Odyssey were delighted to take part in the Daisy Chain charity football event held at Powerleague in Stockton on Sunday 19th May 2013. .

It was an eye opening day for the Odyssey Allstars, as the team were comprehensively outplayed in all but one of their games on the day – but they went home with their heads held high in the name of charity.

It became frighteningly clear before the tournament began, that the other teams meant business. Obviously in a better psychical state and with better tactical nouse, Odyssey were on the receiving end of several drubbings.

The first game began quite well, the fast pace of the game seemingly working in Odyssey’s favour, until the opposition took the lead. The floodgates had opened.

McKenna was viciously hacked down by one of the opponents, only resulting in a wasted free kick. McKenna wasn’t the same for the rest of the afternoon and this, it seems, set the tone for the game ahead.

Despite trailing heavily, a rare chance was taken sublimely by Dowle, who was first to pounce on a rebound following Hay’s drive at the goal.

This turned out to be the last Odyssey goal, until game 5.

The next few games went by traumatically fast, with them all pretty much playing out the same way; Walters barking orders (to no avail), Roger regularly throwing the ball above head height (despite this being against the rules), and McKenna rolling over claiming a foul (or being a little girl).

The afternoon was summed up, quite spectacularly, by Finn, garnering laughs from the opposing teams when the following on-field conversation took place.

Walters: “Come on Rich! Keep up with your man! It’s like you’re chasing your shadow all game!”

Finn: “It is a pretty big shadow to be fair, James.”

Odyssey’s luck started to change by game 5, against “Grangetown”. The team started to get into more of a rhythm and started putting some good passes together, and though while still clearly and deservedly beaten, Odyssey managed to register a further two goals.

These came from a solid, almost Beckham-esque drive from the half way line from Walters, which still needed a bit of luck after the keeper let it slip through his fingers.

Hay registered his first goal of the tournament with a quick finish after the keeper could only parry it to him.

The next game came to a conclusion with Odyssey, again, failing to register on the score sheet.

Now, to summarise, that’s: 6 games played, 6 defeats, 3 goals, and about 40 conceded. That’s some pretty sorry reading.

The final game, it seems, turned out to be “The Decider”. Fat Boys FC had also lost all of their games. The winner of this final game would save their blushes, relegating their opposition to the dreaded bottom of the table.

Odyssey initially fell behind, but soon got back into the game with a lovely equaliser from McKenna, who had finally put his earlier injury behind him.

A 2^nd goal for Fat Boys made it look like Odyssey were staring into the abyss. How could they turn up for work on Monday following a return of 7 games played, 7 defeats?

Luckily, this dreadful prospect seemed to spur them on.

Two quick goals from James “Daddy Cool” Hay turned the tide, before Walters scored 2 incredible goals, including one a spectacular free kick, to put the game to bed.

The final score was Odyssey Allstars 5 – Fat Boys FC 2.

Despite losing the other games, the Odyssey lot felt like champions after this performance.

At least they won’t get heckled too much in the office in the morning from the others?

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Mike gives his tips on when to take on staff, and the best time to do do it.

To view the article and the full discussion Click the image below:

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Mike talks frankly about  business conditions over the past 4 years and what he think the future has is store.

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The services award recognises professional service organisations that have demonstrated strength in a number of areas, including Service Excellence, Service Differentiation, Business Growth, and Innovation.This year we faced strong competition from Lemon Business Solutions and Visualsoft eCommerce, both of whom are renowned for their exceptional customer service. We now progress to the regional finals of the competition, held at Hardwick Hall on April 25^th.

After our awards success in 2012 we looked into how we could further deliver excellent customer service.  We have done this by releasing a new customer focused website with innovative market leading features. Our 360 degree product spins and a customer help and support page with live chat features offer advanced customer engagement and offers another level of customer interaction.

The awards really are a testament to the time and effort we put into delivering excellent customer service and it’s an award that all at Odyssey are proud to receive.

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Eight staff members at Odyssey created their own individual eggs ranging from a depiction of John Lennon and “Yolko” Ono to the Addams Family, with £100 being donated to the Stockton on Tees-based charity Daisy Chain, which supports families affected by autism, a similar cash prize for the winner.

In contrast to previous years, where a director has judged the competition, the winning egg was chosen via Facebook, with members of the public voting for their favourite by clicking the “Like” button after photographs of each egg were posted to odysseysystemsltd Facebook page, with 497 votes cast.

The winner, with 141 “likes”, was James Hay, with his mad hatter egg party. It is the start of a very big week for James, who works in Odyssey’s broadband team, as his partner, Victoria, who helped to make the winning creation, is due to give birth to their baby.

Anthony Suddes. Marketing Manager at Odyssey Systems, organised the competition. He said: “Our Easter egg competition is a longstanding tradition that is a great way to welcome in the Easter period. We’ve now started to engage with our customers and the public through social media and thought Facebook would be a fun and fitting way to decide the contest.

“Matching the prize fund with a donation to charity is something that we are proud to do to help Daisy Chain,where we know the money will be put to good use. James’s design was very creative and a worthy winner.”

James added: “I am delighted to have won the Easter egg contest this year – it is always very competitive within the office, so I’m very proud to be the title holder until next year. The extra cash is a great bonus and will certainly come in handy with the imminent birth of our new baby – I’ve already worked out how many nappies I can buy with my winnings!”

Daisy Chain is Odyssey Systems’ nominated charity, and staff will be taking part in a series of sponsored activities to raise funds for the charity, including Mike Odysseas, Andrew Middlesmiss and Matthew Park cycling 300 miles from Teesside to London.

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The race is on, to find 2013 Odyssey Easter Egg Competition winner,

However there is a twist,  Normally the annual staff competition is judged by an independent person, but this year its up to you to decide.

All you have to do it go onto our Facebook page and click “Like” the egg or eggs that you think should win.

Get your vote in now, because you only have until 4pm on thursday to register your vote.

Now there is a lot at stake, as the winner will receive a massive £100,

This prize fund will be match this prize fund and donated to the Daisy chain project,

Happy voting

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The team, which included Vela Group Chairman Mike Clark, Group Director of Operations Dave Pickard, Board Director Johnny Lighten and Customer Service Advisor Paul Cornforth, completed climb up the 20,000ft mountain in Tanzania to raise funds for the Stockton based Daisy Chain Project,

The trek was dedicated to the memory of John Taylor, Vela group Director of resources who sadly died in an avalanche whilst trekking up Mt Blanc in 2012,

When Odyssey heard the plight of the Vela group and the added poignancy of the climb, we were more than happy to add our sponsorship. In return they were gracious enough to add our Logo onto their corporate banner.

The Daisy Chain Project is Odyssey’s charity of choice, and we have been providing the Autism charity telecommunication and broadband solutions for a number of years.

So can we now say, we really do go to the edges of the earth for our customers?

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After all of the meticulous planning within the office around the teams formation, it seemed that everything was over within the first 10 minutes.

Advanced Vehicle Leasing took to an early, deserved 3 – 0 lead, with the Odyssey team struggling to find any momentum – their 2nd goal was particularly “peachy” with a shot on the volley going into the top corner, past Rog, who was literally rooted to the spot.

A quick shuffle of the formation, with James Hay moving to the left, along with McKenna dropping back to play down the right side and Dowle pushing up front, meant things started to swing in their favour.

Details are sketchy, but Dowle certainly pulled the first goal back for Odyssey, followed shortly by the player again (though the majority of the office think it was Sowerby).

The comeback was complete was when Dowle scored the 3rd goal for Odyssey, after some fantastic passing movement in the centre of the park.

New and Walters covered the back very well, with Hay defending the left flank, minimising the attacks from Advanced Vehicle Leasing’s star man, Clarke.

Walters lived up to his captaincy very well, barking orders left right and centre, which kept the team’s structure intact.

With the momentum behind Odyssey, some incredible team play between McKenna, Dowle, and Sowerby broke down the Advanced Vehicle Leasing’s defence to put them in front.

Some further pressure from AVL was broken down well, with the defence of Walters, Hay, and New throwing their bodies on the line to block shots from all angles, as AVL started running out of ideas.

A setback for AVL then occurred with one of their players getting hit in a place we would rather not mention, meaning he had to play in goal. Odyssey ruthlessly capitalised on this with Dowle scoring the 5th.

A late rally from AVL, with a sublime goal from Howard made for a nervy few last minutes for the Odyssey team, but the game was put to bed with the last kick of the game, when McKenna got himself on the score sheet to make the game 6 – 4.

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1. Falling for Bundled Minute Packages

Telecoms suppliers love bundled minute packages because 80% of their customers use less than 20% of their included minutes. True value from bundles can only be achieved by using almost exactly the amount of minutes included (but let’s face it, most people buy bundles so they can completely forget about paying attention to call spend all together). Get it wrong by using too much, and you’ll pay extortionate out of bundles rates. Oh and are 0845’s included? Are the minutes included per line, or per account? Bundles introduce confusion, complexity and the opportunity for telecoms suppliers to catch you out. In the telecoms world, if it sounds too good to be true then it usually is.

2. Assigning Telecoms Responsibility to the Wrong Person

Far too often procuring telephony is thought of as just another “on or off” utility, however get it wrong and you could find your business in the dark for weeks. Get it right, and telecoms could help develop many areas of your business giving you the edge over your competitors. Only a handful of large corporations have job roles dedicated to management and delivery of their telephony. So for the rest of the business world, where should responsibility lie? With your accounts or IT manager? It’s not just a stereotype, but nine times out of ten a person working in an accounts role will succeed in finding the cheapest deal. But is the cheapest deal the right deal? A person working in IT will no doubt buy the flashiest bit of kit, but will it be configured to add any value to your business? Ultimately, a decision this significant should be made by someone with a detailed understanding of your businesses challenges and opportunities for the foreseeable future. Someone motivated by value, not cost. Someone able to gather information from experts in their field, and make an informed decision.

3. Overlooking Nasty Billing Tricks

Next time you sign up for a landline call package, keep an eye out for these nasty tricks often used to increase the charges on your bill: Call connection fees, large minimum call charges, capped rate call packages, per minute rounding, call commitments, bundled minute packages, out of bundle usage charges, existing contract buyouts and non direct debit payment charges.

4. Dealing with Multiple Suppliers

Communication is the life blood of business. Trusting your business telecoms to more than one supplier introduces confusion, unnecessary complexity and countless opportunities for things to go wrong. Ever experienced an issue where fingers are always pointing somewhere else? Dealing with a single supplier for your telephone lines, calls, system and connectivity allows you to assign ownership and clear responsibility for ensuring your business remains connected. Find someone who will visit your office and ask questions. Where has your business come from, what are your challenges and what are your plans over the next few years? If your telecoms supplier has not asked these questions then how can they possibly understand what’s right for you?

5. Allowing Staff Free Reign with Calls

Directory enquiries, premium rate and personal calls can drastically inflate your business phone bills. Is there really an excuse for spending £3.50 to a 118 number when a quick Google would have done the job? Define an acceptable use policy within your business for telephony usage or you’ll continue to sign blank cheques. If you’re still struggling to bring costs under control, find a provider who will bar destinations at network level, or ask your business telephone system maintainer to setup a “class of service” to limit which handsets or members of staff can make calls to high cost destinations.

6. Not Making Use of Statistics

Almost every telephone system in the market place can deliver statistics to help you run your business, and it’s surprising how few people use them. Which staff or departments are taking too long to answer the phone? Instead of hiring more staff, monitor average call length and take steps to bring it down. Spot trends in busy periods, and adjust shift patterns to suit. Monitor line usage and scale up or down as required. Advertise a different DDI telephone number on your marketing activities to track return on investment. Find out which of your customers are taking up the majority of your customer service teams time. Spot how many missed calls you’re receiving, at what time and to whom. Why not build a set of telephony KPIs and display them on a wallboard in the office – you’ll soon find staff start managing their own telephony practices.

7. Being Unaware of New Technologies

It’s not just the mobile telephone world that has developed new technology over the last few years. There have been plenty of developments and innovations in traditional landline telephony. Your competitors are probably taking advantage of them, so perhaps it’s time you did too?

• Any Number, Anywhere – With the adoption of VoIP (telephone calls over the internet), numbers from any area code in the UK, or even any country in the world can be delivered anywhere with no redirection fees.
• Remote Handsets – Desktop handsets installed in a completely different geographic location to your business telephone system that present and ring with your office telephone numbers.
• Linked Sites – Turn multiple sites into one fully integrated telephone system. Dial internal numbers and pay no redirection fees. Have full visibility on the status of every handset across your organisation, regardless of where they are.
• Mobile Extensions – Forget having three different telephone numbers. Advertise a single telephone number that will reach you on your desk phone, mobile or laptop wherever you are in the world.
• CTI – Computer Telephony Integration bridges the gap between your phone and PC. Automatically open a customer account in your CRM when they ring, or prompt staff to update records after a call has completed.

8. Training your Team on Everything but the Telephone

Make sure you cover telephony as part of your induction process with new staff. There are hundreds of powerful features that can really help your business function, but as a starter for ten ensure staff can complete the following: blind transfer, attended transfer, call parking, call pickup, monitor, barge, conferencing, call forwarding, DND, and voicemail. Cover your acceptable use policy for calls, and set expectations for answer time, standard greeting script and usage of the above features. If you’re not sure yourself, ask your telephone system provider to pop down and spend 30 minutes going over everything.

9. Leaving Things Too Late

Many actions in the telecoms world are time sensitive; drop the ball and you’ll find yourself playing catch up or incurring unnecessary expense. Acquire your telephone system via a lease? Don’t forget to notify the leasing company of your intentions a couple of months before expiry or you’ll end up paying secondary rentals. Porting of landline numbers between providers is a black art, and can take anywhere from a few days to a few years (if it’s possible at all)! Don’t forget to record your holiday message and upload it on to the telephone system. If you need your supplier to do this for you, give them a couple of days’ notice at least. Moving premises? Start talking to telecoms suppliers way sooner than you would think is required, a couple of months is best to make sure everything happens as smoothly as possible. Analogue lines can take between two to three weeks to go live. Broadband to go on top will take another 10 working days (unless you’re able to get a simultaneous provide where both go live at the same time). ISDN2 lines will take four to six weeks, and an ISDN30 will take eight to ten weeks. Throw an MBORC in to the mix (Matters Beyond Our Reasonable Control –BT Openreach declare these whenever there is really bad weather), and the standard lead times go out of the window.

10. Having No Backup Plan

Technology always fails. If you’ve managed to escape any form of communications’ down time in the past few years, you’re in the minority. Here are our top reasons why things go wrong:

• Theft of copper cable between the local exchange and your business premises.
• Flooding of underground ducting or local telephone exchange.
• Accidental damage of external cabling due to construction work.
• Power surges and total power loss.
• Complete or partial failure of local telephone system, handsets, routers, switches and cabling.
• Deliberate or accidental cancellation of required services.
• Planned maintenance.
• Poorly planned migration to new suppliers.
• Loss of service due to upstream suppliers entering administration or failing to pay their bills.

Your ability to access effective support with a predictable amount of effort and time can make all the difference. So first on the agenda is making sure you’re working with a single supplier who will take responsibility when you need help. How long could your business survive without telephones or internet access? Can a reseller of a reseller truly look after you as well as a tier one provider? If your lines go down, where should your network supplier redirect calls to? Will a single mobile phone do? To cover hardware failure, any system maintainer worth their salt should maintain a stock of hardware to replace any part that’s required to keep you up and running (even for equipment that’s long since been discontinued by the manufacturer). Having the spare part however, is only one piece of the puzzle. Access to fully trained engineers with detailed knowledge of your business, telephone system and its configuration is just as important. For power, consider running your telephone system and associated equipment via an uninterruptable power supply or UPS. A UPS includes components to protect devices from power surges, and battery packs to supply enough power to keep things running for short periods of time without mains supply. Spending just five minutes understanding your options before things go pear shaped can save you so much trouble. If you’re out of your depth, lean on the experts and come up with a plan together.

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