Customer Service Survey

I would like to thank all our customers who carried out our recent customer service survey. Based upon the feedback we have received, we are going to carry out the following actions:

• The current website is to be revamped, allowing for a more customer friendly interface, and more product and service information
• Our application form has been improved, so customers will now only have to enter their details once
• A customer fault feedback questionnaire is to be introduced, allowing us to directly monitor how we deal with faults
• Product fact sheets, case studies and tariff sheets are to be made available for customers to download off the website
• ‘Plumblog’ is to be updated more frequently
• User training sessions for telephone systems are to be arranged

Your feedback has been very constructive and helpful. We hope that the above changes will help improve and prolong our service towards you.

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Review of Ofcom Telecoms Report Q1 2008

Ofcom have released their telecoms report for the first 3 months in 2008. The report aims to highlight emerging trends in the UK telecoms sector, in order to generate a greater understanding of the sector amongst consumers and businesses alike. As stated on the Ofcom website, the main trends in fixed lines and calls, internet, and mobile phones, were as follows:

Fixed

• BT’s market share of fixed calls and access revenues fell to under 60% for the first time in Q1 2008.
• Total call volumes were unchanged at 38 billion minutes during the period as a result of growth in call volumes from indirect operators offsetting a decline in call volumes from other operators.

Internet

• The total number of residential and SME broadband connections increased by almost 600,000 to 16.2 million in Q1 2008, with BT’s retail market share being unchanged at 26.5%.
• The number of people using mobile broadband, via 3G mobile USB modems or ‘dongles’, has increased. Around 6% of all UK internet access is done through mobile broadband.

Mobile

• Total mobile revenue across the four mobile operators declined by 1.6% in during the quarter, due to a fall in revenue from calls and other charges.
• Total mobile call volumes declined slightly (0.23%) during the quarter while messaging volumes increased by 8%.
• Contract subscribers grew by 1.9% in Q1 2008 compared to a 1.3% decline in prepay subscribers.

In relation to business users:

• The total telecoms revenue from UK businesses increased by 6% during 2007, but fixed voice business services declined by 3%, and SMEs are tending to use residential internet connections rather than business.
• The total volume of fixed line business calls fell by 6% in 2007, some 26% lower than in 2002, with many businesses using mobile phones and VoIP instead.
• The total number of fixed business lines and ISDN channels increased in 2007, due to more larger businesses using ISDN 30 channels to route voice calls.

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Suzanne’s Great North Run

Customer Services manager Suzanne Cain of Plum Communications has completed the Great North Run to raise money for Leukaemia Care. She raised £300 in personal sponsors and Plum will be doubling this to make a total raised of £600 for the charity. Suzanne completed the 13.1 miles half marathon in 2 hours 2 minutes, which included two stops to allow ambulances to pass whilst husband Martin who was also running to raise money for charity completed the run in 1 hours 22 minutes. It is the third time that Suzanne has taken part in the Great North Run and she beat her previous time of 2 hours 22 minutes.

Suzanne said “It was fantastic, the atmosphere was outstanding and being there was an amazing experience. I was a little disappointed not to have finished in under two hours but the delay was unavoidable and I have already booked for next year. “It was a very emotional time especially reading the stories on other people’s T-shirts of their reasons for running. Throughout the day there was entertainment from bands and even a fly over by the Red Arrows which all helped to make it a special day to remember.”

Peter Savic of Plum said “We are very proud of Suzanne and Martin and we were delighted to back her and provide sponsorship for her chosen charity. It is a pleasure to be able to support her and raise funds for such a worthy cause.”

Anyone would like to add to the sponsorship total can contact Suzanne at Plum on 0161 622 3500.

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OpenHand helps business people stay in touch

Running your own business or being part of a busy organisation can often make you feel like you need to be in two places at once. Dashing out to meetings, sat in front of your desk answering emails or being sat in your car in a traffic jam can all slow down your productivity and add to stress levels. One way to reduce the pressure of being busy and increase workflow is to adopt OpenHand, a fully functioning ‘office on the move’ made available by simply using your existing mobile phone. For those ready to adopt, who would like to test out the technology first, Plum Communications is offering a free trial of OpenHand so you can see for yourself how this can help improve your business.

Find out more about OpenHand here: http://www.plumcom.co.uk/openhand.html

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SIP - The Future of Telecoms

Plum Communications is pioneering a groundbreaking new technology, which is set to revolutionise the way businesses communicate. SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is a means of signalling and controlling interactive communication sessions. These sessions include Internet telephone calls, multimedia distribution and multimedia conferences. The uptake of SIP spells out better control over communications for businesses and has considerable cost benefits. Calling from one SIP-enabled phone to another cuts out traditional routing that occurs with traditional lines and reduces call charges considerably. The new technology delivers presence and allows users to inform others of their status, their availability, and the method of how they can be contacted before a communication session even begins. SIP also allows a geographic presence (local number) in different towns and cities.

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Road Safety Act 2006 comes into force

This reinforces the illegality of holding a mobile phone or data device whilst driving. If broken the new law carries a penalty of 3 penalty points on the licence, fixed penalty of £60 and a fine of up to £1000 for cars and £2500 for goods vehicles and public transport vehicles.

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Avaya Launches IP Office 500 and Version 4 Firmware

Avaya Launches IP Office 500 and Version 4 Firmware in the UK. Improved support for community networking, hot desking over multiple sites and more precise handling of queued callers. Plum Communications are an Avaya Accredited Business Partner in the UK.

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Jacqui Brookes, FCS CEO awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours List

Jacqui Brookes, the CEO of the Federation of Communication Services (FCS), has been awarded an OBE in the Queens New Year Honours. The award recognises her contribution to the industry by proactively representing small and medium enterprises with the Government and the telecoms regulator OFCOM

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Switched-on to 21CN

On Monday 16 October, the UK’s communications industry announced the launch of ‘switched-on’, a multi million pound public information campaign designed to inform UK consumers and single site small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) about how they will get ‘switched-on’ to next generation network.

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New Look Website Released

Plum Communications today launched their new look website. The new design brings all services into one portal. Users can view and order mobile phones, telephones, telephone sytems and data networking equipment from one website http://www.plumcom.co.uk

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