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Zen Internet recently scooped the Best ISP Broadband Award at the PC Pro’s Awards for reliability and service. Zen Internet beat many of its main competitors to win this prestigious award due to the superior service that we are able to offer our customers.
The awards are voted for by readers of PC Pro and took place at the Park Lane Hotel, London and were presented by Ginny Buckley (Sky News and BBC Holiday Programme).
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Iain Johnstone of Zen receives award from Ginny Buckley |
2005 has already been a hugely successful 10th anniversary year for Zen. Most recently, we were listed 31st (6th in the North of England) in the Sunday Times Microsoft Tech Track 100, and earlier in the year we also won the ‘Best Light Business Broadband’ category at the ISPA awards which are awarded to people and organisations in the industry by their peers. Also as mentioned later in the newsletter Zen came seventh in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 this year.
Thank you for all your help in making it such a successful year for Zen!
This October saw the publication of a white paper in connection with the recent review of legal services in the UK by Sir David Clementi.
Sir David Clementi has a vision of forming Legal Disciplinary Practices (LDPs) in the UK which could bring many benefits including, more career choice, perhaps even a better quality of professional life, more options for business expansion, increased fee generation and external investment in the profession. It is believed that this will secure more consumer choice, greater value for money, better access to justice and, above all, improve the service to consumers of legal services.
So, how do Solicitors feel about the proposed changes? Are they excited by such prospects or do they realise the possible implications on their business as Legal Aid work reduces and the market becomes increasingly regulatory and competitive?
Business re-engineering consultants 21st Century Business Ltd (a Bronze ZenPartner) specialise in business development specifically designed for the Legal Profession. They believe that forward thinking Solicitors will see a great opportunity before them. They will see that the changes are aimed at developing their businesses successfully by becoming more efficient, by generating new business opportunities more easily and by building a team that works well together in a drive to increase profits.
21st Century Business Ltd are believed to be the first company of its kind in the UK. By focusing on areas such as: people development, customer service and retention, marketing and branding, finding new business opportunities, health and safety issues and the creative use of IT and E/Commerce, companies can achieve results that right now are only available in dreams.
They will therefore provide solutions to companies who feel that they will not survive this increasingly competitive market. After all many top Legal firms now employ specialists to retain more customers and increase fees and profit whilst they concentrate on their professional field.
Having a team of 14 highly skilled and qualified business development specialists, including a former BBC Broadcaster and presenter and working with partners such as Zen, this new company aims to make a real difference and help to bring legal firms into the 21st Century!
Arrow Computing Solutions (http://www.arrow-computing.co.uk) has been working with Armadillo Self Storage Ltd (http://www.armadillostorage.co.uk/) virtually since their inception. Armadillo’s management team and therefore their Head Office is based in Edinburgh. Initially they had a couple of sites based in the Peterborough and Sheffield areas. To allow easy control of these sites Arrow Computing Solutions put in ZenADSL Internet access at all three sites and set up VPN links from the Edinburgh Office so that management data could be transferred to the Head Office in Edinburgh at regular intervals. The VPNs were used to backup the data from the satellite sites to the Head Office, this backup could then be loaded locally and analysed having the dual roles of checking the backup and giving up to date data for management.
Armadillo have expanded swiftly and the number of sites has quickly grown and therefore the advantages of the VPNs has allowed tight monitoring of performance with key performance Indicators (KPIs) being available to management far more quickly than had been previously possible.
The sites all used a database application to manage the letting of storage space and the VPN has allowed them to move from segregated standalone databases for each site to one centrally held database which is now accessed over the VPN. This allows management and indeed all site locations to view the current live data.
As ADSL can only support 256Kbps upload this soon became a limiting factor with several sites all requesting data from the database, however as the company was still young the expense of leased lines or other faster upload links were felt to be too expensive and it was decided to install further ADSL lines at the central office and segregate the VPNs over these routes.
At about the same time VoIP started to take off and so routers with VoIP capability were installed in new sites and for one of the new ADSL lines in Edinburgh, this allowed effectively free phone calls between their sites. This was further improved by linking the VoIP into their PABX in Edinburgh Head Office.
The next step is probably to install a 1 (or even 2) Mbps SDSL instead of the existing ADSL lines which will allow for a faster upload speed than the existing 3 256 Kbps lines with the advantage that the upload speed of 1 Mbps will all be available to each site rather than segregated with a maximum of 256 Kbps, and the 1 Mbps can easily be upgraded to 2 Mbps should the need arise (which given their past performance is quite likely).
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Iain Johnstone of Zen receives Deloitte Award |
Zen is pleased to announce our seventh position in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 this year. This award recognises the fastest growing businesses in this sector in the Midlands and North of England. Whilst this is the same position as last year, because the region has been expanded we have actually improved our overall standing in the face of even greater competition…
Zen has experienced considerable growth with a 93 per cent increase in staff numbers, a 33 per cent increase in revenue and an estimated 25 per cent increase in profit, in the 12 months following its appearance in last year’s Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Awards.
Zen’s customer base has grown by approximately 30% this year with an increasing amount of high value business customers that are dependent on quality service. As 2004 winners of the Manchester Evening News business of the year awards in the under £10 Million category, the company is now making the transition in size to a large SME with ambitious growth plans for the next couple of years.
The award has undoubtedly helped to affirm Zen as a business that provides quality, reliability and service. We are already benefiting from this approach as valuable customers return to us having experienced inferior service with other suppliers. The association with Deloitte lends gravitas to our positioning and puts the company one step ahead of the competition.
Damian Sanders, Head of Technology for Deloitte in the North, comments: “Zen Internet is a great example of a successful and high achieving technology company and it is not alone. We surveyed all those that were recognised in last year’s awards and 78 per cent stated that turnover had increased by an average of 42 per cent during the previous 12 months. A true testament that the technology sector in the region is prospering.”
Zen Internet is providing Scotland’s leading event organisers, Unique Events, with up to five high-speed broadband connections to help them run Edinburgh’s Christmas and Hogmanay celebrations. The connections will enable Unique Events to recreate a normal office working environment on-site before and during the events, allowing access to all event data, and communications with all suppliers and contractors as smoothly as if they were in the office. Zen is providing Office 2000 ADSL connections, the highest speed available, on each site being run by Unique Events. Zen’s ‘virtual events team’ has just installed the first of these top-of-the-range connections within a day, a turnaround that usually takes five working days.
A spokesperson from Unique Events, said: “These high speed broadband connections will enable our staff on the ground to co-ordinate and organise the events as if they were back in the office. They will have full access to e-mails, contact with suppliers, and will crucially have up-to-date instant access to the latest weather reports. Having successfully worked with Zen on the recent Live8 concert in Edinburgh, and several other events, we knew that they would be able to provide the connections we needed, quickly and effectively.”
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Unique Events create, produce and manage the Christmas and Hogmanay celebrations in Edinburgh, starting with the Christmas Light Night and Ice Show on 24th December, and including the world famous Royal Bank Street Party on 31st December. 100,000 people will attend the party, with four stages of free live music and giant screens. The complexity of the celebrations means that seamless communications are essential for the smooth running of the event.
Iain Johnstone, Zen Internet, said: “Our virtual events team has built up valuable experience working across a wide range of events such as Glastonbury, Live8 and the V festival. We have an excellent relationship with Unique Events and our experience means that we can recommend and implement the right connections quickly, and with maximum support, in order for the events to run successfully. We understand the fine timelines involved in event organising and our turnaround is a vital element of the run up to an event.”
Glasgow Opportunities
Glasgow Opportunities is an Enterprise Trust, contracted to Scottish Enterprise to provide business support, training, and start-up advice to small businesses in the Dumfries & Galloway, Ayrshire and Dunbartonshire areas. Also known as GO, the not-for-profit organisation is one of the largest and most successful enterprise trusts in Britain. It has been working with SMEs since the mid-eighties and now has ten remote branches, approximately 90 employees, and an annual turnover in excess of £3.5m.
Operating as a multi-site organisation, the sharing of information was becoming increasingly important. However, GO staff found that they were unable to access shared drives, and could only e-mail information to each other. Their inability to share management level reports and information on how the business was running was becoming increasingly difficult.
Donald Amour, Finance and General Manager at GO, explained that in addition, its existing Internet supplier “was proving to be expensive and unreliable. We had too many outages either through the ISP being down or failures in the infrastructure that was supplied by our IT support company. Our confidence in our existing IT systems was very low, and this was affecting our staff morale.”
ZenPartner provides solution
GO enlisted the help of Glasgow-based Assistec, a Silver ZenPartner to provide a solution to their problems. Zen has provided ZenADSL Office 2000 and ZenSDSL 2Mbps connections for all of GO’s branches. VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) have been created between the individual sites, and a central exchange server that provides shared data files and e-mail services to all staff within the group.
Said Amour: “Now all our staff are able to share information, and it’s stored more securely on the server rather than being saved on an individual’s PC. The information is better managed, and more easily shared between branches instead of being located piecemeal all over the organisation.”
Reliability and stability
A reliable connection to the Internet was also important in the branches where staff have to access Scottish Enterprise’s Web portal sites to complete their work. All GO staff have to enter data straight into a CRM system used by Scottish Enterprise, and therefore needed a stable platform in order to enable this to work. Staff can now easily enter data on customers and the activity carried out for them directly to the CRM system without worrying that the Internet connection will go down at a vital moment.
This, together with the ability to securely store and share data files and e-mails, means that GO is now running more effectively as an organisation, and is able to provide a better management overview of the business. This, in turn, means that staff are able to provide a more efficient service to customers, with all information easily accessible at all times.
As well as implementing the solution from Zen, Assistec now provides GO with all it’s IT support to individual users, and maintains the architecture of the VPNs. The solution has now been up and running for about a year, and GO expects to work with Assistec in the future to provide input into strategic development of future IT solutions.
Concludes Amour: “We meet regularly with Assistec to foster an understanding and knowledge of what is driving our business. The system provided by Zen Internet is extremely stable - the staff have confidence that they will have access to the Internet each day and that the e-mail system will flow properly. The implementation was problem free and very quick, and Zen’s solution to our problems has provided us with a smooth flow of information that is allowing us to manage our business more effectively.”
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The Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) recently teamed up with domain company Register.com to create the first football tournament for ISPs, an opportunity for all industry 'players' to face each other on the pitch and battle it out for the ISPA Cup. The competition venue was Wembley Goals. The 8-man squad was made up of Eamonn Dunne (c), Ian Buckley, David Barber, Ben Warham, Andy Allcock, ZenPartner’s Tim Maltman, Jamie Mellalieu and George Kinsella.
The Zen team did fantastically well and won their group and were into the quarter finals. An hour break followed between games and unfortunately that, and some stiff competition, was the downfall of Zen. In a high tension match Zen went down 3-0 in the quarter final game. Still for the side which travelled the furthest to enter the competition it’s a good base on which to build on, and we hope to be there next year to go further in the competition!
Following a review of our internal procedures we are introducing a new form to be completed when transferring the billing between Partners and End Users to ensure that the new bill payer has accepted our standard terms and conditions.
Whilst we appreciate that this is an additional form for you to complete we have had to introduce this measure as several End Users have refused to be bound by our terms and refused to pay for the service. Please rest assured that this form is designed purely as a temporary measure and will be replaced by an online facility for a much more streamlined process.
The form itself can be found on the ZenPartner Web site under the Marketing pages then admin downloads and needs to be completed by both the current bill-payer (section 1) and the new bill payer (section 2) before being returned to our billing team via billing@zenpartner.com. We will then make the necessary changes. It is essential that all the details are completed to avoid any unnecessary delays.
This new procedure replaces the previous method of simply e-mailing us with the new billing details with immediate effect and e-mails will no longer be accepted to change the billing details.
We trust that this all makes sense but please speak with your Account Manager or any member of the ZenPartner Programme team to discuss any further questions that you may have.
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Nicole Brooks (Brian Brook’s daughter), Laura Shields (Miss England finalist), Liz McClarnon (Atomic kitten) |
ZenPartner, Communications Company NRG Telecom recently donated the latest model of the Motorola V3 RAZR phone for auction at the Robyn Brooks Appeal Annual Ball that took place at Rochdale Town Hall. Zen provides the Internet services for the very worthy Robyn Brooks appeal via NRG Telecom.
Guests at the event included Liz McClarnon (of Atomic Kitten) plus 2004 Miss England finalist Laura Shields and Nik and Eva Speakman, who are currently working on their new television show.
There were some terrific auction prizes on offer including a boxing glove and poster signed by Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan, a 1970 Brazil football team shirt signed by Pele in a frame with a photograph of the famous save made by Gordon Banks.
The night was a big success with everyone enjoying themselves and helping to raise several thousand pounds for the charity, which aims to help children with cancer.
For further details of NRG Telecom and the Robyn Brooks Appeal please visit their Web sites at www.nrgtelecom.co.uk and www.robynbrooks.co.uk
Staff at the headquarters of Gold ZenPartner PC World Business in Bury, Manchester held a full day of fundraising on Friday 18th November, for Children in Need '05. Workers wore fancy dress clothing, and ran competitions and activities throughout the day in order to raise money. Fundraising activities included a bucking bronco ride, sumo wrestling, a cake sale and raffle, and one particularly hirsute employee even agreed to having his head shaved for the occasion.
Jain Smith, one of the events organisers (pictured left), explained “It's been an absolutely brilliant day, and thanks to the efforts of everyone involved, we have managed to raise over £4,200 for Children in Need.”
PC World Business are also hoping to raise further funds in the region of £1,500-£2,000 for the worthy cause through activities such as a sponsored Fire-walk!
PC World Business are a Gold ZenPartner, offering a diverse range of over 40,000 products and services to over 250,000 business users in the UK.
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Full name: Iain Johnstone
Age: 46 - unbelievably
Position(s): Sales & Partner Programme Manager
Length of time with company: 1 Year |
Where are you from originally?
Glasgow
What were you doing before you joined
Zen?
Spent most of my career in Mobile Comms with BT Cellnet/O2. Used to sell mobiles for £2,000 with 30 minutes talktime – I was also Paging Product Manager until someone thought SMS might be a good idea!
What are your 3 favourite Web sites (clean
please)?
Celticfc.net, Google and wreckedexotics.com – heartbreaking!
Which album /single do you have in your
stereo?
Greenday – much more modern than my usual selection
Which football team do you support?
The one and only – Glasgow Celtic
What is your favourite
childhood TV program, and why?
Stingray – never been a submarine to beat it and I still want one.
If you could be any one else for a day who would it be
and why?
Any Celtic player – Just to run out that tunnel in front of 60,000 of the greatest fans in the world would be awe-inspiring – especially when I net the winner against that other Glasgow based side.
What was your best Christmas
present?
Tough one this – probably my racing bike with 5 gears. Prior to that my bike had no gears at all and it was great to have some assistance getting up the hill to my house in Glasgow. My first Adidas football boots were a close second – up until than had to endure some really obscure brands which just did not do my game any justice!
Do you have any bad habits?
Yes I do – in particular I can be really impatient and on occasion this can reveal itself especially when someone or something else affects the ability of my team to perform to their full potential. I also watch far too much football – if that is actually possible.
What was your first
computer?
A ZX Spectrum – like so many of us I eventually managed to make a dot bounce around the screen. Then I got bored.
Thanks Iain, and that concludes the inspirational interview with this month’s ZenPartner team member.
Gill Cummings, Training Co-ordinator
Here at the ZenPartner team we are always looking at ways to improve our service to you. As we are growing so rapidly year on year and starting to work in partnership with so many more companies we recruit regularly to ensure that partners get even more of a personal service and so that we can give them much more care and attention.
The most recent additions to the team have been Sarah Lightwood and Matt Woodward who have come on board as Account Executive and Account Manager. Sarah has brought with her a large amount of experience from the billing team here at Zen which should prove useful in her new role. Matt is moving from the Business Sales team in which he has built up a large amount of knowledge on the many products available from Zen. Please look out for more information about the new recruits coming soon in the meet the team area of our newsletter …
 
The ZenPartner team would like to say congratulations to those partners who have moved up levels in the programme this month meaning an increase in the resources available to them and a move towards a more strategic commitment.
These were:
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Debbie Gresty of Zen presents Toltec Systems Ltd with their Platinum plaque |
Gold to Platinum
- Toltec Systems Ltd
- Microcomputer Workshops
Silver to Gold
- WYSIWYG-IT limited
- Anchor IT
- Calidore Computer Systems Ltd
- Network Telecom
- Oryx Excel
- The Networking Company
- Associate Computer Services Ltd
- CSC IT Ltd
- HSBSG
- Intaconnet
- Response IT
- The rocket shop
- Quadra
- Solve IT
- Hub 24
Bronze to Silver.
- appiChar Ltd
- AVI Systems
- Triumph Computer Systems
- View 2 IT
- C B Solutions
- Welcomm Communications Ltd
- JTML.com Ltd
- Daubeneys
- Orbitweb
- Sygen ltd
- Labyrinth computers
- Swift digital solutions
Keep up the good work!
Zen has recently announced a price reduction to its premium symmetrical broadband service. These price cuts will see the 1Mbps and 2Mbps ZenSDSL products reduced to £229 and £299 respectively, saving new customers up to £612 a year.
These new prices come in addition to the recent reduction made to the ZenSDSL activation fee (now down to £315.00) and will apply to all new Zen customers. Existing customers currently on a rolling month contract will also be given the opportunity to upgrade to a higher-grade SDSL product for free; a potential cost saving of £125.00. All other existing customers will be given this same opportunity once their 12 month contract comes to an end.
ZenSDSL is the perfect solution for businesses that rely extensively on the Internet. With our Enterprise class core network, Zen enables our customers to take advantage of true high speed upload and download availability at low contention rates.
Zen is pleased to announce our participation in the latest stages of BT’s high speed ADSL trials. The IP Stream Max trial will see connection speeds up to 8Mbps - four times faster than BT’s existing ADSL service. The trial began on 30th November 2005.
Stephen Proctor, Broadband Product Manager, Zen Internet commented, “We are in the business of providing the best possible services to our customers. The opportunity to work alongside BT in trialling this project will mean that our customers can be assured of a future high speed service.”
Phil D. Long, Technical Support Manager, Zen Internet added, “Zen’s ongoing mission is to maintain our standing as the leading Business ISP for quality, customer service and reliability. Being involved with this trial should help us to continue to do this.”
IP Stream Max is a Rate Adaptive product, which means it will provide the maximum synchronised line rate possible. This could see customers currently stuck on 0.5 or 1Mbps being capable of up to 1.5 or 2Mbps (or more) through IP Stream Max.
ZenADSL customers will be invited to join a trial of BT’s IP Stream Max product, offering downloads speeds of up to 8Mbps and faster upload speeds. Initially, the trial will take place in 25 BT exchanges located in Greater London, Strathclyde, South Glamorgan, Cornwall and Northern Ireland. The total number of exchanges involved in the trial is expected to rise to 53 over the course of the trial.
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ZenPartner Welcome Pack |
The ZenPartner Programme has now introduced a full, detailed welcome pack as a reference point for all partner information.
The pack contains up-to-date information on key topics such as ordering online, faults/support process, payment and billing, and commission structures with an additional section on brand new resources such as a full training programme and marketing support.
The pack also features the latest price lists for all products and services from Zen available to partners through the ZenPartner programme and a complete list of contacts.
You can get a copy of the pack by visiting the member’s area on the ZenPartner Web site under marketing. The details within this pack will need updating on a regular basis so please check out this section of the site regularly for updates which will need to be added to your pack.
The Government recently launched an initiative highlighting the importance of information and communication technology for the UK’s future prosperity. The initiative aims to promote and increase public awareness about the Internet and the Government aims to make the UK a world leader in digital excellence.
In order to promote debate on the key issues of Digital Strategy for the UK, particularly its impact for public sector and small businesses; information about the initiative has been set out on the Parliamentary Web Site (www.parliamentary.org) together with comment from leading industry players.
Due to the profile of the reports being submitted by various Governmental departments and numerous other institutions to the site, there is easy accessibility to the general public, students, secondary schools, educational institutions, departmental heads, frontline staff from Local, Health and Education Authorities and advisory bodies.
The Digital Strategy feature contains advice and guidance for all organisations in relation to the initiative. To tie in with this, parliamentary.org has identified and partnered-up with several credible, best practice partners; with Zen Internet being one.
Zen fully supports The Digital Strategy initiative and is proud to be included as a Best Practice Partner specialising in Internet Service Provision.
The activities of Parliament affect us all: at home, at work and in our communities. Designed to help you access accurate timely and impartial information about Parliament, the Government, new legislation and topical comment on contemporary issues. Parliamentary.org is not aligned to any political party and invites comments from voters (and non-voters) of all persuasions to encourage and stimulate political debate within the United Kingdom. The Web site is an independent open forum for all to comment and pass opinion, on the political decision making processes that concern and affect you.
Zen is pleased to announce the launch of a Dedicated Events Team.
The team has been designed in order to manage the ADSL provision for corporate events, allowing for a much shorter turn around on order placement and activation. It is made up of specialist staff from across the company including Sales/Partner Programme, PR/Marketing, Customer Services, Service Provision and the DSL Faults Team.
The Events Team has got off to a flying start and has been setting ASDL connections up at much quicker speeds for customers including the first of a set of top-of-the-range connections within a day for one of our customers Unique events (this turnaround usually takes five working days).
For more information on the new Events Team or to discuss any requirements you have for them please contact your Account Manager.
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