Talk About IT #1

AUTUMN 2016 Social engineering fraud Is it time you insured against cyber crime?

YOUR WEAK LINKS EXPLAINED Steps you can take to ensure that your technology is more secure

Time to upgrade your phone system?

Getting to grips with the licensing laws

The arguments for and against upgrading to VoIP

Find out why licensing is so important

Every migration has its challenges

Is it time you migrated to Office365?

Here at Quiss we have the knowledge and experience to help your organisation migrate to Office 365. We will ensure the process is seamless, with minimal disruption or downtime and deliver all the information and training your people will need to get the most from the new environment.

If you would like to know more about Office 365 and how it could help transform your organisation, or if you want details about any of our other services, please get in touch today. With our help you can make the move now and not waste another year waiting to migrate.

For a safer and easier migration, Quiss can help.

Call 0333 222 4334

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Contents 04

Latest news

06

Security: The Weakest Link How to ensure your technology is secure

09

Smaller businesses should still plan for a disaster Why pay for something that you are unlikely to use?

10

Feature Article - Social engineering fraud Is it time you insured against cyber crime?

12

Getting to grips with the licensing laws Find out why licensing is so important

14

Tamworth to Toronto

06

We learn how Microsoft will shape all our futures 16

Quiss people

16

Meet without the travel issues New technology means less travelling for meetings

18

Silver follows exam success Our success with the HP partner exam

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10

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Why Quiss is so hospitable Why we continue to invest in corporate hospitality

20

Time to upgrade your phone system?

The arguments for and against upgrading to VoIP

22

Forging links in the Black Country

14

Working with the BCCC to support the Black Country 22

Premium partner gets OK from OKI We partner an award-winning printer manufacturer

23

The frontline Life on our busy helpdesk

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Profile: Ian ‘H’ Harrison

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Beware the evergreen clause when leasing telephone or printer equipment How to avoid this highly unethical clause

25

Meet the team - Wheeler in the next We shine the spotlight on Rob Wheeler

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09

20

Case Study - JCP Solicitors

Quiss Technology has been delivering IT support services since we were founded in 1988; the early years of the information technology revolution.

To discuss content or to be part of our next edition, please contact the editor, Tracy Armstrong. t. 0333 222 4334 e. enquiries@quiss.co.uk w. www.quiss.co.uk

QuissTechPLC Quiss Technology plc

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Support for Arriva Trains on track Quiss was recently appointed to support the wireless network for Arriva Trains Wales, which operates 245 stations across 1,009 route miles, with over 2000 employees.

The WiFi network in question is not for public use, but essential to the efficient running of services, helping the exchange of information between the various major stations on the network and the company’s head office in Cardiff.

The network allows users to access applications used to run rail services safely and efficiently. In the past, support for this network was provided by an in-house resource and was limited to office hours. Arriva now has the support of our 35-strong support team of

helpdesk engineers, field service engineers and network specialists – all available with one call or email.

We monitor wireless controllers, more than 40 access points and the connectivity between them.

Our pro-active monitoring ensures the network is covered 24/7 and includes the repair or replacement of the current hardware, liaising with third-party manufacturers to handle warranty issues when necessary.

London law firm chooses Quiss Following a competitive pitch, Quiss has been appointed to provide a range of support services to Darlingtons Solicitors llp., the growing North London based law firm, specialising in property and personal legal services.

Our Qworks solution covers every user across the firm’s two offices and incorporates everything needed from an operational and strategic perspective. It is a fixed term, fixed cost partnership, based on the number of users within the business and delivers total peace of mind.

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Key to winning this contract was our experience of the legal sector and knowledge of the software Darlingtons rely on to run various aspects of their business. We provide users a single point of contact for most IT issues, without them having to resort to the original vendor for help.

Adding yet another law firm to our growing list of clients in the legal sector demonstrates our detailed understanding of the challenges faced and how the appropriate technology will help increase productivity and improve efficiency.

IT support deal for Phoenix We are providing IT support services to Phoenix Calibration & Services Ltd, a fellow Black Country Chamber of Commerce (BCCC) member. Phoenix is a growing business specialising in materials testing technology and the firm’s success put pressure on their existing IT resources.

The senior management team at Phoenix recognised the switch to outsourced IT support would not only solve the immediate challenge of keeping everyone online and connected, but offer a long term partner to help align the firm’s IT resources with its long term objectives.

In the past, the business had relied on some of their highly qualified technical people to deal with simple IT issues, creating an unwanted distraction from their primary tasks; not an uncommon situation for a lot of smaller enterprises.

Phoenix chose Quiss thanks to our ability to strike the right balance between technical knowledge and customer service. They now have access to our extensive helpdesk and specialists that can help create a roadmap for the future IT needs of this ambitious business.

Quiss provides structured support Earlier this year we signed a support deal with CET Structures Ltd, a leading provider of services to the infrastructure, civil engineering, construction, property and insurance industries.

CET has a growing reputation for the quality and responsiveness of its service, which relies heavily on its IT system and infrastructure. We understand that the right platform will help them reduce costs and respond more quickly to business needs, whilst addressing the challenges of big data and mobility.

We implemented new hardware

and software to ensure CET has a system that is not only capable of handling their changing needs, but ready to exploit new opportunities.

Proactively monitoring business critical systems means more serious issues will be dealt with within the terms of a rigorous SLA agreement.

IT Manager for CET, Scott Hughes explains one reason for choosing Quiss: “The team at Quiss really understand what support means and have ensured it is core to their offering and not just a box to be ticked on the agreement.”

Business continuity solution for National Windscreens Quiss is providing business continuity solutions for National Windscreens, the UK’s fastest growing vehicle glass repair and replacement specialist, in the event disaster strikes the company’s head office.

Businesses like National Windscreens recognise the increasing risk of their operations being impacted by a disaster.

Although not directly affected by fire or flood, even a local problem like a terrorist incident, chemical spill or gas leak could prevent employees accessing their workplace.

National Windscreens recognised

the risks and chose our business continuity solution, which ensures it’s ‘business as usual’ for their customers, regardless of what might befall their Tamworth head office.

This was a relatively simple solution for us to implement as the services National Windscreen relies on are cloud-based, which makes it easy to re-direct these to one of our business recovery suites.

We have plenty of capacity to accept their call centre team, who will simply arrive at our offices and start work as normal, should they be unable to access their site.

Value for Verisona

Following a competitive tender, Portsmouth-based solicitors Verisona Law recently appointed us to manage their IT services, supporting the work of around 60 users spread across two offices.

Verisona wanted a service provider with legal sector experience, knowledge of the Peppermint Platform and a record of proactive support, which happily played to our key strengths.

Our solution is easy to manage both commercially and operationally, allowing the firm to focus on delivering high quality legal services, not the firm’s dayto-day IT needs.

With user numbers expected to increase significantly over the term of the contract, Verisona wanted accurate budgeting. This was achieved with our simple, comprehensive and inclusive pricing, which covers guaranteed service levels and unlimited support from our UK-based helpdesk.

Verisona now have a single point of contact for all of their IT requirements, safe in the knowledge Quiss support all applications used within the business and will liaise with third party providers to ensure a seamless and problem free IT environment.

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SECURITY - the weakest link -

Never a day goes by without a story concerning cyber security, from phishing attacks against individuals and corporations to hacks of accounts and networks. This is a situation unlikely to change in the near future, with more criminals recognising the potential for big returns with little risk.

And the cost is not just measured in monetary terms. The theft of data or just the knowledge a system has been breached can cause tremendous reputational damage for the organisation concerned, which may outweigh the value of the theft at the time.

Defending against an attack is not simple and no one measure taken in isolation will ward off determined criminals. It is not just the infrastructure, network and apps that pose a risk, although they take most of the focus and seem easiest to control and secure.

Organisations go to great lengths to secure their systems, but cyber-

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criminals know the weakest link in the security chain is typically the individuals using the system and how they access it, not the system itself.

Awareness and Training Although employees may read news stories about phishing, hacking, ransomware, viruses and identity theft, until it happens to them, they will not pay too much attention to the detail. And that’s a big advantage for the criminals.

It is important therefore to train everyone to be aware of the threats and understand how to reduce the risks of a serious security breach, from top to bottom, at all levels, regardless of their access to the system or their seniority. No one is immune to attack.

Practical steps The focus of any training should include cyber security best practice, which will not only highlight the dangers but offer practical advice to help each individual take responsibility for security within their organisation.

PC & Laptop Security Most employees will have their own computer at work and it’s essential each user locks their computer when they leave their desk. This helps protect the system and the individual, who could be suspected of being a party to any security breach if it is their computer or log-on that is compromised.

In a similar vein, it is essential that users do not store private or sensitive information on the desktops of their computers, or in unsecured local folders, which might bypass security checks.

Users should be reminded that if they receive an alert relating to a virus they should immediately report it. These warnings must not be ignored and users must not attempt to resolve issues themselves without first ascertaining the authenticity of the message and the indicated solution.

Again, any on-screen alerts should be read and understood, not ignored.

Just the knowledge a system has been breached can cause tremendous reputational damage Users must be reminded not to click on alerts to get rid of them, but must notify whoever is guaranteeing the integrity of the system, whether that’s internal or a managed service provider.

Keeping the system secure will be helped by everyone shutting down their computer at the end of the day. This ensures any updates are automatically installed and doesn’t allow hackers a quiet 17 or 18 hour’s access to a system endpoint.

Mobile Devices It is essential mobile devices are password or PIN protected to prevent the potential for remote, unauthorised access to a system using a compromised device.

Users should also remember to turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth services when the device is not being used, which reduces the chances of automatically connecting to an unsecured or suspect network by accident.

Password Security Everyone, at home and at work needs to understand how best to create and remember strong passwords, mixing characters, cases and numbers easily for a different solution to each gateway.

It’s important that users never disclose their password, even to the IT support team and regard any request for this information as suspicious. And perhaps most

importantly, changing passwords must become a regular habit, with new ones created, not merely switching the same ones to different applications.

E-mail Security Cyber-attacks via email are of growing concern, often forming the most direct and audacious approach to stealing money and data.

Users must be made aware what constitutes a suspicious email, checking carefully the email address from which the email was sent before taking any action. Emails containing urgent information requests, requests to follow links or those with unexpected attachments and instructions to open them must all be treated with suspicion.

Recently, phishing and spear phishing e-mails have become a real problem for many organisations, where the content of the email adopts a familiar tone, implying personal knowledge of the organisation, personnel or a specific situation, like a property sale.

And of course it is essential that individuals and organisations have appropriate e-mail security that’s current, patched and managed, as well as keeping up to date with the latest phishing trends and practices Using Wi-Fi safely It’s always tempting to connect to the free Wi-Fi, but it’s important to identify the correct network. If in

doubt ask what the network is called, even if you don’t need a password.

Criminals are more than capable of setting up their own Wi-Fi hotspot, with a name similar to that of the unsuspecting coffee shop, ready to capture all your data. Having used a public Wi-Fi network, users must ensure they log off any services they were signed into.

Good Wi-Fi practice dictates ensuring devices forget any network to which they have been connected, to prevent future automatic connection, when the user may not be aware.

If given a security code to access the connection, users should ascertain if the code is individual to them, or shared with everyone connecting, which might present a problem.

Awareness of Social Engineering Through social engineering, criminals target individuals and try to trick them into accidentally revealing passwords or bank information, or allowing access to a computer so malicious software can be installed to allow remote control and possibly a route into an organisations system.

It is a growing threat. Organisations should ensure they warn all users to make sure their social networking profiles are private, to hide information criminals can use in phishing attacks.

The golden rule is slow down. Cybercriminals want targets to act first and think later, particularly when the message appears to come from a colleague or superior and requires urgent action. It is essential the need for security overrides high-pressure sales tactics or urgent requests for

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information or bank details, It’s important to remember curiosity can lead to careless clicks and if an email is unexpected, or the subject is unclear then any links within the message should be avoided. Any phone numbers in these emails should also be avoided as criminals can easily impersonate a colleague in an organisation’s overseas office or even the bank.

Using Portable Media Portable media has featured heavily in stories about data theft and loss, particularly unencrypted USB drives.

The fines for losing personal data of employees, prospects or customers are severe and care really must be exercised when handling such information.

In the same context, an unknown USB drive should never be plugged

into a PC, laptop or mobile device.

And avoid plugging any USB powered device into a public USB charging point, which despite the offer of a free charge, may have been configured to read the information on your phone or upload malware to your device.

Warnings must not be ignored and users must not attempt to resolve issues themselves

And finally…

Cyber-security isn’t just an IT department issue. It is the responsibility of everyone within an organisation to keep it safe and while the tips outlined above should help, they only scratch the surface of the complex challenge cyber-security poses.

As criminals continue to be frustrated by these defences they will undoubtedly develop more sophisticated methods to steal

data, identities and money, trashing corporate reputations along the way.

It is imperative every organisation provides regular cyber-security training for everyone within their organisation, ideally as part of the induction process, as new starters are more vulnerable to attack in this way.

Now is the time to focus on the natural weak points in the system, given the efforts already made to secure the hardware and infrastructure from attack. Don’t risk bolting the stable door once your reputation has ridden off into the sunset.

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0333 222 4334

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Smaller businesses should still plan for a

disaster (but don’t pay until it happens)

The growing threat of cyber attacks has moved IT disaster recovery planning up the agenda for many small businesses, but why pay every year for something you are never likely to use?

Instead of outsourcing the entire responsibility for disaster recovery to external service providers, it’s possible for smaller businesses to plan and protect their business, but only pay should disaster strike.

The first step is to undertake a business impact analysis that identifies and prioritizes critical IT components and systems. A variety of recovery strategies will help ensure systems can be restored quickly and effectively, with a contingency plan to replace damaged systems.

Regularly testing the plan identifies problems and allows everyone to train for implementing the necessary procedures, whilst highlighting potential improvements. It also ensures the plan is current with changes in infrastructure or business operations.

For smaller firms, it’s about balancing risk against the costs associated with recovering from a virus or cyber-attack, hardware & software malfunctions or even human error.

Businesses will back up their data regularly and some will even check

that recovery is possible from the back-ups. But the age of the backedup data is another point of risk and each firm will have to assess how much data they are prepared to lose - generally, the more current the back-up, the more expensive the solution.

But just because data is backed up, what will this data be recovered to, if the IT system, servers, applications, licenses etc. no longer exist?

Most recovery options cost more than smaller businesses can afford, yet smaller businesses can accept more of the responsibility with a slightly increased risk to recovery, at a much reduced cost. This balance of risk versus cost is the equation smaller firms must evaluate.

Innovative solutions like Inactive/ Active Disaster Recovery help smaller businesses protect their future, without committing to the higher costs associated with traditional recovery solutions.

The inactive phase begins with an assessment of the IT infrastructure a business needs to function normally, together with all the information needed to create a copy of the IT

environment at extremely short notice - usually within hours. The snapshots taken of each physical or virtual server being supported are stored at the disaster recovery centre.

The necessary server space is guaranteed, with the power and communications to turn this virtual, inactive environment, active, following a disaster. After the initial consultation fee, there is only a small annual maintenance charge until the service is required.

Once active, the business supplies the latest backed-up data, sending tapes or hard drives by courier if necessary. Only at this point are the costs associated with new hardware, software licensing etc., incurred, which are usually covered by the business insurance – but worth checking.

Businesses continue to pay for a service they’ll never use alongside the insurance they have to cover their assets. Yet with a little planning and an innovative solution like Inactive/Active DR they can protect their operation and spend money on what they want to happen, not what might happen.

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SOCIAL ENGINEERING FRAUD Social engineering fraud has become endemic throughout North America and Europe. These incidents are occurring more frequently, the individuals behind them more sophisticated and the costs to corporations are soaring.

In a typical case of social engineering fraud, information is gathered through the internet or other form of social media.

Fraudsters convince unsuspecting employees to act voluntarily to divulge sensitive information or to perform some task on the fraudster’s behalf.

Most clients believe that social engineering fraud would be covered under a Cyber Liability or a Crime Insurance Policy under the computer/funds transfer fraud extension however claims are being

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denied and neither standard policy covers social engineering fraud.

fraudulent payment instructions came from an internal source.

What is covered?

Crime: Funds Transfer Fraud Under this extension, the insurer pays the insured for direct loss of money sustained by the insured resulting from fraudulently transferred funds committed by a third party. This includes any fraudulent written, electronic, telegraphic, cable, teletype, or telephone instructions, other than forgery, issued by the insured to a financial institution, directing such institution to transfer, pay or deliver money from the insured’s account without the insured’s knowledge or consent. Similar to computer fraud, social engineering fraud coverage is not triggered as funds were transferred with the insured’s knowledge or consent.

Cyber Liability A Cyber Liability policy covers the costs associated with a data breach when third party client data is stolen.

Therefore, coverage is not triggered with social engineering fraud as no client data is taken.

Crime: Computer Fraud Under this extension, the insurer pays the insured for a direct loss of money sustained by the insured resulting from computer fraud committed by a third party.

Computer Fraud is defined as the unlawful taking of money resulting from a computer violation. However, with social engineering fraud coverage is not triggered as the

Going through procedure, they advise the request must come in writing via email or on company letterhead. Employee later receives an email from what appears to be the supplier complete with the supplier’s signature at the foot of the email. The employee proceeds to change the bank details and payment was never received. Further investigation will identify that the requests were fraudulent.

Fake President Fraud A mid-level finance employee is the only one left in the office on a Friday evening and receives a phone call from an individual who identifies himself as the CEO of the company.

He explains that there is a major acquisition about to take place, it must close tonight and he can’t get a hold of anyone else in the finance team to process the payments.

With social engineering fraud, the insured had knowledge and gave consent, albeit based on a mistaken basis and therefore the traditional coverages are not triggered. It is often assumed that theft/fraud would be covered by a commercial crime policy. It is evident that when it comes to a social engineering fraud not all Crime Insurance Policies provide the same coverage.

Examples of Social Engineering Fraud Mandate Fraud Employee received a phone call from an individual who they believe to be a genuine supplier. The fake supplier advises that their bank details have changed and payment is to be made to a new account.

The employee explains that she only has a limit to transfer fund up to £50,000 and no one else is still in the office to countersign the transfer.

The CEO grows more irate with the employee who is refusing to transfer the funds because she does not have the authority, repeatedly telling her he’s granting the authority.

Eventually the CEO persuades her to circumvent the established procedure by issuing multiple £50,000 transfers, totalling £500,000.

Carriers who cover Social Engineering Fraud

and may only agree to a sub-limited amount for social engineering fraud.

How can AJG help?

Our approach is simple. We will work with you to understand your needs and priorities to ensure all known exposures have been addressed at the point of drafting your insurance policy.

The insurance broking community does not always accord its claims service the priority attention that it so clearly demands and deserves.

At Arthur J. Gallagher, however, we know it is essential to provide a first-class claims service to support the insurance programmes our professionals have put in place on your behalf.

The minimum expectation of any client should be that its broker undertakes all the necessary administrative and communication functions to ensure notice of claim or potential claim is properly and promptly presented to insurers.

Naturally, we execute these duties as a matter of course. We do not however, leave it at that. Our approach is to go well beyond these minimum obligations.

In short, we will explore every angle and make every effort to help insurers arrive at a proper and successful conclusion to our client’s claim.

Specific coverage for social engineering fraud had to be endorsed on to the Crime insurance policy and AIG, ACE, AXIS, Chubb, QBE, RSA, Travelers and XL all provide some form of coverage. In many instances the carriers will require an additional proposal form

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Getting to grips with If your business is running on Microsoft products, purchased under an Open or Select licensing programme, the software giant can require you to undertake a software asset management review (SAM). It sounds scary and for some it can be.

As you might suspect, they are looking to help organisations comply with the conditions of their licence, typically ensuring your Microsoft software licences adequately cover the software you use to run your business.

But don’t think it’s just Microsoft that checks up on licensing matters.

Most of London’s councils use Oracle database software within their organisations, spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on licencing. Many of the councils have undergone a licencing audit from Oracle within the last year and the rate at which audits in general take place is increasing.

These audits also identify where organisations are spending too much on licencing, but typically a problem may exist when a business has grown and/or employed more people who all use the software in question, without amending their software licence with the vendor.

Volume licensing Instead of licensing software ‘one piece at a time,’ organisations often enter into volume licensing agreements with vendors – no CD for every machine any more.

A volume licence allows an organisation to install multiple

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copies of a software product on different machines, or allow every employee access to the software through use of a hosted or virtual desktop.

These licences will come with restrictions, like limiting the number of installations, limiting use only to the purchasing organisation, etc. To the uninitiated, these arrangements can be overly complicated and some organisations will fall foul of the restrictions often through no fault of their own.

The myth Our managed IT services support the growth and operation of organisations large and small. But it’s always a challenge dealing with small businesses and trying to help them understand the need for licensing restrictions that come with the likes of Office 365.

There is a myth that a single Office 365 subscription can be installed

on 5 devices. So an organisation with 50 employees only needs 10 subscriptions, right? Wrong.

The confusion stems from the difference between ‘user’ and ‘device’. Each user must have their own subscription, but it can be loaded onto 5 devices, i.e., PC, Mac, tablet, iPad, phone. Of course the situation can be exacerbated

by IT firms winning business by encouraging the use of one licence by 5 different people using 5 different machines, in a bid to be cheaper than firms quoting the appropriate number of licences.

The review Some organisations will risk running their entire operation on incorrectly licensed software, believing the chances of them being caught is minimal. However, the big software vendors are increasing the number of reviews they undertake and there can be big problems, in terms of both cost and reputational damage,

“If you get notification of a review, first check it really is from the software vendor it says it’s from.”

the licensing laws for those caught deliberately circumventing the licence agreement.

If you get notification of a review, first check it really is from the software vendor it says it’s from.

In the past, some of the more aggressive IT services firms have been known to use the threat of a review as a way to ‘sell’ their services and ultimately licences.

When a review identifies that an organisation has inadequate or inappropriate licencing, it will be given the opportunity to correct it.

Fines and prosecutions are rare, but a route vendors have the right to pursue.

To ascertain your position, ask your IT manager or your IT services provider to supply a list of all the Microsoft (and other software) licences you have bought. Don’t forget all the other programmes and ways you may have acquired licences; boxed software, new with devices or even through different companies you might have bought or merged with.

Once you have a complete list, get in touch and we will help you create a complete inventory of the software running on all computers, devices and phones in your organisation.

If in doubt Finally, we’ll reiterate again how

important it is to speak to your IT supplier or support company about how to handle a Microsoft software asset management review. Quite simply, they’ll know the score and be able to guide you through the whole process.

We sort out licensing issues for many clients, who expect it as part of our managed IT services, but we’re happy to have a conversation with anyone worried they or their IT support partner, may have misunderstood the licensing process. Software licences aren’t that complicated, but without the proper advice you could end up spending more than you need to... or worse.

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Tamworth to Toronto In July, Microsoft staged its annual Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Toronto and Quiss was there to hear first-hand how Microsoft will shape all our futures.

As a managed IT services provider, there really is no getting away from Microsoft. Our own hosting solution in our Tamworth data centre is built on their Azure stack and typically our managed IT services clients expect us to resolve licencing issues and ensure they remain compliant.

Digital Transformation The opening sessions focussed on ‘Digital Transformation’, primarily the desire of CEO’s to use technology to change business outcomes, helping them: • Engage with their customers • Empower employees to make better decisions • Optimise their operations • Build up the predictive power within their organisations so that every operation is intelligent • Transform their products and services We understand organisations are

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seeking greater efficiency, looking to automate processes and increase productivity, which presents an unprecedented opportunity to Microsoft Partners like Quiss. We can help.

There are over 25,000 Microsoft Partners worldwide, all of varying levels of expertise and experience.

Only the Top 100 in the UK are Field Managed Partners and in recognition of our commitment to Microsoft and the business we do, Quiss Technology recently attained a spot in this top echelon.

Microsoft: a three-core driving force In Toronto we learned Microsoft has three core ambitions which play a fundamental part in digitally transforming businesses: 1) Re-inventing productivity and business processes by removing the barriers between productivity tools and business applications to create greater efficiency within the business.

2) Building out the intelligent cloud with ‘cognitive services’, encapapsulating speech, computer

vision, natural language text understanding to infuse perception into apps – the ability for Apps/Bots to understand speech and see i.e. computer vision.

3) Create more personal computing with the Windows 10 operating system spanning multiple devices from Raspberry PI to Hololens, bringing centralised infrastructure benefits and cost savings to businesses.

Mobile Application Innovation Toronto also proved the showcase for the flexibility of Azure, supporting both Windows and Linux ecosystems along with the many new services, tools and capabilities.

One such tool that was demonstrated was Xamarin, used by organisations of all sizes, it allows native mobile apps to be built and delivered across IOS, Android and Windows devices, to create incredible mobile experiences.

Enterprise Mobility Security Microsoft Cloud meets the growing demand for greater security, with

Enterprise Mobility Security (EMS) allowing employees to use the devices and apps they love across IOS, Android and Windows.

It also integrates well with Office 365, with currently around 40% of Office 365 installations utilising EMS, but this is growing rapidly.

Security features and capabilities continue to be added, including information protection and SaaS application security.

New Enterprise Value Features Roadmap The focus then turned to some of the great features on the roadmap covering the areas of Security, Analytics, Skype and SharePoint: Security: Built-in intelligent security capabilities are critical for our clients and new features include: Advance threat protection, E-discovery, customer lockbox (audit control over content), Advance Security Management (ASM) which provides admins visibility on high risk behaviours.

service to help individuals better manage their time.

Skype: Microsoft is creating a fully Cloud-based communication service, with a comprehensive set of capabilities around Voice, Chat, HD video and Conferencing. Skype for Business allows organisations to move PBX system and PSTN services to the cloud.

SharePoint: Microsoft introduced a new set of mobile applications to make the ‘intranet in your pocket’ a reality, along with changes to OneDrive to improve the Sync client and modern web experiences enabling fast site creation.

An exhausting 7-day, 7000 mile trip for the Quiss team, but a valuable insight into the technology coming shortly to allow you to achieve more as you begin the digital transformation of your organisation.

Analytics: Advanced analysis and data visualisations put insights into reach of everyone in an organisation. Delve Personal Analytics was introduced as a new

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QUISS PEOPLE This regular feature highlights appointments, promotions and qualifications across the teams here at Quiss, as we work hard to recruit, train and nurture the best talent in the industry.

Helpdesk - Jake Barwell and Alex Lawton have been promoted to 2nd Line Helpdesk Analysts in recognition of their hard work and dedication to solving problems; always with a smile.

Engineers - We further strengthened our support team with the appointment of senior systems specialist Jamie Rowe.

Zsolt Pamuki also joined and fulfils a predominantly office based role, providing high level (fourth line) systems and networking support.

Projects - Having successfully completed the PRINCE2 foundation and practitioner courses, Jeff Hale has been promoted to Technical Project Manager. Dalbir Wilkhu also successfully passed PRINCE2 foundation and practitioner courses, settling well into his new role as one of our Technical Project Specialists.

MEET WITHOUT THE TRAVEL ISSUES Whether it’s a car journey across the city or a flight around the globe, it’s easier to meet digitally thanks to Skype For Business.

Much is made of the impact that increasingly available videoconferencing solutions will have on distance travel, but perhaps its biggest impact will be on relatively short car journeys.

Admittedly, nothing beats the positive effects of a face-to-face meeting with clients and prospects, but think of the number of shorter journeys, for even shorter meetings that would benefit from more than a phone call, but don’t require a visit.

Qualifications - Charmaine Beesley and Bashir Ahmad passed the Cisco Express Security NGFW Account Manager exam and the Cisco Express Security NGFW Engineer exam respectively.

Of course we already have quality tele-conferencing solutions from the likes of Avaya and Skype for Business (formerly Lync), but just how far will communications technology advance while we all struggle with the UK’s congested roads?

Having now satisfied all the requirements for the Cisco Security Specialist programme, we are now recognised as a Cisco Security Specialist (Express) partner as well as Cisco SELECT Channel Partner.

Skype, only just over ten years old, was a game changer as far as person to person communications was concerned, bringing video communications out of the video conferencing suite and onto the

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laptop, tablet and smartphone.

Face-to-face without the travel.

Advancements in video conferencing technology will render traveling to business meetings an unnecessary inconvenience and expense. Video conferencing systems now allow multiple participants to engage with each other simultaneously and have adopted Skype’s approach to mobility. Systems allow users to take video calls at their desk on their PC, transfer to their tablet to walk around the factory, before finishing the call on their smartphone on the train, if necessary.

Modern commercial systems, unlike the free consumer applications, are standards-based, which ensures there is little of the disruption and loss of quality associated with the free applications. This technology has already found traction with the business community, allowing closer collaboration between colleagues and less wasted time traveling between offices.

Importantly, as increasing numbers of businesses begin to appreciate the benefits on offer from the latest video conferencing technology, the greater the likelihood of interaction between client and customer too.

You can share documents so that everyone is working with the latest version, share your screen and even give control to others in the meeting, to help you get the most out of your time.

The latest technology brings together individuals from multiple locations, or allows users to be in more than one place and all without ever having to leave the office.

Skype across Devices Connect with your team anywhere using mobile apps across Windows, iOS and AndroidTM, or bring remote participants into meeting spaces of all sizes with Room Systems and Surface Hub.

Skype for Business not only allows you to make more personal video calls to a contact, as well as conference with lots of people, it’s phone call and instant messaging features ensure you can engage in any number of ways to help build stronger relationships.

Skype meetings, just like conference calls, allow you to see and talk with multiple contacts across the globe.

It’s good to see familiar faces, but even better to show people your thoughts, rough sketches, initial designs, prototypes and changes, without ever leaving the office.

Meeting Solution Now your teams can work like they were all in one room, even when they’re spread around the office, country or world. From collaborative team sessions to large broadcasts or dialing into a conference using your phone, Skype for Business is designed for all your meeting needs.

Call with the Cloud You can make, receive, and transfer business calls in the office, at home, or out on the road using your phone, computer, digital device and

mobile, with increased agility and consolidated management.

This ability to converse and collaborate without spending money on travel, wasting time stuck in traffic or delayed at the airport, is driving productivity up and delivering new levels of engagement.

The switch to video conferencing, available to everyone in the business without booking the video conferencing suite and trying to synchronise diaries, is helping businesses make decisions faster and complete projects sooner.

The technology is being driven by some of the world’s most innovative companies, all of whom recognise the benefit to business and indeed the planet by cutting travel, rather than spending billions to just shorten journey times by a few minutes.

Face-to-face is within reach for organisations of every size and complexity. The only thing holding you back is resistance to change.

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Call us today for a free demo 0333 222 4334

Office 365™ is amazing, but remains a single layered security option.

Add Mimecast to ensure you have multi-layer protection.

Silver follows exam success When you sell as much hardware as we do, there’s more to it than just buying boxes. We have to prove to our suppliers that we understand their products and how their use best suits the needs of our clients.

This is the case with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), who make annual testing a requirement of being able to specify their technology and achieve the best possible prices to pass onto our customers.

The exams, ‘Selling HPE SMB Solutions and Services’ and ‘Selling HP Personal Systems Hardware’ have to be undertaken by our sales team, with a successful outcome ensuring we retain our status as an HP Silver Partner.

It’s a tough test based on training and course materials with questions about knowledge gained doing the job and an expected level of industry knowledge. A question might

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ask: “Which HP solution replaces the BIOS boot block if a virus corrupts the notebook?” Simple, eh?

Luckily, or should we say skilfully, we have a great procurement team headed up by the very experienced Dave Payne and we sailed through with flying colours.

It’s all this detail going on behind the scenes that clients rarely see, that ensures we continue to deliver the high quality service we are known for.

The answer if you were wondering, was; HP Sure Start.

But you knew that, right?

Why Quiss is so hospitable As a managed IT services provider promoting the benefits of virtual meetings via videoconferencing, amongst a number of similar technologies, why do we continue to invest in corporate hospitality?

The simple and short answer is that these events are a great opportunity to meet clients, let our hair down and all have a bit of fun.

The longer answer is that, despite our efforts to maintain a service quality second to none and deliver a range of services designed to solve every conceivable IT related issue, we recognise good business still relies on the ability to build and maintain strong relationships with our clients.

Good business still relies on the ability to build and maintain strong relationships with our clients.

Engaging with clients and prospects away from the office demonstrates we have an interest in developing our relationship beyond the one we build through doing business together.

When return on investment is the measure of almost all marketing activities, the idea of building a

relationship based on experience is a happy change, which allows us to adopt a more personal approach.

People buy from people and by choosing carefully, then hosting hospitality events throughout the year we get to show a side to our business that’s difficult to represent when we are pitching for work.

Typically, we also see a different side to the organisations that employ our services because we are seeing the people that work for our client as individuals, outside corporate confines.

Hosting interesting and entertaining events can leave a lasting impression and have a positive influence on our brand values.

However, the difficulty is ensuring we get enough ‘bang for our buck’.

It’s important we invest in the right events and tailor the experience to our audience. So when we choose to host our renowned golf-day, we ensure we can deliver an equally impressive spa day for those not attracted to a 7 km walk in the sun, trying to get a 42.7mm diameter ball

into a 107.95mm diameter hole!

I like to think that it is this attention to detail and expression of consideration for our clients that enhances our brand – it shows we focus on the detail, not just the big picture stuff, which is critical when delivering managed IT services for organisations large and small.

Of course, there is an ulterior motive to all this largesse and that is the time we get to spend with our clients or prospects. We might get 10 minutes on the phone or an hour’s meeting, but hospitality gives us a long time to get to know the individuals behind the client.

We are not selling, but a chat over a Pimm’s at the horse racing or a Guinness at the cricket allows us to introduce a new service, test an idea, gauge our service satisfaction levels or talk shop in a relaxed environment.

So next time we send an invite, or you see photos from an event, you’ll know it wasn’t a junket, or a sales pitch, or a way to bunk off work, but just Quiss being hospitable.

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Time to upgrade your phone system?

There are a host of reasons to upgrade your phone system, but fashion shouldn’t be one of them. Whilst VoIP has taken the limelight lately, traditional on-premise systems still have advantages that should not be overlooked. Here we look at both sides of the argument.

Cost: Premise-based solutions can require a high initial capital investment and high recurring support costs to manage, maintain and upgrade the technology.

Our all-inclusive, cost-effective cloud solutions offer predictable costs and because there is no need to purchase lots of equipment, expenses are operational rather than capex based.

Management: Managing an on-premise solution effectively can be expensive, requiring an entire IT department to cope with the complexity of today’s communications systems.

With a cloud-based solution, all the cost and work associated with managing it, are outsourced to the manufacturer, allowing you to focus on other IT initiatives.

Technology: The refresh cycle for technology solutions is on average three years and represents an

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obstacle for businesses as upgrades require capital investment.

Hosted cloud technology is updated with every major product release to ensure the customer always has the latest platform.

Scalability: An on-premise solution requires clients to continue investing in new hardware as they grow and risk being left with unwanted hardware if they downsize.

It is easy to scale a cloud-based solution up or down, with new offices and users easily set up through a self-administered client portal or by calling customer service.

Vendor Management: Managing multiple vendors for implementation and support, handling separate billing relationships, technical experts needed for multiple platforms and ongoing maintenance, support and upgrade requirements, all make a premise-based solution more challenging.

Cloud-based solutions provide a single vendor for all your communication needs – voice, data and applications.

Quality of Service: On-premise solutions are only as reliable as the design and implementation of the system and may require an in-house IT team to guarantee uptime.

Cloud-based solutions maximise uptime and coverage.

Redundancy: It is challenging to deliver hardware and software geographic redundancy with an on-premise solution. Cloud-based solutions provide multi-site, unified messaging capability.

Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity: On-premise solutions typically have no Disaster Recovery capability because the implementation and cost of alternative equipment is prohibitive.

Cloud-based solutions provide

Current on-premise systems will have handsets and applications of a higher specification, with more features than are currently available with hosted systems, although in time the Cloud will catch up.

Cordless phones on a hybrid onpremise solution provide better coverage and functionality across a site, than is possible with a hosted solution which operates on the basis of one phone to one base station.

Support: There are more technical people to support hybrid systems than hosted Cloud solutions.

Business Continuity routing to maximize communications coverage for customers.

Simplicity / End User Control: An on-premise solution typically requires the vendor to make additions, moves or changes to a system, which can be expensive and dependant on technician availability.

Cloud solutions include an online administrative web portal, with an easy to use interface allowing the organisation to perform their own additions, moves or changes.

Mobility: On-premise solutions typically require costly upgrades and licensing to add the latest mobility features if the current system is not up to date.

Cloud-based solutions are featurerich and come with mobility features at no additional cost.

On-premise phone systems still have plenty of life left in them and here are a few reasons to consider

upgrading before you go to the Cloud.

Cost: Although the initial outlay on a hybrid phone system will be more than a cloud-hosted solution at the beginning, once it’s paid for it will be cheaper in the long run.

Upgrading and adding new features to your current equipment allows you to sweat these assets for longer and improve your return on investment.

Compatibility: When working with multiple locations or trying to integrate new offices, again a hosted solution might appear a better bet, but it’s far easier to have the same on-premise solution at each location than try and combine hosted and hybrid solutions.

Technology: Feature upgrades are more regular for on-premise systems, with bespoke software patches more likely to be made as and when needed.

Internet Connectivity: In some parts of the country, if the local exchange is subject to work, internet connectivity can fluctuate and have a disastrous impact on VoIP comms.

Traditional phone circuits are more robust and reliable.

Availability: Larger sites requiring high availability of call/line delivery, may feel safer combining traditional ISDN (on-premise) lines with SIP internet delivered lines, rather than solely opting for a Cloud-hosted solution.

And finally, rumours of the demise of the ISDN line have been exaggerated. Although the current ‘planned’ end date to stop installing new lines is 2025 (this is BT so when it actually stops is anyone’s guess), but support is not about to be withdrawn for ISDN lines. In fact, ISDN replaced its predecessor Dass2 almost 10 years ago and these old lines are still supported.

That’s a balanced view of telephony as we see it, but no doubt things have already changed as you read this. So for the full story, get in touch and we’ll see what works best for you and your business.

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Forging links in the Black Country As official Patrons to the Black Country Chamber of Commerce (BCCC), we have attracted a lot of interest in our services, from businesses in the traditional heart of the country’s manufacturing sector.

Matt Rhodes, Commercial Manager here at Quiss and our very own ‘Black Country’ businessman was naturally excited by the opportunity to play a key role in advancing the prosperity of the local area, commenting:

It’s been great working with the Chamber and their partners to support businesses across the region.

We are shaping technology to help them achieve more and flourish in what remains a challenging economy.

The BCCC represents businesses across Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton. It is committed

to doubling the size of the region’s economy by 2023 through its own high growth programme, a revolution in skills development and enhancement of the local transport infrastructure.

In our time as Patrons of the BCCC, we have enjoyed a visit to Birmingham Airport with a tour of the Control Room at the airport, which really is the centre of everything that happens there. We’ve been to the Hawthorns and talked with local businesses looking for high quality managed IT services and been part of the inaugural Walsall Business Week.

We have also launched initiatives to help entrepreneurs in the region get their businesses started. However, the problem remains that many of those that dream of establishing

their own business are deterred by the necessary up-front investment, particularly in technology.

It’s why we have developed a unique IT package for start-ups, to ensure good businesses do not remain merely dreams. Many ambitious entrepreneurs across the Black Country will benefit and give their dreams the start needed to create wealth, jobs and growing optimism so we can help the region prosper.

And recently, we signed a deal to support fellow BCCC member, Phoenix Calibration & Services Ltd, based in Brierley Hill. This thriving business specialises in materials testing technology and we first met them at a BCCC networking event, which just goes to prove the value of getting out and meeting the locals face to face.

Premium partner gets OK from Our efforts in supplying printers and consumables across the globe has been recognised by OKI, the award-winning Japanese printer manufacturer, who has awarded us Premium Partner status.

At Quiss, we have been supplying printers and consumables to our clients for many years, but like all the hardware we specify, we only work with the best, most reliable and trusted brands.

As an OKI Premium Partner we receive advance notification of new products and technological advances.

We’re also invited to OKI events where we can network with experts from the print industry, which shapes the advice we offer our clients and ensures they have the most current and relevant information when making decisions about upgrading print equipment.

It is no different when it comes to printers, which is why we work with OKI, so we can supply everything from simple desktop mono lasers to large multifunction colour printers, designed to sit at the heart of an organisation’s document workflow.

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Okay, it’s not an Oscar, but it’s still nice to have.

The frontline Our helpdesk is the frontline in the day to day fight to keep our clients’ businesses working optimally, finding missing print drivers, resetting passwords, kick-starting recalcitrant computers and soothing frayed tempers when the user has tried their own fix!

In recent years it is not just the number of new clients that has required a rapid expansion of our helpdesk, but the length of our support contracts. We measure client relationships in terms of multiple contracts, with some on their third or fourth 4-year contract, but clients are now pressing for even longer terms. Some as high as 8-years.

To ensure we cope with the increasing demand for support, we work hard to recruit the best firstline engineers for our helpdesk and nurture this talent to maintain our industry leading first-fix rate of 77% of all calls.

With 35 individuals currently forming our support team, each with their own specific needs, we provide tailored training programmes for each person to ensure their knowledge keeps pace with the technological advances.

We pay all the costs involved, including exams and we incentivise team member’s performance

Profile: Ian ‘H’ Harrison

through salary increases based on their growing competence and expertise across a broad range of disciplines. Put them to the test and we’re confident you’ll be impressed.

New Avaya Phone System We have recently invested in a new telephony infrastructure, which delivers improved call routing, together with enhanced reporting features and enriched wallboard displays for our support teams.

We are also preparing to roll-out our new call management system to help us align our processes with Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), a method for managing IT as a service - it focuses on the end-user rather than the technology.

Our decisions are driven by our commitment to improving customer service, in everything we do. So we will be stepping up our Client Feedback Surveys, to ensure we capture as much information as possible, to help us shape our service.

So, if we ask, please help us and other clients by answering as truthfully as possible; please add as much detail as possible, because ‘everything was great’ will not really help us. They only take a minute or two and we’ll share the results with you as part of your service review meetings or on an ad-hoc basis as and when you require them.

In the next edition of ‘talk about IT’ we’ll explain a little more about our new call management system.

Ian, or ‘H’ as he is better known around our offices, is one of the longest serving members of the team here at Quiss, having joined us in 1989, just a year after we were founded.

Ian is responsible for all aspects of service delivery at Quiss, coordinating the work of our 35-strong support team of Helpdesk, Field Service Engineers, Network Support Engineers and Logistics Team.

He joined Quiss as a Field Service Engineer in January 1989 when the company was still finding its feet in the emerging world of managed IT services. After four years he was promoted to Field Service Manager and in 1996, took up the position he still occupies today.

His relaxed, unflappable manner comes from a love of the great outdoors and an appreciation of good music.

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Beware the evergreen clause when leasing telephone or printer equipment When assessing the telephony or printing needs of a client or prospect, is not uncommon to find they have fallen victim to the once popular ‘evergreen clause’ in their current equipment lease. For many, whilst the evergreen clause is legal, it is far from ethical and it is easy to see how people busy running their businesses are fooled into signing, without necessarily understanding the full implications of their actions.

Anyone reading this and seeing the term ‘evergreen clause’ for the first time will be surprised by it and the tricks used by less ethical leasing companies to ensure old equipment continues to deliver fat profits. There is no arguing about the obvious benefits delivered by leasing, with often expensive equipment brought within reach of every business thanks to the cost spread across the term of the lease.

Typically, with telephone and office multi-function printers for instance, which are getting ever more complicated, the problem can surface when extra equipment is added. A prospect, alarmed at the small print in the contract they admitted to having just read for the first time, noted that adding new phones to allow for growth in the business, would result in the lease automatically renewing; for the full term.

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This cleverly written lease, with a huge amount of small print, all couched in almost indecipherable terminology meant that even four years into the five-year lease, adding ten new phones would effectively re-start the lease from the beginning – another five years of paying for now old equipment.

The evergreen auto renew clause as it is often known, will be found in the terms and conditions, appearing something like this: No more than 90 days and no less than 30 days prior to the completion of the Term, the Lessee shall give the Lessor written notice of the Lessee’s intention to terminate the lease. If the Lessee fails to so notify the Lessor or, having notified the Lessor, the Lessee fails to return the Equipment as agreed at the end of the Term, the lease will automatically renew for another 12-month period under the same terms and conditions...you get the idea.

The original lease will also often contain the option to purchase the equipment at the end of the lease at an agreed percentage of the original cost, typically 10-20%, which sounds fair. But again, relies on the lease terminating when expected and agreed. Any changes to the lease, including re-starting due to the addition of new equipment, or failing to notify an intention to terminate, will affect this price.

There is even no responsibility on the lease provider to tell you the lease has ended and that the equipment can be yours for a small charge – they can keep on taking the monthly payments until you tell them to stop, giving the required notice period of course.

The more professional service providers, like ourselves, will notify you in advance that your lease is coming to an end and will expect to have a conversation about equipment purchase if you’re happy, or a tech refresh if new equipment will help your business grow. The new equipment can be supplied on a similar lease, with no hint of an evergreen clause.

So in short, check your existing leases carefully and take great care when signing new ones – the amount you are risking should indicate how long you need to spend reading the T&Cs or asking your solicitor to.

Meet the team Wheeler in the next Hi, I’m Rob and I’m the latest addition to the growing sales team here at Quiss. Following a period of sustained growth and a number of recent business wins an opportunity arose that was too good to miss and here I am.

This is a really busy office and I’m confident my years of experience, with particular expertise selling managed services, converged telephony and partner services via channel networks, will stand me in good stead.

This is a good time to be joining Quiss. I was persuaded by the ambition and the defined growth strategy. The quality and resilience of IT systems has moved closer to the top of the agenda for most management teams, so I expect to be busy with meetings in the months ahead.

We have innovative high quality IT solutions and a service to match; it’s my job to get that message out to those organisations that are still suffering a less than ideal service, with IT less an enabler for growth and more a stumbling block.

Modern organisations are placing ever greater emphasis on converged systems, integrating IT and communications in a drive to improve efficiency and increase productivity.

Quiss has an enviable reputation for delivering managed IT services, built over more than 28 years, which is a seriously long time in the IT sector – few can match our longevity.

Renowned for its work in the legal sector, Quiss has attracted clients from sectors as diverse as transport, insurance, food service and pharmaceuticals, but I’m concentrating my efforts on the often ignored education sector. I believe our Qworks approach to managed IT services could have a big impact in the sector.

If I call and ask to speak to you or your IT manger, don’t worry about a long technical chat, we can always cover beer, geek gadgets or my early career as a school music teacher – more combative and more stressful than any sales office.

And if you recognise the face but can’t place it, you’ve probably attended a gig where I’ve been filling in as a session musician, covering for a missing, absent or holidaying band member.

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Case Study: JCP Solicitors The Client There is no doubting the success of law firm JCP Solicitors, having grown from a single office in the centre of Swansea to become one of the top 100 companies in South West Wales, in just over 25 years.

This thoroughly modern law firm became a limited company in 2015 and currently has 24 Directors, approximately 160 staff across offices in Swansea, Cardiff, Carmarthen, Haverfordwest, Fishguard, and St Davids.

Proud of its roots in the communities they serve, JCP offers a wide range of legal services. As well as traditional services for individuals, businesses and property, the business also specialises in sectors such as agriculture and healthcare, and has developed into niche areas such as professional negligence and catastrophic brain injury.

In recent years JCP has undertaken a series of mergers with smaller regional law firms to deliver the growth planned by CEO Hayley Davies and the senior management team. They recognised from the start of the implementation of the growth strategy that technology would play an increasingly important role in delivering high quality legal services.

Entrepreneurial in its approach,

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JCP identifies merger targets, ties up the deal within 3 months and expects to integrate them into the business within 8-10 weeks, ensuring all users share the same IT network, infrastructure and phone system within that time. A challenge for us and our engineers, but not impossible.

JCP believes strongly in nurturing the talent within the business, with tailored training programmes helping every individual receive the IT training they need to improve their confidence and productivity. Bringing new starters up to speed quickly with the practice management software and new Microsoft Office products is vital in maintaining the firm’s high quality service.

The management team quickly appreciated the advantage of an external training provider who would deliver a consistent message, not shaped by particular trends in the business. It also ensures end users feel confident to ask any question, however simple it may appear, without fear of ridicule.

Continuous and relevant training is so critical to JCP’s success, it now forms part of every individual’s appraisal

– just one more reason for the longevity of careers. Cyber-security is a big issue for law firms and indepth security training is now part of everyone’s calendar, as important as the need to monitor and address external threats to the network.

With each new generation of solicitors expecting availability of systems and data anywhere, anytime with any device, particular attention was paid to improving the firm’s IT infrastructure, support and response times.

This led to the decision to outsource responsibility for the firm’s IT to Quiss Technology back in 2008, which allowed for more projects to be undertaken at one time than would have been possible with the internal IT team.

We are able to introduce specialist expertise for short periods that few businesses could afford on a permanent basis, which helps deliver the experienced consultancy that ensures IT is an enabler for growth, not a stumbling block.

…remarkable first-fix rates from the helpdesk engineers over a sustained period, makes it easy to forget just how much better the service is than when we relied solely on an in-house IT team.

Hayley Davies, Chief Executive Officer at JCP Solicitors

The Solution Into the second contract with JCP Solicitors, with an extra year added to the initial 4-year term, it is now many years since we upgraded their IT infrastructure. In the intervening years we have concentrated on keeping all users online, anywhere, anytime with any device and supported the firm through its many mergers.

The merger process typically leaves us with 6-8 weeks to integrate the two firms with users sharing the same IT network, infrastructure and converged telephony solution.

The time we are allowed to ensure everything works is getting shorter, which stands testament to the confidence the JCP management team has in our abilities and our resources.

As part of the comprehensive Qworks managed service solution, JCP has access to a range of services, including unlimited access to our Tamworth-based, 35-strong support team, specialist training on both their practice management software and all the standard Microsoft desktop applications.

Importantly for this ambitious business, our support offers unlimited consultancy and project management, which has proved particularly useful as JCP sought to

increase productivity and efficiency.

Quiss helped JCP through the process of assessing and implementing the ILE legal case management software, back in 2010, benefiting from the train-thetrainers service offered by Quiss.

When users were shown how ILE worked and how to get the best from it, the training team from Quiss sat in on the sessions, which ensured they would be ready to deliver future training for new users.

Solicitors’ CEO Hayley Davies comments: “Receiving such a high level of service from Quiss and remarkable first-fix rates from the helpdesk engineers over a sustained period, makes it easy to forget just how much better the service is than when we relied solely on an in-house IT team.

“Our team did not have the resources or expertise that might only be needed for a few weeks a year to ensure a project can be delivered quickly and easily.

“Quiss has given us the CEO Hayley Davies confidence to pursue It is this projects that through confidence in the application of new technology, our consultancy service that has will deliver ever greater efficiency ensured the JCP management and productivity and allows us to team has been able to undertake improve the service we deliver to a number of significant projects to our growing client base.” enhance the service the business can deliver to its clients, including: The management team at JCP admit a comprehensive print management the decision to outsource the entire solution; a BigHand digital dictation IT function to Quiss was not one workflow system; transition to a taken lightly, but one they recognise converged telephony solution. has played a significant role in their continued growth and current There is no doubting that throughout success. the relationship there have been minor problems, but as JCP

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Quiss Technology plc.

Claymore Tame Valley Industrial Estate Tamworth B77 5DQ Tel: 0333 222 4334 Fax: 01827 265 001 Email: enquiries@quiss.co.uk

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Cert No. 1330 ISO 9001:2008 ISO 27001:2013