e-touch

THE CUSTOMER
MAGAZINE FROM

e-know.net

Summer

2015

SERVICE IS

EVERYTHING

04

marriott
harrison

10

fraud
focus

18

buyer
beware

www.e-know.net

e-touch newsletter | summer 2015

editors note
Enjoy the rest of the summer
because well be back with the
Christmas edition before you
know it!

LYDIA COOPER
e-touch EDITOR
I know that the depleted office
around you will be a stark
reminder that you are the only
one that isnt on holiday but look
on the bright side it should be
a bit quieter giving you time to
have a leisurely read through the
latest e-touch.
And as ever we have plenty
for you, starting with an article
on law firm Marriott Harrison,
which was published recently in
LPM magazine. Its a classic case
study on the transformational
effects of managed IT and
should resonate with many
an SME. Back when they were
choosing a new IT provider,
Marriott Harrison undertook
plenty of due diligence to ensure
they made the right match. As
we discuss in Buyer Beware,
the selection process hasnt got
any easier as new entrants have
crowded the market in recent
years but are you comparing
apples with apples or apples
with pears?
Risk management has
dominated the conveyancing
agenda over the past year,
with the increasing levels of

02

fraud throwing the problems

for the profession into sharp
relief. Compliance expert Karen
Babington offers up some insight
and sage advice into how firms
can better protect themselves in
such a climate. Last but not least
on the feature front, we take a
look at Unified Communications
what is it, what are the benefits
and is it the next big thing for
business?

contents

Summer

2015

editors note

directors cut

marriott harrison

4-5

support desk

6-8

video library

new starters

fraud focus

10-11

armo case study

12-13

questionnaire

14

unified communications

15

event news

16-17

buyer beware

18-19

rewarding excellence

20-21

new wins

21

product update

22

We also have all our regular

items, including a big round-up
of support news and a Directors
Cut that examines the progress
being made in our client centricity
journey. We turn the tables on
HR dynamo Rachel Doodson and
make her fill in a questionnaire,
and theres the usual celebration
of our Employees of the Month.
Finally, its been a busy few
months on the events front,
and we bring you the highlights,
including a report on this years
Stakeholders Forum.
Enjoy the rest of the summer
because well be back with the
Christmas edition before you
know it!

k @eknownet

v e-know.net/blog

e-know.net Limited
Datapoint House, 400 Queensway Business Park, Queensway,
Telford TF1 7UL, Tel: +44 (0)1952 225 000, info@e-know.net

directors cut
Great customer service has always been,
and will remain, core to our ethos
NIGEL REDWOOD CEO

Im penning my mid-term report

in the afterglow of a successful
Stakeholders Forum successful
not in the sense of our clients
lauding us to the skies (though
the tone was overwhelmingly
positive) but in the sense that it
once again proved an invaluable
vehicle in helping e-know.net
and indeed the wider Nasstar
Group align itself more closely
with its customer base.
The informal chat around the
main sessions or at the bar
in the evening coupled with
the more formal in-session
dialogue combined to provide
an invaluable bellweather not
just around our own annual
performance but on what users
are looking for moving forward.
As the presentations on the day

team, which is broadening

and deepening its scope and
capabilities to create a richer,
more sophisticated function;
to the creation of a dedicated
customer innovation team
to underpin our strategic aim
of differentiation through
innovation; these initiatives,
and many more besides which
you can read about elsewhere
in e-touch, these are our proofs
of good faith, solid evidence
that were not only listening
but committed to getting our
services, support and attitudes
fully aligned with customer
needs and expectations.
The Forum was also an
excellent opportunity to share
the findings of one of our major
projects over the past nine
months, Project Purple Paint.

A powerful reminder of how

much has been achieved.
manifestly illustrated, weve
made some significant progress
along the client centricity
journey, attributable in no small
measure to last years Forum
feedback. In fact, with 12
months efforts encapsulated
into a few slides, it was quite
a powerful reminder of how
much has been achieved in
line with customers feedback
from the last forum. From
David Flacks expert review and
reengineering of the support

www.e-know.net

We have been working closely

with Pathways Management
to examine and interrogate
one of our defining beliefs,
namely Great customer service
has always been, and will
remain, core to our ethos. We
wanted to know what great
customer service looked like,
how one went about achieving
it consistently, how one could
make room for improvements
and ultimately how close we
were to being the best we

could be. Ive referred to this

before as holding a mirror up
to see whats really there as
opposed to what you think
is there; and while weve
always been a supplier with
service at its heart, and this is
familiar ground in one sense, in
another its not, and one needs
to understand the context
for this process. Since the
creation of the Nasstar Group,
which now includes a well

for some new thinking. Hence

the introduction on the one
hand of a Customer Charter,
which will define precisely how
we engage with a customer and
should set a tone of complete
transparency and openness
within the relationship from
the outset; and on the other
we are engaging the entire
group on the Our Client
programme. This will catalyse

We are engaging the entire group on

the Our Client programme.
integrated Kamanchi entity
too, were working on a much
bigger canvas. The things we
did really well as a small unit
need to scale up across the
enterprise, and to make that
possible, you cant just rely on
having faith in an individual
or keeping a watchful eye on
the action. You need process,
structure, standards, operating
frameworks, more resourcing
via more carefully constructed
teams, but by the same token
you cant let this more formal,
systematic approach stifle what
I still believe is our Groups
greatest quality, and thats our
unstinting effort to always try
to do our best for the customer.
I dont want that core value to
ever change but to protect it
within an enlarged organisation
we have recognised the need

the client-centric shift as we

look to embrace a whole raft of
ideas, from empowering staff
for the benefit of the client
to ensuring the client voice is
heard clearly and consistently
across the business, from
more regular surveying of both
quantitative and qualitative
feedback metrics to regular
staff workshops on customer
service skills.
This is an unprecedented effort
and investment on our part to
safeguard our vision and ensure
our ethos does translate into
performance on the ground,
with ideally a clear upward
trend when it comes to client
satisfaction. How successful will
we be? Im confident but Ill let
next years Forum be the judge.

03

e-touch newsletter | summer 2015

case study

Marriott Harrison
Corporate/commercial and IP/IT specialist solicitors Marriott Harrison found itself three
years ago in a similar position to many SME firms today: its strategy to become more
flexible for its fee earners, adapt to IT-led market shifts, and build in more resilience
for its client service was restricted by increasingly patchy IT. Limited access to the right
technology and IT support was becoming a concern for the business. It needed a rethink.
Not only was the business
potentially exposed
because outages and
stretched network
management had the
potential to interrupt
client service but senior
management was also
becoming involved with
the day-to-day handling of
these challenges, rather
than being able to focus on
its core business.
As the firms entire IT
function comprised one
person, its limitations were
beginning to impinge on the
firms ability to remain agile
and competitive.
Seeing more growth, the
City-based boutique now
had several opportunities
ahead as a result of the
leaderships decision to
change: the business could
simultaneously become
more agile, improve its
client offering, reduce the
business risk of downtime,
and offer more working
flexibility to its fee earners.
Partner Simon Charles says
that, as the business and
demands on its IT evolved,
the gulf between its IT

04

capabilities and the firms

needs began to widen. The
firm wanted to be ready
to adopt future IT and
to be able to update its
systems accordingly. The
organisations IT needs are
driven by the demands of
the organisations clients. As
the firm continued to grow,
along with changing user
needs, the gap between the
organisations IT function
and its capability was
becoming more apparent.
The business needed to
scale and try to future proof
its IT resources, without
investing heavily in IT costs
or expanding the function.
Dependency on one person
meant that if our single IT
person was fixing an issue
even something minor
such as a broken mouse,
for example no other
technology issues could be
resolved. Equally, if the IT
director was setting up a
home working facility for
somebody and they werent
in the office, we could have
potentially run into bigger
issues. Its no reflection
at all of the capabilities of
the then resource, but was
very much a reflection of

k @eknownet

the increasing demands and

expectations of what we
needed our IT to do.
Increasing the businesss
resilience was important to
the new IT strategy at the
firm, and the future of its
IT function. By outsourcing
its IT, the firm aimed to
achieve better uptime
and more flexibility for its
fee earners. It also meant
leadership could plan on
developing its IT in new
areas in conjunction with
that service provider.
The service level
agreement of 99.9%
uptime is a level which
we could not practicably
have achieved before. That
increase in availability
of service feeds back to
clients by enabling more

productivity and more

efficiency from a more
robust and stable IT
environment., says Charles.
Consistency has manifested
in other ways too, he says.
There were some instances
of different people running
different versions of the
same software within
the business, which
meant inefficiencies and
compatibility issues with
certain programs. There
were occasional crashes
as a result, he says. It was
difficult for the former
IT function to maintain
complete consistency across
the piece. Now we run the
same software packages

The service level agreement of 99.9%

uptime is a level which we could not
practicably have achieved before
SIMON CHARLES
MARRIOTT HARRISON, PARTNER

v e-know.net/blog

case study | Marriott Harrison

Our objective to build in resilience, increase uptime and

improve service delivery has absolutely been achieved
SIMON CHARLES
MARRIOTT HARRISON, PARTNER

whether people are in the

office, on-site or at home
and we have the option to
easily expand the depth of
our IT if the business needs
it.
Marriott Harrison has now
achieved more flexibility
by offering its people
anytime-connectivity the
firms people can log in
anywhere and get the same
user experience as in the
office. Its great to have
that capability. Some of
our people have difficult
commutes and/or young
children. Being able to
log in in an identical way,
wherever you might be, day
or night, greatly increases
productivity.
The business doesnt
positively encourage
homeworking but its
sensible about when people
need to work from home,
he says. The same goes for
secondees and fee earners
visiting clients on-site. Its
very useful for fee earners
to be able to log in remotely
because ultimately that
flexibility leads to better
service for our clients
which at the end of the day
is what its all about.
Evolving toward a more
agile IT model has allowed
the practice to enjoy the
best of technology and
how that feeds back to
clients is central, says
Charles. We took the
decision to change our IT in

www.e-know.net

the interest of improving

client service. Now we
can provide them a more
efficient, streamlined and
resilient service that
capability is what we
intended to achieve and
thats what we now have.
Many firms are extending
the key elements of their
IT provision, and because
it makes a competitive
difference, we wanted
to make sure that our IT
matched up and is the best
we can offer clients.
The new IT provisioning has
also had a strong impact
internally too, he says. Our
people know that theyre
using the latest software
and they also know that if
something does go wrong,
theres an IT helpdesk ready
to fix it. If, for example,
there was an issue late at
night for someone working
from home, the level of
support is the same as in
the office during business
hours.
Taking the firm from a
one-person IT function
to the resilience and
flexibility that it boasts
now was a smooth process,
he says. Going from that
fragmented technology
capability, you might
expect a lot of difficulties,
but with the significant
e-know support along the
way, the integration wasnt
the difficult period we
anticipated.

Charles contrasts the

situation before the
e-know.net project and
after: Our objective to
build in resilience, increase
uptime and improve service
delivery has absolutely
been achieved. The firms
outsourced IT function
nevertheless feels fully
integrated within the
business as an enabler of
better working and better
service to the benefit of
its clients.

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case study
August Equity

August Equity

A growing desire
to reduce IT
and increasing
operating costs
concerns over
through virtu
infrastructure
supplier relati
and
onships were
asset manager? its options going forward.
Could mana
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company
Marriott Har

A growing des
rison
ire to reduce
IT operating
and increas
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virtualisation,
over supplie
infrastructure
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a need to sup
and its options
Chall
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going forward
asset manag
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lient working enge
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meet the dem
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urced its IT system
amITic
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servic

Challenge

sector

n Technology

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August Equity
(AE) had pre al
viously
outsourced
its IT systems
using
IT services con
sultancy and
data hosting
specialists, givi
ng it
both a strateg
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management
of the day-today
operational
framework. Wh
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the arrange
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initially,
over time AE
star ted to que
stion
whether it was
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route forward
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Issues revolved

around :

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The
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At a glance
Client: August
Equity
Sector: Financia
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realities of
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e-know.net Ltd
ity and
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Datapoint House,
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400 Queensway
Queen
Business Park,
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sway, Telford,
experience
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whether we
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to deliver consi
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www.e-know.
net
sales@ e-know
.net
+44 (0) 1952
225 000

e-know.net on
August Equity:
An ambitiou
s fund manage
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wanting to mak
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work.
August Equity
on e-know.n
et:
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their respons
iveness,
reassuring in
their delivery
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e-know.net Ltd

Datapoint Hous
e, 400 Queensw
Queensway,
ay Business Park,
Telford, Shrop
shire TF1 7UL

realiti
skill sets

Key applications

www.e-know.n
et
sales @e-know.
net
+44 (0) 1952
225 000

05

e-touch newsletter | summer 2015

support desk
DAVID FLACKS,
SERVICE DESK MANAGER

support team update

Last newsletter, we brought you news of a significant remodelling of the support

function including a number of key appointments within the support team.
This remodelling followed a comprehensive review of the support function in which
a number of areas were identified as requiring greater alignment with the ITIL
framework, the best practice standard for IT service management.

06

k @eknownet

v e-know.net/blog

* ? B D C V a n * ? B D C V
the role on a permanent
basis. David brings with
him a proven ITIL pedigree
and in the same way that
ISO 27001 has driven
up IS standards and
organisational focus on
security, David is keen to
see ITIL-based working
foster a more responsive,
proactive support culture.

210 x 3983
Please Supply

A direct result of this

has been the expansion
of the existing support
management structure,
with the roles of problem
manager, incident manager
and change manager
created to complement
the post of service desk
manager.
As these roles have become
more established over the
last few months, the result
has been more efficient,
streamlined processes and
more importantly, a greater
ability to deliver a high level
of customer service to our
clients.

www.e-know.net

Former support head

Pete Cartwright has been
appointed as problem
manager, with a remit
to reduce the number
and severity of incidents
attributable to the hosting
infrastructure.
Lucy Hagan has stepped
up into the role of incident
manager, responsible for
minimising the impact
of incidents on business
operations, restoring
service as soon as possible,
and analysing incident
trends to inform problem
management.

As part of his remit as

control and compliance
manager, Steve Peak has
also accepted the role of
change manager. In addition
to his existing ISO 27001
duties, Steve will also be
responsible for controlling
the lifecycle of all changes,
enabling beneficial changes
to be made with the
minimum of disruption to
services.
As many of you will know,
David Flacks joined us last
year as an interim service
desk manager, and I am
pleased to announce that
David has now accepted

Comments David: In a
service environment you
never stop looking at ways
you can enhance delivery
to the customer, but now
we are much better placed
to blend the proactive
with the reactive. The
complementary forces
of service desk, problem,
incident and change
management are giving
e-know.net a genuine 360
take on support operations
and real insight into where
those improvements can,
and need to be, made going
forward.
To allow David to continue
to deliver the improvements
and processes that the
business needs and at the
pace required, an interim
post of assistant service
desk manager has been

continued on page 08

07

e-touch newsletter | summer 2015

support desk | support team update

continued from page 07
created and Paul Willmore
has been appointed in
this role. Pauls main
responsibility is to facilitate
the day-to-day operation of
the service desk, including
handling client escalations
and managing 1st Line
support.
Whilst Paul is functioning in
the role of interim service
desk manager, Ben Topping
will assume responsibility as
2nd Line team leader. Bens
patient and calm manner
means hell be able to deal
with the many challenges
inherent with this role.
Elsewhere in support,
a dual role of 3rd Line
team leader and technical
problem management has
been created to assist Pete
with the investigation of
more technical problem
tickets. Laurence Davies has
stepped up to the challenge
of this role, bringing a
wealth of infrastructure
knowledge with him.
In a separate development,
Pete Cartwright, Paul
Willmore and Steve Peak
have become e-know.
nets latest accredited
ITIL Experts, having
successfully passed their

Managing Across the ITIL

Lifecycle exam. These
three join David Flacks and
infrastructure engineer Paul
Pemberton in having this
prestigious qualification
and comes as part of the
support teams on-going
commitment to ITIL, with
each member currently
training for a minimum
of an ITIL Foundation
qualification.
So as you can see, its
been all hands on deck in
the support team recently
and the good news is that
improvements are already
being felt within the team
and the customer base. The
recruitment drive continues
to push on across all areas
of the team in order to meet
the needs of our clients;
while the true 24/7 shifts
are paying real dividends
enabling the team to carry
out critical work during
off peak hours therefore
minimising disruption to
systems during working
hours.

* ? B D C V a n * ? B D C V
08

k @eknownet

v e-know.net/blog

video library
Statistics show that
YouTube receives more than
one billion unique visitors
every month thats more
than any other channel
apart from Facebook. One in
three Britons view at least
one online video equating
to a weekly audience of
more than 20 million people
in the UK alone.
Its clear that video is
set to dominate sales
and marketing strategies
moving forward, and its
certainly a tool that e-know.
net has embraced. As part
of our continued customer
advocacy campaign, we
have teamed up with
Kamanchi client Nicoll Curtin

to create a video case study

on how they use IT to gain
competitive advantage
within the recruitment
sector.
For many firms, IT can be a
hindrance rather than a help
and for Nicoll Curtin, this
was exactly the situation
they found themselves in:
IT hampered communication
between consultants and
candidates across its three
offices in London, Zurich
and Singapore. As a result,
the firm turned to Kamanchi
to migrate its network to
the cloud.
Watch Nicoll Curtins Group
CEO James Johnson and his

team explain how theyve

tailored recruitment apps
such as Broadbean in
conjunction with Microsoft
Navision, Office and SQL
Server to transform the
experience for consultants,
clients and candidates.

Finally, we bring you news

of a new video project in
the pipeline in conjunction
with The Telegraph as part
of their series on Cloud.
More on this to come in the
next few weeks so watch
this space!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qohROS_z6QA

New Starters
Across the Nasstar
Group, recruitment has
continued to move at
a steady pace with
21 new recruits this
year, bringing the
total workforce to 125
employees.
At e-know.net, a
considerable reshuffle
within the support team
to align further with
ITIL best practices has
seen a number of new
roles created as well
as identified the need
for additional staff
to support the new
processes in place. The

www.e-know.net

e-know.net support team

has grown by ten, with
Todd Cooper, Simon Walker,
Ryan Davis and John Hope
joining the ranks of 1st
Line Support; after a period
away, 1st Line Engineer
Jean Leach has also made
the decision to return to
the team. Meanwhile 2nd
Line have welcomed Steve
Llewellyn, Phil Smith
Keitley, Graham Charles and
Luke Trokielewicz; and 3rd
line gets a new face in Andy
Straw.
Across in Infrastructure
Technical Manager Dave
Farmer now has the support

of Assistant Technical
Manager Tim Hands,
while Network Engineer
Federico Ricci and Technical
Engineers Alex Last and
Kevin Rees have also joined.
Outside of the technical
teams, sales has recruited a
new Business Relationship
Manager, Andy Tayler,
with Frank Ashworth more
recently coming in to head
up the sales department.

As HR is such a significant
part of the business,
particularly given our recent
growth, it was extremely
important to get the right

candidate in the post

as Group HR Manager.
Therefore were delighted
to announce that Lyndsey
Edwards has come
on board as Group HR
Manager in the last month.
Its also a warm welcome
to new Management
Accountant Nick Jones.
Finally, over at Kamanchi
Mark Hodgkinson joins
as Professional Services
Director, engineer
Graeme Cardy boosts the
recruitment application
team, and Jade Grummet
has come on board as an
administrator.

09

e-touch newsletter | summer 2015

fraud focus

conveyancing sector

KAREN BABINGTON
OWNER, PREFERENCE LEGAL

With an estimated 801,009,009 of funds being moved daily through

the banks, and mortgage fraud occurring in 1 in 300 transactions
according to Experian, it is no surprise that the industry is being
targeted by criminals.
In fact, it is thought that 70% of Professional
Indemnity claims relate to property transactions, the
highest risk area of law.

So what do the regulators say?

Misuse of client funds and bogus law firms were
identified as key risks in the SRAs Risk Outlook (2014
/ 2015) and in 2013 alone the SRA had 549 reports of
bogus law firms.
Paul Philip, SRA Chief Executive comments: Law firm
client accounts are being targeted and solicitors and
their clients are suffering disruption and potential loss.
It is essential that firms understand the risks and take
precautions to avoid falling victim to these attacks.
This is an issue that is not going away. This is obvious
not just from the reports we are receiving direct from
law firms and members of the public, but also in our
discussions with local law societies.
The SRA has warned repeatedly against the threat
of cybercrime since it was first highlighted in its Risk
Outlook spring update in March 2014 www.sra.org.
uk/risk/resources/online-crime-legal-business.page
One bad practice that was repeatedly highlighted
within the report was the use of unsecured webmail or
unapproved devices to transfer files.
The ICO has also warned law firms against the risk of
using unsecure email and advises firms that when
sending personal information by email to consider
whether the information needs to be encrypted or
password protected.

10

k @eknownet

Conveyancing is an industry that requires a certain

amount of trust; large amount of money changes
hands and the process can be quite lengthy,
necessitating numerous email exchanges between
lawyer and client. However, despite the concerns
raised by the SRA and ICO, un-encrypted email is
still the most used means of collaboration. In fact, a
recent survey carried out by LexisNexis reported that
law firms rely on email more than any other tool to
collaborate with clients and third parties on privileged
information. Worryingly, only 22% (of the sub 100
lawyer firm) reported the use of email encryption.
Firms are increasingly being asked by customers how
they can guarantee the protection of their money, not
surprising given the increased coverage in national
newspapers.

Recent Attacks on

Law Firms
Cloning of a firms brand
Infiltration
Fake firm set up
Employee fraud Insider attacks
Headed letters sent to clients with false bank
account details

v e-know.net/blog

Only this month the Telegraph reported on the story

of Paul and Ann Lupton: Fraudsters hacked emails
to my solicitor and stole 340,000 from my property
sale.
The article told the story of how Paul and Ann Lupton
had sold the flat they had bought for their daughter
for 340,000.
Two days before the set completion date Mr Luptons
solicitor, Perry Hay & Co in Richmond, Surrey, emailed
him requesting his bank account details for the sale
proceeds to be paid into.
Mr Lupton duly replied, sending his Barclays bank
account number and sort code.
The email was intercepted by fraudsters. Possibly
using technology that X-rays millions of emails to
identify patterns of data that could contain valuable
financial information.
Posing as Mr Lupton, the fraudsters swiftly emailed
Perry Hay & Co again from the same email account
and told the firm to disregard the previous details and
send the money to a different account instead.
The sale completed as planned and the solicitor sent
the funds, worth just over 333,000 after fees and
charges, to the criminals account.
A few days later, Mr Lupton called the solicitors to
chase the payment and the crime was discovered.
Both parties contacted Barclays and the police.
Barclays was the account provider for all three
involved: the solicitors, the fraudsters and the
Luptons. The account was frozen and 271,000 was
returned to the Luptons, still leaving them 62,000
out of pocket.
This is just one of many similar cases reported on the
BBC and in the Telegraph over recent months.
If a law firm is targeted the impact can be catastrophic
impacting:
Financial loss
The reputation of the firm as well as the lawyer
Regulatory implication
Staff morale
Raised insurance premiums
Lender involvement
Press reporting

www.e-know.net

Top Tips to
Protect Your Firm
Whether you admit it or not, any law firm is vulnerable. In
Ciscos annual security report, legal ranked seventh in the
list of most vulnerable industries.
1. Implement and enforce your cybersecurity policy. This will
be the responsibility of the IT manager, or third-party vendor
2. Create a Data Classification Framework by categorising all
of your data into three categories, General Use, Internal Use,
and Confidential
3. Password protect all computers, laptops etc with strong
passwords
4. Implement a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Policy to
ensure adequate protection
5. Ensure the physical security of systems and facilities
6. Schedule cybersecurity audits, the responsibility of your
IT Manager
7. Prepare for the worst, create a response plan to address
any breach
8. Encrypt your data in transit as this is when it is most
vulnerable
9. Provide meaningful cybersecurity education and training
to ALL staff as awareness is the key
10. Communicate with your customers that you will only
correspond with them regarding transfer of funds through
secure email
11. Lock down documents such as headed paper and those
with bank details on in a pdf
12. Carry out a Lawyer Checker check prior to sending funds
13. Regularly check listings on your firm via Google
criminals can steal your identity too
14. Check that the sort code you are sending funds to is
near the law firm

Help is at hand...
The Government and Law Society have collaborated
to make available a bespoke free training course to help
professionals protect themselves from information breaches
and other threats that could potentially cost them millions
of pounds.
e-know.net can assist firms on all the above points and
they should be part of your short to medium term plan to
enforce or implement. There are things you can be doing
right now to protect your data at its most vulnerable - a
simple but highly effective email encryption solution
currently used by 680 law firms will protect the information
contained in the email message and its attachments. If you
would like more information on e-know.nets secure email
platform, please contact Mark Sundin on +44(0)1952 225
000 or mark.sundin@e-know.net.

11

e-touch newsletter | summer 2015

case study

customer profile

Armo

With future sales performance at risk of being compromised

through poor systems and a lack of automation, Armo
asked e-know.net to help create a new sales management
framework that would support business development, order
delivery and client relationships.

At a glance:
Client: Armo
Sector: Manufacturing
Users: 7
Applications hosted:
Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Project snapshot:
Transforming sales management
and business efficiency with
Microsoft Dynamics CRM
e-know.net on Armo:
A manufacturer ready to embrace
the potential of enterprise
applications
Armo on e-know.net:
A quality service provider that has
become a trusted IT partner

Challenge
Armo SpA is a market
leader in Europe for lifting
tables, dock levellers and
loading bay equipment.
But continuing growth
and ambitions to expand
even further were putting
pressure on a sales
team that was finding
its outmoded tools and
processes increasingly
inefficient and unwieldy.
Key concerns included:
Reliance on locally held
individual spreadsheets
to record sales activity
Lack of any central drive
to enable data sharing or
collaboration
Dependency on manual
progressing of enquiryquotation-order-deliveryinvoicing workflow
Protracted, paper-heavy
procedures for service
jobs
Low levels of
management information
and client intelligence

e-know.net has ensured that Armo has been able to

take full advantage of an enterprise application that
would otherwise have remained out of reach to us.
DARRELL HOPWOOD
ARMO MANAGING DIRECTOR

12

k @eknownet

v e-know.net/blog

Solution
Armo was keen to explore
Microsoft Dynamics as a
potential platform but the
costs of an on-premise
deployment with the
necessary technical, design
and project management
input were considered
prohibitive for what was still
a fairly small team. It then
approached e-know.net
who offered them a more
affordable and pragmatic
route fully hosted MS
Dynamics, charged on a
per seat basis, and access
to e-know.nets Dynamics
consultancy team.
The result project saw
Dynamics rolled out across
the organisation; workflows
engineered to accelerate
and automate the enquiryquotation-order-deliveryinvoicing process; data
captured and stored
centrally for everyone to
see and share; reports
designed to highlight key
performance indicators;
and detailed customer
records created to improve
relationship management.

Success factors
According to Armos
managing director Darrell
Hopwood, there were a
number of qualities that
were critical to the success
of the project:
Engagement We were
worried that this might
be seen as too minor a
project but the e-know.
net team was positive
and enthusiastic from the
off. Its sole focus was
identifying, designing and
delivering the right solution
for us, consulting closely
to understand our various
issues, the department
dynamics and the desirable
outcomes.
Responsiveness - This
was a big undertaking
for Armo so we naturally
had lots of questions and
suggestions, and there were
also tweaks to make as we
went along, both during
the implementation and
after go-live. The team was
always accessible, always
willing, always ready with
an answer or an action, and
that gave us a huge amount
of confidence.

www.e-know.net

Expertise - We were so
impressed with e-know.
nets ability to not just tailor
Dynamics to our needs
but to really make it fly
for us as an organisation,
with its impact extending
beyond the immediate sales
framework to embrace
order delivery, servicing,
invoicing and performance
management.
Benefits
For Armo, the introduction
of Dynamics has been
transformational as Darrell
Hopwood explains:
Visibility and
connectivity - The sales
and senior management
teams now have full
oversight of all quotation
and order information, client
data and contact histories,
and can access the system
at any time and from any
device. That has given us a
whole new level of control
over, and insight into, the
sales process.
Efficiency and
productivity - The
workflows have automated
everything that we
previously had to do
manually, such as follow
ups to a quotation. It saves
time, it ensures we dont
inadvertently miss an
action, and the timeliness
and thoroughness of our
approach reinforces our

professionalism with clients.

Today we are able to
handle a much bigger sales
throughput without any
commensurate increase in
staff.
Business process Weve
been able to reengineer
additional core processes
to deliver an even more
streamlined business. For
example, invoicing has
been brought within the
Dynamics framework and
that has allowed us to
speed up the billing process
significantly. While our
engineers can now scan and
email in their service sheets,
which are automatically
attached to the relevant job
and client files a real time
and paper saver!
Business intelligence
Now that were capturing
all our sales and client data
in a structured way, we can
report on it and interrogate
it to help inform decisionmaking going forward.
Proper analysis was never
an option before, now it is
a standard part of the job
and its helping us identify
continuous improvements
to our end-to-end sales
service.

Client verdict
Darrell Hopwood concludes:
e-know.net has ensured
that Armo has been able
to take full advantage of
an enterprise application
that would otherwise have
remained out of reach to us.
The Dynamics deployment
has not only empowered
the sales team but it has
strengthened the whole
organisation, and we now
have a superb foundation on
which to build the business
in the years to come.

The Dynamics
deployment has
strengthened
the whole
organisation.
DARRELL HOPWOOD
ARMO MANAGING DIRECTOR

13

e-touch newsletter | summer 2015

e-touch questionnaire

Rachel Doodson
I am the HR Officer for all three groups, my main responsibilities are employee
engagement, recruitment, managing unforeseeable circumstances, training,
development, staff counselling and interventions.
Q1: What is your role and what are your main
responsibilities?
I am the HR Officer for all three groups, my main
responsibilities are employee engagement, recruitment,
managing unforeseeable circumstances, training, development,
staff counselling and interventions.
Q2: What qualities do you think are needed to do your
job?
A passion for HR and people, approachable personality, and
caring yet realistic approach.
Q3: What is your view on e-know.nets main strengths?
The employees of e-know.net, everybody works 110% along
with the integrity and determination we stand for.
Q4: What is the biggest change you have seen in the
company since joining?
The expansion of our e-know.net family (e-know.net acquired
Nasstar through a reverse takeover in January 2014 and
acquired Kamanchi later on in the year)
Q5: What is the biggest change you have seen in your job?
The number of employees we are responsible for.
Q6: What is the best part of your job?
The people engagement and continuing to make e-know.net a
great place to work.
Q7: What is the most difficult part of your job?
Switching off at the end of the day, its hard not to take my job
home with me.
Q8: What is your most embarrassing moment?
I once went bowling and as I went to let go of the bowling ball
my finger got stuck and I ended up flying down the bowling
alley (bowling ball still attached to my finger)!!!

Q10: What would be your choice of alternative career?

A Police Officer, I have a slight obsession with crime
investigation.
Q11: Do you have an unfulfilled dream?
To swim with the piggies in the crystal clear waters of Big
Major Cay in the Bahamas.
Q12: Where is your favourite place to be when not at
work?
Anywhere with my family and friends making memories!
Q13: Do you have any secret vices?
Well wouldnt that be telling you my secret?!
Q14: Can you tell us some of your likes and dislikes?
I like holidays, interior design and coffee, I dislike the deep end
of a swimming pool, spicy food and people chewing loudly!
Q15: What music do you listen to on your car stereo?
I listen to everything! Anything I can sing at the top of my
voice!!
Q16: Name three things youd take to a desert island
Sun cream, an iPad with unlimited internet built in and a book
of life hacks!
Q18: Can you give us three words youd use to describe
yourself?
Caring, loyal and happy.
Q19: How about three words you think your colleagues
would use?
Small, dizzy and bubbly.
Q20: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
To have achieved my Masters Degree in Human Resource
Management and working abroad.

Q9: What would you say is your proudest personal

achievement?
The amount of money I have raised for various charities
over the years, in excess of 3000 through numerous coffee
mornings, red nose days you name it Ive sponsored it!

14

k @eknownet

RACHEL DOODSON
HR OFFICER

v e-know.net/blog

Unified

Communications
Email ping pong, voicemail tag, multiple
inboxes, uncontrolled messaging,
exorbitant travel and accommodation
costs, compromised collaboration and
productivity, expensive external services,
disparate internal systems, employee
frustration - the big communications
picture is not a pretty one.
At a time when cost reduction and
operational efficiency remain a key
corporate focus, the waste of time, money
and resources inherent in pointless phone
calls, redundant emails, duplicate accounts,
myriad devices, slow decision making,
constrained team working, and off-site
meetings and trips away, and you appreciate
why the concept of Unified Communications
(UC) is fast gaining ground.
UC represents the convergence of multiple
communications technologies into a single
solution. It unifies multiple environments
- email; SMS; instant messaging and group
chat; voice, video calling and conferencing;
directories, calendars and tasks into a
single, easy to use environment accessible
anytime, anywhere.
It is, in short, a game-changer. Research has
indicated that UC deployments could save
over 3m per year for every 1000 employees,
through reduced travel expenditure,
improved output, easier interaction, lower
facilities charges, and the streamlining
and consolidation of legacy platforms. UC
adopters are already achieving 20% savings
in travel budgets; seeing productivity gains of
anything up to 60 minutes per employee per
day; and accelerating project completions by
up to 25%.

Thanks to e-know.nets partnerships with

ShoreTel and Microsoft, organisations
can now enjoy the full spectrum of UC
capabilities delivered as a fully managed,
pay-per-seat service. The strength of
our proposition lies in being able to
bring together the three elements that
underpin effective UC deployments: a
converged IP telephony environment; fully
integrated components for robust business
communications; and fully managed, cloudbased delivery that assumes the burden of
risk and cost while assuring the quality of
performance and support.
Compared with the cost, complexity,
resource and time needed for an onpremise installation, e-know.net can offer
a stunningly affordable, flexible fast-track
alternative route to a UC future. You can
be up and running in weeks, you pay only
for what you use each month, and we take
care of everything, from the initial project to
day-to-day management and support. That
means nothing to pay on an on-going basis
other than your per seat per month charges
no licensing costs, no maintenance costs, no
hardware to house, no skill sets to buy, no
upgrades to keep funding.
Its not just the top line that benefits but
the front line too. By bringing greater
visibility to peoples availability, it helps
users make more appropriate communication
choices; and by making each tool instantly
available via the desktops communications
dashboard, it empowers and encourages
employees to adopt more efficient,
productive and cost-effective ways of
working.

Features include:
Presence
See the availability of everyone in
your organisation.
Click To Dial
Just click the phone icon next to a
contacts name in Outlook and the
system will connect you.
Get a response in seconds rather
than hours with instant messaging
(IM), designed for quick questions
and responses.
Video Calling
Upgrade an IM chat or phone call
to a high quality video call with a
single click.
Desktop Sharing
Work on any document with
colleagues in other offices by
showing them your screen instead
of you having to describe it. You
can also give them the ability to
make changes directly to your
document.
Conferencing
Hold multi-way ad hoc conferences.
You can start off with a simple
IM group chat, then escalate to
an audio conference, or even a
full-blown video conference with
a click.

UC has the potential to revolutionise how organisations function internally and

also interact with their suppliers and customers. To facilitate this change is one
thing; to do it so effectively and economically is another thing altogether.
Let e-know.net help you see the future of business communication.

www.e-know.net

15

e-touch newsletter | summer 2015

event news
The first half of 2015 got off to a busy start for the sales and marketing teams with a
jam-packed events calendar. Events form a large part of the lead generation strategy for
the business and were pleased to say that weve had a very successful events season.

The year kicked off

with the British Legal
Technology Forum 2015,
on 17th March at the Old
Billingsgate, London. The
British Legal Technology
Forum is Europes largest
technology conference
and exhibition bringing
together the most
respected professionals
from both the legal and
commercial technology
worlds to examine and
explore the systems,
strategies, processes
and platforms that will
drive law firms and legal
businesses into the next
decade and beyond.
Produced by Netlaw Media,
the event accommodated
over 1,200 legal
technology professionals
from the UK, European and
international legal sectors.
We had some really
interesting conversations
with a number of
delegates demonstrating
that Cloud computing is
here to stay on the agenda
for legal firms looking to
differentiate themselves
from the competition.

16

Looking back to May,

and we had a particularly
hectic time of it with two
events in quick succession.
The first was the
IT Directors Forum on
the 13-16th May. Having
taken a year off from this
event, we were excited
to jump on board (quite
literally!) and get involved.
ITDF is different to any
other event that e-know.
net is involved in as it
takes place on a cruise
liner rather than the usual
conference hall. The event
is aimed solely at senior IT
professionals and decision
makers with a budget for
IT spend over the next
12 months making it an
ideal fit for e-know.net,

k @eknownet

not to mention supplying a

captive audience!
The three-day event aims
to give a high-level view
of the IT industry, offering
predictions and insights
to help delegates form
their future IT strategies.
ITDF is key in e-know.nets
event calendar and this
year was a real success for
us with a personal record
of 53 meetings whilst on
board, resulting in two
very tired and slightly sea
sick sales people!

Not long after wed arrived

back on dry land and we
were off again, this time
to the Legal Support
Networks Legal Practice
Management Conference
on 19th May. This is
the second year weve
attended and its the
only event of its kind to
specifically target practice
managers and directors,
heads of operations and
heads of finance from
small to medium UK law
firms.

The three-day event aims to

give a high-level view of the
IT industry, offering predictions and
insights to help delegates form
their future IT strategies.

v e-know.net/blog

stop
press:
e-know.net has recently
signed up to exhibit at
the Manchester Law
Societys Management
Conference on the
6th October 2015.
More news to follow!

Finally, in June we held

what we regard as our
most important event
of the year our fourth
annual Stakeholders
Forum. The Forum
brings together senior
representatives from
across the e-know.net
client base to discuss the
issues that are important
to them, network with
peers, share experiences
and promote best practices
with fellow clients.
And yet again it proved
an invaluable vehicle in
helping e-know.net and
the wider Group to align
the business with the
requirements of our clients
and build the development
roadmap accordingly. It
also acts as a powerful
reminder to both clients
and employees of the
significant progress of
the business one year on;
progress which is largely
driven by the feedback of
our clients.

www.e-know.net

We had some fantastic

comments following the
event and we would like
to take this opportunity
to once again thank all
that attended for their
continued support of
the Forum and for their
extremely valuable
participation and opinions.
Were now looking to
whats lined up in the
coming months and are
looking forward to a
breakfast briefing on 8th
September for Managing
Partners/CEOs of our large
law firm clients. The aim of
the briefing is to create a
confidential environment
in which clients can share
ideas and experiences
but also hear from a legal
consultant specialising in
law firm mergers and the
placing of teams discuss
his experiences of the
M&A process and offer
best practice advice.

Gary invites a handful

of clients to attend a
series of presentations
and roundtables based
on some of the new
and upcoming products
within e-know.nets suite.
e-know.nets offering is
constantly evolving to
meet the needs of our
clients therefore we are

always on the lookout for

new products to address
the issues they face on a
daily basis. This session
is an ideal opportunity
to collate feedback from
clients in order to shape
our product roadmap
around their priorities.
Watch this space for more
information on this event!

Following the success

of last years event,
e-know.net will hold a
product day later in the
year led by our Pre-Sales
Technical Consultant,
Gary Giles. In this session,

17

e-touch newsletter | summer 2015

buyer beware
Managed services is a fairly mature market these days and with
maturity comes greater familiarity, a familiarity that can sometimes
topple over into dangerous assumptions that all managed service
providers are the same, that by now, we have all reached the same level.
Its almost as if, in the process of providing commoditised IT, we have in
fact commoditised ourselves, with the customer perception being that
theres not much to choose between us.
If you only read the
marketing gloss, then
you will most certainly
see a repeated refrain of
ISO 27001 data centres,
round-the-clock support and
sustainable partnerships,
and only be encouraged
to think that in evaluating
two providers you are
simply comparing apples
with apples which in
turn informs your view on
pricing.
Scratch beneath the surface
however and youre just as
likely to find that what you
are actually comparing is
apples and pears which
may often explain any
pricing differential that
exists. But lets put pricing
to one side for the moment
because while it will always
remain part of the decision
making process, when were
talking about entrusting
a third-party with your
mission critical IT systems,
there have to be other
criteria in play. No-one

18

k @eknownet

v e-know.net/blog

is going to reward your

cost-saving efforts if your
new managed service is
prejudicing the performance
of your business.
So what are the areas that
get given the marketing
spin that potential buyers
should dig a little further
into if theyre serious about
due diligence?
Here are just three of
the most common bits of
marketing sleight of hand
that we see on a fairly
regular basis.

Our ISO 27001

data centres The
majority of managed
service providers
may use the possessive
pronoun to hint at
ownership but the majority
use third party data centres
to host their infrastructure.
Nothing wrong with that,
and indeed using an ISO
accredited facility is a good
thing, but there are two
things to note.

Having to use a third party

facility is not the same as
the e-know.net
situation, where we own
and manage our own
facilities. Our primary data
centre sits right next to
our headquarters so we
have instant hands and
eyes on everything; we can
walk customers (subject
to checks of course) right
into the data centre if they
need access; we control
the standards that the data
centre operates to; we set
our investment levels for
infrastructure refresh; we
determine the policies for
redundancy; we recruit the
best people to run it. Your
IT is in our hands, front and
back-end, not split between
your provider and a thirdparty that the provider
actually has no direct
control over.
Using an ISO 27001
accredited data centre is
one thing but that doesnt
mean ISO 27001 runs
through the providers
business. In this era of
ever-tighter controls over
data management and
information security (not
just where it sits but how
its handled anywhere), it
should be a pre-requisite
of any short-listed supplier

www.e-know.net

that they have ISO in their

own right. If you as the
end user suffer an adverse
data-related event and its
attributable to your non-ISO
27001 managed service
provider, then expect some
uncomfortable questioning
and maybe action over
why you didnt select a
suitably accredited supplier.

The second area

revolves around
support. 24x7
support is a good
start but your business
will crave more. Long
experience has shown
us not just how critical
a support function is to
clients, but how demanding
they become in terms of
continuous improvement.
And every time you give
them something they
want more. At e-know.
net thats resulted in a
huge investment in people,
in an ITIL-based service
framework, in initiatives
that are actively driving
support performance such
as incident and problem
management. But at a
more practical level its also
allowed us to deliver firstline resources for all the
applications we support.
So in legal, for example,
we can handle most of the
tickets that are raised about
problems with practice
management systems,
say, greatly simplifying
things for the end user as
they just have one single
point of contact. So weve
got real technical depth,
and a solid best practice

approach enshrined in ITIL.

This is the team that keeps
your business going, so
look beyond the service
desk hours to inform your
opinion. Who has the best
systems, the richest skill
set, the most cover, a
clear road map for support
development?

Finally, if youre
buying, find out
what youre really
buying into. Look
beyond the slick copy that
sounds good but is there
only to misdirect. Scrutinise
the claims. What is the size
of the organisation youre
looking to contract with?
Who are the people behind
the slick salesman? How
many people in support?
How many skill silos are
covered off? Whats the
retention rate of staff? You
are essentially buying an

extension of your company

so its vital that you have
confidence not just in the
financials or the product
set but the people wholl
be working on your behalf
to power your business. Do
they have a track record of
long client relationships?
Do they work for clients
like you? Are their costs
justified by their quality and
capability? Can they grow
with you? Do they have a
good market mix so they
are not vulnerable to sector
slowdowns and are better
positioned to share crossindustry knowledge?
In an age where marketing
men could even spin
the one-trick pony as a
specialist, it pays to take
a good look before that
leap to managed services.
Otherwise the landing might
be a painful one.

Scratch beneath the surface

however and youre just as likely
to find that what you are actually
comparing is apples and pears.

19

e-touch newsletter | summer 2015

rewarding excellence
People, Integrity, Excellence and Stability are e-know.nets four core values
and when it comes to rewarding these standards, we like to make sure that
recognition is given where its deserved.
JAN
2015

not resolved. Having only

been with Nasstar for a
relatively short period of
time, Kumar has proved
that he is a very safe pair
of hands and has fast
become a highly trusted
member of the team.
Congratulations, Kumar.
Januarys winners, Sarah Pearson and Jason Dexter.

Weve been running our

Employee of the Month
scheme for nearly seven
years now and it was one
of the first initiatives rolled
out across Kamanchi and
Nasstar after they joined
the Group to encourage a
shared set of values and
ensure a One Group ethos
permeates throughout.
In the last six months,
the competition has been
particularly fierce as we
continue to be inundated
with nominations from
clients and colleagues
alike every month - heres
a rundown of the latest
winners.
The year kicked off with a
joint win for two employees
from Kamanchi Sarah
Pearson and Jason Dexter.
Both Sarah and Jason had
been thrust into a new role,
taking 1st Line calls for
the IT team as well as the
recruitment applications
team. They had in fact

20

been covering the work

of three people, working
incredibly hard to learn all
the skills needed in no time
at all. Both Sarah and Jason
have received excellent
feedback from clients which
is incredibly impressive
given the short amount
of time they have been
at Kamanchi. Well done to
both, a great example of
really hitting the ground
running and being a true
team player.

In March, there were three

winners of the coveted
title Shannon Johnston,
Allan Groves and Steve
Curry, all from Nasstar. The
Three Musketeers as they
are fondly known by some,
overcame an issue that
occurred at the weekend
by making the trip into the
London office to ensure the
service was restored for all
clients - which considering
Shannon lives in Dorset is
quite a feat! These three
deserve to applauded for

APR
2015

Aprils winners,
Paul Hooton and Chris Smith.

their dedication to the cause,

well done.
April saw another joint win
for two employees from
Kamanchi, this time Paul
Hooton and Chris Smith
co-scooped the title. Both
Paul and Chris received
multiple nominations in April
for their work on an office
MAR
move for one of Kamanchis
2015
Februarys winner was
biggest clients. The project
Kumar Gaurav from Nasstar
saw the pair putting in long
who worked tirelessly to
hours in the office, making
carry out numerous
countless trips between
important 3rd Line
the Kamanchi office in
tasks, often working
London to the client site in
in the dead of night,
Manchester and sacrificing
unassisted and to tight
numerous evenings at home
deadlines. The work that
and weekends to ensure that
Kumar carried out made
the move was completed
huge improvements
seamlessly and to deadline.
to the Nasstar platform
Yet another example of going
and worked to pre-empt
above and beyond to ensure
potential issues that could
that the job gets done to a
Marchs winners - Shannon Johnston, high standard. Well done to
have caused major impact
Allan Groves and Steve Curry.
to the customer base if
both, very well deserved.

k @eknownet

v e-know.net/blog

Mays award went to Marketing Executive Lydia Cooper

who had an extremely busy month which saw her not
only organise the biggest and most important client
event of the year, our annual Stakeholders Forum, but
also plan and execute two trade shows, write and publish
a newsletter, organise a video project with the Telegraph
newspaper alongside managing all the usual day-to-day
marketing activity. Lydia completed all of this work to a
high standard and was able to pull off one of the most
successful Stakeholders Forums so far, and therefore
deserves recognition for the long hours spent and hard
work that went into achieving such a fantastic result.
MAY
2015

May Employee of the Month

winner, Lydia Cooper.

JUN
2015

Bryan Thorneycroft - winner

of Junes Employee of the
Month award.

The June award went to a very deserving recipient

Infrastructure Engineer Bryan Thorneycroft. Bryans
nomination came directly from the client regarding a
recent project he had carried out for them. Throughout
the duration of the project, Bryan demonstrated his
impressive work ethic ensuring he went the extra
mile to get the job done, even when this involved
completing work whilst on annual leave! Bryans
commitment and willingness to help did not go
unnoticed by the client and as a result he took the
employee honours in June. Congratulations!

new wins

A warm welcome to our new clients, heres

to a long professional partnership together.

Clifton Ingram LLP

As a Group, Nasstar plc has racked up almost 40 years of experience across the three businesses;
now thats quite an impressive track record! Over that time, a large amount of sales and marketing
efforts have focused on the professional services market and this summer we have three new
businesses to welcome on board, all of which operate within this sector.
e-know.nets core verticals include finance, recruitment, manufacturing and most notably legal, where it has been
active in the market for over a decade, with 33 legal firms as clients to date. Were pleased to announce that we
have signed yet another legal firm to take us to a total of 34. A huge welcome to Clifton Ingram LLP, based in
Reading and Wokingham who have made the decision to move 94 users to e-know.nets hosted desktop platform on
a five year contract.

APSCo

Next, over to Kamanchi for some more good news. Kamanchi

was founded in 2002 to bring technology and recruitment
expertise together to offer unrivalled outsourced IT services
to recruitment companies. Today Kamanchi works with some
of the leading names across the UK and Europe, a respected IT
partner providing the full spectrum of industry solutions.
So congratulations to them on the signing of 23 of APSCos users to their
Silver Bullet service. APSCo is a membership body that is dedicated to
representing professional recruitment and as such, Kamanchi already supports
a large number of APSCo members within its client base.

www.e-know.net

Converse Law

Carrying on the good news

within the legal sector and
Nasstar has welcomed on board
Converse Law. For an SME
like Converse Law looking for
value, productivity, security
and flexibility from their IT
provision, Nasstars solution
provides the quality, usability
and accessibility of
day-to-day technology.

21

e-touch newsletter | summer 2015

product update
Following our 2014 Stakeholders Forum, e-know.net took away a number
of actions generated by the client base; one of the most overarching
requirements was to drive technical innovation throughout the business.

No longer can a business

rest on its laurels
when it comes to IT; an
increasingly crowded
marketplace and a team
of bright young IT literate
employees coming up
through the ranks means
they want access to the
latest and best technology,
and they want it now.
In order to cater for this
demand, e-know.net
has created a dedicated
Customer Innovation
Team whose role it is to
drive technical innovation
through the research
and development phase,
working with the client to
ensure their requirements
are met.
DAN BRADLEY

This team is made up of

Dan Bradley, Customer
Innovation Lead who was
recently promoted to this
position from Infrastructure
Engineer and brings with
him a wealth of technical
knowledge but also a
commercial awareness,
making him an ideal
candidate to head up the
team.
Alongside Dan is Gary
Mellor who has been a
Technical Engineer at
e-know.net for eight
years and in that time has
managed the lifecycle
of countless customer
builds from initial audit
to development and
therefore has a great
deal of experience and
expertise.

GARY GILES

Last but by no means least,

Gary Giles completes the
trio as Technical Sales
Consultant. Gary acts
as the conduit between
the sales team and
infrastructure team to
support both in managing
a client through the initial
sales cycle right through to
go-live. Gary is also known
as our product guru and
is responsible for demoing new products and
performing initial R&D work.

have a number of products

currently in the R&D mix and
are excited to share them
with the client base in the
coming weeks, so watch this
space for more news soon!
GARY MELLOR

Together this team

represents a dedicated
focus on technical
innovation and we can
report their efforts are
already being positively
felt within the client
base. Dan and the team

If you have a question about any of e-knows products or would like to feedback to the Customer Innovation Team,
please get in touch with Gary on either +44(0)1952 225 000 or gary.giles@e-know.net.

22

k @eknownet

v e-know.net/blog