Tag Archives: Blended Services

Press Release: Gintel and Intracom Telecom launch new partnership to accelerate service delivery for CSPs

Posted by Gintel on 25/02/2013 None comments

Cloud-Powered Intelligent Enterprise Communications solution launched

Gintel and Intracom Telecom established a partnership for the delivery of a joint offering towards Communication Service Providers (CSPs).

Intracom Telecom is incorporating Gintel’s suite of Mobile Unified Communications solutions, including the Easy VPaBX, into its portfolio of scalable, high-performance VAS and NGIN services. The joint Cloud-Powered Intelligent Enterprise Communications solution is a complete, end-to-end package for CSPs addressing SME and large corporate customers, in a timely and cost-minded manner.

The combination of Gintel and Intracom Telecom ensures smooth deployment and easy adoption, based on proven and market-leading technologies. The joint solution targets mobile and fixed operators, MVNO’s and in general Service Providers, wishing to offer competitive cloud-based solutions to SME’s and enterprise customers.

Operators such as Tele2, Telenor, Orange, Axiata and many others have successfully built profitable enterprise businesses based on Gintel’s technology. The combination of Gintel and Intracom Telecom draws on a global deployment base, proven solutions and industry-leading expertise.

Intracom Telecom has extensive know-how and a proven track record of 35 years in the telecommunications market, servicing more than 100 renowned customers in over 70 countries. The company maintains subsidiaries across Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa, Asia and North America.

About Gintel

Gintel is a leading developer of advanced application software for telecoms operators and service providers, enabling them to offer innovative and highly competitive services to the highly profitable business subscriber segment. Established as an R&D division of Telenor and spun-out as an independent company in 2001, Gintel has been at the forefront of IN and service innovation for over 15 years and our solutions and applications are used by millions of subscribers each day.

Today, Gintel is dramatically changing the way in which operators compose and deliver services to enterprise customers. Our value proposition and service offer is build around our unique combination of in-depth telco domain knowledge and the expertise to leverage emerging IT principles.

Gintel’s solutions are platform independent and have been deployed in real networks, providing the assurance that our pioneering technology is rooted in practical experience. We invite you to explore our website and to learn how we can help you deliver enhanced solutions that will enrich your customers’ experiences. Talk to us. We are listening.

Gintel AS is registered and headquartered in Norway.

About Intracom Telecom

Intracom Telecom is a global telecommunication systems vendor operating for 35 years in the market. The company innovates in the wireless access and transmission field, offers a competitive telco software solutions portfolio and combines its offerings with a complete range of professional services. Intracom Telecom invests significantly in developing cutting-edge products and solutions while exploiting its advanced in-house R&D center. Over 100 customers in more than 70 countries choose Intracom Telecom for its state-of-the-art offerings. The company’s clientele consists of fixed & mobile telecom operators, public authorities and large enterprises. Intracom Telecom’s major shareholders are Intracom Holdings and Sitronics.

For further information contact:

Gintel

Guy Redmill,

guy.redmill@gintel.com

tel: +44 774 088 1279

Marketing Director

www.gintel.com

Intracom Telecom

19.7 km Markopoulou Ave., 19002 Peania, Athens, Greece

tel: +30 2106671000 | fax: +30 2106671001

info@intracom-telecom.com | www.intracom-telecom.com

Are You Really Working from Home?

Posted by Gintel on 14/11/2012 None comments

For a long time, the phrase “I’m working from home” has generated considerable scepticism. Those who work from home claim it can significantly increase efficiency and productivity. Those in the office often have highly negative views regarding such claims.

Now, new research suggests the sceptics are wrong and that those working from home enjoy the benefits claimed. The research “Does working from home work? Evidence from a Chinese experiment” by Bloom et al (2012) was based on a study of customer service agents working for a travel company in China. Normally, the agents would work in a call centre, but remote login and registration is also possible, thanks to a hosted deployment model.

To avoid any selection bias, agents were randomly selected for a trial and their progress tracked over time. The employees chosen were given the opportunity to work from home for four days each week during the trial period. The results should confound sceptics everywhere.

In the trial group, performance levels (in terms of key metrics such as the number of calls answered) showed a clear improvement, up by as much as 13% according to the authors, even allowing for normal variation within a cohort. Better still, this led to an increase in the number of orders booked, as conversion rates remained the same. This is a clear financial benefit that can also be bolstered by cost savings that accrue from not supporting the agents on site.

But the benefits were not just financial – remote agents spent longer working but had a reduced leave of absence. In other words, they weren’t off sick as much. Finally, the staff retention rates among the remote agents showed a distinct improvement, saving further costs in an industry that is well known for high levels of attrition.

It seems clear remote working, far from being the easy option, generates significant benefits for employers and employee alike. Even in intensive occupations such as a call centre, employers can increase revenue and reduce costs while stressed workers can benefit from increased satisfaction and loyalty.

The industry has been making positive claims regarding home workers for a long time. Finally, academic research appears to be validating them.

Our solutions enable a wide range of flexible employment models, enabling workers to access the same capabilities irrespective of location. Service providers can deploy advanced, scalable contact centre and Mobile PBX solutions that generate proven benefits and increase efficiency.

 

BYOD Continues to Puzzle the Experts. It’s Simple: it’s About Mobility.

Posted by Gintel on 27/08/2012 None comments

In a recent comment, Ian Hunter of UK journal Comms Business posed the following question: “Why should staff be using mobiles/smartphones when they have a desk phone and desktop PC?

It’s a fair question and was raised in relation to the emerging topic of “Bring your own device”. If the issue is whether staff should have multiple devices – mobile, fixed and so on, then it’s legitimate to enquire about costs.

But it somewhat ignores the advantages to be found in using mobile devices for communication in terms of cost, convenience and productivity benefits if deployed in conjunction with a Mobile PBX or Centrex solution.

First, with the right Mobile PBX solution, calls from mobile devices to colleagues (“on-net” calls, as we would normally say) can be extremely cost effective. Secondly, the actual cost of a mobile device is generally reasonable in comparison to a specialist desk phone. Thirdly, the convenience far outweighs any disadvantage. You can’t pick up the desk phone and take it on the train, but you can do exactly that with a mobile device.

If employees can stay connected irrespective of location, it means they can respond to enquiries faster, ensuring jobs are completed quicker and productivity can be enhanced.

What’s needed is a clear mobile PBX package to ensure that mobile devices are linked to the communication platform, enabling clear and efficient communication at all times and access to the same features that have been traditionally associated only with desk phones (call transfer, hunting, etc).

Perhaps a better question is, if mobile PBX services are available, why would you want a desk phone at all? Why not shift all communication across to mobile devices, softphone clients and so on? Then employees can bring any device they want to work and the company will save money by not having to purchase more fixed hardware. The answer seems to be that Mobile PBX solutions are not well understood. Pundits seem to think that fixed is superior in terms of functionality and that mobile is really an adjunct to a fixed-orientated solution. This simply isn’t true.

Across Scandinavia, enterprises have embraced mobility. Surprisingly, other developed economies have clung on to a legacy model in which the office-based PBX still dominates. This model is redundant – and emerging economies are recognising this, as mobile infrastructure provides cost and connectivity advantages, enabling enterprises to bypass legacy models completely and move directly to an all-mobile model. The problem seems to be that few IP Centrex solutions adequately address the needs of the mobile, an issue we have covered before.

Mobile PBX ensures that a mobile device is fully integrated into the communications service and not treated as simply an end point for call termination. With such solutions, there are no compromises. Users obtain exactly the same features on their mobile devices as users with fixed terminals, effectively making fixed terminals less attractive.

There’s nothing wrong with desk phones and there will always be a need for some to leverage them. But in an increasingly mobile world, it’s time to recognise that the mobile can deliver the same features and benefits as traditional fixed solutions – with the clear advantages of, well, we can’t avoid saying it – mobility – and device choice, ubiquity and so on.

 

Cloud Services in Emerging Markets – An Opportunity for Telcos to Drive Growth

Posted by Gintel on 20/08/2012 None comments

In a recent webinar, leading analyst Camille Mendler from Informa, drew attention to the leading role telcos are playing in cloud service delivery in emerging markets. A number of key advantages held by telcos were identified to support this argument:

  •  Ownership of the wide area network
  • Distribution channels
  • Billing relationships
  • Security control
  • Datacentres
  • Brand recognition
  • Personal connectivity

One of the greatest opportunities for uptake of cloud services is to be found in the enterprise, particularly among SME customers. As with most countries, the vast majority of private companies come from the SME segment, but “micro enterprises” – those companies with fewer than 10 employees – are particularly strongly represented in emerging economies.

Cloud services provide a considerable advantage to such companies, as they enable them to leverage productivity and efficiency gains with zero capital investment and, instead, predictable, monthly costs.

Telcos in emerging markets need to develop a clear cloud strategy to capitalise on this market opportunity. By offering cloud-based communications solutions (e.g. Mobile Centrex or PBX), telcos can tap into the micro enterprise market and deliver solutions that offer significant value, helping stimulate market growth.

Differentiation can be achieved by adding new features and capabilities, as well as complementary services to build a complete cloud service portfolio.

The message is clear. Telcos are strongly positioned to deliver a range of cloud services to a clearly defined audience with an appetite for advanced services. By making communications the pillar of the cloud strategy and adding further capabilities and services to enhance the offer, telcos will develop sticky customer relationships and build profitable cloud businesses. The risk is in doing nothing – if they hesitate, other players will enter the market and erode the advantage that telcos have today.

 

 

 

 

Building Virtual Organisations Part 2

Posted by Gintel on 18/07/2012 None comments

We wrote about virtual organisations recently to illustrate how companies can strengthen their virtual teams by providing appropriate communications tools and infrastructure. Adoption of Mobile PaBX services is particularly beneficial in this regard, as they enable companies to integrate all devices into the common PBX service and they remove any differentiation between termination devices.

In addition, there are other means through which virtual organisations can be strengthened. Sometimes, organisations consider mobile calling costs to be a premium service and that increased mobile usage may increase overall communications costs. In our experience, that’s a misconception.

While it is true that some hosted services that simply divert calls to mobiles can be expensive, that’s because the mobile is an add-on to the core fixed offer. Many providers are not equipped to properly manage mobile communications. They do not support a mobile centric proposition. But mobile network operators can – most enterprise mobile calling packages from MNOs come with significant airtime allowances and tend to be extremely cost effective.

But there’s more to it than that. If an employee is working from a particular remote location on a frequent basis – for example, from their home office – use of mobile geofencing techniques can offer significant advantages.

Geofencing allows users to nominate different zones in which they place calls and for mobile operators to offer special charging plans for calls made within these zones. An operator can use geofencing to augment their Mobile PaBX offer and help organisations reduce costs.

What’s more, they can also offer “on-net” and “off-net” charging, meaning that calls within the user group are charged at a special rate (or not at all), while calls to other destinations are charged at the rate covered by the plan (or use the airtime budget).

Mobile operators are uniquely placed to add value to the virtual organisation. By offering geofencing and special charging plans, they can remove barriers to the adoption of hosted services and help organisations deliver clear advantages through virtual working plans.

A truly Mobile centric offer has many benefits that are not available through legacy IP Centrex models. Today’s workforce needs enhanced communication, but, in turn, that needs the right tools. Mobile PaBX offers unique advantages and represents the next phase in the evolution of workplace communications.