VIRTUAL FIRST LTD

Virtual First Horizon Telephony

Virtual First Horizon is a Gamma Provided Cloud PBX providing an array of features to suit the needs of organisations. It is operated through a choice of devices; handset, mobile or desktop. Web interfaces allow real time access and changes to the many services available on user basis.

Features

• Disaster Recovery – make/receive calls, any number/network
• Twinning – pair another number to ring simultaneously
• Soft Clients – your PC/mobile becomes your Horizon handset
• Call Recording – all calls or on demand, stored on-line
• Call Centre Module - increased functionality for supervisor/agents
• Site Admin – Administrator access for company and site hierarchy
• Hot Desk – use any Horizon handset as your extension
• CLI Presentation – Choose any number as your presented CLI
• Scheduling – Automatically route calls dependant on time of day
• Hunt groups – distribute calls simultaneously, weighted, as a ring

Benefits

• Maintain critical voice services, whatever the scenario
• More accessible with one number ringing devices simultaneously
• Simplify architecture with one solution across all users and devices
• Record important call information and improve training
• More professional approach to high volume customer calls centres
• Securely change user settings, instantly, by site or user
• Promote flexible working, seamlessly move between sites
• Provide Local or National presence regardless of locations
• Increase productivity as hunt groups find available agents quickly

£3.95 to £7.75 a user a month

• Education pricing available
• Free trial available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  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 info@virtualfirst.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

340416613114584

Contact

Cloud Collaboration Sales Team
02034323136
info@virtualfirst.uk

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Public cloud
• Service constraints: As a VoIP service, calls to 999 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.; Horizon does not support the following:; Analogue phones and devices, although we do supply ATAs; ISDN data calls; Door entry options; Presentation of multiple CLIs per site or per user; IP handsets that have not been supplied by us; The call recording service on Horizon is not currently PCI or FSA compliant.; We do not support some fax and franking machines used with an ATA
• System requirements:
  • A Horizon compatible data network
  • Appropriately sized data access

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Response times apply 24/7/365 including weekends; Severity 1 - immediate response due to critical outage; Severity 2 - incidents in 1 hour; Severity 3 - in 4 Hours; Severity 4 - (general query) in 3 days
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: Tier 2 - Our team of technical experts solve 98% of issues without referral to our tier 3 teams.; ; Tier 3 - Our team of technical experts, to tackle the most complex and demanding of issues; ; 24/7 - Proactive and Reactive Incident Management - Access to real-time data means faster fault identification and resolution. ; ; Technical account manager or cloud support engineer can be available, additional costs may apply.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: We provide a range of optional training and organisational change management services.; ; We can offer inclusive remote training as part of your service package, including presentations, quick reference guides, training videos and webinars.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • PDF
  • Other
• Other documentation formats:
  • Microsoft Office suite
  • Video tutorials
• End-of-contract data extraction: Any data required at the end of the contract can be downloaded and saved either by the customer or by us before the service is removed and deleted.
• End-of-contract process: Typically at the end of a contract a customer will migrate to another supplier. Any assistance with migration would be chargeable. Once the last users have been migrated, the service is deactivated.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Opera
• Application to install: Yes
• Compatible operating systems:
  • Android
  • IOS
  • MacOS
  • Windows
• Designed for use on mobile devices: Yes
• Differences between the mobile and desktop service: Differences are limited to the features of the Microsoft teams App.
• Service interface: No
• User support accessibility: None or don’t know
• API: No
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: There is an extensive list of customisable features and functions on Horizon. The full list is included in the service definition.; The service offers a range of clever features and an emphasis on control and administration through the web. For administrators, you can quickly configure the system according to your organisation’s changing requirements, whilst individual users can manage their calls easily and effectively.; Users can implement a wide range of features via the web portal, either at a company, site, or User level giving full and easy control of; an entire telephony environment, even over multiple sites.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: The platform is scaleable for the resilience of additional capacity.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: We provide a wide range of metrics including:; adoption statistics, usage volumes and usage analytics, We also provide call quality analytics, e.g. numbers of reduced quality calls
• Reporting types:
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports

Resellers

• Supplier type: Reseller providing extra support
• Organisation whose services are being resold: Enhancing the Microsoft Office 365 suite with Voice calling plans

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Staff screening not performed
• Government security clearance: Up to Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: No
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: Another external penetration testing organisation
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with another standard
  • Encryption of all physical media
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type: Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
• Equipment disposal approach: A third-party destruction service

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: On a per request basis, using secure FTP
• Data export formats: CSV
• Data import formats: CSV

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks:
  • Private network or public sector network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • Other
• Other protection between networks: Managed Firewalls between networks
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • Other
• Other protection within supplier network: CloudTalk Communications protect data within our network with:; - Intrusion Prevention System; - Managed Firewalls

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: 99.99% availability. Service credits apply when SLA is not achieved.
• Approach to resilience: The Horizon service is installed across multiple data centres providing resilience across the service and network for the core solution.
• Outage reporting: The current health of the service can be viewed via a public webpage showing the overall health of the service in it's entirety. Specific service outages are reported via email to our service centre and the customer is informed from there.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Username or password
  • Other
• Other user authentication: Active Directory Authentication Library (ADAL)-based sign-in to Office client apps across platforms, enabling sign-in features such as Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), SAML-based third-party identity providers with Office client applications, and smart card and certificate-based authentication.
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Managed list of authorised administrators is maintained. Office 365 comes with a set of administrator roles that you can assign to users in your organization. Each admin role maps to common business functions, and gives those people permissions to do specific tasks the Office 365 admin centre.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Username or password

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: User-defined
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: User-defined
• How long system logs are stored for: User-defined

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: No
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Other security certifications: No

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: In addition to the Security policies and processes, we have policies for Risk Management, Personnel screening, asset monitoring, IT infrastructure penetration testing

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: Gamma Change Control Process covers changes made to operational systems, to mitigate the risks and impacts that any change has and ensures good communication at all stages.; Change Management ensures changes to core infrastructure and services are performed and implemented correctly.; Best practice guidance, aligned to ITIL (OGC), recommends that the starting point for any change should be a review of generic questions or the ‘seven Rs’.; A risk and impact assessment is carried out for each change this involves detailing the assets under change.; The Change Advisory Board (CAB) has a representative from each impacted business area.
• Vulnerability management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: Gamma use failure mode effects analysis process, conducting regular, systematic assessments of vulnerabilities to determine the necessity of safeguards, countermeasures and controls, monitoring for changes to maintain an acceptable level of risk. Includes identifying key information assets and subjecting them to specific risk assessments, assessing exposure to a list of common threats and vulnerabilities, maintaining risk registers, implementing technical, policy, business continuity and management initiatives;Each patch is assessed and deployed accordingly:; High - Urgently.; Medium - ASAP.; Low - as time permits.; Gamma utilise many Vendor sources and industry RSS feeds, CERT, Ubuntu and Debian. Member of CiSP.
• Protective monitoring type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Protective monitoring approach: Gamma utilise GPG 13 guidance. Gamma have built a Security Information & Event Management Solution (SIEM) to identify potential compromises. If a compromise is found it is investigated. A Security Incident is raised to track the investigation, root cause and solutions if required to rectify or improve the situation. We respond to incidents as close to real time as practicable.
• Incident management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Incident management approach: Gamma have an Incident Management process which has numerous pre-defined sub groups of staff designated for particular products or scenarios. It can be initiated by any member of staff and is managed by the 24/7 Network Operations Centre (NOC). Any incident is reported by the customer to the Service Desk, it is recorded in a customer relationship management tool (CRM) and an Incident report is produced after root cause analysis has taken place. Any Incident reports are made available to end users via pdf.

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Conforms to a recognised standard, but self-assessed

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: No

Social Value

• Fighting climate change:

  Fighting climate change

  N/A
• Covid-19 recovery:

  Covid-19 recovery

  N/A
• Tackling economic inequality:

  Tackling economic inequality

  N/A
• Equal opportunity:

  Equal opportunity

  N/A
• Wellbeing:

  Wellbeing

  N/A

Pricing

• Price: £3.95 to £7.75 a user a month
• Discount for educational organisations: Yes
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: A 30 day trial lines can be established

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  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 info@virtualfirst.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.