people
centrix
> Richard’s charity bike ride . . . to Paris!
Sales & Marketing Director Richard Burbage
participated in a mammoth bike ride for charity in early
September. Cycling from Hartley Wintney all the way to
Paris to raise funds for local church St John’s. The church
has outgrown its current facilities, with the hall ‘bursting
at the seams’ with numerous children’s activities and youth
clubs. The aim is for 100 people from the village to cycle to
T H E
switch on
N E W S L E T T E R F O R
Centrix Bond
c E N T R i x P E O P L E A N D F R i E N D S
09
10
Wall Street!
Paris to raise £50,000 to aid the building project that will
provide additional facilities to local people. Richard
on
March 2010 > Bowling returned successful in his fundraising quest, with stories to
On Monday 22nd March 2010 Centrix had tell, a few aching limbs, but with monies raised – well done
in d ustr y
their first social outing to the Bowlplex to Richard and all involved!
in Camberley, where two teams took
each other on at bowling. Many spares Some people fly off during July and August and find a nice stretch
WINNER
& strikes were scored (some definitely of sand and relax, but for Centrix, the summer months saw the conclusion
more fluke than skill!) but Kate & Ian of a successful project for Fidessa plc in Wall Street, New York.
came out on top followed closely by Fidessa plc are a leading supplier of trading and portfolio analysis software, for
Vicki, Roy & Peter. firms involved in trading the world’s financial markets. As well as employing in excess
Commiserations to Alison, Claire Congratulations Sue English!! of 1,000 people in the UK, Fidessa also have offices in the US, Canada, France and the
& Jack who came in at bottom three. In the last issue of the Centrix Newsletter Ian reaches Kilimanjaro Summit!
news
Centrix’s Commercial Director Ian Calder Far East. Their US operation, which were already supported and maintained by Centrix,
Peter set a new trend by wearing his we asked you to send us your captions were looking to deploy a new Contact Centre solution to cope with the increasing
smart work attire with his bowling for the photo that we published of Geoff
succeeded in his quest to reach the summit at Mount
Kilimanjaro following months of intense fitness training. demands of their customers. Centrix were enlisted to design, implement and project
shoes. There was much to laugh about from our Helpdesk team. We had some manage the solution which included comprehensive voice recording, and the ability to
& fun was had by all who attended. To
"The cumulative effect of consecutive day of walking really
great responses, but the winning entry integrate with their existing CRM system.
round off the evening, all staff went for
took its toll. The final assent was much more difficult than
was from Sue English from Ellis & Co. Months of hard work, with video, and audio conference calls, culminated in Andy
food & drinks at a Mexican restaurant
I had expected. By the time I got to five and a half thousand
Congratulations Sue!! Her witty caption Jamieson and Wayne Monaghan spending 25 nights in the Big Apple (much to their
Chiquitos.
metre I was hallucinating and close to passing out. Looking
was: "When I asked Superman back I do wish that I had spent more time training and less disappointment, of course), spread across two trips in July and August ensuring that y (Fidessa),
July 2010 > Windsor Races to ‘brief’ me on his communication ntrix), Christian Buckle
time worrying about my fleece matching my waterproof!" the installation more than exceeded all expectations. The project firstly involved an Wayne Monaghan (Ce
And y Jamieson (Centrix)
“Down Under Night” On Monday 12th July needs, I don't think he fully upgrade of the existing Avaya Communication Manager system to the latest release,
2010, The Directors and staff headed off understood!" to allow the most up-to-date suite of Avaya contact centre to integrate. This upgrade
in a mini bus to Windsor Racecourse for
also included Toronto and Boston, which directly connected to the Avaya solution in Back in town
what promised to be a night of fun and Dave completes tough Duathlon! a successful return to the industry!
David Everest, Centrix’s Operations Director, New York. Once the upgrade was successfully deployed, the second phase involved
some big wins! Due to a minor technical Niki and Giles Fuchs previously owned city Executive Centres
competed in the recent Marlow Duathlon on 21st March the implementation of the Contact Centre and Voice Recording functionality. Ltd which was sold to MWB Business Exchange in January
hitch (Richard!), the team arrived at the
2010. He endured a 7k off-road run, then a 25k bike ride, The project was a resounding success, as Christian Buckley (Global Telephony 2005. Since then they have both been following alternative
course just in time to watch the first race,
IT Project Manager), was quick to point out “Having watched our Support operations
>
but missing out on placing any bets. topped off with another 7k run! The conditions were against business interests but knowing how well they worked together
the competitors this year, with the ground being very wet grow each year we finally have a comprehensive solution in place to further improve in the past and their immense knowledge and skill in the
Studying the form for the races that
indeed and making the event even tougher! The winning the service and support we offer to our customers. From all of the Fidessa US team, serviced office industry they have not been able to resist the
night, a few of the staff were determined
we’d like to say a big thank you to the Centrix guys”. draw back into the industry. So they have formed Office Space
to cash in, and we saw some big wins for time was 3 minutes slower this year but Dave managed to
In Town, which is a management company for the serviced
Rachel, and a late goldrush for Ian and
Neil (after a very poor start!). Pimms
and seafood platters kept everyone
> in brief
Jack celebrates the start of his twenties!
get his overall time down by 2 minutes from the previous
year – a great achievement! He finished an admirable 87th
out of 170, and according to Dave this position was justified
by the overwhelming number of younger competitors!
Social Media > The future of communication?
A lot has been written about the benefits of social media in business, with the likes of
office industry. With the knowledge they gained from running
City Executive Centres Ltd they are again looking to help
landlords and tenants alike in maximising their rental returns
going until we departed for Browns from their property portfolios. In addition they see serviced
restaurant in Windsor, where a lovely Our helpdesk team recently saw another milestone birthday, Twitter, Facebook, and blogging, taking a central position in the spotlight, but just how offices as a vehicle for investors to generate good returns on
meal completed the night. with Jack Brown saying goodbye to his teenage years and useful is it in business? their capital investment. Office Space In Town currently
celebrating the start of his twenties in style. A great example was shared at one of our recent seminars by Inga Taylor (Director of have six sites in Northampton, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Hemel
Congratulations Jack! Jenny surfaces as County Champion Hempstead with negotiations taking place for two Central
Information Services at Avanta). Inga revealed how their team spotted a post on Twitter, by
From sales support to swimming champ, Jenny Whiting London locations. They are very pleased to be back working
Centrix bids Farewell to Averil Gerhardt someone that was looking for office space in the Victoria area of London. A fellow “tweeter”
recently competed in 7 events at the 2010 Hampshire with Centrix on their telephony and IT solutions and have been
July saw the departure of Averil from our accounts team Masters County Championships at Waterlooville. Sheer responded, sharing details of the nearest Avanta business centre and giving great feedback to impressed by the advancements we have made in their product
as her contract came to a close, and she spreads her wings determination (in the absence of any recent training!) the enquirer – a great result for a brief exchange over the internet! development. > For more information please contact
and goes on to pastures new. Averil has provided valuable meant she managed to snap up 3 golds, a silver, and a Looking at the broader picture though, it seems it is not enough to just be working with Niki Fuchs at Niki@theoffice-uk.co.uk or 07710039249
support to the team throughout her time here and we wish bronze medal. She now goes on to represent Hampshire Social Media for most brands, they're also looking to build community - but then what? It's a fair
her well in her new ventures. question. It is key to ensure you are thinking not only about how you are going to find your next
at the Regional Masters later this year.
followers and engaged community members, but the direction and conversation that is evolving
and how it might ultimately end. How will you harness this powerful media opportunity, and are
you prepared for its future evolution?
Centrix Limited | Winchfield Lodge | Old Potbridge Road | Winchfield | Hampshire RG27 8BT
T 0870 1 43 43 43 | F 0870 1 43 44 45 | info@centrix-uk.com | www.centrix-uk.com Gile s Fu
chs
news
suppliers
> Gamma
Medusa News
Technology
Hot Topic news centrix
>
> Medusa has released Hotdesk-2, a new method
at Strategy Day
launches ‘Contact Pro’
as part of Inbound suite of services
of access for visitors to business centres. It includes
a branded portal, a choice of performance levels,
payment options and self-subscribe facilities. For
Centrix hosted their 2010 Strategy Day
at the Village Hotel in Farnborough, which
the hub
Launch of the
Gamma has launched its new Inbound telephony service, Contact Pro, with customers without Medusa, various low cost Medusa included both a forum for internal discus-
a range of advanced new features that enable any sized business to provide a
professional level of customer service whilst providing resellers with the opportunity
Hotdesk devices are available, including the Medusa
Solo. Centrix CHAT sions, and presentations from external
industry experts. This event in Centrix’s Centrix ‘Business
to generate monthly revenue streams. The service is accessed via a secure user friendly > Extended Logger: Medusa is helping Italian
centres cope with new European legislation required
at BCA Annual calendar is renowned for bringing new Centre Web Page’
Conference
website, giving the ability to instantly create or make changes to call plans, announce- ideas to the fore which then drive the
ments and other features. End users can easily use the interface or resellers have the to track customer activity while maintaining data marketing and communications activities,
option to offer a completely managed service providing them with additional up-selling privacy. More than 200 members of the Business for the year ahead. This year was no
opportunities. Immediate ordering from the Gamma portal with no order lead times > British Fashion Week – 1 Terabyte of Internet Centre Association gathered at the Hilton exception, as Centrix invited an external
data in 5 days! Medusa and its Medusa WiFi extension London in Canary Wharf on 24th May 2010, Chairperson to provide a useful new
for set up provides Gamma's partners with the flexibility and support to get to market
handles hundreds of simultaneous wireless users, for its annual conference and exhibition, perspective. Our sincere thanks to David
quickly.
photographers, journalists, and an entire trade show. Grant from Westcon for his assistance and
"Gamma's Contact Pro really does provide everything you could possibly need in an which featured a first-rate line-up of
On top of that, it handles live broadcast streaming of excellent facilitation skills.
inbound service and more; commented Clare Frost, Head of Marketing at Freedom Com- speakers, including highly-respected eco-
3 fashion runways to a worldwide audience. Presentations then followed from three
munications. "Typical equivalent hardware solutions are prohibitively expensive and nomics expert Justin Urquhart-Stewart,
> Medusa is 10 years old and releasing its latest key suppliers, which gave an insight into
it can be even harder to up sell to additional capabilities. Because Gamma's Inbound Google industry head Luke McKend and
version 1.9 with a bundle of enhancements. Updates how technology looks likely to shape
service is network based it gives significant advantages that go beyond price - changes marketing guru BJ Cunningham.
are still free after all those years meaning Medusa
can be delivered instantly, we can easily "switch on" additional features, it can be Highlights of the confer- things for the future. Thanks to Tony
lasts a lifetime.
positioned as a disaster recovery solution, end users can be in control if they wish - and ence included the popular Freeth (PBL), John Haw (Gamma Telecom),
> Medusa in North America now stretches from
all of this on a product that returns us high margins." panel discussions on the and Andy Wilcox (Convergence Group), for
New York Wall street and Times Square to the Sears
second day. The first, fa- their time and informative sessions.
Tower, to Toronto in Canada and as far south as
Monterray in Mexico. cilitated by Centrix chair
>>>> > Medusa Mini is new to Conference. Designed for Ian Calder, looked at the
“There’s No Such Thing as com/b usinesscentrehub
simpler or smaller locations and with rentals starting changing role of the in-
a Free Call!“ says Centrix > www.centrix-uk.
Centrix are pleased to announce the launch of our new SIP trunking service using below £100/month. ternet in relation to the
the power and reliability of the BT network. Richard Burbage, Sales Director had flexible space industry; Connect’s Peter Fisher
this comment to make on the announcement, “We’re delighted to have partnered the second, chaired by Everyone is now more aware than ever of the New starter
with BT Wholesale for the provision of SIP trunks as a replacement to ISDN30 for Braxtel Giles Barrie, editor of headline offers available from the likes of BT.
Vicki Carr
our customers. The partnership of Centrix and BT Wholesale will give customers the Communications Property Week, debated how internet What you may not be aware of is how they
“pay” for those calls elsewhere in the tariff.
reassurance they need when looking to migrate to a SIP trunking service”. selected for Membership brokers added value to the sector. Vicki Carr joins Centrix as Accounts
Companies will employ three weapons to
in Avaya DevConnect Program Speaking after the conference, Jenni- Assistant, coming from a local chartered
increase the charges on some calls in order to accountants practice after 3 and a half years
Braxtel Communications, a Contact Centre solutions fer Brooke said: “We have received over- offset lower charges elsewhere. experience. Vicki is recently AAT qualified
Westcon and the launch of Avaya Aura 6
company, today announced it has been selected by whelmingly positive feedback from at-
> Call Duration Rounding – this is where and will provide Alison with good solid
Avaya Inc., a leading global provider of business tendees who commented that the content
the duration of the call is rounded up support in the accounts team.
communications applications, systems and services, was totally relevant to every aspect of the
Avaya launched new solutions on July 21 that will transform the way people work to the nearest 15, 30 or 60 seconds.
for membership in the Avaya DevConnect program. industry, no matter the size of company. Vicki tells us that she enjoys socialising
together, with new offers and services for Contact Centers, Communications Architecture, > Call Cost Rounding – this is where the
Braxtel Communications is a software applications Delegates praised the fantastically high with her friends and her boyfriend Ben, and
Collaboration and Data Networking. This is the broadest and deepest slate of new offers cost of a call is rounded up to the next
company that designs, develops, builds, installs standard of speakers who consistently was bridesmaid at her best friends wedding
to come out of Avaya – for that matter, to come out in the industry. It is also proof that half or whole pence.
and fully supports a suite of low-cost Open Source kept them entertained and held their > Call Set Up Fees – this is where a fixed
this summer. She is an avid shopper, likes
the Avaya innovation engine is running at full speed with clear market direction.
Contact Centre applications globally. attention throughout.” cost is applied to a call irrespective of swimming and cars, and has recently been
In addition to the Avaya Aura 6 launch, Westcon also launched a unique Avaya These applications are fully integrated with PBXs the length of the call. to a track day where she enjoyed showing
accredited service in Final Channel Assembly. This service will enable us to reduce the and IP telephony solutions using traditional com- off her driving skills in an Aston Martin
lead time of Modular Messaging Solutions from 4-6 weeks to under 1 week by becoming munication technologies such as TDM, PRI, and BRI Upcoming events: At Centrix, we do not employ any of these and Lamborghini!
training and accredited at our Cirencester logistics facility to pre build the solutions as well as the rapidly emerging Session Initiation charging options as we believe that it is
rather than this needing to take place at Avaya US. We have fulfilled several orders important for you to have a defined cost per
Protocol (SIP) to strengthen customers'.
utilising this service with great success. > 30th September 2010 minute for every call so that you can easily
Centrix Round Table Event pass that cost on to your tenants, with margin
Wenta Business Centre, added where appropriate.
Stevenage
RETIREMENT FROM INDUSTRY > 14th October 2010 One final thought, we are seeing a move
Westcon are sad to report that Geoff Handley, Centrix Avaya Seminar towards bundling minutes into a package,
Somerset House, London similar to those offered by mobile providers.
whom many Centrix staff and associates will know,
> 27th October 2010 On the face of it these packages do look ap-
leaves the business at the end of August. Centrix Go-Karting Night!
After 12 years service, he is taking early retirement pealing however they do employ call rounding
> 19th November 2010
and will be greatly missed – he also leaves some BCA Annual Awards Gala Dinner on both duration and cost. Additionally, the
impressive shoes to fill! Good luck to Geoff in his London packages take away your flexibility, as about
>
retirement and best wishes for the future. > 10th December 2010 half of the call charge converts to a fixed
Centrix Christmas Party! monthly cost which takes no account of the
Contact us for more information actual spend from your tenants.
on 01252 848 816, or email
jenny.whiting@centrix-uk.com