Posted on: 5th July 2024, by Magrathea
Welcome to the July newsletter, combining news from Magrathea and around the industry.
What’s included
- Magrathea client survey results summary
- Ofcom enforcement programme – One Touch Switching
- Comreg Update – the need to register if you have Irish numbers
- Know your customer checks – help with your due diligence process
- Election results – impact on telecoms (article link)
- Service Spotlight: Emergency Calls (999)
Client Survey – the results are in!
Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to our survey. The comments and feedback were really positive overall and have given us some useful feedback which has informed our plans for the coming year.
The survey was broadly split into questions about Magrathea and on the wider industry. As was the case last year, our lowest average score was for how well we promote our services and features – which was evident from some of the comments that were asking for things we have done for years! We are addressing this weak area by building our business development team and adding some marketing resource. Listening to your feedback we intend to deliver more content in various ways, including video, to improve communication with our clients.
Our highest scores were for our wonderful support team, increasing slightly this year to 9.5 out of 10. Of course we will keep working on getting it to a 10!
On the industry questions about readiness for GPL Switching and the PSTN Switch off, the scores were down a little on last year. Perhaps it’s no surprise that, as we get closer to the deadlines, we feel less prepared. We have previously shared resources in the hope to help clients and plan to move into new formats to appeal to a wider audience in the near future. Meanwhile please do read the latest update in this newsletter!
Everyone who left us their details will get a response directly, addressing any queries or feedback you raised. It will take a bit of time to get through them all so please bear with us.
Meanwhile we have produced a road map of our priorities for the next twelve months, if you would like a copy, please get in touch, or find it in The Guide (via the MAGIC Portal) and hopefully you will start noticing a few other small tweaks that were suggested through our newsletter, notices and so on.
Ofcom Enforcement Programme – One Touch Switch (OTS)
When the March deadline for OTS was missed, Ofcom opened an enforcement programme to ensure providers would get on board with a new date. They have just released a new open letter to all residential providers reminding them of the importance of being ready for 12th September 2024. A copy of the letter is available here and is also available through The Guide in our MAGIC Portal.
The path for any provider of residential services is clear and if you haven’t already, you must engage with TOTSCo as a matter of urgency.
The path for business providers is not yet so clear but we will keep you updated as things progress. Meanwhile, you can see our simple guide here.
Comreg Update
Last month we mentioned that all of our clients using Irish numbers need to take steps to register themselves with Comreg. Having since engaged with Comreg to complete the process it came to light that their internal process was not well aligned to our registrations.
We have worked with them to get a process agreed and the resulting delay in compliance was approved, but now this is resolved we have to press ahead and meet our obligations.
Any clients impacted by this change will be contacted directly over the coming days, your actions are quick and simple so we would be grateful if could watch out for the email and respond at your earliest convenience.
Know your customer checks
On the 1st of February 2024, Ofcom officially opened an enforcement programme to make sure that providers are following existing rules and are following best practice in relation to the use of phone numbers. They are keeping up the pressure in this area and the topic is has been right at the top of the list of concerns for DSIT and the Home Office.
We understand that some clients don’t have the internal resource to consider how best to put processes into place so we have created some guidance that you might find useful. Our ‘guidance on good practice relating to due diligence’ can be found in The Guide or downloaded from our client information pages which can be found here.
A look at the impact of a new Government
Now the results are in, we take a brief look at the way the Government impacts our sector and what we think might happen now that Labour have won the General Election. You can read our latest article here.
Service Spotlight: Emergency Calls (999)
If you do not already have access to 999/112 via Magrathea, we can offer a fully reliable service that has been extensively tested by the BT Emergency Handling Authority (EHA).
Once you are signed up for this service, name and address data can be submitted via our API’s and 999/112 calls passed via your outbound account will be sent through to the EHA.
This facility is available for the UK and Ireland. If you would like more information on this service, please get in touch.
What’s on our minds…
This month marks the start of our business year so the whole team have been involved in creating our business plan to take us forward over the next 12 months. We think it’s crucial that the team can buy into our strategy to keep them engaged and the best way to do that is to involve them in creating it. But equally as important is that they generally work the closest with our clients and suppliers so they are best placed to make sure we are prioritising tasks and projects that clients want, and highlighting any barriers that may stop us achieving our goals.
With our newer team members settling in nicely, and a great new plan to focus on, we are now looking forward to productive and focussed few months!
If any of our clients would like to sponsor our team taking part in The Thames Path Mighty Hike, a Macmillan Cancer Support fundraiser, you can do so here: https://www.justgiving.com/team/MagMassive
This half marathon hike will test our team’s endurance but no doubt the spirit of the day will keep them going!
As always here at Magrathea we appreciate your comments and feedback, if there is anything you would like to contact us about, or you would like to opt out of receiving future newsletters, please email https://www.justgiving.com/team/MagMassive
Kind regards
Client Focus Team, Magrathea