Ctalk Limited

Ctalk Contact Centre

Ctalk is a globally acknowledged expert in Contact Centre solutions. The Ctalk omnichannel system offers a comprehensive contact centre solution, available as hosted, CCaaS, or on-premises. The product suite integrates cutting-edge technologies, ensuring seamless communication across all channels and encompasses the following technologies:

Features

• Contact handling. Queuing, Workflow, CTI, Screen pop, Callback requests.
• ACD Skills-based routing, Voice, Email, Chat Blending, Graphical Interface
• Omnichannel, Email distribution, Web chat, Chatbot, single administration environment.
• IVR DTMF, Speech/Voice Recognition, Text-to-Speech (TTS), AI.
• Teams Remote/Home Working. CCaaS, work anywhere. Teams Collaboration, conferencing.
• Dialling. Preview, progressive, predictive, proactive dialling. Blend inbound/outbound.
• Call Recording. PCI, GDPR Compliant, Encryption, UK storage, screen capture.
• CRM and Database Integration. REST web services, API, databases.
• MI, Quality. Reporting, Monitoring, Dashboards, Quality Monitoring. Wallboard. WFM Integration
• Training. Onsite or remote. DB access. Single administration environment.

Benefits

• All products developed in-house and are supported by Ctalk
• Rapid deployment in as little as two weeks
• Low cost, high reliability, highly scalable and secure
• Wrap Ctalk around disparate systems to centralise and consolidate technology
• Self-Service applications, automated card payments complement agent-based activities
• Utilise customer data, improve customer service, shorten handling times
• Outbound messaging informs customers of incidents before utilising agent time
• Agents anywhere. Landline, mobile, office PBX, SIP phone, softphone, Teams
• Call recordings capture Date, Time, DDI, CLI, IVR options chosen
• PCI DSS Level 1 Service Provider. ISO27001, ISO9001, ISO22301.

£15 to £180 a user a month

• Education pricing available
• 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 joe.richardson@ctalk.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

558820850016405

Contact

Joe Richardson
01785 336666
joe.richardson@ctalk.co.uk

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Private cloud
• Service constraints: Planned maintenance is performed outside of core business hours ensuring no disruption to customers.; ; Ctalk provides 24x7 services to many customers and ensure full service is maintained throughout core upgrades.
• System requirements:
  • Operating System - Windows 10 / MacOS 13.x or later
  • Connectivity - High-speed Internet / Data Connection
  • Software - Modern Web Browser (e.g. Chrome / Edge)

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Ctalk only provides 24x7x365 support with a response time for Urgent / Priority 1 issues within 30 minutes. ; ; Full SLAs and priorities are available in the Terms and Conditions.
• 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
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: Ctalk provides the same 24x7x365 support level for all customers at no extra cost.; ; Support is provided by Support Engineers, Network Engineers and Technical Account Managers covering all operational and technical issues.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: As part of the onboarding process, the Technical Account Management team provide full training for agents, supervisors and administrators covering all aspects of the platform. This training can be done either on-site or remotely with written documentation also provided for future reference.; ; On Go-Live day the team attend site to spend time with the agents to get used to the system and to provide any help required.; ; Additional and bespoke training can be undertaken at any time whether that be refresher courses or training on new functionality.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: All call recordings can be downloaded, or at an additional cost provided in bulk in wav format.; ; Historical call, agent, queue and team reports can be saved.; ; Full data exports can be provided at an additional cost.
• End-of-contract process: Following the expiration of the contract, all data is deleted unless otherwise requested for which there is an additional charge.; ; When the service is terminated telephone calls to the contact centre will no longer be handled by this service. Telephone numbers may be ported by the customer to another supplier.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Chrome
• Application to install: Yes
• Compatible operating systems:
  • MacOS
  • Windows
• Designed for use on mobile devices: No
• Service interface: Yes
• User support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Description of service interface: Built-in HTTP service interface allowing for third-party applications to control call functions such as hold, stop/start call recording and automatic transfers.
• Accessibility standards: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Accessibility testing: None
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: Full agent control is available by a REST API suite allowing for direct integration within third-party applications to control calls without agent interaction.
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
• API sandbox or test environment: No
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: Ctalk Contact Centre is a blank canvas Contact Centre solution providing complete customer control.; ; Administrators can build fully bespoke call flows, advanced telephony integrations (e.g. with CRMs and back end platforms) and messaging.; ; Supervisors customise their management tools to suit their requirements from granular agent management to overall contact centre performance views.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: All Ctalk systems are fully scalable, resilient and geographically redundant by design. All onboarding of new customers includes internal architecture reviews to ensure capacity thresholds are maintained. ; ; All services are monitored 24x7 by the dedicated Network Operations Centre team who monitor trends and incidents and balance resources accordingly in the event of any usage spikes mitigating the risk of service issues.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: A vast amount of information is available from the contact centre which an administrator or supervisor can access directly. This includes a large number of different historical reports as well as custom reports.; ; Real-time stats are available to supervisors using their management tools providing both granular and full overview statistics including agent stats, average handling time (AHT), calls in queue, and abandon rate.
• Reporting types:
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• Government security clearance: Up to 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: Managed by a third party
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a Tigerscheme qualified provider or a CREST-approved service provider
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with another standard
  • Encryption of all physical media
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type: Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
• Equipment disposal approach: Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v.30, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: All Contact Centre statistics, as well as agent, queue and team information, are available via the reporting suite. These reports can be saved in various formats including PDF.; ; Call recordings can be downloaded by the customer in wav format as standard, or provided in bulk at an additional cost.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data export formats:
  • PDF
  • Excel
  • Wav (Audio)
• 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)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Ctalk maintains a target availability time of 99.99%.; ; Customers are provided with service credits when SLAs are not met, these and all other SLA details are listed in the Terms and Conditions documents.
• Approach to resilience: Two Tier 3 data centres are used - one in London and one in Manchester. All Ctalk architecture is redundant and geographically resilient by design. ; ; Each data centre can handle 100% capacity mitigating service issues in the unlikely event of losing a full data centre.; ; All upstream connectivity utilised by Ctalk for PSTN and Internet is resilient in both locations to mitigate third party outages.
• Outage reporting: The Ctalk NOC monitor all service 24x7 with email alerts sent to customers in the event of any degradation or outage incidents detected.; ; Telephone calls are also made to offer assistance in mitigating any issues where a workaround is available.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Limited access network (for example PSN)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Physical access is tightly controlled by the Data Centre security systems with limited authorised Ctalk personnel provided access.; ; Logical access is secured by private leased lines with two-factor authentication and restricted to specific networks.; ; All access is setup based on the principle of least privilege ensuring staff only have access to what is required as part of their role.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Limited access network (for example PSN)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • 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: 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

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: BSI
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: Continuous from 14/01/2014
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: Customers' Premises; Anything that is outside of Ctalk's control
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: Yes
• Who accredited the PCI DSS certification: Ultima Risk Management
• PCI DSS accreditation date: Continuous from 23/06/2016
• What the PCI DSS doesn’t cover: Customers' Premises; Anything that not in scope
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: No
• 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: Ctalk has a full Information Security Management System conforming to the ISO 27001:2013 standard. It includes over 50 policies and procedures.; ; The CIO (who has responsibility for security) reports to the CEO. Other C-level staff include the CTO, CFO and COO.; ; Security is monitored and breaches including breaches of policies and procedures are reported to the CIO. All staff sign to say they have read and understood the policies and procedures starting at Ctalk and annually thereafter.; ; Internal audits are regularly undertaken to ensure all policies and procedures are followed for all business operations.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: An asset and configuration management system is in use to manage all hardware and software installed in the data centres. All changes are assessed for security and penetration tests are carried out when any major changes are made. Code reviews are carried out on software developments.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: Penetration testing and vulnerability scanning is carried out regularly using multiple tools. ; ; Patches which are intended to address critical issues are applied within 30 days.; ; Scanning is carried out in accordance with NIST Special Publication 800-115.
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: The Network Operations and Infrastructure teams continuously monitor all Firewalls, Networks, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS).; ; Incidents are reported and automatically alerted within minutes of them starting. The Network Operations and Infrastructure teams take action as soon as the report is received. Suspected compromises are dealt with at the highest priority.
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: Incidents are managed by the Support Desk and can be escalated to senior engineers in all relevant teams as required. The Senior Management Team are notified of any P1 incident.; ; Issues can be identified via both automated monitoring as well as customer reports with pre-defined processes in place to streamline incident management.; ; Incident updates are given every 30 minutes by phone and email for P1 incidents and a written incident report is provided following resolution and incident review.

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 v3.0)

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: Yes
• Connected networks: Health and Social Care Network (HSCN)

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Covid-19 recovery
  • Tackling economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

  Fighting climate change

  As the contact centre sector expands, the demand for extended operating hours necessitates a reliable and sustainable energy supply. Recognising the environmental impact of data centre operations, Ctalk has prioritised energy efficiency and green electricity generation in its approach to fighting climate change.; ; Through rigorous carbon reduction efforts in its own operations, Ctalk is committed to minimising its environmental footprint. Central to this commitment is the selection of data centres with a strong focus on carbon reduction and the urgent pursuit of net-zero emissions.; ; Our London data centre proudly operates on 100% renewable energy, exemplifying our dedication to sustainable practices. Similarly, our Manchester data centre is actively pursuing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to reducing our environmental impact.; ; By partnering with data centres aligned with our sustainability goals, Ctalk continues to advance its vision of providing net-zero Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) solutions, contributing to global efforts to combat climate change.

  Covid-19 recovery

  The Ctalk Contact Centre platform is strategically engineered to embrace remote working as a core feature. Our comprehensive solution empowers customers and their users to operate seamlessly from any location, widening the talent pool and fostering inclusivity in recruitment processes.; ; In response to the transformative impact of Covid-19 on the industry, many of our customers have transitioned to fully remote or hybrid working models. This shift has enabled organisations to recruit new agents without geographical constraints, promoting diversity and social inclusion within their teams.; ; By leveraging our Contact Centre platform, businesses can adapt to the evolving landscape brought about by the pandemic, ensuring continuity and resilience in their operations while championing opportunities for all.

  Tackling economic inequality

  By offering flexible pricing options, Ctalk enables businesses of all sizes to access cutting-edge communication solutions without the burden of exorbitant costs. This affordability ensures that even smaller enterprises, often disproportionately affected by economic disparities, can compete on a level playing field.; ; Additionally, by providing comprehensive training and support resources, our platform equips businesses to enhance the skills and employability of their workforce, thereby contributing to the economic empowerment of individuals from underrepresented backgrounds.

  Equal opportunity

  The Ctalk Contact Centre platform serves as a catalyst for promoting equal opportunity within organisations. Through its intuitive design and user-friendly interface, the platform ensures that employees from diverse backgrounds can access and utilise its features effectively, regardless of their level of technical expertise. ; ; Moreover, the Ctalk platform allows for flexible working arrangements, including remote and flexible scheduling options, enabling individuals with diverse needs and circumstances to participate in the workforce on equal footing. ; ; Additionally, the platform supports inclusive communication practices, such as multilingual capabilities and accessibility features, ensuring that all employees, regardless of their language or physical abilities, can fully engage and contribute to the organisation's success.

  Wellbeing

  At Ctalk, we prioritise the wellbeing of our customers by providing comprehensive support and assistance tailored to their needs. Our team is dedicated to alleviating pressure points during critical moments, enabling administrators and supervisors to manage their workloads more efficiently.; ; Our Technical Account Management team possesses not only in-depth knowledge of our product but also firsthand experience of the challenges faced in contact centre environments. With many team members having previously worked in such environments, we understand the unique stressors and concerns our customers may encounter. We maintain an open-door policy, encouraging customers to reach out with any questions or concerns, no matter how trivial they may seem. This approach fosters a supportive and trusting relationship, where customers feel comfortable seeking assistance without fear of judgement.; ; Moreover, our relationships with customers extend beyond work-related matters, allowing us to provide holistic support. We actively encourage breaks and downtime, advocating for mental and physical wellness. This personal touch enables us to influence positive habits and behaviours, contributing to the overall wellbeing of our customers.; ; Recognising the shift to hybrid and remote work arrangements accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, we have championed best practices to combat isolation and maintain team cohesion. Regular individual catch-ups and team meetings via platforms like Microsoft Teams ensure that employees feel connected and supported, promoting a sense of belonging and community.

Pricing

• Price: £15 to £180 a user a month
• Discount for educational organisations: Yes
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: A full Proof of Concept (POC) is available following scoping. POCs are time limited by agreement with acceptance criteria.

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 joe.richardson@ctalk.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.