ARROW BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED (Trading under the brand name ARO)

ARO - Teams Phone Direct Routing & Operator Connect

Gamma Operator Connect allows organisations to enable PSTN calling natively within Microsoft Teams by using Gamma as the certified underlying voice carrier.

Microsoft 365 users with the appropriate Teams Phone licenses can manage their entire telephony estate, utilising Gamma's carrier-grade network and direct peering for enhanced call quality and resilience.

Features

• Calling Line Presentation (CLIP)
• CLI Flexibility
• Call Admission Control
• Call Barring
• DTMF Support
• Emergency, Non-Emergency and other short code Calls
• Calling Line Restriction (CLIR)

Benefits

• Voice enable Microsoft Teams without any extra infrastructure
• A cost effective alternative to Microsoft call plans
• Provided on a per user basis
• A fully managed and monitored service by ARO
• Proven UK based platform already supporting 1,000s of voice users
• Geographically resilient certified Microsoft Session Border Controllers
• Perfect for organisations of all sizes
• Number porting-support for 01, 02, 03 UK DDI ranges

• Free trial available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at sds.contracts@aro.tech. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 15

Service ID

377420922264628

Contact

John Loftus
07545 929225
sds.contracts@aro.tech

About your service

• Service categories:

  Applications

  Collaborative

  • Team collaboration
• Multi cloud support: No

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: Yes
• What software services is the service an extension to: Microsoft Teams
• Cloud deployment model:
  • Public cloud
  • Private cloud
• Service constraints: As a VoIP service, calls to 999 via SIP trunks may not be possible, during a service outage where the customer loses total connectivity for example, owing to a power outage or the failure of all data access.; In such circumstances the customer should use their PSTN line or mobile to make the emergency call.
• System requirements: Microsoft 365 with appropriate Teams Licensing

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Yes
• Support response times: Our standard response time is four working hours Monday-Friday 8-6pm. We can supply bespoke SLA agreements.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: No
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support: Yes
• Web chat support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support accessibility standard: None or don’t know
• How the web chat support is accessible: There is a web-chat icon on each page of the support section in our web-site. Tawk.to supports WCAG 2.0 guidelines
• Web chat accessibility testing: None Completed to Date
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: ARO provides a core level of support which in included with the contract. Additional bespoke support levels are available upon request at an additional monthly service fee. Any incident (an unplanned interruption to a service) can be logged by the customer with ARO’s Service Desk. ARO will respond to and resolve remotely any incident or issue that is impacting the customer’s supported scope using our cloud support engineers. A service change (something which represents a minor change to the supported scope where there is a risk of impact on the service) may be subject to additional charges depending on the scope of the change and will also be managed by our cloud support engineers.
• Support available to third parties: Yes
• AI chatbot: No

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: An Account Manager and pre-sales consultant will work with you to identify the correct service specification and configuration. If required we will attend site to conduct site surveys, demonstrations and audits. Once our proposal has been accepted and our Cloud Telephony service contract signed, the project is added to our internal task system. Each new customer project is allocated to a Prince 2 qualified Project Manager who assumes overall responsibility for the project. The Project Manager will communicate with the customer by phone, e-mail, video or in person. A Project Initiation Document is issued once we have gathered all required information. A meeting to discuss all aspects of the phone service configuration is held with; the customer. The service configuration agreement is written up and issued to the customer. The Project Manager will liaise with the Cloud IP Engineering team to; manage the necessary technical resources. The PM will also manage the process of porting numbers in to the ARO network. The assigned Cloud IP Engineer will configure the service and attend; site to carry out the deployment. Where the customer specifies on-site training, a qualified trainer will attend site to provide the necessary instruction.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats: PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: The customer via the relevant service portals can extract all historical call detail and call recording information held.
• End-of-contract process: Once terminated, ARO technical staff will de-commission the customer’s service ensuring all database information, call recording and analytics data are permanently deleted. Services included in the price of the contract will be monthly rental charges and any hardware or professional services which were agreed at the beginning of the contract period. Additional costs may be for incremental licences.
• Documentation accessibility standard: None or don’t know
• How the documentation is accessible: Documentation will be made available on request to the onboarding / offboarding project manager

Using the service

• Web browser interface: No
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: No
• Service interface: No
• User support accessibility: None or don’t know
• API: No
• Customisation available: No

Scaling

• Independence of resources: The underlying network is configured and monitored to ensure that each customer's service has the recommended resources published in our vendor's specification documentation. As more customer's are added to the platform, underlying network resources are scaled to suit demand.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: CDRS and Management Reports are available via the ARO Billing Portal.
• Reporting types:
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request
• Resource tagging: No
• FOCUS resource tagging: No

Resellers

• Supplier type: Reseller providing extra features and support
• Organisation whose services are being resold: Gamma Telecom

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
• Government security clearance: Developed Vetting (DV)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: United Kingdom
• User control over data storage and processing locations: No
• Datacentre security standards: Supplier-defined controls
• Penetration testing frequency: Less than once a year
• Penetration testing approach: In-house
• Protecting data at rest: Physical access control, complying with another standard
• Data sanitisation process: No
• Equipment disposal approach: In-house destruction process

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: CDRs can be exported via the ARO Billing Portal or provided by ARO upon request.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data export formats: XLS
• Data import formats: Other
• Other data import formats: N/A

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks: TLS (version 1.2 or above)
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Other
• Other protection within supplier network: ADRaaS operates from secure UK data centre locations and the equipment is only accessible by cleared ARO technical personnel. All customer data resides within the ARO managed racks and no data is transferred either outside of this environment or overseas. We operate a robust data protection policy and retain customer data for the minimum amount of time necessary to deliver the service.

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Gamma’s Operator Connect is a 99.99% available, carrier-grade voice service that utilizes a shared SLA with Microsoft to provide native PSTN calling directly within the Teams Admin Center.; ; ADRaaS operates from secure UK data centre locations and the equipment is only accessible by cleared ARO technical personnel. All customer data resides within the ARO managed racks and no data is transferred either outside of this environment or overseas. We operate a robust data protection policy and retain customer data for the minimum amount of time necessary to deliver the service.
• Approach to resilience: Gamma’s Operator Connect service ensures maximum resilience through a geographically redundant, "Active-Active" architecture that utilizes direct peering with Microsoft and automated failover to eliminate any single point of failure within the core voice network.; ; The ADRaaS service is operated from two UK data centres providing resilient connectivity to the Microsoft 365/Teams Platform and UK PSTN/mobile carrier networks. ARO's Session Border Controllers are certified with Microsoft Teams to provide Direct Routing and are configured in line with the Vendor guidelines.
• Outage reporting: We have a process to communicate with customers in the event of a major service outage and provide a Reason for Outage report. This is based through emails from the support team. Once an outage is noted then regular hourly emails are sent detailing progress to resolution.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication: Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Gamma and Microsoft secure access to the Operator Connect environment by using a "shared responsibility" model, where identity is strictly controlled through the Microsoft 365 tenant and back-end carrier operations are protected by Gamma’s ISO-accredited security frameworks.; ; The ADRaaS Core network access is only granted to ARO's dedicated engineering team. Within the engineering team there are various levels of access dependent on engineer accreditation and job role.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication: Username or password

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• How long system logs are stored for: At least 12 months

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards: ISO/IEC 27001
• Information security policies and processes: The Chief Executive Officer, along with the board, in partnership with the Head of IT is responsible for the approval of all of the IT policies and ensuring that they are discharged to the relevant managers. Arrow's Information Security Policy outlines our approach to information security as well as being a method to establish a set of tools to outline the responsibilities necessary to safeguard the security of the Company’s information systems with supporting policies, codes of practice, procedures and guidelines. The policy applies to all employees - current and new - of the Company as well as all other authorised users. The policy relates to the use of all Company-owned information system assets, to all privately owned systems when connected directly or indirectly to the Company’s network and to all Company-owned and or licensed software/data. Authorised members of the IT Department will from time to time monitor the information systems under their control to ensure compliance. This is supported by training during the Induction process for new employees and updates to existing staff as appropriate.
• Software Security Code of Practice: No

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
• Configuration and change management approach: Gamma’s Operator Connect configuration is managed through a streamlined, automated process that utilizes the native Microsoft Teams Admin Center for all customer-facing changes while Gamma handles the back-end carrier infrastructure, hardware updates, and capacity planning through their ISO-accredited change control framework.; ; Our ADRaaS services are deeply integrated into GTT’s (https://www.gtt.net/gb-en/) network. GTT has maintained ISO 27001 accredited Enterprise Security Management System for their Operations Centres and Data Centres since September 2005.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: Gamma maintains a comprehensive vulnerability management program that integrates industry-standard frameworks with specific telecommunications regulations to ensure its network and services remain secure.; ; Our ADRaaS services are actively managed by network monitoring tools 24/7/365 and provide alerts to any vulnerabilities within the Core services. All of our services are patched to each vendors latest supported version, and any new vulnerabilities are addresses and communicated to ARO to take immediate action and new patches provided and applied. Our data centres are suitably firewalled and run industry leading anti-virus.
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: Gamma’s protective monitoring is a comprehensive, 24/7 security operation designed to identify and neutralize threats before they impact your communications or data. Their approach is built on the NCSC’s 10 Steps to Cyber Security and utilizes a UK-based Security Operations Centre (SOC).; ; ARO's Data Protection Policy details the extensive controls, measures and methods used to protect personal data, uphold the rights of data subjects, mitigate risks, minimise breaches and comply with the data protection laws and associated laws and codes of conduct. We also carry out regular audits and compliance monitoring processes,
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: ARO’s Data Breach Policy states that all staff must report a data breach immediately to the direct line manager. The Supervisory Authority is to be notified within 72 hours of any breach where it is likely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals. A full investigation is conducted and recorded on the incident form, the outcome of which is communicated to all staff involved in the breach, in addition to upper management. A copy of the completed incident form is filed for audit and record purposes.
• Post-quantum cryptography secure: No

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v4.0)

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: No

Pricing

• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: ARO can set up a test endpoint for a two week period in order to test the quality and usability. Professional Services fees will apply for setup and training.
• Link to free trial: N/A

Discount percentage by annual call-off contract value (excluding VAT)

• Less than £250,000: 0%
• Between £250,000 and £500,000: 0%
• Between £500,001 and £1,000,000: 0%
• Between £1,000,001 and £2,500,000: 0%
• Between £2,500,001 and £5,000,000: 0%
• Over £5,000,001: 0%

Non-mandatory Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: DNV Business Assurance UK Limited
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: Friday 1 December 2023
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: All ARO's services submitted to G-Cloud are covered, within the full scope included below. Nothing outside of the scope is covered:; ; Provision of IT and Telecommunications Services (AV and Video Conferencing, Business Mobile, Cloud Telephony, Contact Centre, Cyber Security, Data Centre Services, Data services, IT, Software Development, Mobile Data) in accordance with the Statement of Applicability, version 1.0, plus Code of Practice ISO 27017:2015 on information security controls for cloud services and Code of Practice ISO 27018:2019 for protection of personally identifiable information (PII) in public clouds.
• ISO 28000:2022 certification: No
• ISO 9001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO 9001 certification: DNV Business Assurance UK Limited
• ISO 9001 accreditation date: Friday 1 December 2023
• What the ISO 9001 doesn’t cover: All ARO's services submitted to G-Cloud are covered, within the full scope included below. Nothing outside of the scope is covered:; ; Provision of IT and Telecommunications Services (AV and Video Conferencing, Business Mobile, Cloud Telephony, Contact Centre, Cyber Security, Data Centre Services, Data services, IT, Software Development, Mobile Data).
• Quality management systems (QMS): Yes
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Please provide your Cyber Essentials Certificate Number: Bfeb01f3-8386-4dfa-b3a9-078b0111c144
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Please provide your Cyber Essentials Plus Certificate Number: 1b2adc2c-4104-4659-93b5-35908194c9b4
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications: NHS DSP Toolkit

Social value

• Section B - Commitment for Future: Delivery:

  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 1: Fair work: That offers fair wages and good working conditions. Help people get a job, stay in work, and progress in their careers, with good employment opportunities across the country. Notes: Where there is a large proportion of labour costs in the contract, commercial teams should consider MAC in Outcome 1 as a priority

    • New or retained jobs on the contract workforce in the relevant area that meet the criteria set out in MAC 1b, 1c and 1d
    • Providing opportunities for, and measuring and monitoring of, staff workforce conditions over time, including employee engagement, involvement in decision-making and satisfaction and adapting to any changes in the results, with clear processes for acting on issues identified
    • Monitoring of employee engagement rates (by protected characteristic) and, where necessary, the development of actions to ensure all voices are heard across the diversity of the workforce
    • Employment contracts that reflect actual hours worked; steps taken to ensure employees understand their contracts and have the ability to review and adjust them if actual hours regularly exceed contracted hours
    • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about, and feel empowered to, address their physical wellbeing
    • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about and feel empowered to report and address bullying and harassment
    • Offer a pay and leave entitlement to all eligible staff who become kinship carers, ideally equivalent to statutory adoption pay and leave
    • Payment of more than the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage (as appropriate) to the contract workforce
    • Monitoring and reporting of gender and ethnicity pay gaps and plans to address them where necessary
    • Entitlement to sick pay for the contract workforce, with provision in place for any staff who do not meet the earnings threshold for statutory sick pay, payment of sick pay from day one of absence and payment of staff on the contract workforce who are off sick a replacement income of 100% of their usual earnings for as long as possible
    • Understanding of in-work progression issues affecting the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors
    • Measures to support in-work progression to help people in the contract workforce, to move into higher paid work by developing new skills relevant to the contract
    • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
    • Volunteering opportunities for staff
    • Understanding of the modern slavery risks and issues affecting the market, industry, sector or country (of origin or of source) relevant to the contract, and the workforce in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key subcontractors
    • Outline policies and practices to be applied to or put in place for the contract to mitigate and manage modern slavery risks, including: Pre-employment checks, recruitment practices. Workplace conditions, safeguarding plans and processes in place and regular monitoring with relevant groups considered, which may include sampling

  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 2: Skills for growth: Supporting growth sectors and addressing skills gaps.

    • Understanding of employment and relevant skills issues, and of the education and training issues relating to the contract. Illustrative examples: demographics, skills shortages, new opportunities in high growth sectors, geographic/local community and skills/employment challenges
    • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications

  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 3: Resilient, innovative and flexible supply chains: Support economic growth through enabling resilient businesses, opportunities for small businesses and voluntary, community and social enterprises

    • Understanding of local demographics, needs and opportunities for the co-design of the goods, services and works to be delivered under the contract

  • Mission: Make Britain a clean energy superpower: To cut bills, create jobs and deliver security with cheaper, zero-carbon electricity by 2030, accelerating to net zero

    Policy Outcome 4: Sustainable procurement practices: Reducing carbon footprints, minimising waste, and promoting the use of clean energy and green technologies.

    • Understanding of opportunities for additional environmental benefits delivery in the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
    • Delivery of additional environmental benefits through the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
    • Understanding of how to influence staff, suppliers, customers, communities and/or any other appropriate stakeholders through the delivery of the contract to support climate and nature protection and improvement

  • Mission: Break down barriers to opportunity: By reforming our childcare and education systems, to make sure there is no class ceiling on the ambitions of young people in Britain

    Policy Outcome 6: Employment and training: For those who face barriers to employment

    • Understanding of the issues affecting the representation of disabled people in the workforce in the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors
    • Collection of the views and expertise of disabled people and their representative organisations on successfully supporting disabled employees or applicants
    • Working conditions which promote an inclusive working environment and promote retention and progression
    • Understanding of the issues affecting inequality in employment, skills and pay in the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors. Measures to tackle inequality in employment, skills and pay in the contract workforce
    • Inclusive and accessible development practices, including guidance for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing people with a disability or health condition

  • Mission: Break down barriers to opportunity: By reforming our childcare and education systems, to make sure there is no class ceiling on the ambitions of young people in Britain

    Policy Outcome 7: Creating a pipeline of opportunities: For the contract workforce, reducing barriers to entry for under-represented groups.

    • Understanding of issues relating to entering the contract workforce
    • Creation of outreach activities to create a pipeline of employees for the future contract delivery
    • Content of the outreach activity is designed to suit the target cohort

  • Mission: Build an NHS fit for the future: That is there when people need it; with fewer lives lost to the biggest killers; in a fairer Britain, where everyone lives well for longer.

    Policy Outcome 8: Increasing productivity through physical and mental wellbeing: In the supply chain and communities in the relevant area.

    • Understanding of issues relating to health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health, in the contract workforce
    • Inclusive and accessible recruitment practices, development practices and retention policies that support-focused activities including those provided in the Guide for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing which support people with a disability or health condition
    • Actions to invest in the physical and mental health and wellbeing of the contract workforce

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at sds.contracts@aro.tech. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.