Although digital transformation amongst Legal firms has typically been comparatively slow compared to other sectors, the journey has picked up speed over the course of the last decade.
Although digital transformation amongst Legal firms has typically been comparatively slow compared to other sectors, the journey has picked up speed over the course of the last decade.
Exponential-e Ltd have been named a supplier on Crown Commercial Service's Network Services 3 framework (RM6116) for the following Lots:
This framework is the third iteration of the Network Services agreement. After an intensive supplier and customer engagement and evaluation process, Exponential-e can now support public sector buyers to procure a wide range of technologies and solutions either via Direct Award or Further Competition, and with greater flexibility for contracting terms.
Afshin Attari, Director of Public Sector & Unified Platforms for Exponential-e comments,
"This is truly a great achievement, and amazing result for Exponential-e as we aim to serve and deliver best value to the Public Sector. We know how crucial it is to our customers - old and new - that we retained our place as a supplier on this significant framework. Many buyers have already been enquiring about how they can use this framework to meet their operational needs, notably around critical national infrastructure projects and programmes. We look forward to continuing to help the UK Public Sector deliver better citizen outcomes in our capacity as a supplier on the new Network Services 3 agreement."
Crown Commercial Service supports the public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring common goods and services. In 2022/23, CCS helped the public sector to achieve commercial benefits equal to £3.8 billion - supporting world-class public services that offer best value for taxpayers.
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In the space of just a few short years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gone from being a somewhat niche field, to front and centre in the public consciousness. With the rise of ChatGPT and similar platforms, there is much speculation about where this technology is heading, and what its impact will be on our personal and professional lives. Indeed, organisations across numerous sectors are already exploring the different ways it can be utilised to reduce costs, optimise efficiency, and improve service quality.
Exponential-e today announced its partnership with Five9, the leading provider of the Intelligent CX Platform. The collaboration will mark the next stage in the evolution of Exponential-e's UC and CC solution portfolios, providing their teams with the means to design and deliver customer service transformation for clients. This, in turn, will help establish the new breed of contact centre as a critical part of delivering exceptional customer experiences in the new age of rapidly evolving AI technology.
The Five9 intelligent CX platform facilitates billions of call minutes annually, and provides digital engagement, analytics, workflow automation, workforce optimisation, and practical AI to create more human customer experiences, engage and empower contact center agents, and deliver tangible business results. Along with our people and the relationships they bring to our customer engagements, that is what creates our true CX difference.
As the ways in which we communicate and collaborate continue to evolve, the contact centre has become the focal point of many organisations' customer communication strategies. Exponential-e is working closely with a range of organisations across the private and public sectors to accelerate this journey, designing and delivering solutions that optimize the customer journey across every channel - empowering agents to deliver exceptional outcomes, while ensuring productivity and wellbeing are maintained.
Crucially Exponential-e and Five9 share a number of common values, including a focus on reliability, security, innovation, a commitment to service excellence, all delivered through a consultative approach.
The Five9 platform has a key role to play in this journey, providing Exponential-e's own specialists with a range of leading-edge tools to support modern organisations' increasingly sophisticated CX requirements.
Customer service has always been part of our company DNA, and partnering with Five9 was simply a logical next step. When we combine these tools with the right people and processes, I expect the results to be genuinely transformative for our customers, and their customers in turn.
Gareth Hayes
Head of UC & CX, Exponential-e.
Exponential-e's commitment to customer service has always stood out for us, and we're delighted to be partnering with them - not just to explore the full potential of these new solutions, but to ensure the human element remains at the heart of every customer interaction.
Thomas John
VP International, Partner Sales, Five9
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The Finance sector has always been one of the most dynamic, rapidly evolving industries, and this shows no signs of changing any time soon. But while shifts in the landscape may well open new opportunities, they will also come with new challenges, and it is the organisations who are ready and able to face these head-on who will continue to thrive in the years ahead.
Manufacturing workflows are evolving at an unprecedented rate, and the trend shows no signs of slowing down. The increasing effectiveness and affordability of 'smart' technologies and the Internet of Things means IT and OT are increasingly interconnected, with increasing volumes of data flowing between sites and devices on an ongoing basis.
The past few years have been challenging for the global Manufacturing sector, with both Brexit and COVID-19 creating a wide range of operational disruptions whose impact is still being felt. Indeed, as recently as January 2023, we saw UK manufacturing shrinking for the sixth consecutive month1.
Policymakers have now recognised that world-class digital connectivity and fast internet connections are as essential to the future of the society now as ports, railways, airports, and highways were throughout the last two centuries. Those systems transformed the way people lived and worked, irrevocably changing human conceptions of distance, speed, and time.
Achieving successful digital transformation across the Architecture, Engineering and Construction Sector.
New technologies are transforming every aspect of how projects are brought from conception to completion across the AEC sector. As a result, numerous leaders across the sector are accelerating their digital transformation plans, embracing the Cloud, AI, big data, and IoT in order to both overcome their immediate challenges and bring their long-term business goals closer.
Retailers - be they small local shops, online sellers, or top global brands - generate, transfer, and store more data than ever before, ranging from customer data (both online and in-store, as we have considered in previous articles), to supply chain and asset tracking data. Whether it's shopping online or utilising in-store apps to access the latest savings and special offers, the way customers shop has fundamentally changed forever, with the data they generate online and in person allowing retailers to build up unique personas that drive truly bespoke experiences.
Exponential-e and Vysiion are pleased to announce that both our companies are now active on the new Crown Hosting II framework, which went live on the 24th November.
As with the original framework, Crown Hosting II provides public sector organisations across the UK with access to world-class hosting services that are both cost-effective and environmentally friendly, hosted at the Government's data centres of choice – all of which are accredited to 'Official' as standard.
Having already been present on the original framework since its inception, we have already established a world-class reputation for supporting Crown Hosting customers. This new framework will further enhance our ability to deliver an expanded range of services to public sector organisations, without requiring them to go through a costly and time-consuming procurement process. This includes:
We are also able to deliver these services to commercial organisations who may be required to provide local services to public sector customers within the Crown Hosting data centres. We have data halls adjacent to the Crown Hosting facilities, which offer the same standards of security, resilience, and energy efficiency. These can be procured directly from us.
As with the previous framework, these services will continue to be delivered by our highly experienced engineers and architects, all of whom have earned the full complement of certifications and qualifications required to design and deliver public sector projects and draw on deep technical knowledge of the Crown Hosting data centres.
Contact us today to discuss your hosting requirements in depth and establish how we can best support you.
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There's no doubt that the current economic environment has led to feelings of instability, in both our personal and professional lives. Consumers are feeling the pinch, and with rising inflation and interest rates, they will have no choice but to curtail their spending. The impact on business is similarly far-reaching. Aside from the economic impact of the reduction in spending, there is the very real situation that both employees and customers will be experiencing stress in their personal lives. As a result, many organisations across the public and private sectors are evaluating how to best maintain their service quality under these difficult circumstances.
The Retail sector is more diverse, dynamic, and rapidly changing than any other time in its history. This not only encompasses the way customers make their purchases – with online shopping, click-and-collect, and in-person shopping all converging to offer true, end-to-end experiences – but also the way retailers open and operate new sites. Whether this means trendy pop-up shops, kiosks at other brands' locations, or booths at events, retailers from up-and-coming start-ups to global leaders are no longer relying on fixed high-street locations to welcome their customers and put their wares on display, instead making sure they are present wherever their ideal customers are, and fully prepared to offer a world-class experience that builds brand recognition and loyalty.
About Watford Borough Council
How Actionable Data Drives Sales, Improves Employee Satisfaction, and Enhances the Customer Experience
One of the key components we discuss with organisations when defining their contact centre needs is their data: the data the organisation requires, the data the solution can report on, and the tools available to interpret this data.
We've probably all encountered what we consider to be poor customer service through a contact centre, whether it's calling your utilities provider, banking, mortgages, or just everyday online shopping.
There have been many excuses for poor service through the pandemic due to ill-prepared home working solutions. Those should be behind us now, although that's likely the topic of a further blog, as many companies are still leaning on this excuse!
AMC Networks International (AMCNI), the global division of AMC Networks, delivers entertaining and acclaimed programming that reaches subscribers in more than 130 countries and territories and is responsible for highly acclaimed series including The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and Better Call Saul. AMCNI consists of global brands, AMC and SundanceTV, as well as popular, locally recognised channels across various programming genres. In the UK, those channels include CBS Reality, Legend, Reality Xtra, Horror Xtra & Horror Xtra +1.
At the start of 2021, its London office was looking to downsize and promote hybrid working as an outcome of the pandemic, this coincided with an up-and-coming expiry of its building lease which presented the ideal window of opportunity.
AMCNI had always kept IT infrastructure on premise in its two onsite data centres, so as part of this move, the company wanted to relocate the infrastructure into Tier 3 data centres, which would help lower real estate costs and become more environmentally friendly. With thirteen racks of equipment having to be relocated by the end of May and with minimal disruption to all corporate applications and media storage access, the timing window to make this move was business critical.As an existing long-term customer, AMCNI selected Exponential-e out of several data centre providers to relocate its equipment into two Tier 3 data centres, providing redundancy for its production and DR media content. The design included over a dozen racks, with additional space made to house prebuilt IBM racks that had to be relocated in their existing configuration. Two 10Gb links were delivered between each data centre to provide resilient, high-speed capacity for large media content, with 2Gb of internet breakout for external access.
Since the downsizing of offices, AMCNI has realised a saving of approximately £1.3m on real estate costs, as well as a reduction in energy consumption and energy footprint. Staff have become more productive and invested by having the flexibility to work from home and remote locations, improving the work/life balance. AMCNI has also improved its sustainability metrics, as IT infrastructure is now located in purpose-built facilities that operate to BREEAM standards and use renewal energy sources.
The move to full-time hybrid working has been an excellent decision for us at all levels, but it wouldn't have been possible without the underlying technology infrastructure. We already knew and trusted Exponential-e, so they were the obvious choice to help us make the transition. Even with such a tight timeframe, they made sure the whole thing was completely seamless.
Nigel Proctor, International IT Director, AMCNI
We're all trying to do more with less, whether that's making our monthly shop go further and reducing our utilities consumption at home or doing more with our organisations' available budgets and resources in our professional lives. But while getting the most out of the resources we have available is certainly admirable and sensible, our most precious resource – one that we cannot replenish once it's been used – is all-too-frequently neglected: our time.