Kenny Morris

Bringing five councils together under one roof is quite an undertaking. Add in a hard deadline involving taxes😮and it could create the perfect storm... Fortunately Somerset Council chose Kerv and #Genesys to harmonise their contact centre and the results are clear 💥 Read the full case study 👉https://ow.ly/6UhG50T2VSf Have a CCaaS project? Get in touch to find out the secret sauce to our implementation success 😁 #CustomerExperience #LocalGovernment #PublicServices

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Excellent day at #ConnectedNorth in Manchester yesterday, with plenty of thought provoking panel sessions and conversations. A few key takeaways that I noted: 1. As the rollout of rural broadband targets harder to reach communities, the cost of each “home passed“ increases. This means that processes need to be further streamlined to optimise delivery and reduce costs 💰 2. Despite the availability of precise address data, accurately identifying multi-dwelling units (MDUs) can still be a challenge, especially at early stages of network planning. We can help with this 🏢 3. With the industry having reached a level of maturity (and with many acquisitions), many operators are using multiple tools and are looking to consolidate. Geospatial is a good example of this, where users need to be able to easily share data with colleagues and contractors. Web services can help to facilitate this 🌐 4. Wayleaving can still have a significant effect on network build time and therefore cost. Understanding land ownership early in the process can make a big difference, before the hard work starts 💪 Thanks again to everyone that participated at the event. Working with our partners and suppliers, we look forward to further supporting our clients in this sector 🤝 #LocationIntelligence Ordnance Survey HM Land Registry https://lnkd.in/eRdZVcTB

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It’s always great to see modernisation come to life in businesses that are quintessentially part of the UK’s history, preserving their traditions and preparing them for the world of tomorrow.   As part of that, we’ve teamed up with Will Kirk, star of BBC’s The Repair Shop, to tell the story of the digital transformation of the UK’s cherished heritage businesses. Our latest research shows that 67% of small firms believe technology is crucial to keeping their traditions alive. (Link to full article in comments).   Will, a Heritage Crafts ambassador, is passionate about demonstrating how historic businesses can embrace modern technology while honouring the values that make them unique.   We know that three-quarters of small business leaders believe new tech ensures their survival, opening new revenue streams and providing a competitive edge. Yet, over a million UK businesses still use analogue systems.   Heritage businesses BT Business has #GotYourBack on the path to modernising while staying true to your roots!   #DigitalTransformation #ConnectForGood #Modernisation

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Today sees the launch of ‘The Willow Review’ a new government back initiative chaired by the Minister for Small Business, Gareth Thomas MP, alonside Nick Stace OBE of Barclays and Michelle Ovens CBE of Small Business Britain. I’m really excited to be joining the steering board representing BT Group The review will highlight the financial benefits of sustainability for small businesses. Although SMEs account for around 50% of business-driven emissions, many hesitate to adopt sustainable practices due to cost concerns and uncertainty about financial gains. Running for six months, the initiative aims to show that sustainability can enhance profitability, innovation, and long-term growth. While only 24% of small businesses currently recognize these benefits, many are motivated by environmental values. I really looking forward to seeing where the review takes us and supporting small business to help lead the UK into a greener future :) #smallbusiness #sustainability Caribe Coffee Co

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Excited to share the launch of the sustainability for small business programme, a joint initiative by BT Group and Small Business Britain. This free programme empowers small businesses across the UK to understand their environmental impact and implement sustainable practices. This programme comes at a crucial time as the research reveals that 64% of small businesses lack the support they need in this area. #smallbusiness #sustainability

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As SSE Airtricity’s Health and Wellbeing Week draws to a close please see a short blog and summary of key activity below: How are you doing? How often do we ask this question? Typically, the answer is brief in nature, “fine” or “grand” are my stock responses. Neither of which would be given much consideration, rather just put out there so the conversation can move on to something “more important”. Having just recovered from an infection which blindsided me, I can say without any hesitation that I now feel great and far better than I did two weeks ago. When we are feeling subpar the cliches come thick and fast. Whilst ill, the one most often on my mind was “your health is your wealth”. An often overused saying that can suddenly become very poignant. When we are unwell our focus is simply to cure ourselves or “get well” again so we can resume tending to our duties and responsibilities and looking after our loved ones. Getting well when you are sick is super important but what about when we are feeling OK again? It’s important to also look at health from the position of illness prevention and optimisation where we look to make improvements to our lifestyle that will deliver us improved health and a richer quality of life. The area of health and wellbeing can be a minefield with new information and updated science hitting the news cycles every week. All this does is add to our confusion and leave us feeling exasperated. Fortunately at SSE Airtricity during the past week, a wide collection of high-quality health related speakers, sessions and activities were organized to further our understanding on a number of exciting health related topics including:  Stress management  Mindfulness  Deaf awareness  Nutrition cook a long with Trisha Lewis  Charity work and volunteering  Chair massages  Flu jab  Walking  Fitness, training and lifestyle with Siobhan O'Hagan The idea here being that everyone take some time out of their busy schedule to focus on themselves and try and dig a bit deeper when asking “how am I really doing?” Could I feel better if I made some changes to my sleep, nutrition, work life balance etc.? Where possible all the live sessions included a Q&A section so colleagues could pose questions to the experts and all sessions were recorded to be enjoyed at a time convenient for all. This week served to remind me how important our health is and also how fortunate we are at SSE Airtricity to have this excellent content served up to us. A massive thank you to everyone that participated in sessions and to Patricia Higgins, Rachael Connor and Jodie McAneaney for the organisation that led to such a productive and successful week!

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Are you a business located in Leeds, Wakefield, Bradford, Calderdale or Kirklees? Are you interested in up to 50% matched Government Funding for your business when investing in Digital Projects? The next tranche of funding has been secured to continue providing this vital support and offer grants for up to 50% of project costs ranging from £2,000 – £25,000 even match-funded grants are available to support digital projects worth between £25,000 – £100,000 that could have a significant and transformational impact on your business. Read our blog for more information and yes, upgrading your old telephone system to a Cloud Hosted solution qualifies! https://lnkd.in/gMtYx_rm #DE3 #Digitalenterprise #Cloudtelecoms #voip

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It was interesting and good to meet and talk with Stephen Payne of Vista this week. Vista are the leading sight loss charity in Leicester City Council, Leicestershire County Council and Rutland County Council Amongst other things we discussed #PublicTransport and buses, agreeing upon the importance of truly accessible audio and visual information and how this means offering #Inclusive options for obtaining information where and when required. Naturally, this led into the ‘React Trigger System’ and how it delivers accessible choices to users for obtaining at-bus-stop audio (and visual information). The unique ability of the React system’s ‘personal app and fob’ approaches in delivering automatic proximity triggered audio from at-bus-stop displays is a clear advantage for people with a visual impairment. Part of my takeaway from speaking with Stephen is the validation of the need to promote and achieve wider awareness of solutions that achieve accessible information provision (in the bus sector and beyond) and establishing a legally required standard, as opposed to guidance that in practise is often not implemented. Stephen’s takeaway is an understanding and appreciation of the React system and its benefit, particularly for people with #Sightloss: “I’ve seen and learnt how the React trigger system works and provides three choices for inclusive ‘talking bus stop displays’, with options designed to meet the needs and requirements of all users. Audio is an important communication for many people that cannot access visual information. A manual audio push-button is not always accessible for everyone and this then creates underlying access barriers. The automatic audio choices with the React app and fob enhance the #Accessibility of audio provision, particularly for people with sight loss”. Stephen Payne (Director of Care and Services & Designated Safeguarding Lead at Vista) 16/06/24. https://lnkd.in/dSV_Z_YU RTIG

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🌟 TechWM Reflections | Chapter 3: Just Getting Started 🌟 As we look ahead to 2025, one thing is clear—#JustGettingStarted is more than a mantra; it’s a promise. A promise to evolve, grow, and create even greater opportunities for the West Midlands tech community. In this chapter, Yiannis Maos MBE & Jason Sahota reflect on our incredible journey—from startup energy to scaling with purpose. From 16 million to 190 million global impressions during Birmingham Tech Week, we’ve come a long way, but there’s still so much more to achieve 🔥 It’s about creating "freedom within the framework"—staying innovative while building the structures needed to become a globally recognised tech hub, rivalling cities like Lisbon and Singapore. It’s about ensuring local talent stays local, creating a future where opportunities are abundant, and the West Midlands is celebrated as a tech powerhouse 💪 This is a moment of transition and momentum—a continuation of the legacy built by early pioneers, driven by the vision of building something extraordinary for generations to come 💫 2025 will witness an evolution in our core values. We will see: 🤝 Collaboration shift to Partnership. 💡 Inspiration shift to Opportunity. 🚀 Celebration shift to Impact. 🎥 Watch Chapter 3 now and join us on this transformational journey. Together, we’re shaping the future of tech in the West Midlands. #TechWM #Innovation #DigitalEconomy #TechLeadership #JustGettingStarted

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How is Caerphilly County Borough Council driving up to 22,000 hours a year of productivity gains for its staff? 📈 It's achieving this by optimising the intelligence behind its mobile telephony procurement process. 🚀 The majority of councils employ around 30-40% of their staff in mobile roles that don't take place in an office environment. These include services such as social care, waste management and housing. As these workers are constantly on the move - a dependable mobile connection is essential to access work systems, speak with colleagues and call for help. When Caerphilly Council began receiving reports from its mobile workforce about poor network coverage, their innovation team decided to act.💡 Since September 2023 - Caerphilly has used Streetwave to repeatedly map mobile coverage across the county to identify the networks with the best coverage on a district by district basis. One operator was identified to have coverage in up to 11% more locations than the council's existing service provider. By switching to operators with better coverage, it is estimated that the 2,000 non-office staff across the council will save 22,000 hours of productivity a year (11 hours per employee). The value of this time is worth approximately £325,000 a year or £1,625,000 over the course of a 5 year contract. Caerphilly has also made this data free to view for its staff and residents through the UK's first council run mobile coverage checker: https://lnkd.in/gVkEj95z #CaerphillyCouncil #DigitalTransformation #PublicSectorInnovation #MobileWorkforce #Efficiency #Streetwave

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Small Businesses have a big mission! Which will be made easier by technology. A government lead digital adoption plan would help the UK’s small businesses catch up with the investments made by their peers in the rest of the G7 #smallbusiness #digital #digitialadoption

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Last week, I had the privilege of discussing the future of the UK economy with leaders and policymakers in the small business space. The message was clear: small and medium businesses (SMBs) are crucial to our economic growth. With 5.5 million small businesses in the UK, even a 1% increase in their productivity could boost the economy by nearly £100 billion! However, this isn’t just a government issue. Big businesses need to play a pivotal role in supporting SMBs. At [BT Business], we’re committed to this mission. Our initiatives like the Digital Boost scheme and sharing up to £4 million from our apprenticeship levy funds are just the beginning. From offering four months’ free broadband to small business customers to providing free cyber awareness training, we’re dedicated to enhancing connectivity, security, and skills for SMBs. But we can’t do it alone. We challenge our peers and partners to join us in this national mission. You can read more about our efforts and how you can get involved in my latest blog post: https://lnkd.in/e3SHqeQQ #SmallBusiness #GotYourBack #DigitalTransformation

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It was an absolute joy to launch the BT Group & Small Business Britain ‘Small Business, Green Growth’ report at The Royal Society this morning with Michelle Ovens CBE and Bim Afolami MP. The report, produced in conjunction with Oxford Brookes Business School, shines a light on the challenges and opportunities small business owners face on their journey to becoming more sustainable. Crucially, the report shows that despite 80% of entrepreneurs wanting to reduce their emissions, a lack of leadership and access to finance is preventing them from slashing their carbon footprint. Our report calls for greater leadership and more transparency across the government and private sector, to help smaller business cut their emissions and help the nation achieve Net Zero by 2050. And to help with this, we are launching a new free, six week ‘Sustainability for Small Business’ training programme to empower small businesses to understand their environmental impact and implement more sustainable practices. You can view the newly launched report here: https://lnkd.in/eQPgau-M #sustainability #BTMeansBusiness #netzero Bas Burger BT Business

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What a privilege to join such a fantastic event hosted by Moneypenny on behalf of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management at their inspiring HQ—complete with a site tour and great discussions at The Dog & Bone pub! It was an honour to share the stage alongside so many industry leaders. I left with several key takeaways that feel especially urgent for today’s world of work: 💥Technology, including AI, is no longer just a tool—it’s the backbone of creating frictionless, hybrid workplaces where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. The future of work depends on leveraging tech to remove barriers and make the workplace accessible for all. 💥Data and insights are becoming the compass guiding workplace strategies. We need to shift from intuition to evidence-based decisions that truly reflect how people use and engage with workspaces. This is key to staying agile and meeting evolving needs. 💥To build a sustainable future, we must invest in diverse talent pipelines. This means prioritising training and development, especially in customer experience, to ensure our teams are equipped to meet tomorrow’s challenges with empathy and skill. 💥People-first workplace strategies should be the new normal. Moving beyond a property-first mindset is critical—it’s time we design spaces that genuinely support the well-being and productivity of those who use them. I gained so much from the discussions and hope that others did too, and were able to bring fresh ideas back to their own organisations. A huge thank you to everyone involved for making it such a meaningful experience and my SPS colleagues Keith Seymour and Daniel Stonard, MBA CMgr for your unwavering support in the audience! Mark Whittaker CIWFM Adam Drewery Helen Connelly Hannah Williams Skinner Assoc CIPD

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Our customer, SCOTTISH VETERANS RESIDENCES embraced change as they took on the challenge of establishing a digital network and transferring their data and digital services to The Cloud. The outcome? A significant achievement for Scottish Veterans’ Residences (SVR), as they endeavour to become a digitally connected organisation. 👏 Read their full success story here: https://lnkd.in/edcc2K3F

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In our latest survey we identify attitudes to digital transformation, progress to date, and the challenges organisations must overcome to modernise their IT systems and deliver on the government’s ambitions for a future fit NHS. View key findings >> https://hubs.ly/Q02zNXr60

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Shifting the focus to outcomes and commercial innovation, Digital Allies are working closely with the MOD to help deliver their most complex digital and IT programmes. Watch Cate Pye - FIMechE FCIIS in conversation with Nick Barras. #DIPS #CollaborateToProtect

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IT contractors have experienced a worsening market with each budget since the start of IR35 regulations in 2017, and have just been handed more bad news through this Autumn Budget. Click here for our Managing Director Matt Collingwood’s analysis for how this budget will affect contractors: https://bit.ly/3Asxjao #autumnbudget #ITcontracting #contractIT #ITrecruitment #techrecruitment

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