Bates Group

Cloud Connectivity, Fibre Cabling, and Infrastructure Readiness

Bates Connect Communication Services' innovative cloud infrastructure preparedness and fibre optic cabling services are designed to support adoption and augmentation of cloud services. Our fibre optic and copper cabling services ensure high quality connectivity to the cloud are provide a wide range of additional services including design, implementation, and support.

Features

• specialties in fibre cabling services
• wired and wireless network design for LAN and WAN
• Fibre and Blown Fibre (OM1-5 and OS1 /2)
• copper cabling (Cat5e, Cat6, Cat6a, Cat7a, 8.1, 8.2)
• Fully project managed (Prince II and bespoke methodologies)
• Security vetted staff capable of delivering services in sensitive areas
• bespoke planning for specialist outcomes e.g. healthcare
• all services provided according to ISO, BICSI and FIA standards

Benefits

• Improved access to cloud services
• augment capability to deliver cloud services
• safe and secure deployment
• nationwide service delivery network
• up to 24/7 support and high availability of support staff
• Single point of contact for all services
• reliable, flexible, and complete service ensures success
• future proof planning ensures best value for money

£315 to £1,600 a unit a day

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 Chris.Fuller@Bates-Group.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

127909182161240

Contact

Chris Fuller
07584213361
Chris.Fuller@Bates-Group.co.uk

Planning

• Planning service: Yes
• How the planning service works: All customers are assigned a lead account manager who will work with your teams to create a bespoke plan that takes into account your desired outcome, resource availability and capability, budget and timescales. We will work with our highly skilled technical engineers and project managers to understand your current infrastructure and "as-is" processes. In turn we work with you to create a detailed implementation plan and to finalise technical requirements. It is important that vital solutions are not disrupted. We work with your third-party suppliers to ensure risks are catalogued and changes undertaken safely and securely. Changes in critical IT infrastructure requires careful balancing of the organisation's needs. This process of change management must be carefully planned and only implemented once an implementation can be guaranteed to be secure and end-users are fully aware of the changes. Post-migration Bates can support the integration of internal legacy infrastructure to ensure that the Cloud services continues to work within the organisation and permits the integration of solutions that cannot be migrated. Bates can also support organisations that are already part way through a transition or wish to improve their use of cloud technology.
• Planning service works with specific services: No

Training

• Training service provided: Yes
• How the training service works: Where necessary training can be provided; however, this is less likely for cabling and cloud readiness services. Where specific training for hardware is required this will be undertaken in line with manufacturers' guidance.
• Training is tied to specific services: No

Setup and migration

• Setup or migration service available: No

Quality assurance and performance testing

• Quality assurance and performance testing service: Yes
• How the quality assurance and performance testing works: Bates Group offer a range of quality assurance and performance testing services. Focussing on real-world impact to users, we assess the performance your IT infrastructure and provide you with the information you need to configure your network and hardware to deliver the best performance to end users. Many of our customers operate critical solutions that must operate at a high performance reliably. Not only must these services perform to a high standard but they must also perform within complex hybrid infrastructures including a mix of cloud and local hardware. Local hardware configurations can dramatically impact the efficacy of a cloud solution and impact the delivery of benefits to the customer. We not only help support and test your cloud infrastructure but your wider IT envrionment, ensuring that the interoperability and dependency of other systems is considered when testing the system. As part of our planning and mobilisation processes this would take place normally as part of any new installation or as part of any strategic design. Any work undertaken by Bates will have quality assurance and performance tested included as part of the sign off process.

Security testing

• Security services: Yes
• Security services type:
  • Security strategy
  • Security risk management
  • Security design
  • Security incident management
  • Security audit services

Ongoing support

• Ongoing support service: Yes
• Types of service supported:
  • Hosting or software provided by your organisation
  • Hosting or software provided by a third-party organisation
• How the support service works: Bates provide ongoing support for all its services and projects. Customers will have access to a bespoke support service tailored to their needs. In the case of successfully completed infrastructure work this is likely to be fairly limited but will always remain present to provide customers with the necessary peace of mind. For customers wishing to procure additional support, Bates can set up a wide range of support services including helpdesks, service desks, basic break/fix arranagements or any bespoke service approach. For cabling services Bates tend to provide a thorough test and acceptance phase followed by either a light touch support regime or a full handover to another service provide e.g. customer network manager for day to day management. Whatever your requirements, Bates will be happy to work with you to provide a support service that meets your needs and ensures the ongoing quality of the infrastructure and services we provide.

Service scope

• Service constraints: Bates provide a range of bespoke services. As such we don't have any specific constraints that our services must work within although for the purposes of this framework this service offering is specifically restricted to the provision of fibre and other cabling services for the provision and supporting of cloud services. We will work with our customers at the call off stage once their requirements are clear and will inform of any specific constraints at that time. It is envisaged that constraints will be customer specific e.g. work can only take place outside core business hours.

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Responses are subject to a mutually agreed SLA and can support extremely fast response and fix times. Generally, P1 incidents will be responded to in less that 30 minutes and fixed in less that 2-4 hours. Varying degrees of incident shall be managed accordingly. Customer can liasie directly with their account manager for non-incident based questions and clarifications.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: None or don’t know
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support: No
• Support levels: Each Bates Group solution is individual and the level of support is dependent on the customer's requirements. Generally our NHS services are supporting critical healthcare solutions and therefore operate on high availability support (24/7/365). We have clients that require very basic support through to critical, high demand organisations that need weekend and night-time support. Support services can be provided according to budget and need with simple 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday, throught to 24/7/365. Bates Group ensure that our customers have access to specialist support any time, day or night.

Resellers

• Supplier type: Reseller providing extra features and support
• Organisation whose services are being resold: Symantec, Excel cabling, Fujitsu, Gamma Telecom, TE Connectivity

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
• Government security clearance: Up to Security Clearance (SC)

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: QMS
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 21/12/21
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: The Bates ISO27001 accreditation covers all the Bates offices and aspects of our business. We can make our statement of applicability available on request. We have implemented all of the Annex A controls in full.
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: No
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications: NHS DSPT - https://www.dsptoolkit.nhs.uk/OrganisationSearch/8KK22

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Covid-19 recovery
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

  Fighting climate change

  Bates IT, as a technology transformation company is ideally poised to support our customers in moving to a newer, greener way of working. Our design methodologies now take consideration for environmental issues and we champion processes and practices that decrease the impact of our work on the environment. For example, a large part of our support services focus on extending the life of products by favouring a “fix first” approach. This has dramatically lowered the replacement rate of devices (lowering overall demand for new devices). The fix first approach also decreases e-waste and prolongs the period of time until a product become waste. When it is time to retire products Bates recycles and reuses wherever possible and ensures that waste is handled according to standards that recognise the environmental impact of e-waste.; ; Within our organisation we are continually looking to improve the operation of our organisation to lessen our environmental impact. To quantify these internal improvements, we have joined the Ecovardis certification programme and have obtained a silver medal to date. We are looking to push this top a gold medal in the coming years by adopting major transformations such as the electrification of our fleet vehicles. Bates have also signed a 5-year contract with EcoAct to support our move to net zero in line with government target despite this mandate not applying to Bates. To ensure we can continue to support major service providers and the government Bates are committed to meeting standards in excess of those required by law.; Bates understand that Buyer’s may have their own specific social value goals and a social value plan (as required by the Social Value Model). We will work with any Buyer on their respective goals and provide appropriate support and social value commitments upon clarification.

  Covid-19 recovery

  Throughout the COVID pandemic, Bates were proud to support the national challenge to fight the virus. This included supporting the Nightingale Hospitals. We were extremely happy to be chosen by NHS England along with ATOS to support vaccine centres and work with Buyer's still on mitigating the impacts of covid. We will always commit our full efforts wherever required to our customers to ensure they can continue to operate safely and recover from the operational, financial, and emotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.; ; Moving forward, we are happy to discuss supporting readiness efforts as part of a holistic pandemic planning solution an support wherever possible any opportunities to mitigate the impacts of covid through technology and improved connectivity for Buyers and the wider public.; ; Bates understand that Buyer’s may have their own specific social value goals and a social value plan (as required by the Social Value Model). We will work with any Buyer on their respective goals and provide appropriate support and social value commitments upon clarification.

  Equal opportunity

  Bates understands that to reach its targets and to support our customers through difficult transformations we require a happy team operating in a fair and transparent workplace. To achieve this we have adopted an internal policy framework centred on wellbeing and setting clear expectations and high standards with respect to inequality and fair treatment. We maintain regularly reviewed policies that include Stress at Work, Ethics, Equal Opportunities, Health and Safety, and Human Rights. Within these, and other documents, Bates trains its staff accordingly to ensure that we build a culture of tolerance and support. Key to this concept is the equality of opportunity that ensures that all employees irrespective of race, gender, sexual orientation, and any other characteristic is in any way hindered in their ability to achieve the same as any other employee. This policy, which is too detailed to fully describe here, covers people from pre-employment during their recruitment through their entire working life at Bates until they leave. The policy applies at all levels and ensures there are no double standards within our organisation structure. Bates categorically reject and will use its full powers to take necessary action where discrimination either overtly or by policy impinges on the equality of our employees.; ; Bates understand that Buyer’s may have their own specific social value goals and a social value plan (as required by the Social Value Model). We will work with any Buyer on their respective goals and provide appropriate support and social value commitments upon clarification.

  Wellbeing

  As with the equality of opportunity that we provide we have specific policies for ensuring wellbeing of our staff. This became all to apparent during the pandemic where we had to develop new ways of working and means of accommodating our staff in ways we have never had to before.; Mental health and stress in the work environment are unquestionably challenges that are growing in all areas of life and Bates have taken this very seriously. We have adopted a Stress at Work Policy and offer our staff the support and services they need in the workplace to ensure the are mentally fit and well to work. We operate a personalised HR service that seeks to understand the unique challenges of each employee and provide them support in ways that best suit their needs.; To ensure that the message about mental health can also be spread to more people Bates have chosen mental health charity “Heads On” to support as part of our programme of charitable donations. We hope that our donation can help other get support for mental health wellbeing as a result.; ; Bates understand that Buyer’s may have their own specific social value goals and a social value plan (as required by the Social Value Model). We will work with any Buyer on their respective goals and provide appropriate support and social value commitments upon clarification.

Pricing

• Price: £315 to £1,600 a unit a day
• Discount for educational organisations: No

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 Chris.Fuller@Bates-Group.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.