Equal Experts UK Limited

Channel Strategy

Designing channel strategies to determine the optimal place for customer interactions - matching the complexity and nature of each interaction to the most appropriate option (including web, mobile, app, contact centre and in-person) supported by cloud-based services. Successful channel shift drives customers to use intended channels to achieve desired outcomes.

Features

• Baseline performance of each interaction in each channel
• Measure volumes, cost, customer satisfaction/NPS and goal achievement
• Think strategically whilst acting on the detail
• Skilled facilitators extract information from all types of stakeholder
• Analytical approach whilst maintaining consideration of the users viewpoint
• Equally comfortable dealing with senior business or technical stakeholders
• Data analysis to determine business performance
• Data analysis to determine points of failure
• Design principles to determine where best to complete certain interactions
• Target state channel strategy to meet business drivers

Benefits

• Reduces cost through encouraging low-cost interaction channels
• Improves customer experience through appropriate, timely interaction options
• Improves customer satisfaction through low-barrier channels and omni-channel service options
• Improves advocacy through improved customer experience
• Drives digital channel migration and adoption
• Reduces low value low complexity interactions in expensive channels
• Cross sell and upsell other services to create “halo effect”

£250 to £1,500 a person a day

• Education pricing 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 solutions@equalexperts.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

524817794074456

Contact

Louis Abel
+44 7968 157766
solutions@equalexperts.com

Planning

• Planning service: Yes
• How the planning service works: To build detailed knowledge of the context and domain for any project, an initial phase of planning, definition and knowledge transfer will generally take place at the start of an engagement. ; ; We have found that this takes place most effectively through a short time-bound inception to develop a shared understanding and agreement on vision and objectives across a broad stakeholder group. This covers the business, technical and user aspects of the project and the outputs may include user personas and scenarios, key user journeys, as-is and desired business processes, a prioritised backlog of user stories, technical constraints and vision, and a release roadmap and plan. The techniques and principles applied are also used on an ongoing basis throughout the course of delivery, to ensure the solutions developed are fit for purpose and meet real and changing user needs. ; ; This initial inception phase can be contracted separately if required.
• Planning service works with specific services: No

Training

• Training service provided: Yes
• How the training service works: For every client, we aim to transfer and embed knowledge of technology and process innovation. Our consultants help improve our clients’ internal competencies and build long-term sustainable capability, as they migrate to modern cloud-based products and services. We tailor particular practices to address specific organisational constraints – we recognise that every organisation is different and there is no “one size to fit all”.; ; The depth of experience of our consultants means they are mature, pragmatic, and have an approach grounded in hands-on digital experience. This is key to our ability to help with training, upskilling and building knowledge of new ways of working within client team members. All our consultants are selected based on their demonstrated understanding of how intelligent and innovative uses of technology are being put to work to provide competitive advantage across industries. Passing this expertise and understanding to our client team members is a key, and unique, advantage and value provided throughout our engagements.; ; We tend not to offer classroom-based training as our consultants are happy to share their knowledge throughout a project. They take responsibility for helping individual client team members adopt new practices and ways of working.
• Training is tied to specific services: No

Setup and migration

• Setup or migration service available: Yes
• How the setup or migration service works: In addition to ongoing development and operation of live cloud-based services, we can help with the initial set up and migration as part of a transition to cloud. We look for opportunities to automate processes (for example, test, deploy) that will yield real benefit and high ROI. Our approach helps to address integration, dependencies and risk early. We capture actionable metrics to measure and manage progress towards meeting the agreed success criteria and KPIs identified for building and operating the service. The highly collaborative, interactive processes we follow foster continual learning and improvement of services. They help to establish and evolve the overarching service design, management processes and the team capabilities.; ; We can ensure projects hit the ground running through our experience in designing, configuring and setup of many continuous delivery and automated cloud deployment environments. These techniques allow software to be repeatably and reliably deployed and tested through each stage into production on the cloud. We have substantial experience when it comes to the tooling required for continuous delivery and automated software deployment, greatly facilitating the software set up, build and migration process, which increases programme productivity and reduces project risk and cost.
• Setup or migration service is for specific cloud services: No

Quality assurance and performance testing

• Quality assurance and performance testing service: Yes
• How the quality assurance and performance testing works: All our consultants have extensive experience of both manual and automated testing, including performance testing, continuous integration and delivery into production environments at scale. With all clients we actively encourage the adoption of robust and meaningful automated test coverage, delivery and test techniques, to reduce risk and safely increase delivery velocity. We are happy to work with a clients existing quality management system (QMS) where appropriate.

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: Our operational philosophy is “you build it, you run it’”. The delivery team responsible for the development of a live service usually also takes responsibility for its operation. We have found that development teams which support their own products are motivated to deliver higher quality, more robust and maintainable code.; ; When a service is live with real users we expect the delivery team to provide 2nd line (infrastructure, in conjunction with hosting support agreements) and 3rd line (applications) support during business hours. We can agree an appropriate model for 24/7 on-call coverage if required - see our G-Cloud On-Call Support offering for details. We typically establish an on-call rota with delivery team members assigned on a weekly basis.; ; Our experience is that digital services are never really finished and that it is important to retain some level of investment to allow the addition of new features as the needs of customers (both internal and external) change. Our design of the end-to-end service can include establishing Service Level Agreements for ongoing service evolution and operational support (ensuring agreed levels of service availability).

Service scope

• Service constraints: N/A

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: No
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: No
• Support levels: We provide an engagement manager on all G-Cloud engagements with responsibility for ensuring customer objectives are met, and for addressing any issues with service delivery. Our engagement managers act as an escalation point, and can be reached via phone or email, to respond to issues beyond the control of the team providing the service. Engagement management is included within our service pricing. ; ; When a service is live with real users we expect the delivery team to provide 2nd line (infrastructure, in conjunction with hosting support agreements) and 3rd line (applications) support during business hours. We can agree an appropriate model for 24/7 on-call coverage if required - see our G-Cloud On-Call Support offering for details. We typically establish an on-call rota with delivery team members assigned on a weekly basis.

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• Government security clearance: Up to Developed Vetting (DV)

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: British Assessment Bureau
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 10/07/2023
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: Nothing
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Other security certifications: No

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Tackling economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

  Fighting climate change

  Equal Experts has a robust Environmental Policy, aligned with PPN06/20 Theme 4, PPN06/21 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which details commitments to reduce our environmental impact holistically across the organisation. We have published and updated our plans annually since 2019, meeting the government’s Streamlined, Energy and Carbon Reporting legislation (SECR), initially reporting Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Our Carbon Reduction Plan is published on our website and has been certified to meet PPN06/21 requirements by CCS.; ; EE is committed to achieving net-zero Carbon emissions by 2030. We are actively exploring investments in innovative, effective carbon-offsetting initiatives to achieve this target. Our internal Carbon Net-Zero Governance working group advises the Exec Team on meeting the 2030 net-zero target.; ; For G-Cloud contracts, we will:; --Build systems making extensive use of cloud services. Most systems we build use automated scaling of resources to ensure we minimise both cost and environmental impact of operation. We migrate to more efficient resources and operational practices as cloud providers introduce them.; --Encourage and support remote and hybrid working, and provide access to tools like Zoom, Lucidchart and Miro to encourage and facilitate this and thereby reduce our carbon footprint. We have written an open-source Remote Working Playbook which is available to anyone via our website.; --Assign local staff to client engagements whenever possible, to reduce travel impact.; --Use flexible co-working spaces with high BREEAM ratings.; --Reduce office material consumption and waste eg. printers and paper, recycle and reuse wherever practical.; --Reduce energy and water consumption.; --Consider the environment in our branded merchandise used at events and promotional activities, particularly reducing plastic use and local sourcing.; --Improve our recycling efforts, particularly IT equipment (our largest relevant expenditure in this area), and deliver social benefits through reuse wherever possible.

  Tackling economic inequality

  ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND TRAINING; For GCloud contracts, we will:; --Flow ~65% of revenues to our Associate supplier network (small, entrepreneurial businesses).; --Expand and assign consultants from EE’s Evolve programme, which mentors technology practitioners to become expert consultants. ; --Work with specialist partners (eg. SigmaLabs, NorthCoders) to develop skills for under-represented and early-career candidates, assigning them to our teams and using our expert consultants to coach and train them.; --Provide retraining and return opportunities, mentoring, development of technical skills which address skills gaps, training through mock-up interviews, provision of CV and careers guidance.; --Where possible, provide opportunities to employ and develop more people with protected characteristics in new skills relevant to the contract.; --Share knowledge and experience publicly via ExpertTalks and Open-Source Playbooks to develop disadvantaged groups’ skills.; --Partner with leading diverse communities, networks and ambassadors to identify suitable candidates eg. SigmaLabs, Coding Black Females.; --Continue hosting events for minority and under-represented groups, for example, 10 Digital Ladies and Women Who Code.; ; DIVERSE SUPPLY CHAINS; Our partnering model directly supports SMEs and SEs, which we engage as specialist subcontractors. We identify new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutuals that can participate in our supply chain and those of our clients.; ; For G-Cloud contracts, we will:; --Procure in a fair and open, PCR2015 manner.; --Establish innovation programmes to identify and onboard new micro businesses.; --Encourage suppliers to diversify their supply chain in line with our goal to increase supply chain resilience.; --Increase supply chain governance using recognised bodies such as sedex.com.; --Measure and increase staff characteristics and success in our associate/supplier diversity (eg. %spend with each supply group across micro, SME and collectives; %of start-up suppliers still in business after three years).

  Equal opportunity

  EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES; Equal Experts has a longstanding commitment to advancing diversity, equality and inclusion. We operate in ways that support clients to deliver their Public Sector Equality duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. We are Level 1: Disability Confident Committed and members of the Business Disability Forum.; ; For G-Cloud contracts, we will:; --Run monthly team psychological safety surveys, share results with teams, help teams identify and support improvement actions.; --Invest in workshops and training to help teams improve safety and inclusion.; --Host events for minority groups, such as 10 Digital Ladies and Women Who Code.; --Provide family-friendly and dignity-at-work policies (we were placed 4th in Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work 2024).; --Continuously evolve recruitment processes to improve diversity, equality and inclusion, and provide unconscious bias training for our recruitment team.; --Engage Druthers, executive search specialists in building inclusive teams, to broaden our team diversity.; --Where possible, provide opportunities to employ and develop more people with protected characteristics in new skills relevant to the contract.; --Make appropriate adjustments where practical to support and develop individuals with physical, mental and hidden disabilities.; --Regularly monitor our performance (eg. Cabinet Office CAESER, B Impact Assessments) to help develop annual improvement plans.; ; MODERN SLAVERY; EE is covered by the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Our published policy statement, processes and procedures are reviewed and updated annually (eg. Employee Team Charter, Whistleblowing Policy, Code of Conduct for Suppliers).; ; We will undertake due diligence when considering taking on new suppliers and regularly review existing suppliers. This includes evaluating modern slavery risks. We are members of Sedex Global and will use their services to review our extended supply chains and provide confidence to our clients.

  Wellbeing

  HEALTH AND WELLBEING; Equal Experts promotes psychological safety, trust, inclusion and a “grown-up” culture throughout our workforce. We work closely with our clients to support the health and wellbeing of our team members, establishing onboarding practices and developing local team charters to ensure new team members are welcomed and made to feel safe. We support the six standards of the Mental Health at Work Commitment and the Race at Work Charter and encourage our supply chain to do the same.; ; For G-Cloud contracts, we will:; --Run monthly team psychological safety surveys, share results with teams, help teams identify and support improvement actions.; --Promote inclusive and accessible recruitment and retention practices to ensure people feel valued (Equal Experts was placed 4th in Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work 2024).; --Offer flexible and remote working and encourage staff to take regular breaks, “Movement Snacks” (workstation exercises), holidays, online team-events.; --Provide awareness training and guidance through our policies, ExpertTalks and playbooks.; --Offer private medical cover for our UK employees and their families, including encouraging exercise and other preventative measures.; --Host public online ExpertTalks on Health and Wellbeing, eg. “Avoiding Burnout”.; ; INTEGRATED COMMUNITIES; For G-Cloud contracts, we will:; --Foster an open, inclusive working culture eg. 'no-blame' retrospectives to help us learn from each other's perspectives.; --Hold socials and lean coffee sessions to ensure a welcoming culture that leads to better team bonding and working relationships.; --For physical health, hold our annual Walkathon competition for staff and family members, clients and partners, which encourages physical activity and raises money for charity (1200 participants, £136k raised in 2023).; --Encourage companies in our supply chain to implement measures to improve employees' physical and mental health and wellbeing, and implement standards in the Mental Health at Work commitment.

Pricing

• Price: £250 to £1,500 a person a day
• Discount for educational organisations: Yes

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 solutions@equalexperts.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.