iTWire - Business Telecommunications

Open Union, L2X Networks to deliver open networking solutions

2024-09-05T17:33:25+10:00

Open Union signed a deal with L2X Networks to deliver networks systems integration and open networking solutions to systems integrators, service providers, and enterprise and government clients across ANZ, the Pacific Islands, and Asia.

The partnership introduces a new range of communications solutions for clients using the global model of open networking.

The companies are leveraging the partnership as open networking, already the standard in Europe, “is gaining momentum” in Asia Pacific and the Americas, driven by hyperscalers capitalising on new hardware and software innovations.

In contrast, traditional telecommunications providers rely on legacy equipment, locking customers into costly hardware refresh cycles and limiting their ability to upgrade or change functionality until the hardware needs to be replaced.

{loadposition kenn}

In a statement, the two companies highlighted the well-documented benefits of open networking.

“Low cost white box hardware can be added to a network with open-source software to update and upgrade individual network components, without relying on a single name-brand vendor for components.”

“This has the effect of reducing costs while increasing network capacity and security capabilities. For example, clients can add AI or 5G capabilities on their own timeline, rather than waiting for traditional vendors to release these features.”

“L2X offers network design, build, management, and consulting expertise, collaborating closely with internal network teams, or as an outsourcing business partner on new or existing networks,” says L2X Networks director and chief experience officer Punyalok Das.

“A long-time advocate of open networking, L2X promotes the benefits and champions cutting-edge cloud and AI native technologies,” he adds.

Open Union provides L2X access to t open networking software, hardware, and services from vendors like Edgecore, which they combine with their network engineering expertise.

This also includes the latest hardware designs for customer premise equipment routers, data centre switches, and open software, such as SONiC and Optics.

“Open Union recognises that while most technology hardware is manufactured in Asia Pacific, much of the value is captured by branded equipment providers outside the region, who lock clients into proprietary networks at premium prices,” says Open Union director Elizabeth Aris.

“Open Union offers a marketplace of industry proven technology, matching the quality of branded equipment, sourced directly from suppliers shortening the supply chain, promoting affordability and flexibility. This approach gives enterprises affordable, enterprise-grade hardware and software, capable of managing the exponential growth in data,” she adds.

SK Telecom and Singtel partner to develop next-generation telco technology and solutions

2024-07-08T13:34:03+10:00

Singtel and SK Telecom have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on building next-generation telecommunications networks that will “drive innovation, improve network performance and security” and deliver enhanced customer experiences over the next two years.

The partners today announced that they will explore the use of artificial intelligence (AI), orchestration tools, and deepen the domain knowledge of network virtualisation and other technologies - central to laying the necessary building blocks for progressing to 6G.

Additionally, SKT and Singtel said they will be putting together a white paper on their advancements in areas such as virtualisation, slicing and network evolution that can help other telcos globally to capitalise on the capabilities of 5G and to prepare for 6G.

Kang Jong-ryeol, Head of ICT Infra, SK Telecom, said, "The collaboration between SKT and Singtel marks a significant first step in shaping the future of the global telecommunications industry." He further emphasised, "By combining the strengths of both companies, we aim to achieve significant advancements in next-generation communication technologies such as 6G and AI infrastructure."

{loadposition peter}

The partners say they will also work together on developing differentiated innovative solutions to elevate their network capabilities such as Edge-AI Infrastructure, which reduces the computational burden concentrated on the cloud through edge computing and performs AI inference by combining AI solution.

“This initiative is expected to not only enhance connectivitybut also provide customers with unique AI service offerings and enable the operators to restore services faster, thus improving the customer experience.

Anna Yip, Deputy CEO and CEO Business Development, Singtel Singapore, said, “As a global leader in 5G technology, we’re keen to capitalise on the myriad of capabilities this technology has to offer, especially in the areas of network slicing and with the inclusion of AI. With SKT, we’re looking to not only enhance the experience of our customers but to also drive industry innovation and help us prepare for the evolution to 6G.”

The MOU will see the partners collaborating on the following areas:

Developing more network slicing capabilities and explore various implementations of activating dedicated, customised slices of their networks that will better meet the diverse and dynamic demands of society and industry.
By leveraging Singtel's telco cloud which offers scalable and agile network componentsthat extend from the core to the transport and radio access, the partners will be able to push the boundaries of network virtualisation. Together, they aim to develop a fully-disaggregated mobile network which will provide a more flexible, cost-effective, and scalable approach to network design and management.
SKT and Singtel will jointly developing standardised telco application programming interfaces (APIs), facilitated by an Open Gateway, an interoperable and federated network with open standard APIs that will accelerate the development and growth ofservices in areas such as fintech, smart mobility, gaming and Web3. This will make it easier for developers to create and deploy new services that can be easily integrated into networks.
In managing the anticipated complexity of 6G networks, the partners will collaborate to build more efficient orchestration platforms like Singtel CUBE, a unified suite of network solutions that helps enterprises to manage multiple services and vendors from a single digital portal. These platforms will help enterprises to better automate and coordinate variousnetwork functions and streamline service delivery, seamlessly and efficiently.
The partners will further explore the capabilities of automation and AI to enhance operational efficiency and sharpen service responsiveness, which will set the foundations for a 6G era. SKT and Singtel are also founding members of the Global Telco AI Alliance with DeutscheTelekom, and SoftBank Corp. who aim to accelerate AI transformation of the existing telco business and develop new growth drivers through new AI-powered business models. In June 2024, the members signed a Joint Venture (JV) agreement to co-develop and launch multilingual Large Language Models (Telco LLM) specifically tailored to the needs of telcos.

Rapidly deployable Large Area WiFi solution ’boosted by federal grant’ awarded to Pivotel, Connectivity Innovation Network and Roobuck

2024-07-04T13:35:40+10:00

Regional, rural and remote communication solutions provider Pivotel, the Connectivity Innovation Network (CIN) and Roobuck have been jointly awarded a grant of $1.5 million under the Telecommunications Disaster Resilience Innovation (TDRI) program, to support the next phase of the pilot Large Area WiFi project.

The three companies say the innovative project is a world-first and is the result of “multidisciplinary collaboration between industry and academia to answer the challenge of ubiquitous connectivity through WiFi over a very large area”.

Previously funded by CIN in November 2022, the project delivered rapidly deployable voice and data services with increased WiFi coverage, including novel WiFi protocol and antenna designs, with resilient satellite backhaul.

Pivotel notes that the Large Area WiFi solution is designed to connect operational sites, or entire communities when unforeseen events render traditional communication services unavailable by delivering coverage to an area of up to two square kilometres and catering for up to 100 simultaneous users at speeds of up to 10Mbps per user - and the service is equally suited to underserved communities in regional, rural and remote areas where the challenges of having no or poor connectivity to support digital services are well known.

The solution utilises Pivotel’s satellite backhaul services, including LEO sat constellations OneWeb and Starlink, as well as NBN Co's Sky Muster, with the possibility of LTE network integration. An SD-WAN solution supports network bonding and Multi-Path Transport Protocol for essential data transmission. An innovative WiFi protocol designed by the University of Sydney addresses the hidden node problem and enhances long-range high data rates, while the unique high-gain and wide-beam antenna designed by the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) enables high performance over a large area.

Peter Bolger, CEO of Pivotel, said, “This grant is recognition of Pivotel’s long-held ambition to deliver solutions that address the connectivity challenges faced by regional and remote Australians and make a difference to their lives. For more than 20 years, we have worked tirelessly with our partners to develop innovative communication solutions and the TDRI program allows us to continue delivering critical services that benefit Australian communities. We are proud that this project will allow people and organisations to stay safe and connected during the most challenging moments.”

UTS Distinguished Professor Jay Guo, the CIN Technical Director, said, “The Large Area WiFi project leverages CIN’s world-leading capabilities in the connectivity space, wireless communications and antennas in particular. The earlier success of the previous CIN-funded pilot project serves as a great exemplar of how Australian universities, industry and governments can work together to tackle our national challenges and meet the needs of our communities. We are confident that the TDRI grant will propel the technology to the next level, to deliver meaningful societal impact.”

For more information on the Large Area WiFi project, visit: www.connectivityinnovationnetwork.com/lawifi-final-demonstration.

Frictionless customer experience is no pipe dream; it's here now, says NICE CXOne

2024-07-03T12:26:47+10:00

When it comes to customer experience, NICE says "almost" isn't good enough. That's why it's pivoted to make a platform that solidly puts customers at the heart of all it does.

NICE MD ANZ Rod Lester says customer experience ought to be frictionless, and that this is the NICE way. While iTWire hates a cliche we do love a good pun and what can we say but the attitude behind CXOne sure is pretty nice!

NICE has a long 36-year heritage, starting as a call recording company, pivoting in 2014 with a Kodak moment seeing it become the leading CX business with over $US 2.6b in revenue, accelerating each year over the last six years. Lester spoke with iTWire to tell the story behind the company's transformation, as well as what it's bringing in this new age of artificial intelligence.

While NICE started life as a call recording company, it's now far more, Lester explained.

{loadposition david08}

In fact, it was ahead of the curve from the start. While NICE began life nearly four decades ago, the call recording industry only truly exploded in the early 2000's when call recording for compliance became a serious necessity for regulated organisations. "Everyone needed it," Lester said.

This began a period of new vendors popping up, vendors consolidating, and related technologies emerged such as workforce management, quality, gamification - "these became a category we define as workforce optimisation," Lester said.

By 2012 the industry settled down with two major vendors dominating the global market, one being Verint, and the other, of course, NICE. "80% of the workforce optimisation business was supported by these two companies," Lester explained. Both started in Israel, both had about the same amount of people, and both had relatively similar product offerings. "Every six months one or the other would come up with a new capability or feature and was then leapfrogged by the other."

Until 2014. 10 years ago, NICE appointed Barak Eilam as CEO. Eilam had already served with NICE for more than a decade and was no newcomer, but he did bring new ideas to the helm. It was time, Eilam said, to drive a new strategy - to transform and pivot to something new. This was the "Kodak moment" for the business which saw it become the CX powerhouse it is today.

This transformation began simply; NICE acquired an IVR business in North America - a $US 1b purchase, so no small change - and embedded this new intellectual property into a brand-new platform it launched. This was none other than CXone.

Suddenly, NICE was no longer a call recording company; it was competing against the big contact centre players like Genesys. NICE CXone grew in popularity and strength.

Today, "analysts say we have the number one platform," Lester said.

Today, NICE CXone handles over a million contact centre agents across the world. It onboards 150 new customers each quarter. And it brings in more than $US 2.6b, growing year on year.

Rod Lester is the head of the CX division for NICE in the ANZ region. NICE isn't only CX - "we also have public safety and emergency services, and financial crime and compliance divisions," Lester said. These have specific reliability requirements and are very specific platforms. However, CX is by and away the largest, making 80% of the NICE revenue stream.

Australia is a high-cost first-world country and with that "our customers have incredibly high expectations of CX," he said. "Their cost to serve is incredibly high compared to other parts of the world."

As a result, "we tend to focus on embracing new technology more so than elsewhere in the world, if it can increase overall CX and take cost out of the equation."

Within the region Lester's team is onboarding two customers on average every three weeks, and has grown from six customers prior to the pandemic and its lockdowns, to more than 280 now. "We're excited about the milestone of 300 customers coming up in the next few months."

This customer base covers everything from small contact centres of four agents, to a "huge amount of local councils and lots of state Government." CXone

State governments particularly find NICE CXone attractive because it can set agencies up in parent/child scenarios - "one agency may provide a shared service to lots of other agencies. We can provide solutions to allow organisations like this deliver a consistent platform across the entire organisation."

Further, "sometimes we find different agencies have different imperatives. They don't get locked in because our platform is flexible," Lester explained. "We can make differentiated environments specific to them, while still part of the platform."

Customers also find CXone very attractive, he said, because they can make changes themselves - "customers can do as little or as much as they wish", while supported by a large base of engineers and consultants when desired.

However, what really stands NICE apart is its continual re-investment and refocus into its product. "We re-invest 17% of revenue back into the platform and creating new value," Lester said, explaining the company makes four major releases each year, with each driven by the end customer. "We see where demand is, and put our investment in that."

"The platform is continually coming out with amazing new tech," he said, noting analyst firm Forrester has lauded NICE CXOne for the breadth of capabilities in its offering.

One example is bursting; "for utilities especially, and organisations that have to deal with catastrophic events, it can burst up to a high number of users, and when the event is completed drop back down to its usual steady state," Lester said. "In an on-premises world an organisation would need to provision to its absolute peak load, with perpetual licenses, hardware, compute ... it would build to 'here' but only use to 'there'."

By contrast, the NICE CXone SaaS platform brings a significantly lower TCO for the end customer and, because it is a shared platform, even the smallest of organisations can take advantage of features, functions, and capabilities which would previously have only been available to large telcos, government departments, and health insurers.

One example Lester gives is 'callback in queue' - where a caller can drop out from waiting on hold, and the system will phone them when an agent is ready.

"Callback in queue became a thing in around 2010," he said. "We sold it to BUPA, who were one of the first adopters. They were delighted because, during their rate review period, it helped serve the customer."

However, it wasn't cheap back in the day. "It cost them $850K in professional services, $1m in licenses, and 20% in maintenance," Lester said. However, "now it is in the base functionality and a tiny operation with four agents can toggle a radio button to turn it on and use it right away."

It'd be easy to say SaaS makes everything easier for everyone, everywhere, from any vendor, but the reality is not so simple. "Typically, contact centres were laggards for cloud. Cloud has been around for ages, but it took the industry a long time to be able to do it."

"While cloud is nice and fluffy, interaction management is really complex," Lester said. "To create a cloud service that has stability, broad feature capability, depth, is manageable, and usable by end customers is no mean feat."

However, it's available now. And with NICE re-investing continually, it's an always advancing, always improving product.

"In the old world, an organisation would start with a business problem. Then, to solve it, they needed to create some functional and non-functional requirements. This was turned into an RFP/RFT/RFI and sent to market. Vendors were chosen, a waterfall-style grinding out took place, downselection to two vendors, then one, contract negotiations for three to four months before a signed contract. This became a signed project. Equipment was ordered ... it took a minimum of two years to get through before your solution was delivered. It took a year to go live. Everything was signed off, the customer threw a party, but what they got was a solution to the problem they had three years ago."

And, with such investment, "that solution needs to get a return on capital, a return on investment. It stays static for at least three years. There's no agility, no flexibility, and no provision for peak," Lester said.

Cloud changed all this, "the onus is on the platform manufacturer to keep innovating and keep coming out with new features and functions."

What really drives innovation for NICE, and core to its DNA, is the concept of customer success.

"Part of our job is to go back to customers and say let's understand how you're using the platform at the moment as it may not be optimal," Lester said. "We look at what they are doing and it all becomes more collaborative than it was in the old world. Back then, companies would sell something, say bye, and come back in three years."

"Today, we need to ensure the customer gets continuous value or they turn a system off and go to someone else's cloud. The onus to drive continuous value is now incumbent on the vendor. It's squarely on us to bring constant innovation, and ensure value is being extracted, or we will find ourselves with the customer moving away."

NICE isn't doing this in a vacuum; "yes, we have a great platform, but the thing that is the real secret to our success is our partner community. It's the depth of their consulting capability to extract value, and the people we've managed to attract and retain in our business in the ANZ region."

Speaking of new features, AI is a hot topic everywhere, and NICE is no exception.

"We've been in AI for a long time," Lester said, "but generative AI has been a real inflexion point. While we've had AI, we diverted investment funding specifically to AI and automation."

An example is auto-summarisation. "We're doing this natively within our platform," Lester said, "and the capability is available to any CXone customer. A huge amount of customers have taken it up. Auto summarisation ensures consistent summarisation across every agent, as opposed to some doing a spotty summary of what the call was about. It's consistent across the entire agent population and the data can be used to create new and interesting insights."

Another is CXone's Copilot capability. "Everyone has a Copilot," Lester said humorously, "but ours is specific to contact centres. It sits across voice and digital and will provide the agent with some suggested responses. They can click on one they like best and curate and edit it."

“The benchmark in digital messaging is the agent may take three to four digital messages; we've more than doubled this with our agents now able to take nine interactions via the use of AI.”

And another is autopilot-capability within the platform. "The customer can have a human-like experience without the need to fail out to a live agent," Lester said.

In fact, you can have all these experiences combined within the platform. "The customer can start a journey within web," for example, "then talk to a digital autopilot function. If needed, this can elevate to a human agent, who then augments via Copilot."

It's all very exciting days as NICE continues to re-invest and push the boundaries of what customer experience really means and is capable of. And, all capabilities, all functions become available within the one platform.

“It will only continue to accelerate from here,” Lester said.

This is true CX, driven by a business that puts the customer first, and lets customer feedback drive the product. What can we say, but .... nice !

Take a look for yourself here ...

Nokia, Chorus and 2Degrees connect New Zealand’s ‘first 25G PON’ customer

2024-06-12T17:22:17+10:00

Nokia, Chorus and 2Degrees announce a pilot 25G PON project, and connect the first customer using existing fiber network assets.
New Zealand’s Cherry Corp is the first customer in the country to harness the power of 25G PON.The pilot demonstrates the power of fiber to revolutionize business
practices, enhancing productivity whilst reducing costs and energy consumption.

Finnish telco vendor Nokia has announced that Chorus, New Zealand's largest open-access internet infrastructure company, and 2Degrees, the country’s leading retail service provider, have activated its 25G PON solution in a live commercial network.

Nokia also says New Zealand Cherry Corp will become the first customer to benefit from 25G PON, leveraging its capacity, latency, and reliability to revolutionize its farming methods.

According to Nokia, high-speed connectivity is driving a new wave of advanced Industry 4.0 and smart farming applications.

Reece van der Velden, General Manager at Cherry Corp, emphasized the importance of this connectivity, stating: “Everything we do is captured electronically, which means we use a tremendous amount of data. Fiber enables reliable, high-speed, low-latency connectivity for real-time processing.

{loadposition peter}

“We are transitioning from on-premises services to cloud AI-based processing to enhance productivity, reduce cost, and become more dynamic. This transformation requires streaming 400,000 high-definition photos per hour to the cloud for data processing and sending feedback in real time. Therefore, low latency and high upstream speed to the cloud are key. If we continue to evolve in this way, we anticipate increasing our harvest from 55 million to 150 million cherries, which is incredibly exciting.”

Nokia notes that fiber broadband is becoming increasingly relevant for industries because it is the fastest, greenest, and most reliable access technology - and the pilot project demonstrates the transformative impact 25G PON can have on business practices and industry 4.0 applications.

“Using Nokia’s next-generation fiber technology, Chorus can quickly enhance the fiber network capacity and enable retail service providers like 2Degrees to deliver higher-speed connectivity and new use cases that drive more efficiency, productivity, and lower overall energy consumption,” says Nokia.

Ewen Powell, Chief Information Officer at Chorus, said: “Nokia’s 25G PON solution allows us to provide our customers with the capacity they need to offer new services and applications that require a reliable, ultra-fast connection, such as Agriculture 4.0, Industry 4.0, mobile transport, and advanced enterprise connectivity. Running 25G PON alongside XGS-PON and GPON will allow us to converge many more services and retail service providers onto our network, providing greater choice and quality for end-customers.”

Sandy Motley, President of Nokia Fixed Networks, said: “Fiber broadband networks have great potential that operators just started tapping in because you can increase bandwidth in a very efficient way and leverage the infrastructure to connect everything. When we designed our Quillion chipset, a key requirement was to be able to support multiple PON technologies on the same fiber, giving operators the flexibility to offer different service levels dependent on the customers’ needs.”

Resources and additional information:

Video: The role of broadband in agricultural innovation
Video: Chorus redefines connectivity with next-gen fiber
Webpage: Accelerating to gigabit with fiber
Webpage: Fiber for Everything
Website: Nokia Altiplano Access Controller

Follow Nokia on social media:

LinkedIn X Instagram Facebook YouTube

Telstra InfraCo ‘enhances wavelength resilience’ with launch of Core Restoration

2024-05-28T13:09:39+10:00

Digital infrastructure solutions provider Telstra InfraCo has announced the launch of a Core Restoration feature which will provide a “new resiliency option” for customers with high-capacity wavelength services.

Telstra InfraCo says this feature automatically reroutes traffic to an alternate fibre path if an outage occurs on the primary path in the core network. It’s an intelligent, software-driven failover which typically happens within minutes, minimising downtime - “ideal for customers who want more protection
than a traditional unprotected service, but do not need all the features of a fully protected service”.

“The feature is available on new single access Wavelength service connections with bandwidths of 100Gbps or 400Gbps across 6 intercapital routes. It’s aimed at customers who want to reduce the risk of disruption from outages in the core network and reduce downtime if an outage occurs,” Telstra InfraCo explained.

Dipan Patel, Telstra InfraCo’s Digital Infrastructure Solutions Executive, said InfraCo is focused on delivering the resilient, redundant connectivity necessary for today’s digital economy.

{loadposition peter}

“Australian businesses, government organisations and consumers increasingly rely on digital tools and services. Issues on InfraCo’s core fibre network are rare, butwhen they happen it’s vital to get our customers’ services back up and running fast. After a successful customer trial, we’re pleased to offer this feature to all our wholesale customers. The Core Restoration feature will help service providers minimise disruption for their customers and users by restoring traffic to another path in minutes,” Patel said.

“Core Restoration is a unique enhancement as it draws on the three diverse fibre paths on our 6 intercapital routes,” “It is another step in our strategy to leverage our investment in networks and technologies to deliver the most reliable, resilient, high-capacity wavelength services for our customers.”

According to Telstra InfraCo, core restoration adds to the range of resilience options on Wholesale Wavelength services, giving customers more choice in how to tailor solutions to suit their needs

“Telstra, through its technology partner Ericsson, is using Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme (WL5e) programmable 800Gbps coherent technology. The photonic control plane feature in Ciena’s 6500 platform is powering Telstra’s core-restoration feature, enabling the restoration of affected traffic by intelligently re-routing it through an alternative route over a diverse fibre link.”

“There are many reasons for potential service disruption, but the dizzying rate of digitisation in Australia and around the world leaves little room for interruptions to connectivity. Using the 6500’s photonic control plane, Telstra is staying ahead of the game by proactively exploring options to boost the availability and efficiency of its network,” said Matt Hayes, Regional Managing Director, Ciena.

Emilio Romeo, Head of Ericsson Australia and New Zealand, says: “We are pleased to work with Telstra and Ciena to drive this innovative core restoration advancement in Telstra’s network. It will not only minimise downtime but also strengthen the resilience of Australia’s telecommunications infrastructure. Innovations like these ensure reliable and efficient connectivity for Australian businesses and consumers.”

Enhance your hybrid workplace communication with the clarity of Neat

2024-04-28T15:52:03+10:00

It'd be too easy to say when it comes to video conferencing Neat is pretty neat! However, the Neat platform is packed with quality-of-life features to bring your conversations to life, focus on individual speakers, and genuinely enhance collaboration and understanding in your hybrid or virtual meetings. Neat regional director ANZ Jason MacBride explains how Neat is addressing pain points for ANZ and global businesses.

iTWire previously demoed a Neat video bar and was majorly impressed. If you've had your fair share of Teams, Zoom, WebEx, Meet, Chime, BlueJeans, and other kinds of virtual meetings, you know how difficult engagement can be. This is especially the case when you're on the not-in-office side of the call. Imagine your typical conference room with a single camera focused on a meeting table that has people near and far, talking over themselves, talking to themselves, and you are trying to keep track of who's speaking.

Neat solves this with impressive software smarts. Its camera automatically picks up individual people and places them in their own focused split-screen, instead of simply displaying the entire room. It will focus on the active speaker or speakers. It will detect when people leave or enter the room and adjust its split screen to suit.

It really is very clever, and makes a huge difference in running meetings where people are engaged and conversing and collaborating, vs. a meeting where those in the room are leaving the remote viewers behind. Neat regional director ANZ Jason MacBride spoke to iTWire to explain what else Neat is doing to remove pain points for companies large and small, national and worldwide.

{loadposition david08}

MacBride joined Neat at the end of 2023, but has been in unified communications for a decade, and in IT generally for twice that. He's worked with Poly, Nexon, Dell, and other big names. However, despite this extensive heritage and experience, he explains he was "hugely excited to join the Neat organisation."

"What I see Neat's products doing, and bringing to market, is fresh and new, and well overdue. What they've done over the last four years is absolutely incredible," he said.

As iTWire readers well know, many organisations are bringing people back to the office, including hybrid capacities. Some companies are more successful than others in this endeavour. "It's a real challenge for a lot of organisations right now," MacBride said. "After so much flexibility people realise they have a choice in how and where they work. Companies see they have to up their game and are challenged by how to provide a high-quality experience in the office space. It's no longer acceptable to think you can just throw a camera in a room, and say 'close enough is good enough'."

"The actual quality of the experience is important," he said. "Organisations must redesign and rethink their office footprint, and importantly, the spaces and what to do to give staff the right experience."

One of Neat's global customers is none other than Atlassian, themselves. "They use the whiteboarding facility heavily," MacBride said. "Atlassian see themselves as a collaborative company, and by leveraging Neat's all-in-one Neat Board they have the flexibility and freedom to whiteboard and have high-quality video conferencing in one device."

The issue of cramped meeting rooms with large tables is only one pain point; "the requirement for video conferencing is not bound by any specific sector or vertical. Almost all companies are using video nearly on a daily basis," he said. "On any given day, someone is joining remotely because they're sick, or working from home, they're travelling in a car ... using video is absolutely ingrained in us and is here to stay."

Additionally, "audio is the most common pain point," MacBride said. "Poor audio is a real killer. And poor video - where you can't see people, their facial expressions, and who's at the end of the table - is unengagning."

By contrast, "the Neat philosophy is all about keeping it simple. We want the out-of-box experience to be pleasant, and the in-room experience to be fantastic. And the device management needs to be fantastic too," he said.

This is where Neat excels; while it's possible to speak in terms of hardware specs (12 megapixels, 120-degree field of view, 4x-8x digital zoom, 5 microphone array, even air quality sensors) it would be a mistake to compare Neat's video bar and board against other hardware vendors, spec-by-spec. It can hold its own, of course, but the important thing to note is Neat is not simply hardware; it's also simple device management and smart built-in software that gets to the heart of why people video-conference to ensure communication, collaboration, and engagement all take place.

"Hutt City Council in New Zealand recently redesigned their offices with a full refit," MacBride said, "and they selected Neat, partly because of the simplicity of the solution."

Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is a hot topic everywhere, and Neat is no different. "A recent statistic I came across was companies using collaboration tools with AI are over 50% more productive," MacBride said. "Neat absolutely leverages AI hugely. Our symmetry software uses AI to help us frame participants. Whether you are at the front or back of the meeting room, our tech can frame you and represent you in your own tile. It makes for a more inclusive meeting, and everyone is able to communicate."

This is, of course, the split-screen smarts referred to earlier. However, Neat has continued to build on the smarts and the experience here. For one, the company has a Neat Centre which sits in the middle of the room with 360-degree cameras. When the conversation is among people around a table, the camera will frame them - giving people on the far side a front view of the speaker's faces. However, if everyone starts looking at the screen then the camera in the front of the room detects this, and frames from the front camera. This is a huge departure from the typical webcam-experience where remote participants only see the side of heads when the room is speaking amongst itself.

Additionally, the evolving Neat AI can leverage overlapping cameras to ensure nobody is ever out of focus or split in half. "The most powerful thing, I think," MacBride said, "is it knows the difference between a 2D and 3D person. The camera will not frame those people - it knows they not a human." - meaning, for instance, Neat won't devote a split screen or tile to photographs on the wall, even lifesize cutouts you might have for marketing or promotional purposes. "Neat is the first to market with this."

Further, when you're standing at the front of the room and are standing by the screen, or showing content next to the screen, the camera can frame you at the front. "The ability for people to see you is a real common challenge. People want to see the presenter at a Town Hall."

iTWire thinks Neat is neat, and if you use it yourself, you will also. If your business is focused on what it needs to do to bring people back into the office, you know the importance of having people together. As tremendous as remote working is, there's no substitute for in-person experiences. To this end, the biggest trend MacBride is seeing across Australian and New Zealand businesses is office redesign. "Companies are rethinking footprint in terms of how much square footage they have, and how to leverage space in a better way. We're seeing a huge explosion of focus rooms and one- to two-person quiet sanctuaries, along with increased four-to-six person meeting rooms."

"When you come to the office, if you can't get a room, if you can't use tech to remain productive, people just won't come back," MacBride said. "It needs to be all about making sure you have the right fit-for-purpose solution."

"There are a lot of competitors out there, but not all are created equally," he said.

In other news, MacBride says Neat has released a 50" version of its existing 65" Neat Board. "What's unique is the screen has an anti-weight mechanism due to its lighter nature. It can slide up and down on a wall or trolley. As it's lighter on the trolley, it's super easy to move on wheels too. The height-adjustable screen can go quite low if you're at a desk; it's great for education and whiteboarding. And it's made from 70% recyclable materials. It's great engineering and has been well received for its short time out on the market."

If you're keen to test Neat for yourself, MacBride says you can contact the company for a demo using a Neat Centre, or have an in-person demo. Alternatively, the company has a trial program so you can test the unit for 30 days in your own environment. At the end of the 30 days you can either purchase it, or box it all back up and let Neat collect it.

"We give customers a whole bunch of different options to see it, experience it, touch it, and to see the management platform," he said.

Commerce Commission takes Court action against One NZ for ‘endangering vulnerable consumers’

2024-04-16T11:17:19+10:00

New Zealand competition regulator The Commerce Commission has filed proceedings in the High Court against One NZ - formerly Vodafone - for multiple breaches of the 111 Contact Code – some of which the Commission alleges are still ongoing.

Telecommunications Commissioner, Tristan Gilbertson, says the Code was put in place to ensure that vulnerable consumers can contact the 111-emergency service during a power cut at their home.

“We’ve brought this action in light of One NZ’s disregard for the Code and the safety of vulnerable consumers.

“One NZ has a long history of breaching consumer protection laws – so we need to send a strong signal that we won’t tolerate any disregard for its mandatory Code obligations.”

{loadposition peter}

Commissioner Gilbertson says the Code, which came into effect in February 2021, was created to protect the growing number of consumers moving away from copper landline connections (which work in a power cut to the home) to fibre or other alternative landline technologies (which require a power supply in the home to work).

“The Code recognises that some of these consumers are vulnerable because they are more likely to need to call 111 in a power cut for health, safety or disability reasons. Providers must give these consumers a means of calling 111 in a power cut, at no cost to them, and make sure consumers are aware of this obligation.”

Gilbertson says that, given widespread compliance across the rest of the industry, One NZ’s failure to inform and protect its customers is a serious concern – particularly since it has the second largest number of landline connections in New Zealand.

“It’s critical that all telecommunications providers comply with the Code to ensure the safety of their customers whose lives may be at risk in a power cut. The onus is on them to ensure their customers know how they can protect themselves and where to go for further support.

“Just one breach could have devastating consequences – so it’s encouraging to see most other providers respecting the importance of the Code and doing the right thing by their customers,” Gilbertson says.

The Commission says that as this matter is now before the Court, it cannot comment further at this time.

By way of background, the Commission explains that it was required following the most recent update of the Telecommunications Act to develop the 111 Contact Code to protect the interests of consumers and help smooth the transition from copper to fibre services.

“The Code protects consumers who for health, safety or disability reasons rely on a landline connection for emergency calling which, following a switch from copper to fibre or another new landline technology, will not work in a power cut without an independent power supply,” the Commission notes.

“If these consumers do not have any other means of contacting 111 in a power cut – such as a mobile phone – then their provider must supply a device that enables them to make emergency calls for at least eight continuous hours at no cost to the consumer.

“Providers are required to ensure consumers are aware of the Code, including through annual reminders, and to implement a process for registering and supplying vulnerable consumers with an alternative means of calling 111 when required.

“Most providers have supplied vulnerable consumers with a mobile handset or (outside mobile coverage areas) a battery back-up for their landline service to satisfy this obligation.

“Breaches of the Code under the Telecommunications Act carry pecuniary penalties of up to $300,000 for each breach and $10,000 per day for continuing conduct.

“One NZ (formerly Vodafone) has been prosecuted and convicted six times for breaches of the Fair Trading Act since 2010 – making it the worst offender under this Act of any entity in the economy over this period.”

Telstra scales up AI adoption following ‘promising pilots’ of generative AI solutions improving customer experience

2024-02-08T09:58:58+11:00

Telstra is expanding two in-house developed generative AI solutions following ‘promising pilots’ with frontline team members, enabling faster and more successful interactions with customers.

“Leveraging the power of Microsoft Cloud and its Azure OpenAI capabilities, and built in our secure platforms to protect consumer privacy, One Sentence Summary and Ask Telstra were designed with Telstra to arm frontline teams to support customers more effectively,” Telstra announced, adding that “utilising Azure OpenAI’s large language model, One Sentence Summary transforms recent customer notes, interactions, and transactions into a concise summary of a customer’s recent history and status,” and the solution enhances the efficiency and quality of interactions, reducing the need for customers to repeat information.

Telstra says that “trials during 2023 showed 90% of employees using the tool saved time and increased effectiveness, resulting in 20% less follow-up contact,” and “team members also noted the tool enabled them to more quickly understand and tactfully engage with challenging or sensitive circumstances, such as those in need of priority or financial assistance.”

Telstra is now extending the roll-out of One Sentence Summary to all contact centre and store teams throughout 2024.

“Similarly, Ask Telstra enables employees to search the company’s extensive internal knowledge bases quickly and easily for information. Powered by the latest Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI Search, Ask Telstra gives AI generated responses to employee queries, presented via a simple search interface. The technology is grounded in Telstra’s trusted and secure corporate information resources,” notes Telstra.

{loadposition peter}

“Team members involved in the pilot were able to more quickly and easily gather information to support customers, with over 80% agreeing the technology has a positive impact on customer interactions. Initially available to 200 Telstra frontline team members in late 2023, Ask Telstra will begin to roll out to all contact centre and store teams through 2024.

“Telstra’s ability to quickly innovate and unlock the power of AI solutions has been enabled by the radical simplification and modernisation of the data ecosystem, in collaboration with partners including Microsoft and Accenture. Underpinning this transformation are robust frameworks and controls ensuring the responsible, ethical, and secure development of AI solutions.”

Kim Krogh Andersen, Telstra's Group Executive Product & Technology, says this work has positioned the business to effectively and responsibly harness the power of generative AI.

“We’re at a profound juncture in a new era of transformation, and it's one that we're navigating in lockstep with our partners. Our deep, strategic relationship with Microsoft is positioning us well to unlock value and growth as technologies like generative AI proliferate at speed.

“We’ve been on a journey of simplification and modernisation over a number of years. We've simplified our technology architecture and shifted to a 100% API-first approach to product development. We’re also migrating workloads to the public cloud and building reusable AI capabilities. Our collaboration with Accenture is now helping to accelerate the work we have ahead. It's a massive undertaking, but it has put us in a position to now rapidly scale bespoke generative AI tools, like Ask Telstra and One Sentence Summary, that can really shift the dial when it comes to helping our teams provide quicker, more effective, and more personalised customer interactions.

“Strong, strategic partnerships, like ours with Microsoft and Accenture, are critical to our shared success. By collaborating and leveraging each other’s strengths, we can ignite innovation and deliver the best products and services for our customers."

“It’s exciting to see Telstra continue its leadership in AI, by harnessing the power of the Microsoft Cloud and Azure OpenAI Service to enhance their employee’s productivity and increase customer satisfaction," said Steven Worrall, Managing Director, Microsoft Australia & New Zealand. “We are proud to be a part of this journey and look forward to seeing the continued impact these AI solutions have on Telstra’s frontline workers and more broadly across the organisation.”

Karthik Narain, Group Chief Executive, Technology at Accenture, said “Our deep partnership with Telstra is focused on accelerating its efforts to become an AI-fuelled organisation. By radically simplifying and modernising legacy data estates, Telstra is building a secure digital core to adopt and scale more advanced generative AI capabilities. In addition, Telstra’s approach to developing and maintaining responsible and ethical AI is recognised by global industry bodies and will serve as a benchmark. We hope this market-leading work will encourage further advancements through data and AI.”

For more information visit www.telstra.com

Telco customer complaint numbers ‘remain low’: report

2024-02-07T13:19:21+11:00

Australia’s telcos continue to achieve very low complaint rate numbers from customers, despite continued cost-of-living pressures having contributed to increased complaints in other industry sectors, accordng to the latest Complaints in Context report from telecommunications industry body Communications Alliance.

According to CA’s Complaints-in-Context Report, there was one TIO complaint for every 3,226 services in operation (SIO) on the networks of participating communications providers in the October to December 2023 quarter – or 3.1 complaints per 10,000 services.

Communications Alliance CEO, John Stanton, welcomed the results, and said that “the sustained low level of complaints is testimony to telcos’ efforts to compete on customer service, reliability and value”.

“It is particularly pleasing to see the industry maintain low complaint levels given the significant rise in complaints in a number of other industry sectors,” Stanton notes.

{loadposition peter}

The Complaints in Context Report was introduced in the Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code 2019 to increase transparency and competition in the areas of customer service by providing meaningful, comparable, and public complaints data.

“It details the complaints received by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) per 10,000 SIO, creating an index that allows comparison of the customer service and complaint handing performance of different service providers, regardless of their size,” notes CA.

“It is mandatory for the 10 telco providers identified by the TIO as having the largest (absolute) number of phone and internet complaints in the previous financial year to participate in reporting. Telcos may also participate voluntarily.”

CA notes that the TCP Code – which is mandatory and enforceable – is currently under review, and as part of the review, “consideration is being given to other reporting metrics that can, like the complaints-in-context reporting, contribute to better consumer outcomes.”

More information about complaints-in-context reporting is available here.

A copy of the TCP Code can be found here and details of the review and revision process are available here.

Communications Alliance says it encourages any RSP interested in joining the index to contact it (email: info@commsalliance.com.au).”