This week in the ICT Channel...

Comms Dealer's roundup of this week's news brings you the latest updates from the ICT channel. Stay informed and ahead of the curve by subscribing to our weekly insights and industry news!

Nurturing talent is crucial for thriving sector says ITP

The minimum wage rise and hike in employers’ NI must not come at the cost of a depleted future talent pool in the comms sector, warned Charlotte Goodwill BSc (Hons), MITP , CEO, The Institute of Telecommunications Professionals (ITP) .

“We can’t let NI rises be a reason to scale back on apprenticeships and investment in young talent,” stated Goodwill.

“If we want a thriving telecoms sector we must invest in the next generation, even when it feels financially challenging. The costs are temporary but the benefits of a skilled, future-ready workforce are permanent.”

Goodwill conceded that a 41 percent increase in the cost to employ an 18-year-old trainee is ‘steep’, especially when compared to the 6 percent rise for experienced hires over the coming two of years.

“However, investing in apprenticeships isn’t just about addressing immediate needs, it’s about creating a pipeline of skilled professionals who will drive future innovation and growth,” added Goodwill.

“The long-term benefits far outweigh the short-term challenges.”

According to Goodwill, businesses have for too long focused on quick wins, hiring experienced talent rather than nurturing the next generation.

“Our industry is facing a talent crisis,” she said. “Instead of seeing cost increases as an obstacle we should ask: How can we adapt?

“Young people are eager to join our sector. They bring fresh energy, creativity and a digital-first mindset,” said Goodwill.

“By leveraging existing schemes and Government funding apprenticeships can become a key part of a broader strategy.”

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Openreach boosts full fibre sign-ups with self-service platform

Openreach's new online self-service platform has reduced missed appointments by 30 percent, helping save thousands of hours in wasted engineer visits, and boosted numbers installing a full fibre service.

Change My Appointment, launched in April, lets customers be in charge and connect with Openreach’s to book or change engineer appointments through a live interactive calendar, allowing bookings up to three months in advance and cancellation up to a day before.

Previously, customers could only amend appointments via a text service with limited date options.

They would text a preferred date then have to wait for a confirmation text from Openreach; due to the delay in some cases the requested date wasn’t available.

Research data showed frustration with the process led many to miss appointments, avoid rescheduling, or cancel their orders entirely.

Openreach’s new platform is the key innovation in a customer experience programme which has boosted full fibre sign-ups by reducing missed appointments, as more than half of those who miss appointments go on to cancel their orders.

This reduction has led to an estimated 20,000 customers getting connected to full fibre since the programme launched.

Prior to the introduction of the platform, customers had to call their provider to change appointments, which was time-consuming for both sides.

The new platform reduces the effort for both customers and provider, and saves the time customer service teams spend dealing with appointment amendments.

The platform took a year to develop and build in collaboration with Adobe Experience Manager sites and AI driven customer service platform ContactEngine.

Christopher Herbert , Director of Customer Service at Openreach , said: “It’s the first time Openreach has designed a system like this for end customers and, initially, there was some scepticism from our CP partners about a network wholesaler having this level of interaction with their own customers – but we’ve worked hard to win their trust, and the success of this platform is testament to that.”

Fidelity Energy celebrates consultancy award win

Fidelity Energy Ltd is celebrating winning the ‘Most Trusted Consultancy – SME’ award at the recent Energy Live News Consultancy Awards 2024, recognising the investment made by the company in training and technology for its employees to offer high quality services.

The Energy Live Consultancy Awards (TELCA) is an annual ceremony that celebrates and recognises the best consultants, brokers and TPIs in the UK.

On receiving the award, John Haw , CEO, commented: “Our recognition as one of the UKs most trusted SME suppliers is a testament to whole team’s integrity.

“It demonstrates to customers that when working with Fidelity Energy they can be sure they are being treated fairly and honestly,” he concluded.

CMA approves merger of Vodafone and Three in the UK

The UK’s biggest phone network merger of Vodafone with Three has been given conditional approval by the competition watchdog, despite saying just months ago that it could cost tens of millions customers more.

After 18?months of detailed and thorough analysis, regulator the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has decided that the merger should be allowed to proceed if both companies sign binding commitments to invest billions to roll out a combined 5G network across the UK.

The decision means the number of mobile phone networks reduces from four to three and creates the UK's biggest provider with 27 million customers.

Both Vodafone and Three UK welcome the announcement by the CMA.

In its final decision, published in early December, the group has confirmed it is now satisfied that the proposed network commitment, supported by shorter term protections for both retail and wholesale customers, resolve its competition concerns.

More

Daisy enhances telecoms system for Highland Council

Daisy, part of the Wavenet Group, has transformed the communications infrastructure for Highland Council in a major upgrade that modernises 5,000 lines across schools, businesses, and two contact centres with a RingCentral cloud-based unified?solution.

The enhanced system improves the reliability and efficiency of essential services, ensuring that 100 percent of emergency calls related to health and social care, housing, roads, and public buildings are now answered.

The Council’s previous telecoms system powered 400 sites across the region, including 200 schools, and relied on traditional phone lines for residents and businesses to contact council services.

This limited contact centre call capacity to just 30 at a time and led to poor call quality, busy signals, and a substandard customer experience.

The upcoming PSTN switch-off also provided a deadline for the council to upgrade its legacy system.

Working closely with Highland Council and RingCentral , Daisy implemented RingEX, a cloud-based infrastructure solution to consolidate phone lines and communication tools.

Highland Council has since increased call capacity while eliminating long wait times, as well as streamlining operational efficiency and gaining greater insight into key metrics such as call abandon rates.

“The successful implementation of RingEX has elevated collaboration and allowed for better operational control to support a smooth employee experience,” concluded Lee Hunwick , Head of UC&C at Wavenet.

Westcon-Comstor becomes AWS UK & Ireland distributor

In a strategic expansion of its cloud offering for channel partners, Westcon-Comstor omstor has signed an agreement to become an authorised Amazon Web Services (AWS) distributor for the UK & Ireland.

The distribution agreement will focus primarily on driving end-user adoption of the AWS portfolio in the SMB and public-sector domains.

It will create growth opportunities for Westcon-Comstor partners by giving them access to the AWS portfolio of cloud products and solutions.

Westcon-Comstor will use its cloud capabilities and provide partners with support designed to accelerate their AWS success.

This includes helping partners to develop their AWS go-to-market strategy, access AWS funding programmes, and build technical expertise through enablement.

In-country sales, pre-sales and marketing teams will complement partner recruitment and enablement strategies and data-driven demand generation programmes.

Harnessing the expertise of Rebura LTD. - following its acquisition earlier this year - partners will be able to provide AWS services to their customers, spanning migrations, modernisations and managed services.

David Grant , CEO at Westcon-Comstor, said: “We’ve built a comprehensive AWS framework, providing partners with the expertise and support needed to accelerate their cloud business growth and ensure success in the AWS ecosystem.”

The agreement will cover?the entire European Economic Area (EEA) plus Switzerland.

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