FirstAssist Insurance Services is further improving its customer service experience with a new fibre optic network from Virgin Media Business. Five hundred and fifty staff at offices in Plymouth, Bournemouth and Sutton are now linked by a new inter-site network providing site-to-site speeds of up to 1Gbit/s. The new network means that FirstAssist contact centre staff can better access critical information without delay and serve customers more quickly over the phone and via the web.
FirstAssist designs bespoke insurance solutions for many of the UK’s leading blue-chip companies, including banks and other major financial services providers. Priding itself on its award winning levels of delivery and customer service, the new infrastructure provides them with the capability to manage a greater volume of business.
With increased capacity, the high speed network also paves the way for FirstAssist to make significant savings by moving its disaster recovery operation in-house from its current outsourced arrangement.
“Our clients' reputations depend on the trust their customers have in their brands, and we operate as if we are part of them. As such, we’re expected to deliver an extraordinarily high level of service to our various customers and having the confidence in our network to access information quickly means that we are better equipped to deliver the service excellence that we promise,” said Nick Jenner, Head of IT at FirstAssist Insurance Services. “The investment we’ve made has empowered us to not only transform the way we do business today by taking on more responsibility in-house, but also provided us with the foundations to deploy more creative IT solutions in the future.”
FirstAssist invested in high capacity Ethernet point-to-point 100Mbit/s and 1Gbit/s circuits. Virgin Media Business was the only supplier capable of providing a 1Gbit/s circuit over the distance required.
“Establishing high capacity Ethernet over larger distances has up until recently been fairly challenging. However, we’ve worked hard at developing the technology and it’s a perfect choice for companies wishing to share large amounts of data between multiple sites nationwide,” said Andrew Beckhaus, head of business markets for Virgin Media Business in London. “In the insurance industry, data transferred slowly or incorrectly can make the difference between a happy or unhappy customer, so this type of infrastructure further increases FirstAssist’s ability to proactively serve its many customers whilst at the same time investing in its growth.”
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About Virgin Media Business
Virgin Media Business is the UK’s only telco with a nationwide fibre optic Next Generation Network. Launched in February 2010, the company aims to bring the Virgin philosophy to the business telecoms market. Providing innovative, high quality solutions built on brilliant customer service.
Virgin Media Business is the largest business-to-business brand in the Virgin group. With a strong product portfolio that includes its market leading Ethernet services. It uses its network asset in order to create bespoke tailored telecoms solutions for its customers. Employees are located at 40 offices across the UK, allowing Virgin Media Business to be closer to its customers in every sense.
Previously known as ntl:Telewest Business, organisations working with Virgin Media Business include London City Airport, Arqiva, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Partnership and South West Water.
About Virgin Media
With almost 10 million customers, Virgin Media is the UK's first quad-play provider of broadband, TV, phone and mobile.
The company is one of the largest residential broadband providers in the UK, using a unique fibre optic cable network to deliver next generation ultrafast internet access of up to 50Mb to just over half of all homes. Combined with a high speed ADSL service and mobile broadband products, Virgin Media is able to offer broadband internet access to virtually the entire country.
Virgin Media has the UK’s most advanced TV on demand service and is the only TV platform to carry BBC iPlayer. It is the second largest provider of pay TV, was the first to launch a high definition TV service and offers a high-specification, HD-ready V+ personal video recorder.
The company operates the most popular virtual mobile network in the UK which, when launched, was the world’s first such mobile phone service. It is also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the country.
Virgin Media also owns Virgin Media Television (VMtv) which runs seven entertainment channels, including Virgin1, LIVING, Bravo and Challenge. VMtv is a 50 per cent joint partner with BBC Worldwide in UKTV, which consists of ten channels including Dave, G.O.L.D., Watch and Alibi.
With operations based entirely in the UK, Virgin Media Inc. is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (VMED) and the London Stock Exchange (VMED).
For more information, go to http://www.virginmedia.com/
