for patients to access healthcare
in their local area.
Ofcom also confirmed that the Department of Health intends that calls to the number
will be free.
Every year Ofcom allocates millions of telephone numbers to communications providers
for homes, businesses and organisations to use. The Department of Health asked Ofcom
to decide how to allocate 111 for this special purpose.
Ofcom's statement explains how making 111 available will make the best use of the
UK's telephone number resource.
The Department of Health intends for the service to provide advice and information
to the public when they need medical help urgently but the situation is not life-threatening.
Ofcom's statement on 111 can be found at:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/three_number_non_emergency/statement/
*999 or 112 will continue to be the number to call in an emergency situation (both
numbers provide access to the emergency services in the UK).
A big thank you from all at SynergyOne
As we all start to think about when the Christmas shopping will get finished and
what to buy our father's this Christmas, SynergyOne would like to offer all of our
clients and suppliers a very warm festive thank you for the continued business and
support we have received during 2009 and we look very forward to working with you
in 2010 and beyond.
Everyone at SynergyOne is excited about the prospects the new decade will bring
with the company moving to larger new offices and six new members of staff already
recruited for the New Year.
New "best-of-breed" products and services coming on board all the time to help our
clients reduce their costs, still very important in these difficult times, and to
provide features and benefits to make their businesses more productive and efficient.
Once again a big thank you to all of our clients and suppliers and wishing you all
a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Leon, David and Chris.
Focus on what really makes the difference, outsource the rest
Engineering prowess. Network size. Number of vans. They're not likely to be high
on the average customer's wish-list when they're out shopping for a new Communications
Partner or Service Provider.
What businesses and consumers are much more interested in these days are the innovative
applications, devices, ease of use, service levels and price deals that one supplier
can offer against another.
This trend has seen of the rise of a new generation of corporate stars - Google,
iTunes and Skype among them - who deliver must-have services and apps to millions
but without the encumbrances of capital intensive assets, physical networks and
large-scale manpower resources. And in the view of BT Wholesale CEO Sally Davis,
there's a lesson for other sectors in the IP world's experience and success. It's
'do what you do best and partner for the rest'.
The differentiation advantages - and the cost advantages - to be gained by outsourcing
were the theme of Sally's keynote presentation at the recent Carriers World event
in London. She told her audience: "Scale for a network operator is about ensuring
it can achieve the right cost base to make market differentiation cost-in. It's
about recognising that differentiation only works when it's relevant to your customers.
And scale is about focusing on your strengths, about not duplicating someone else's
capital investments if all you're really doing is building a parallel train set."
Sally added: "As we continue our journey towards an all IP world, CPs are asking
what the benefit is of building alternative infrastructure if they can buy it from
somewhere else. Operators today are really interested in swapping the traditional
up-front capital investment for a cost-base that's more closely aligned to levels
of customer demand. And as prices continue to erode - through regulatory intervention,
market pressures or because next generation services are cheaper - operators need
to minimise cost. The best and quickest way to cut costs is to share costs."
But the benefits of outsourcing don't stop at the bottom line. Handing the day-to-day
running of a service to a supplier partner leaves you free to focus your energies
on your core business - and on the creation of products and apps that capture the
public's imagination. The inherent flexibility of a pay-as-you-grow service also
helps avoid the risks of ending up with too little capacity or too much. And as
the 21st Century Network rolls out, you have the confidence of being primed, with
technology upgrades being taken care of for you.
There's also the prospect of being able to venture into new markets or to launch
the unified communications services that businesses are increasingly hunting for.
It's a route that both Vodafone UK and O2 UK have taken recently by adding fixed-line
phone services from BT Wholesale to their business services portfolios.
It would seem SynergyOne are in good company. We have been working closely with
BT Wholesale for over 2 years and are proud to be one of only ten companies in the
UK to be able to provide BT Wholesale's range of
SIP Trunk
and
Hosted IP services
with all products delivered over BT's 21st Century Network.
It is also worth mentioning that Vodafone and O2 can't sell
BT IP products
so why not speak to SynergyOne today!
Click here
for an instant response.
BT rings changes by charging businesses up to 15% more
Businesses face higher BT call charges from December 1 with calls to mobile networks
increasing by 8% and daytime local calls costing 15% more.
The rises take the cost of a local call for those on the telecom giant's base-rate
tariff to 6.5p per minute, excluding VAT, up from 4p in April last year. BT customers
on a fixed monthly price tariff are unaffected.
One rival telecoms company claimed that businesses on BT's standard base rate have
been hit by a 53% increase across call charges, services and line rental over the
last 18 months.
It claims that average bills for some small businesses have rocketed from around
£68 a month in April last year to almost £105 today.
The operations director said: "We are staggered but not surprised. The small business
community does not know."
Today the call set-up fee, charged to base-rate customers whenever a connection
is made, rises by 12.5% to 8p.
Customers on some of BT's most popular business packages also see the cost of calls
rise as the company moves the rounding duration of calls from 15 to 30-second intervals.
The price rises follow an increase of between 1.7% and 2.4% last month in line rental,
depending on the package. Some businesses using BT's 1471 caller identification
service also saw the cost rise 15% last month, while those using the 1571 answer
and notification service were hit with a 40% hike.
BT said that the figures represented only a small minority of its customers. A spokesman
said: "These figures exaggerate the effect of some small price increases for BT
Business customers. Around 99% of our customers will not face anything like a 53%
increase. "The customer profile presented is very atypical of our business customers
and at best equates to 0.04% of all our business lines. Only 15% of all business
call minutes are made on lines that are on base rate."
The spokesman added: "BT Business periodically reviews its prices in relation to
costs and the wider market environment and will be in introducing some changes to
base-rate call costs and call rounding on December 1 and in accordance with Ofcom
guidelines customers have been notified via notices on the bt.com price list."
The rival countered that of the last 100 business customers that it signed up from
BT, 63 were on BT's standard tariff, 18 were on Business Reward, 17 on Business
Plan and two on Business Choices.
BT launched a £15-a-month fixed-line calling package for small businesses
in October, called the BT Business One Plan Inclusive. It lets customers on its
BT Business One Plan, One Plan Plus and One Plan Traditional packages call any UK
landline and mobiles, international destinations and 0845 and 0870 numbers for a
fixed monthly fee. Who do you believe?
Don't wait until it is too late ... SynergyOne are not putting our prices up they
are coming down!
Speak to SynergyOne today to discuss our new 2010 bundled offerings for Business
users with all cheaper calls routed over the BT network.
November 2009
SynergyOne - Major Account Orders!
SynergyOne's have added Mercedes and Aviva Life & Pensions to their ever growing
list of Corporate clients. SynergyOne are seeing a continued trend where large organisations
are looking to deal with established, experienced, telecommunications specialists
- like SynergyOne - who offer exceptional relationship management and pricing that
large Resellers and Network Companies simply can't offer due to their internal bureaucracy,
size and commitment to shareholders.
SynergyOne have enjoyed significant success with corporate accounts over the last
18 months. Our independence allows us to offer excellent "best of breed" products
from a range of suppliers including BT Wholesale, BT Openreach, Opal and Gamma.
Our corporate clients enjoy our innovative approach to new products such as our
BT Wholesale IP Voice Services
offering, our bundled solutions for
free phone system maintenance, or
free Business Broadband
on our Business phone lines and
calls packages.
Recent open forums held with our corporate clients informed us that the underlying
fact why large companies enjoy working with SynergyOne is simply that we can offer
fast responsive decisions and are happy to work with clients to find solutions to
fit their budgets - a very important service to offer in recessionary times.
Should you wish to speak to a member of our Corporate Accounts Team please
click here
for an instant response.
October 2009
SynergyOne Growth Continues
SynergyOne are pleased to report a 25% growth for the year ending July 2009 - an
amazing achievement in the current economic climate.
Whilst sales of new telephone equipment were down the number of businesses looking
to save money on their telephone bills, broadband costs and telephone system maintenance
has soared.
SynergyOne's innovative call packages offering FREE
24mb Broadband, or 50%
off of BT Line rentals coupled with 50% savings
telephone system maintenance
- with the majority of telephone systems covered - enable SynergyOne to assist businesses
to keep their telephony costs to an absolute minimum during these difficult trading
conditions without compromising on service or quality.
SynergyOne continue to reap the benefits from Government Apprentice Scheme
SynergyOne have continued to work with local educational bodies and colleges and
are pleased to welcome two new Apprentices to the company.
From speaking with the interviewees who applied for the positions it is becoming
more and more apparent that opportunities for young school leavers are becoming
increasingly hard to find as jobs evaporate in the current economic climate.
SynergyOne are proud to be working with such motivated, enthusiastic members of
our local community who bring a whole new dimension of benefits to SynergyOne.
Next generation broadband: footprint doubles and prices reduce
BT Wholesale has recently announced an intention to expand the UK footprint of Wholesale
Broadband Connect (WBC) to reach 20 million homes and businesses by Spring 2011
and also to substantially reduce prices. Such an expansion would virtually double
the WBC footprint. The aim is to help Communications Providers - like SynergyOne
- to accelerate the move of their customers to this 21st Century Network broadband
service, offering speeds of up to 24Mbit/s* plus greater control, choice and flexibility.
WBC already has more than 40% coverage of the UK and are on track to achieve 55%
by Spring 2010. Now - subject to wholesale customer demand - BT Wholesale intend
to WBC-enable a total of 1500 exchanges, so potentially reaching 75% of UK end-users
by Spring 2011.
From 1 January 2010 SynergyOne plan to cut the WBC prices. Bandwidth charges will
go down by almost 50% to help satisfy the market's voracious appetite for high-bandwidth
applications.
BTW are also adding value as we cut the costs. Customers are currently helping BTW
to trial fibre services in preparation for the launch of FTTC (fibre-to-the-cabinet)
services early next year. We also intend to introduce Real-Time QoS (Quality of
Service) which will underpin - for example - high-quality voice and video-conferencing
services.
BT Wholesale's Managing Director - Products, Cameron Rejali comments: "Demonstrating
our commitment to deliver next generation broadband across the UK, we are delighted
to confirm our intention to significantly extend our WBC footprint and lower prices
to help Communications Providers - like SynergyOne - deliver faster speeds to more
of their customers: essential benefits in the tough economic and competitive environment
we face today."
*Please note that line speed will vary according to a number
of factors including the distance from the exchange and the line speed in any one
location will therefore be the highest stable speed a line can support up to a maximum
of 24Mbit/s.
Click here
to see if SynergyOne's Wholesale Broadband Connect products are available in your
area. Alternatively
Click here
to view SynergyOne's current range of high speed broadband services.
BT to Expand Footprint for UK's Fastest Broadband
BT has revealed plans to more than double the availability of its fastest fibre
broadband service. The company said it now plans to deliver speeds of up to 100Mb/s
- the fastest in the UK - to around 2.5 million UK homes and businesses using fibre-to-the-premise
(FTTP) technology. This has the capacity to deliver far greater speeds in the future
- of up to 1Gbps - should there be commercial demand.
BT had originally planned to roll out FTTP to approximately one million premises
- within its overall plan to reach c.10 million homes with fibre by 2012 - with
the remaining homes receiving fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) services (which will deliver
initial speeds of up to 40Mb/s). BT will now deploy FTTP in some areas where copper
services are already available. This represents a broadening of BT's strategy as
initially FTTP was to be deployed in new build sites only.
BT has been making good progress with all aspects of its fibre programme and is
commercially ahead of target. This has allowed the expansion of FTTP availability
to be contained within its overall investment of £1.5 billion. The roll out
of fibre services has begun and BT has confirmed that 1.5 million homes will have
access by next summer.
The wider availability of FTTP services will help the government realise its aims
for Digital Britain by helping the UK to climb the broadband speed tables. BT's
recent announcement that it is rolling out faster copper broadband - offering speeds
of up to 24Mb/s - to 75 per cent of UK homes will also have a beneficial impact.
BT is keen to deploy fibre more widely but, as has been seen with other countries,
such deployment typically requires support from the public sector. This fact was
recognised in the recent Digital Britain report. BT's network is unique in the UK
in that it is open to all communications providers on a fair and equal basis and
this will continue to be the case with fibre. This open platform will help to foster
competition to the benefit of consumers and businesses.
Steve Robertson, CEO of Openreach, the part of BT responsible for deploying the
technology said, "This development shows that we are determined to bring world-leading
broadband speeds to UK homes and businesses. Service providers have asked us for
more FTTP and so we have listened to them. The UK already leads the world when it
comes to broadband availability and today's announcement will help the UK climb
the speed league tables as well. The UK is well placed but we need to invest for
the future so that customers can access the rich applications that will be popular
in a few years time."
Today's announcement closely follows Openreach's selection of Bradwell Abbey in
Milton Keynes and Highams Park, London, as the first "brownfield" trial sites for
FTTP. Up to 20,000 homes and businesses in each area will receive speeds of up to
100Mb/s by March 2010. Openreach will use the trial to learn more about the performance
of the technology and the economics of rolling out fibre directly to homes in areas
where copper services are already available.
August 2009
Broadband Competition Reaches 6 Million
Competition in the UK's broadband market has reached a significant milestone.
The number of unbundled lines - where rival communications providers such as SynergyOne's
supplier Carphone Warehouse offers services over BT's copper telephone network -
has reached the 6 million mark.
The spur for the surge in unbundling was a set of legally-binding Undertakings that
Ofcom agreed with BT Group plc in September 2005. These required BT to set up a
new division, called Openreach, to provide services to rivals.
At the time there were just 123,000 unbundled lines in the UK and the majority of
people could only get their broadband and landline telephone service from one provider
- BT.
In September 2005, 37 per cent of households and small businesses had broadband;
today the figure is 65 per cent.
Ed Richards, Ofcom Chief Executive, said: "In just four years unbundling has gone
from a flicker on the dial to a major competitive force in telecoms. This has delivered
the dual benefits of driving up broadband take-up and driving down prices."
View SynergyOne's portfolio of "bundled" and "unbundled" Business Grade
ADSL Broadband
products.
Free IP Soft Phone For Primary and Secondary Schools
SynergyOne and Toshiba have launched a new promotion to provide a free license of
its SoftIPT application for any Toshiba laptop used by a teacher in a primary or
secondary school, offering schools a possible saving of over £3,000.
The SoftIPT application turns any laptop or PC into a fully functioning Internet
Protocol (IP) phone, allowing calls to be made, received and handled by using the
laptop's built-in microphone and speakers, or by using a Bluetooth headset. This
means that teachers can use the laptop to be contactable whenever they are connected
to the network, either in classrooms, staff room, exam rooms or even at home.
By having their own phone, teachers do not need to wait for a shared phone and can
easily place confidential calls from their classroom between lessons. Having the
SoftIPT installed on a laptop also means that teachers have a phone available in
exam environments, which is now a requirement for schools.
"Toshiba Telephone Systems
have strong solutions for the education market across the product range," says Tim
Webb, general manager of Toshiba's Business Communications Division (BCD). "Our
telecommunications solutions can help increase efficiency across the educational
establishment but, for teachers, they need a mobile solution that enables them to
be contactable wherever they are, and without additional hardware to carry around."
Toshiba's SoftIPT provides 20 flexible buttons that can be configured for special
functions, or speed dials that will also show the status of colleagues, to see who
is available, on the phone or in class. The SoftIPT needs to be connected to a
Toshiba
Strata CIX phone system
and can help improve contact between teachers, administration staff, students and
parents, as well as increasing efficiency. At a Typical Purchase Price of £89
per licence, schools with around 35 teaching staff can save over £3,000.
Click here for an instant quotation
Food is more important than mobile phones
Ofcom's sixth Communications Market Report garnered a lot of attention, but the
main talking point has to be the extreme importance that consumers place in person-to-person
communications.
We all know that mobile phones have become ubiquitous - to the point that, despite
the recession, consumers only rate food as more important for their outgoing expenditure,
according to the Ofcom Communications Market Report 20091. Taking this further,
we know from our own research2 of 1000 UK consumers that users view call and text
prices as more important than 3G and social networking capabilities.
Indeed, over 80 per cent of consumers see call and text prices as the most important
factors when looking for a new phone, whereas two-thirds of respondents view social
networking applications as luxury additions and non-essential.
What operators are realising, however, is that to help prevent customer attrition
and, in turn, improve stickiness, is the need to provide personalised services to
give them even more of an emotional and psychological attachment to their mobile
phones
0870 Numbers + New Ofcom Legislation = Soaring bills
A new report from SynergyOne, has revealed tens of thousands of UK businesses could
face soaring 0870 telephone bills in September because of failure to act over new
Ofcom legislation.
With the increases impacting on many companies that use
0870 numbers
for inbound calls, SynergyOne is urging users to ensure there are no nasty surprises
when September's bills arrive - and that switching clients to an alternative service
is quick and easy.
Ofcom changed regulations around the use of the number sequence '0870' on 1st August
2009, in an attempt to promote transparency for the consumer. The number is currently
used by tens of thousands of businesses across the UK, to generate income through
call rebates, often to finance enhanced call services.
However, SynergyOne's research indicates that despite extensive advice from their
telecommunications providers, up to a third of UK businesses using the number sequence
have been unable to implement the changes in time - due to time and manpower constraints.
This means those businesses have now been automatically migrated to a new tariff
from August 1st where they will be charged for all calls to their 0870 number usage
for the very first time. With increases many multiples of the original cost, it
really could be black September for thousands of businesses as the first bills arrive
since the new legislation.
Andy Stroud, SynergyOne's Head of Service, said: "The Ofcom legislation means that
many companies, often through no fault of their own or their providers, will now
face enormous bills in September for essentially the same service, something that
is made all the more challenging by the continuing recession.
"However, SynergyOne can assist users of
0870 numbers
by offering a range of alternatives which can assist the client in getting the most
from their numbering scheme and in-turn achieve more business for them - something
so important in the current climate."
"And it's important to remember, moving a customer to an alternative number sequence
can be done extremely quickly and easily, and SynergyOne provides numerous options
for clients to replace the lost revenues."
Fastest Broadband Available
SynergyOne are pleased to announce the latest additional to our Broadband portfolio
boasting download speeds of 24mb and 1mb upload.
This ADSL2+ product is perfect for using with
SIP Trunk
and
Hosted IP
solutions, replacing expensive legacy Leased Line services, or just for beefing
up your company's
Business ADSL
connection.
Pricing starts from just £9.99 per month* or can be completely
free of charge* if you are happy to use SynergyOne's
Business Lines
and
Business Calls packages.
July 2009
Apps for 21CN Ethernet?
For hospital consultants it could be MRI scans. For universities it could be lectures
at a distance. For finance houses it could be transaction archiving. And for customer
service helpdesks it could be 'always there' availability.
The applications might be very different. But the technology they can all use to
get high volumes of data and high-definition images reliably and cost effectively
from A to B can be the same. It's next generation BT Wholesale Ethernet from SynergyOne.
A sector review of how end-customers can potentially use and gain from BT Wholesale
Ethernet - plus the sales potential for Communications Providers like SynergyOne
- was one area of focus for Steve Best, BT Wholesale's Director of Product Management,
speaking recently at Ethernet Expo Europe in London.
His presentation examined the problems that many organisations currently face, constrained
by legacy networks that don't have the capacity, performance or reliability required
for their mushrooming bandwidth-hungry apps and high-definition content. And the
limitations of such networks go further. They are usually infrastructures where
any thought of expansion, change or upgrade can be expensive.
But as Steve explained, BT Wholesale Ethernet provides Coummunication Providers,
like SynergyOne, with the ability to deliver the solution that businesses are looking
for on all counts. It offers essential streamlining by running multiple applications
- fixed-line voice,
Business VOIP, data,
IP Telephony and video - over a single platform. This can add up to important savings
for end-customers in both time and resourcing costs. It removes the hassle of managing
a variety of disparate of connectivity technologies - and particularly older technologies
where technical know-how is increasingly scarce.
There are cost advantages in the easy scalability of BT Wholesale Ethernet too.
Companies can buy only what they need right now to meet their current requirements
and budget. But they have the confidence that they can evolve and change their network
cost effectively to keep pace with their business development and with an improving
economic climate. Bandwidths are available in simple steps from 1 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s.
And with the recent launch by BT Wholesale of 'Ethernet in the first mile' - or
EFM - Communications Providers can meet the connectivity needs of customers right
down to individual home-worker level, both quickly and cheaply. The audience heard
that this latest access option opens up the prospect of being able to connect home
offices, branch offices and retail premises by delivering Ethernet over the existing
copper infrastructure at between 2 and 10 Mbit/s.
Combine all this with the fact that BT Wholesale Ethernet offers the country's largest
and most dense Ethernet network with its 600+ nodes and Communications Providers
immediately have hundreds of thousands of potential customers within their reach
UK-wide for their next generation solution.
For further information on how BT Wholesale Ethernet provided by SynergyOne can
assist your business growth and increase productivity whilst reducing costs then
please
contact us now
for an immediate response.
London 2012 Announces Change of Official Network Infrastructure Partner
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG)
has announced that its contract with Nortel as Official Network Infrastructure Partner
for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games has ended.
On June 19, 2009 Nortel said that it had entered into an agreement for the sale
of certain wireless assets and is advancing in discussions with external parties
to sell its other businesses. Nortel's tier one partnership with LOCOG spanned all
its business units and it is therefore no longer able to maximize the value of its
investment with LOCOG. As a result LOCOG and Nortel amicably decided to bring the
current agreement to an end.
Under these circumstances, LOCOG took the decision to invite Cisco to bid for the
infrastructure contract and is happy to announce that Cisco has become Official
Network Infrastructure Supporter for London 2012 in a tier two deal, which commences
with immediate effect.
London 2012 CEO Paul Deighton commented, "We continue on a path to deliver the most
connected Games possible. We part with Nortel on good terms. Nortel acknowledges
our fixed deadlines and our desire to have a single supplier for our entire network
infrastructure have been impacted by Nortel's decision to move towards standalone
businesses. This is in no way a reflection of their capabilities - this is all about
meeting our fixed deadlines."
Paul Deighton continued, "We welcome Cisco to the London 2012 team, they will be
a valued partner and will provide us with what we require to achieve our ambition
of delivering a spectacular Games in 2012. We look forward to working with them
over the next three years."
BT Speeds Up Super-Fast Fibre Plans
BT has revealed the next locations where it will make super-fast fibre broadband
available. The new locations cover more than a million homes and businesses across
the UK.
The acceleration of BT's plans will see 1.5 million homes have access to such services
by early summer 2010. A million of those homes will have access by March, which
is a doubling of the original pace of deployment.
The plan is the first chapter in BT's longer-term programme to make super-fast fibre
broadband available to 40 per cent of the UK - or some 10 million homes - by 2012.
The company has pledged to spend £1.5 billion - the UK's biggest single commercial
investment in fibre broadband - on this programme.
Unlike other companies, BT will offer access to service providers, such as SynergyOne,
on an open, wholesale basis thereby supporting a competitive market.
Steve Robertson, CEO of Openreach, the division of BT responsible for the roll-out
said: "Fibre is the future and so we're speeding up the pace of our plans. We had
aimed to get fibre to half a million homes by next March but we're now being far
more ambitious. We've received a tremendous response to date and so we're keen to
get on with the job.
"BT has invested billions in creating Broadband Britain yet it has done so whilst
offering others equal access to its network - demonstrating once again that competition
doesn't have to be a barrier to investment."
Sixty nine locations across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales will benefit
from this latest phase of BT's investment programme. The pilots of the technology
went live this week in Muswell Hill, London and Whitchurch, South Wales.
Watch this space for more news on when SynergyOne can offer Super-Fast Fibre
Broadband for your
Business VOIP
requirements - or
contact us now
for more details.
Business VOIP Solutions - 'Next generation' is 'now generation' for Customers
The economy might seem frozen like a rabbit in the headlights. But it's not stopping
ambitious companies from shopping for next generation services. They're out with
their trolleys - and if resellers want to capture their business, they need to be
equipped today with a store full of 21CN-ready
Business VOIP
solutions.
But with budgets under pressure and an understandable aversion to too much risk-taking,
how are customers to stock up on the new businesss VOIP product types, that the
market wants?
BT Wholesale Ethernet can provide the cheaper and simpler next generation networking
options that businesses are increasingly attracted to. It has the cost efficiencies
and flexibility that are inherent in every 21CN solution. And by offering a single
platform for all types of traffic - voice, video, data and business grade
VOIP
- businesses can find it admin-light as well as cost-light.
In April 2009 BT Wholesale surpassed its roll-out target for BT Wholesale Ethernet
and put a total of 600+ nodes into action. That makes it the largest network of
its kind in the UK. But you don't have to be big to capitalise on its benefits.
SynergyOne feel that Ethernet is a proposition that businesses of all sizes are
now keen to buy into, according to industry analysts Analysis Mason*. Once the technology
was seen as relevant only for major corporates. But now Analysis Mason forecast
an increase of 130% in the spend by SMEs on Ethernet over the next four years, racking
up from £232 million to £546 million. With BT Wholesale Ethernet, available
from SynergyOne, you can tailor a network to each SME's immediate requirements -
from as little as 1Mbit/s upwards - and then evolve its size, configuration and
speed in easy incremental steps. That level of flexibility is a big attraction for
smaller businesses that need the freedom to grow and change direction.
BT Wholesale Ethernet is fantastically positioned both in functionality and price
to replace legacy BT Kilostream, BT Megastream and other BT point-to-point Leased
Line services as clients demand
Business VOIP, and IP
Telephony solutions for their businesses.
Not only can SynergyOne offer Ethernet from BT Wholesale we also have strategic
partnerships with Exponential-e with 25mb of Leased Line access
for as little as £500.00 per month.
If you are interest in finding out more about how Ethernet connectivity can assist
your business productivity and reduce costs then
contact us now
for an immediate response.
* Source: "Business data services in Europe: market drivers
and forecasts 2008-2013"
(Analysys Mason, 2008: www.analysysmason.com)
BT Retail, Vodafone, O2, Carphone Warehouse: Bad customer service
BT Retail has been named and shamed as having the nation's worst customer service,
according to a survey from OnePoll. The top 10 UK worst customer service list included
Virgin Media at number four, Carphone Warehouse at number five, Vodafone at six
and O2 at number 10.
A study of 5,000 people revealed the communications giant BT Retail is almost twice
as bad as second place British Gas when it comes to dealing with issues and complaints.
Sky was third on the list. Other corporate colossals to feature in the hall of shame
were HSBC, AOL, Barclays and HMRC.
A spokesman for internet market research firm, OnePoll, said: 'For many, having
to deal with customer service reps can be very stressful, and everyone dreads having
to make the call. If you are already having a nightmare with the service, and you
want to make a complaint, the last thing you want to do is then have to deal with
rude staff.
'Having polite and efficient staff in call centres can really make the difference,
and I'm sure it helps keep hold of customers,' he added.'
The biggest bug-bear for consumers was the automated systems. Other irritations
include being passed around different people and having to repeat the same information.
Foreign call centres with staff who struggle to understand the English language
also featured in the list, as did rude staff and having to answer endless security
questions. BT Retail also came top for the longest holding times, with 18% of people
voting for the company.
Leon Penny, Company Director of SynergyOne commented "These revelations come as
no surprise. SynergyOne have not used automated queuing systems for over two years
now as we feel that clients or potential clients for that matter shouldn't have
to wait to have their questions answered. If you think about it why should they!
Our clients are able to call a standard landline number, not an expensive 08xx number,
and get connected immediately to SynergyOne's experienced staff in our Potters Bar
Head Offices.
Better still, SynergyOne use BT Wholesale to route our client's calls over the BT
network therefore enjoy the benefits of BT's reknowned resilliance and reliability
but with SynergyOne's exemplary Customer Service."
Those who took part in the study believed on average they spent around 23 minutes
on the phone trying to sort out problems each time they called. Just over 11% said
they regularly spent 30 minutes on the phone to companies.
Phone and utility companies were rated equally as bad as each other in the study,
closely followed by banks and retail organisations.
It also emerged six out of ten people have switched companies purely due to a poor
level of customer service.
Among the horror stories which emerged were: A man who fell out with BT because
an Asian call centre operator said his mild Scottish accent was unintelligible;
A couple who were tricked into a package they didn't want by Orange and were then
fobbed off when they tried to cancel during cooling off period; How Virgin Media
refused to change the bill into the name of a jilted husband because he didn't have
his ex-wife's permission - but were more than willing to give him extra services
without her permission.
Britain's Workers On Six Day Weeks To Keep Jobs
Overtime is becoming the norm for almost 50% of staff since the financial crisis
began, according to new research from BT Business. More than a third of those Brits
feel compelled to work over their contracted hours every week because of the current
climate, with most working an average of 7 extra hours per week - the equivalent
of an extra day - and collectively putting £200 million in extra hours into
the British economy each week. The findings also show a clear gender split with
men more likely to be putting in the extra hours. Over two thirds of men (66 per
cent) stated they are working over the recommended 48 hour week.
More than a third (37 per cent) of the 4000 survey respondents are putting in extra
hours to cope with growing workloads. Colleagues being made redundant (41 per cent)
and a renewed focus by companies on improving customer service (35 per cent) were
cited as the top two reasons for this. However, over 40 per cent also cited that
this situation was being exacerbated by time being wasted in the work place because
staff are not equipped with the right tools to do the job.
"These findings reflect the length that employees are willing to go to, to keep
Britain's economy afloat, said Bill Murphy, managing director, BT Business "Employers
should look to match these efforts by equipping staff with what they need to become
more efficient.
Financial incentives may not be an option, but companies should consider how working
practices can eliminate wasted time and boost productivity. Using technology to
support practices such as flexible working can help companies strip out the fat
as well as helping their staff become more efficient with a better work life balance."
The research also revealed a drastic change in the office atmosphere with 37 per
cent of workers stating there is less laughter in the workplace compared to over
a year ago and greater pressure on staff to perform. Nearly half of respondents
(43 per cent) believe that the offer of flexitime would help to create a better
working experience. Flexible working including the option to work from home and
improved technology (33 per cent) also equally factored highly in people's aspirations
on how they'd like their workplace to change. Workers showed a clear willingness
to go that extra mile to impress the boss. Almost half (43 per cent) respondents
admit to being motivated to work harder to keep their jobs, with 60 per cent feeling
very lucky to have a job. Over a third (34 per cent) of those surveyed admit to
turning up earlier for work and a similar number (39 per cent) admit they are being
more proactive and have generally pulled up their socks to keep in the bosses good
books.
Other key findings from the research included: Increased stress (36.5 per cent),
a negative impact on relationships with friends and family (33 per cent) and deteriorating
health (18 per cent) were cited as the main affects of working extra hours.
Middle managers appear to be feeling the most strain with workers earning between
£41,000 and £51,000pa the most likely to be working overtime since the
financial crisis began. One in ten people would consider taking a slight pay cut
to keep one of their colleagues from being made redundant.
One third of people surveyed were concerned that they may lose their job by the
end of the year Over 40 per cent of people plan to look for a new job when it looks
like we are pulling out of a recession.
One in five people would prefer to work for a smaller business, set-up on their
own or take a second job citing a change in view on what would make an ideal role
for them Most people said that their management had offered changes to staff. 18
per cent were in companies that had offered part-time work, one in 10 had been offered
sabbaticals or asked to work for free for a period of time, and nearly a third had
been asked to change job description.
The research is being launched at BT Business Experience, a free week-long event
held in London from 29th June - 3rd July. As well as leading entrepreneur Peter
Jones, leading business experts will also be on hand to offer one-to-one advice
on key issues facing the SME (small and medium sized enterprises) community in these
difficult times and how they may be able to use technology previously only available
to large companies to help them succeed and thrive. For further information and
to register your place please visit www.btbusinessexperience.com.
End of 'roaming rip-off'
From the 1 July, sending a text message from abroad in the EU will cost a maximum
Euro 0.11, almost three times cheaper than the previous EU average of Euro 0.28
(excluding VAT). To make a roamed call in another EU country must not cost more
than Euro 0.43 per minute, and no more than Euro 0.19 to receive a call. From the
same date, outgoing roaming calls will be charged by the second, after the first
30 seconds, rather than by the minute, and incoming calls will be charged by the
second from the first second.
Holidaymakers and business travellers can also surf the web, download movies or
send photos with their mobile without fear of bill shocks while roaming thanks to
a wholesale cap of Euro 1 per megabyte (MB) downloaded.
All these measures are expected to cut roaming charges for EU consumers by a further
60% and increase mobile phone use. The EU first acted on roaming in 2007 reducing
the cost of voice roaming calls by 70%.
Said EU Telecoms Commissioner, Viviane Reding: "From the 1 July, all Europeans making
calls or sending texts with their mobiles can experience the EU's single market
without borders. The roaming rip off is now coming to an end thanks to the determined
action of the European Commission, the European Parliament and all 27 EU Member
States. Expect the new EU roaming rules to make it much cheaper to surf the web
on your mobile while abroad in the EU.
"For now, EU rules are limited to reducing inter-operator charges, she continued.
"I call on the mobile industry to pass these savings on to data roaming customers
swiftly. The Commission and national regulators will monitor data roaming charges
very carefully and assess next year whether the roaming market is finally becoming
competitive."
The new EU roaming rules which are applicable as of 1 July:
Limit the consumer price for sending a text message while abroad to Euro 0.11(excl.
VAT), compared to a current average Euro 0.28.
Further reduce prices for mobile roaming calls. As of 1 July, caps are Euro 0.43
for calls made and Euro 0.19 for calls received abroad, falling to Euro 0.39 and
Euro 0.15 on 1 July 2010 and to Euro 0.35 and Euro 0.11 on 1 July 2011 (prices per
minute, excl. VAT). Until 30 June, the maximum price is Euro 0.46 for calls made
and Euro 0.22 for calls received abroad. In summer 2005, before EU action, a roamed
call in the EU could cost around Euro 1.70 per minute for a German roaming in Austria,
Euro 1.47 for a Briton roaming in Italy and Euro 2.50 for a Belgian calling from
Cyprus.
Introduce per-second billing after 30 seconds for roamed calls made and from the
first second for calls received abroad. Until now, consumers paid up to 24% more
than the time actually used making or receiving calls.
Reduce the cost of surfing the web and downloading movies or video programs with
a mobile phone while abroad with a new wholesale cap of Euro 1 per MB downloaded,
compared to an average wholesale price of Euro 1.68 per MB, with peaks in Ireland
(Euro 6.82), Greece (Euro 5.30) and Estonia (Euro 5.10). The wholesale cap for downloading
will fall during the next two years: to Euro 0.80 in 2010 and Euro 0.50 in 2011.
Consumers will be informed on what they will pay for data services, as the new rules
require mobile operators to provide (via an SMS or pop-up window) free, country-specific
information on roaming charges to their customers when they enter another Member
State and use data services.
The new rules will also protect consumers from bill shocks by introducing a cut-off
mechanism once the bill reaches Euro 50, unless they choose another cut-off limit
(recently, a German downloading a TV programme while roaming in France faced a bill
of Euro 46,000). Operators have until March 2010 to put this cut-off limit in place.
The new roaming rules, which build on the first EU Roaming Regulation, will apply
until summer 2012. The European Parliament and Council have asked the Commission
to report on the new rules' functioning by summer 2010. The Commission could then
propose further rules, if required, by the end of June 2011. Since the present Commission
took office in 2004, mobile phone use has grown from 84.6% to 119% of the total
EU population.
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