As 2020 draws to a close, the team here at Gamma has reflected heavily on a year of monumental change for businesses throughout the UK.
The seismic shift that industries have seen was certainly unprecedented, but business leaders and their teams alike should be commended for making the transition from office-based to home working as seamless as possible.
In this edition of Communicate we’re rounding off the year by looking at what we’ve achieved over this at times trying period; we were proud to continue to offer our customers leading content through our first ever GX Virtual Summit and the subsequent launch of our GX Lite events – read on to discover how you can catch up on everything you might’ve missed.
We strived to get all of our customers online and fully functional while offering full support and training as your teams created impromptu office spaces in their spare rooms, kitchens or that tidy corner of the living room that isn’t piled high with Dominos pizza boxes or home schooling materials.
It wasn’t just live keynote sessions and events on offer for consumption, our series of blog posts were published to bolster your tested business continuity plans, inspire your workforce on how to best structure their at home shifts and we believe our message that ‘UCaaS is for life and not just for Christmas’ resonated well with our customers.
The past 12 months also saw the launch of our latest product updates, helping to strengthen your service even further. Last month we were thrilled to announce the upcoming launch of our new customer portal, Communities. We can now confirm that this transformational launch will take place in January – so keep an eye on your inbox for more updates. Scroll down to find out more about some of the features and benefits that this exciting platform is set to bring.
If you’re looking for ways to re-energise your employees and hit the ground running as we continue to work remotely in 2021, check out our tips on how to get the most out of remote workforce and how to create a more modern workplace. Scroll down to discover how to avoid the dreaded remote burnout!
Finally, make sure to keep a note of our seasonal opening times and rest assured that our team will still be available to offer support to you and your teams during the holiday period.
We wish you all a well-deserved break, a toast to the small and big wins in 2020 and we look forward to seeing you virtually in the new year.
If you have any questions about anything mentioned in this month’s newsletter, your CDM will be happy to help. You can contact them on 0333 014 0333 – pressing option 4.
Steve Mills
Head of Major Accounts
The December Update:
That's a wrap on this year's GX events!
That’s a wrap on this year’s GX events!
We would like to extend a big thank you to everyone that attended GX Summit and Gamma’s first ever GX Lite event!
This year we launched our first ever virtual GX Summit, which was shortly followed by our brand new quarterly event, GX Lite! Attendees experienced unique insights, brand new content and thought-provoking keynotes – with a little help from some exciting question speakers.
If you missed out on any of our GX events then fear not! Our GX Summit content hub is still live and houses lots of interesting content to see you and your business through this accelerated period of digital transformation.
Discover some of the webinars and sessions available to you now in the GX Hub. We look forward to bringing you even more exciting content in 2021.
Sign up here for access to our GX Summit content hub. If you’re already registered then you can head straight to the content hub.
Exciting things to come in 2021
Exciting things to come in 2021
We had some exciting product updates for some of our transformational services this year.
Not only did we announces further improvements to our Horizon system, Akixi, which provides award-winning call and contact analytics software and call management services, decided to bring forward implementation plans to enhance its data environment.
Three UK’s big network update was very well-received, promising faster speeds and service in 2021. A change which will positively impact all of our mobile customers.
We’re thrilled to announce that 2021 will see even more updates coming your way, including the launch of our brand new customer portal, Communities.
Communities is set to enhance our customer service experience, enabling our customers to request quotes, place new orders, get billing updates, log queries and check queries statuses in real time and gain instant access to our knowledge base!
We will be updating you with everything that you need to know about the launch as it happens so make sure to look out for our notifications.
In the meantime, please be aware that as of 18th January* you will no longer be able to:
- Use the current Customer Portal to place new orders of the following products:
- Calls and Lines (Single and Multi Analogue Lines, ISDN2, ISDN 30)
- Broadband
- Ethernet
- MPLS
- Request a quote via the Customer Portal, but you will be able to do this in the new Communities
- This applies to all products
What about my existing order?
- Any orders placed before 18th January will not be visible within Communities once the portal is live. For updates on your existing orders, please contact your account contact.
- The status of any orders placed via the customer portal after 18th January will be visible within Communities (excluding affected products above).
Will the existing portal still be accessible?
- Yes, you will still be able to access the existing portal for billing and to place orders for unaffected products.
Watch our introductory video to get a feel of what these new changes mean for you and your business.
What next?
Over the next couple of months, the ways in which you contact us will also change. Keep an eye out for more updates around our Communities launch to pre-empt these changes.
Although the portal goes live on 18th January, more features will follow! Until then, make sure to check out Communities on launch day and discover how you can raise support requests, view new order statuses and much more.
*Please note our updated launch date. The portal was due to be available from December. However this has date has now been extended and the changes will be taking place in January, giving you more time to prepare for the upcoming changes.
Round-up of this year's most popular news
Round-up of this year’s most popular Gamma news
The coronavirus has been a monumental catalyst for change in the way we all work, as some offices, warehouses and high streets still remain empty across the country.
Over the last year we endeavoured to change and curate all of our content to adapt to our customers needs as businesses were thrown into their business continuity plans.
How businesses communicate and operate has had to evolve at lighting speed, fueled by remote working. What would have taken years to articulate has occurred in as many weeks, with unified communications now becoming a lifeline for organisations.
Alan Mackie, our former Chief Marketing and Product Officer for Gamma, delivered his thoughtful, expert take on the way in which this pandemic is shaping how we work now and what the future holds.
Read the full article, as featured in The Times, to find out more on how businesses are either thriving or surviving in these uncertain times.
As well as this insightful article, we also posted blogs to help to equip our customers and their teams as we all adapted and settled into our new working environments.
Avoiding the big remote burnout
So, your team is setup remotely and efficiency appears to be back on track, but did you know that Gen Z and millenials have found it particularly hard to adapt to remote working?
Research has shown that home workers are putting in an extra 28 hours a month on average. Read our blog, ‘Why remote working burnout is one of the biggest threats to your business’ to see how best to avoid the burnout.
Building your new office narrative
‘UCaaS is a strategy, not a product’ helped readers to discover how our experts believe the office narrative of the future could play out and why the workplace needs to be completely reinvented, not lost.
Re-energise your teams in 2021
Re-energise your teams in 2021
As we enter into a brand new year, remote working has become embedded in many of our routines.
It’s time to shake things up and look at ways to make our teams more effective in our current home office environments.
Break back into the new year refreshed, reenergised and ready to re-motivate your team with our useful remote working tips and resources.
It could also be a good time to firm up your business continuity plans which may have been tested by the pandemic. Build a more robust future for your business following these unprecedented times by utilising all of the tools available to you.
Resources
Help your teams to get back into the working groove by offering them tips on how they might best structure their day. Our handy infographic breaks down your daily shift, guiding your teams through the best way to break down a typical day when working from home.
Our Creating the Modern Workplace eGuide has all of the information you need to perfect your remote setup.
How well prepared is your organisation to implement remote working? Find out by taking our short survey here.
Make sure that you’re taking full advantage of our solutions while working remotely with our Business Continuity page.
Festive opening hours
Our festive support hours
We want to make sure that you have our full support over the festive break.
Please see our updated support hours below.
Customer Development team:
Our Customer Development Managers will be available in their usual hours (08:00-1:800) with the exception of:
Christmas Eve: 08:00-16:00
New Year’s Eve: 08:00-16:00
Support Desk:
Thurs 24th Dec: 08:00 – 19:00
Fri 25th Dec: Closed
Mon 28th Dec: Closed
Tues 29th: 08:00 – 19:00
Weds 30th: 08:00 – 19:00
Thurs 31st Dec: 08:00 – 19:00
Fri 1st Jan: Closed
Our provisioning team support hours will be as follows:
Thurs 24th Dec: 08:00 – 18:00
Fri 25th Dec: Closed
Mon 28th Dec: Closed
Tues 29th: 08:00 – 18:00
Weds 30th: 08:00 – 18:00
Thurs 31st Dec: 08:00 – 18:00
Fri 1st Jan: Closed
