As the latest news and advice around COVID-19 continues to develop, we are here to support you and your business, and to keep you up to date with key industry news.
Throughout this crisis, the health and wellbeing of our teams and our Partners has been our top priority, alongside our promise to deliver a consistent quality of Partner support.
I’m pleased to see our teams continuing to work well within our SLA’s. The feedback we’ve received from Partners has been incredibly positive – thank you to everyone who has been in touch.
Remember, we’re here to help. If you have any questions or feedback, just get in touch.
Openreach appointments – update
Openreach have advised that their engineering resource is meeting the current demands and that from 18th May, engineers will begin to attend some appointments within customers’ premises.
These appointments will be for short duration provisioning tasks. Safety precautions for both customers and engineers will be taken.
As well as social distancing, this will include communication to the site contact ahead of the visit, to ensure that access to work areas are clear, surfaces are clean and windows are open.
Where engineers will be contacting customers directly, ahead of the appointment, we recommend that Partners notify customers in advance, to help set expectations.
Engineers may be wearing masks and gloves and will ensure that they wipe down work areas on completion of the job.
Openreach have prepared this helpful video message, which explains more about the precautions they have introduced. This helps to provide reassurance and set expectations – we recommend that you take a few moments to take a look.
Closure of the Gigabit Voucher Scheme
The Government have announced the closure of their £68.5m voucher scheme.
From today, 14 May 2020 at 13:00, they will cease to accept new voucher requests, which are funded under the LFFN element of the scheme.
If there is insufficient LFFN funding to honour all vouchers that have been requested, the Government will allocate the remaining funding on a ‘first come first served’ basis, prioritising voucher requests in the order that they were received.
As a result of the popular scheme, gigabit-capable broadband connections have been provided to a total of 18,846 SMEs and 5,281 homes around the UK.
Don’t miss our Marketing webinars
As part of our commitment to our Partners, we have introduced a series of webinars, which aim to support positive customer conversations and to prepare your business, for whatever comes next.
Our first two webinars focus on Marketing support and will be presented by Louise Abbey, our Head of Customer Marketing. Register below, or if you have any questions, contact Louise directly at louise.abbey@9group.co.uk
Marketing in a crisis – messaging that resonates
When: Monday 18 May, 15:00
Purchasing trends are rapidly shifting as lockdown has changed all aspects of our daily lives. The way that customers consume information has changed, as our need for digital content has dramatically increased. These new trends are likely to stick around and evolve even further.
We’ll discuss changes in customer behaviour and share the top digital strategies to help you thrive. Register now
9’s Marketing support and how to unlock PPP
When: Tuesday 26 May, 15:00
Would you like to know more about the Marketing support available from 9? This session is aimed at existing PPP members and those who would like to learn more about the programme. We’ll share examples of how we can help, including COVID-19 specific comms ideas. Register now
Get in touch
It’s more important than ever that you receive the support and advice you need to manage the demands of your business.
We encourage you to get in touch with our team, if you have any questions.
If you would like to have a conversation with me directly, just call 07734 972 566 or email adam.cathcart@9group.co.uk
Thanks,
Adam Cathcart
Managing Director – 9’s Partner division
