Author: matt

Multimedia Communications is the future and is a critical part of your company’s digital transformation roadmap.

The Avaya Vantage handset gives a whole new meaning to AI.

• Accelerates interactions with one touch access to all important tools like voice, chat and collaboration.
• Apps Integration puts cloud services right on the Desktop.
• AI Apps help you to work smarter and get more done.

Watch this short video to see the summary benefits of AI at the desktop with Avaya Vantage:

Evoke Telecom’s ‘Call to Action’

If you would like more information on how Avaya Vantage can support your digital transformation roadmap or help you to work smarter, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Our expert team can be contacted at hello@evoketelecom.local or 01509 278278.

For more information on the Avaya IX smart collaboration range please click here to download the PDF brochure.

Video conferencing is becoming ever more popular as companies look to improve flexible working opportunities and effective long-distance communication for their employees and their customers.

Many years ago, video conferencing was simply not affordable for most companies as it required a multi-thousand-pound investment with dedicated conference room equipment and facilities. However, today with the availability of superfast broadband and cloud technologies, video conferencing is both affordable and easy to use.

According to Avaya, organisations will potentially use multiple meeting room solutions going forward. This will lead to an increasing demand for solutions that play well together. Avaya’s tools are designed to work regardless of the platform you plug them into.

Avaya Equinox Meetings Online is a cost effective, subscription based hosted cloud offering providing fast, easy and cost-effective access to everything you need for Video, Audio, Screen Sharing & Collaboration.

Avaya Equinox Meetings Online is accessed via a simple link. No need to download any software.

Investment in video cameras, web cameras and speakers are also entirely down to customer choice. You might wish to integrate what you already have or select from Avaya’s range of huddle room options through to full board room equipment. Should you find that some of your conference participants are not able to access a PC or Web Cam at the time of the call, there is an Audio option where you can simply dial in using a local telephone number with pin code entry.

Huddle rooms and pop-up meeting areas will continue to become favoured over boardroom-style meetings in this new work environment.

One of the biggest challenges for all meetings is audio projection and picking up individual comments from participants in a large room. Not a problem, just link the solution into your conference phone or even upgrade to something exciting like the amazing Yealink CP960.

At a time where Microsoft are very much in transition mode from Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams, this gives you a sure-fire option using futureproof equipment and AI (artificial intelligence) at an extremely affordable cost. You also don’t need to be running an Avaya system to subscribe to Equinox Meetings Online, giving you complete independence now and in the future.

From cancelling out distracting noises and automated meeting transcripts through to using human recognition to optimise meeting performance, AI is changing the way we collaborate.

Evoke Telecom’s ‘Call to Action’

If you would like to discuss or brainstorm your Video Conferencing strategy with one of the Evoke team, please don’t hesitate to call us on 01509 278278 or if you prefer, you can email the team at hello@evoketelecom.local

In the Evoke January newsletter we provided a comprehensive guide to the 2025 digital switchover. We are aware that subsequently many of you are being increasingly bombarded with telesales calls from alternative providers insisting that you must upgrade to SIP immediately to avoid putting your business at risk. Here is a quick re-cap and latest updates on this key topic.

BT has announced the phasing out of the ISDN and PSTN networks with ALL businesses to migrate to IP networks by 2025.

SIP Trunking is already the recognised alternative to PSTN and ISDN lines for delivering IP technology (some people refer to this as VOIP lines) – allowing you to run voice and data over a secure internet connection rather than multiple fixed lines. By using virtual rather than physical phone lines, SIP allows for better flexibility, scalability and a large reduction in costs.

In order to run SIP Trunking, you need to have high quality superfast broadband in place as a minimum.

So, where are BT now on their journey to an all-digital UK infrastructure?

• Two trials proposed by Openreach (Openreach are owned by BT but are a separate company within the group) will prepare the industry for the switch to all-IP tech says the infrastructure provider.
• In what Openreach calls a ‘hugely complex task’ the upgrade of customers onto full fibre broadband and digital voice services in Salisbury and Mildenhall will set the stage for a wider migration across the UK ahead of the withdrawal of wholesale products and services that run over the traditional telephone network.
• Openreach intends to work with network and service providers (such as BT, Sky and TalkTalk) to build out the project into other regions.
• Openreach expects four million homes and businesses to have access to its FTTP (Fibre to the premises broadband) service by April 2021 (This will eventually replace FTTC broadband which still relies on copper/traditional cabling for the last mile from the BT cabinet to the customer or business premises).
• In October we will hear more from Openreach following the results of a consultation which ran until 31^st July 2019. The next update will provide more trial details and timescales.

Interestingly there has been some backlash from the UK Telecom’s industry following Boris Johnson’s full-fibre internet pledge, which essentially is only in line with the published timelines committed to by BT in 2018.

There are four key problems causing delays, all of which must be resolved “within the next 12 months” to achieve the high-speed internet goal.

Planning reform – at present telecom providers need to get a type of permission known as a “wayleave agreement” to get access to land and buildings to install cables. But in many cases property owners are unresponsive. The industry wants ministers to force landlords to provide access if a tenant has requested a full-fibre or other connection be installed. At Evoke, we  rarely come across this issue but when we do, by working closely with landlords and solicitors we tend to get this easily resolved.

Fibre tax – the so-called tax refers to the fact that fibre infrastructure currently has business rates applied to it, just like other commercial property. The industry claims this discourages investment and should be rethought

New builds – the government has carried out a consultation into whether new-build home developments must incorporate gigabit-capable internet connections but has yet to publish its response. In the meantime, the industry says too many new homes are still being developed without provision for fibre broadband

Skills – many engineers will be required to carry out all the work involved. BT and Virgin Media have previously warned that Brexit could result in labour shortages. The industry says more money must be committed to training, and it must also be allowed to continue to “compete for global talent”

Openreach, which maintains the UK’s digital network infrastructure, said it welcomed the government’s ambition but warned: “Upgrading the entire UK network is a major civil engineering challenge.”

Evoke Telecom’s ‘Call to Action’

Here at Evoke Telecom we have a wide range of internet broadband connectivity products available from basic ADSL circuits right the way through to high bandwidth dedicated internet circuits. We supply available services from the UK’s top providers including BT, Gamma, TalkTalk and Virgin. So, if you are concerned that your current service might not be the best that you can receive, or perhaps isn’t as keenly priced as you feel it might be – then give us a call! What is more, the prices of private dedicated circuits are really starting to come down to very affordable levels. Might a private circuit be the answer that you are looking for?

So, if you would like a free check of what connectivity and internet access services are available in your area why not give our super helpful team a call on 01509 278278 or whizz them a line at hello@evoketelecom.local ~ we will be delighted to help.

For our existing customers, we will continue to work with you to ensure you are able to benefit from the very best, high quality services available in your area, at the right time for you and for your budget/infrastructure. If you are concerned about any aspect of this topic or if you haven’t had the opportunity to talk to one of the team yet about your digital roadmap, then please do not hesitate to give us a call at your convenience.

Image credits:

1. Main image : Riick
2. Boris Johnson : Andrew Parsons/ i-Images
3. Roadworks : Kai Hendry

The Mobile phone group Giffgaff has been fined £1.4m by regulator Ofcom for “unacceptable” billing mistakes that saw 2.6 million customers overcharged over an 8-year period.

Ofcom said Giffgaff, owned by O2’s parent Telefonica, overcharged people up to a total of almost £2.9m.

“Getting bills right is a basic duty for every phone company,” said Gaucho Rasmussen of Ofcom. “But Giffgaff made unacceptable mistakes, leaving millions of customers out of pocket.”

He added: “This fine should serve as a warning to all communications providers: if they get bills wrong, we’ll step in to protect customers.”

The problem occurred because customers who bought a Giffgaff “goodybag” bundle – comprising voice and text minutes as well as data allowances – using their prepaid credit, were overcharged.

Ofcom said there was a delay in Giffgaff applying the bundle purchase to customers’ accounts. This meant that any voice calls made, or data used, came out of their pre-paid credit.

The regulator said the services should have been free immediately from the point the bundle was purchased,
and customers had effectively been charged twice.

“Ofcom rules require telecoms providers to bill customers accurately for the services they use,” the regulator said.

Refunds

For any of our customers that are affected. Ofcom said that Giffgaff – which uses O2’s network to provide mobile services to its customers – had already refunded about £2.1m to affected customers.

Customers who consider they are still due a refund can contact the company.

Evoke Telecom’s ‘Call to Action’

At Evoke, getting our bills right first time is of paramount importance to our brand and reputation. As standard, we provide a clear bill every month to our customers with an accompanying report to show an itemised breakdown of all call charges and services. As per Ofcom’s response to the Giff Gaff debacle – A simple and accurate bill is absolutely a basic duty for every telecoms company.

In our 6-year history, the Evoke billing team can boast that they have never had a single billing mistake and we receive excellent feedback from our customers with regards to billing and report format.

If you are struggling to make head or tail of your current bill and would like to talk to an expert, then why not contact our helpful team by dialling 01509 278278 or if you prefer, you can email the team at hello@evoketelecom.local

Just last week, the UK railways were in chaos as searing heat sparked fear of derailed trains.The ongoing problems came after thousands of passengers were left stranded at major stations on Thursday, the hottest July day on record, as temperatures of up to 38.7C (100.6F) created havoc for some train operators. This week we see UK weather warnings for ‘danger to life’ flooding across Derbyshire and 10 flood alerts across the nation. All of this coupled with the increasingly busy roads and inefficient public transport links, what can we do to keep our businesses running and employees productive?

Where are we up to with flexible working in the UK?

• Over four million Britons permanently work from home which equates to approximately 13.7% of the UK workforce.
• It was predicted that by 2020 over 50% of the UK workforce would work remotely. We are not quite there yet but increasingly the topic of flexible working is picking up pace at Evoke. We are regularly talking to our existing and new customers about their technology roadmaps and where they see flexible working and disaster recovery solutions fitting into the overall operation of the business.

Evoke flexible working packages typically provide solutions for 4 main scenarios:

1. As a permanent solution for an employee that needs secure access to office communications and systems from home.
2. As a hybrid solution for employees that blend working in an office with remote or home working. These employees will need to access office communications and systems from the office, home or whilst they are on the move.
3. As a mobile solution for employees who are generally on the move but need to keep in regular contact with their peers in the office or at home.
4. As a DR (Disaster Recovery) solution. As an example, if all office workers were unable to reach the office for any reason (such as a heatwave or flood) they can still access critical communications remotely and operate securely, as if they were in the office.

Evoke can also create a bespoke flexible working programme for your business to accommodate a different mix of employee user types and scenarios. Don’t be caught short with the next heatwave or flood 😊

Evoke Telecom’s ‘Call to Action’

At Evoke Telecom we provide flexible working and DR (disaster recovery) solutions for businesses large and small. If you need advice on UC and how it could help your business and your employees embrace flexible working conditions, please not hesitate to contact us.

Our super helpful and rather lovely team can be contacted at hello@evoketelecom.local or 01509 278278.

Image credit: Oatsy40

As regular readers of our newsletter, or those who follow us on social media, will be well aware, here at Evoke Telecom we have been banging on about dreadful broadband speeds in the UK since Noah was in short pants!

So, the latest news from Ofcom on new broadband minimum speeds is sweet music to our ears. This great news is that Ofcom has officially launched the broadband ‘universal service obligation’, that is targeted at entitling everyone to decent broadband.

Now when we say ‘decent’ broadband ~ the minimum download speed required of a broadband connection under this scheme is 10 Mbps. Now, you would think that delivering that as a minimum wouldn’t really be a problem for OpenReach wouldn’t you, especially as the obligation doesn’t kick-in until March of next year. However recent research would suggest that there are as many as 600,000 homes and businesses that still don’t have broadband up to that standard. Dreadful isn’t it! Well, BT’s answer to this log jam is the suggestion that rural locations use fixed EE mobile network SIM cards for their broadband supply. A suggestion that is fully supported by those wise sages in Westminster.

“Connecting the UK with decent broadband is absolutely key to ensuring that Britain’s digital infrastructure is fit for the future,” .. “Fixed Wireless Access is already transforming people’s lives, providing a fast and reliable service that means they can do everything from everyday online tasks like banking or shopping to streaming films or playing games. There’s still lots more to be done, but this is a positive step forward in the right direction.”

John Lamont MP, Chair of the All-Party Broadband and Communication Group.

Genius suggestion, after all we always get high quality, superfast seamless 4G mobile whenever we trek out into the rural wilds, don’t we!

For us, the thing that is most frustrating is that BT, the protagonist in driving everyone towards VoIP, is struggling to provide the broadband services people need. Come that day in 2025 when traditional PSTN access services are turned off, we will all need suitable broadband to facilitate the move to IP calling over the internet. Come on Openreach – get a wiggle on!

Evoke Telecom’s ‘Call to Action’

Well, not to fear (too much) as all is not lost. Here at Evoke Telecom we have a wide range of internet broadband connectivity products available from basic ADSL circuits right the way through to high bandwidth dedicated internet circuits. We supply available services from the UK’s top providers including BT, Gamma, TalkTalk and Virgin. So, if you are concerned that your current service might not be the best that you can receive, or perhaps isn’t as keenly priced as you feel it might be – then give us a call! What is more, the prices of private dedicated circuits are really starting to come down to very affordable levels. Might a private circuit be the answer that you are looking for?

So, if you would like a free check of what connectivity and internet access services are available in your area why not give our super helpful team a call on 01509 278278 or whizz them a line at hello@evoketelecom.local ~ we will be delighted to help.

Last month Ericsson-LG’s exclusive UK distributor ‘Pragma’ took to the highways and byways, travelling literally the length and breadth of the land. They visited Edinburgh, Leeds, Cheltenham and London, delivering their ‘Ideas Lab’ workshops.

The objective of this new style of ‘roadshow’ was to share recent product updates and promote their Idea’s Lab Workshop initiative.

Great news for us in that it gave us the inside knowledge as to what is new, which we have then decided to distil down (to the more ‘interesting bits’) and share with you.

First of all, Ericsson-LG are now enabling a selection of Yealink handsets to be connected to both their on premise eMG80 and UCP systems, as well as their cloud platform. To be fair, we already use some of these handsets elsewhere and I must say we really do like some of them – in particular the fabulous CP960 Conference Phone.

The fabulous Yealink CP960 Conference Phone

With a focus on innovation and creation, Yealink is a leading provider of UC devices and endpoints. With a number 1 market share of the SIP phone market we are excited to offer 3 devices that can be sold across our On-Premise platforms;

• W53P Wireless DECT Phone:
  The W53P represents a reliable, cost-effective options for customers looking for a mid-level DECT IP phone. W53P also offers premium, stable HD audio quality for efficient and clear communication. The W53P also offers ergonomic design with a stylish and professional appearance (Call Page not supported)

• CP960 Conference Phone:
  With outstanding sound quality, the CP960 is an Enterprise-grade conference phone for mid-sized and large-sized meeting rooms. The CP960 brings together wide-range and dead-zone-free voice pickup with Yealink’s Noise Proof technology making it the perfect tool for day-to-day business conference calls. CP960 also supports a fully interactive touch-screen, WiFi and Bluetooth for maximum flexibility around deployment and usability.

• CP920 Conference Phone:
  Delivering ‘best-in-class’ HD audio, the CP920 is ideally suited to small and mid-sized meeting rooms. Like its bigger brother, the CP920 supports a touch-screen and support for Bluetooth and WiFi.

The team has also delivered another software update for its eMG80 and UCP platforms, catchilly badged Unified 3.5 software release.

This new release brings:-

• Enhancements to how IP DECT is delivered – supporting the deployment of the wonderful new i62 devices
• RESTful API ~ making super use of HTTP protocols and as such enabling more efficient and cost effective use of bandwidth for internet traffic.
• System paging and alarm enhancements ~ enhancing our safeguarding offers
• Updated UCS application – in particular support of more than 300 CRM platforms
• And some other less ‘headline worthy’ minor system feature updates

These upgrades are fabulous in that they improve IP DECT capability, enhance API capability and increase group communication and safety functionality of existing systems.

So, if your Ericsson-LG Software Support & Assurance is up to date, the team will be contacting you in the not too distant future to discuss your upgrades.

If you would like to know more about Ericsson-LG iPECS telephone systems, the new Yealink handsets, the fabulous new opportunities using IP DECT and the Ascom i62 ~ or perhaps wish to check your SSA is up to date, then why not contact our guys n gals on 01509 278278 or let you fingers do the walking all the way to hello@evoketelecom.local

Another article which has caught our eye this month was a piece on a suspected global telecom hacking campaign.

US cyber security vendor Cybereason, say that they first spotted concerning trends last year as they investigated suspicious activity on one of their customer’s networks. It is thought that perhaps as many as 10 global networks may have been involved in multiple and ongoing cyber intrusions going back as far as 2017. The main activity seems to centre around accessing mobile telephone networks and pulling down their calling data records and other sensitive information. It is estimated that the records of 100’s of millions of users may well have been taken. The reason this is worrying is that these records provide a fairly detailed account of an individual’s activities, geographical and possibly even geolocation information.

Cybereason are pointing their finger firmly in the direction of the Chinese state, calling this  a government sponsored espionage initiative. All very interesting stuff given recent US and wider global concerns around the activities of the Huawei Corporation. “The plot thickens” as the saying goes!

Cyber-Fraud, or what used to be called ‘Toll Fraud’ in the telecoms industry is a massive global concern. This is where criminals hack into your telephone system and then use this as a calling gateway from which they can make massive financial gain, at your expense. Did you know that Cyber-Telecoms fraud has been recently estimated as $32.7bn annual global problem. To be fair, the figures do vary year on year between $12bn and $40bn depending on which report you read – but nonetheless even at $12bn this is bigger than credit card fraud!

To help combat this, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre created the CyTel working group in 2018, bringing together more than 60 experts from law agencies and the global telecommunications industry to share intelligence, knowledge and experience. Many of the methods for accessing client and operator networks have been detailed in the recent Europol Cyber-Telecom Crime 2019 report.

Evoke Telecom’s ‘Call to Action’

But, don’t worry, there are many steps that you can take to secure or protect your telecoms environment. Good housekeeping with passwords, diligence with IT servers and switch ports, plus good firewall disciplines all help. What is more you can add fraud cover to your telephone lines offering financial protection should your telephone system become the victim of a cyber-intrusion. We can help.

Here is a link to our website for more guidance: Telecom Fraud Protection

If you are unsure or perhaps even concerned and would like to talk to an expert, then why not contact our helpful team by dialling 01509 278278 or you could always let your fingers do the talking by emailing hello@evoketelecom.local  

The sun at last came out and scene was set fair at beautiful Trent Bridge as we settled down with a small handful of customers to enjoy England’s Cricket World Cup match against Pakistan at the beginning of the month.

The ground was ‘abuzz’ with a wonderful mix of fans and entertainment including a very lively traditional dance display in full costume and in full flow. As you can see, they really did ‘raise the bar’ at Trent Bridge (ha ha). And despite the wonderful show of traditional Pakistani music the England fans were not to be outdone as we all sang along to Neil Diamond and his ‘Sweet Caroline’ (de de de, good times never seemed so good!).

It was a super day and we even managed to catch a little sunshine. We were never stumped for conversation. We perhaps managed to eat a little too much, but I am pleased to report drank just the right amount. A massive thank you to Richard from Premier Best Western, Andy from Learn Direct & Dimension Training Solutions and of course Chris from Ziggi Systems for taking the time out of their busy schedules to join us. It was not quite the result we were looking for at the end – but we didn’t let that spoil a truly memorable day.

Chris, Andy and Richard joined us at Trent Bridge.

Tony Eynon is a very busy man. That is because he is Managing Director of not just one, but two vibrant businesses down in sunny Cornwall.

Following nearly 10 years’ experience in the education services industry, Tony decided it was time to do something a bit different and upped sticks, relocating to St Austell on Cornwall’s golden south coast.

Famed for its beautiful sandy beaches, this has enabled Tony to follow his great passion in life, the sea. When we say ‘the sea’ we really mean on in and under the sea! What is more, it enabled him a new and wonderful work / life balance, running his ‘Extreme Sports Distribution’ and ‘Spearfishing UK’ companies.

Extreme Sports Distribution are the exclusive UK suppliers of the Gath brand of global market-leading extreme sports and emergency services helmets. Tony’s helmets can be used for Kayaking, Kite Surfing, Wake Boarding, White Water, Water Rescue and much much more.

Gath are the helmets of choice both for top athletes and for professional personnel including military, navy, coastguard, sea rescue, jet rescue, water fireman, water police and many more. Gath sets the standard! As do the team of experts on hand to help clients at Extreme Sports.

“We are very proud of our in-house sports enthusiasts, who are always available to share their knowledge and experience with our customers”

When he is not extoling the virtues of Gath Helmets, Tony can be found following his other love – spearfishing. Tony also owns and runs ‘Spearfishing UK’ from which his team sell everything you could ever need to follow this sport. They also offer spearfishing courses and spearfishing holidays, not only in the UK but also around world.

Tony Eynon loves being on and in and under the sea.

But where does telephony come in? Well, Tony soon realised that if you are going to run two businesses day to day, you will need good communications if you are to be effective. So, needless to say, he came to Evoke Telecom for a solution. We were able to provide our Horizon Cloud telephony solution which has enabled him to manage both companies, in or out of the office, with equal efficiency and customer satisfaction. Tony’s team use the Polycom VVX411 handsets and the Horizon smartphone applications, to provide ‘always available’ internal and external communication.

“We were struggling to find the answer to how we could bring all of our communications together. David and the team at Evoke have been amazing. They have put together a great solution which is making life so much easier for us and our customers”

Tony Eynon, MD.

You can find out more about Tony’s companies at http://www.extreme-sports.co.uk/ & https://www.spearfishing.co.uk/

Welcome to our May update, in the month that delivers not one but TWO, yes two bank holidays. What a wonderful month May is.

As the old saying goes “April showers bring May flowers”. All we can say is that April must have been very wet given the beautiful sight we are greeted with as we drive into the offices each morning. I’m rubbish at flowers and plants, but this is a good 12 to 15 feet high (see the flagpole in the background) and is truly breath taking!

Well just like April, May has delivered a rather mixed bag in the weather department, with May Day being re-named ‘Warm Jumper Day’. Yet on a few other days it has definitely been shirt sleeves order, but certainly not as hot as April was. Let’s hope it picks up soon because as far as I am concerned June is the start of summer, isn’t it!

May has seen the end of the winter sports seasons as relegation and promotions have all but been sealed in both football and rugby union. Big news for East Midlands teams on the football pitch has been the sad relegation of Notts County from the Football League. Previous heralded as the 157 years ‘oldest club in the football league’, alas a loss away to Macclesfield on the last day of the season saw “The Magpies” relegated to the football conference. Let’s hope they can bounce back next season.

On a more positive note Derby County managed to reach the play-offs, following a truly epic away performance versus the mighty Leeds United. Only a play off final on 27th against West Midlands footballing giants Aston Villa stands between them and the Premier League next season. A massive East Midlands GOOD LUCK to debutant manager Frank Lampard and The Rams.
And finally, it was a pretty inauspicious season for Leicester Tigers with the egg shaped ball, just avoiding relegation, at the expense of the Newcastle Falcons, phew but it was tight for a while! The Tigers have a wonderful heritage and history, so let’s hope they too can lift their game next season and bounce back.
Well, with footballs and rugby balls all packed away in the shed, it’s time now for a glass of G & T, (or perhaps Pimm’s?) and the sound of leather hitting willow. Nottinghamshire have already made a super start to the new season, reaching the semi-finals of the 50 over competition. However, in the longer form of the game Notts have yet to win a match in Division 1 of the County Championship ☹. In the 2nd division Leicestershire and Derbyshire have made better starts, well placed at 3rd and 4th in the table. Could we see promotions and all 3 East Midlands teams in the first division. We certainly hope so.

Getting back to telecoms, (sorry about that) we told you last month about the challenges facing Samsung with their new folding phone. Well, not wanting to be left out Huawei have had a bit of a month of it, but more about that later on in our article ‘it’s my way or the Huawei’ … sorry about that 😊

Whilst talking about headline making companies, have you seen the new BT rebrand? Some 3 years in the making (yes, honestly it has taken 3 years .), it looks a bit “Marmite” to us! But why not have a read on and see what you think?

We have also had a very frustrating month as new customers to Evoke have had to wrestle once again with missed clauses in contracts. It causes so many so much frustration when companies get caught out like this, so we thought we might whistle up a few lines to explain and perhaps offer some guidance.

Avaya continue on their journey from a predominantly hardware provider to more of a ‘Software as a Service’ organisation.  This has been further enhanced by their ever-deepening relationship with Google. This ever-blossoming alliance has been borne out with the launch of their much-awaited Cloud telephony offering, hosted guess where – yep you got it, in the Google cloud. We are extremely excited by this development and thought we might take some time to tell you all about it, so please do read on.

So with summer just over the horizon, why not grab a lovely cuppah and a hobnob, sit back, put those feet up and have a little read. Below is a list of this month’s contents, carefully crafted for your enjoyment 😊

Read our May updates here:

• Customer Corner
  • Contract Terms – are you Locked In and Locked Out?
• Evoke Informer
  • BT rebrand – is it the new ‘Marmite’.
  • ‘It’s my way or the Huawei’ ~ What is the Huawei noise all about?
  • Avaya Cloud – an exciting new launch

Thanks as always for the super feedback – we feel so positive about the wonderful response that we get each month about our newsletter, thank you! As always, enjoy, we hope you all have a super read.

And remember, whatever you do, why not go the extra mile – it’s never crowded!

hello@evoketelecom.local
Twitter: @evoke_telecom
Tel: 01509 278278

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Well, it’s becoming a bit of a thing with us writing all about brands and rebranding. But don’t worry, we really don’t think we are experts in this field but every now and then we just see something that we just felt that we have to share.

Yep, and we’ve got excited again this month because BT are rebranding. “Big Deal” we hear you say, but don’t be so hasty, read on.

Well the BT branding history goes back, and I mean way back.

Back in 1980 all the way through to 1991 the BT Logo looked like this:

At which point it went through a refresh and until 2003 it looked like this:

Then 2003 saw the 3rd iteration of the brand to today’s logo which you probably recognise:

Then in 2016 it all started again, and BT decided it needed new look for its now 13-year-old logo as it set out on a journey for a complete rebrand. The idea has been to create a more simplistic brand, symbolising ‘real change’. The result being flat black and white ‘BT’ letters in a circle. Yep.

The new BT logo. 3 years in the making it would seem.

However, in as much as the brands have been released and the press are being briefed, there is a note of caution as BT announce that brands are still to be finalised.

Notwithstanding, there has also been an announcement by a spokesperson that new branding will be gradually rolled out towards the end of the summer. As the brand announcement said …… ‘symbolising real change’

So, what do you think? Is it ‘Funky’? A ‘Change Agent’? Or simply ‘Emperors’ new clothes’ – we will leave it to you to decide. For my part I’d not exactly use the word ‘Racy!’

One thing is for sure, it is environmentally friendly in that it saves money on coloured inks.

Let’s just hope BT Sport doesn’t start to broadcast in ‘Black and White’ too as for us that would be one retro step too far?

BT Sports gets a rebrand too. Not the most vibrant we’ve ever seen.

Avaya deepens Google relationship and launches Cloud Platform – 2 exciting pieces of news! 

We are so excited to hear about Avaya furthering its integration with Google Cloud and launching their new Containerized Cloud Platform on Google Cloud.

Google is a member of Avaya’s AI ecosystem (Avaya A.I.Connect) which is geared around supporting and enabling businesses to drive a successful Digital Transformation (DX) strategy.

From an integration perspective, The key drivers are to fully leverage the AI (Artificial Intelligence) and cloud capabilities of both companies. A formidable pairing in our eyes, perfectly positioned to support the future direction of technologies and communications.

So, what can we expect to see? Avaya are going to embed Google Cloud’s machine learning technology within Avaya’s existing contact centre platform, enabling easy integration of digital AI capabilities and most important of all, a consistent and intelligent customer experience. The possibilities and power of leveraging this capability will give businesses running Avaya contact centre’s so much more value to transform the way they interact and understand their customers. We will keep you abreast as this exciting partnership develops.

Equally exciting is the launch of Avaya Containerized Cloud. This is their Cloud Telephony offering into the  SME and Midmarket segments in the UK.

Hosted on Google’s Cloud Platform, Avaya Cloud, powered by IP Office is an easy to set up, feature rich solution supporting up to 400 users or extensions on a single virtual call server with up to 60 voice mail channels. See below for the Avaya handset ranges supported on Avaya Cloud. The solution also supports 3rd party SIP endpoints so your existing investment could also be protected.

Many IP Office existing Avaya features are supported on Avaya Cloud which gives a great upgrade path for our existing Avaya customers looking to leverage the benefits of Cloud telephony whilst again, protecting their investment.

What is different about Avaya’s Containerized Cloud is pretty much summed up in the title. ‘Containerized’. You get your own box with your solution in it, in the cloud, at an affordable price. This gets rid of the huge bug bears we have with some cloud solutions that are shared (otherwise known as Public Cloud) and the never-ending comms re upgrades and bug fixes to accommodate fixes required for other customers issues.

What is more, it is really simple to understand as a customer. You get a simple telephony licence. If you want a softphone or smartphone app with Unified Communications tools you upgrade to a power licence. And if you want call recording you add a monthly ‘Media Server’ subscription to your package. Simple!

To assist the launch of this exciting new addition to the AVAYA family, we are able to offer the incredible new J169 handset FOC for each user taking out a new 3 years term. That’s nearly £300 worth of high end gigabit handset for free – amazing.

We have set the new platform up, rigorously tested it and I have to say are incredibly impressed. Some of our clients have had web demonstrations and I am pleased to report that we are already receiving our first orders as businesses make the switch. As an existing Avaya customer, you might well be able to re-use your existing handsets on the Avaya Cloud Platform.

Below is a list of compatible current devices.

If you would like to know more about how Avaya Containerized Cloud might help your team then drop us a line at hello@evoketelecom.local or give us a call on 01509 278278. If you are interested in the solution but have made significant investment in handsets, please let us know which handsets you are using as we may be familiar with these working with the Avaya solution or we can get these tested for you.