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Boomerang I-Comms Ltd

Communications for councils

Multi-channel bulk broadcasts, 2-way conversational SMS, Email and voice messaging, and appointment management for councils. All responses can be delivered to email. Current councils, such as Brent, use our software to remind and notify residents on local changes and manage appointments. ISO-27001, Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus accredited

Features

  • Access to 1-way and 2-way broadcast messaging
  • Replies matched to the originating outbound message
  • Multi-channel messaging over SMS, email, voice and mobile app
  • Interactive ‘Chat’ messaging
  • Inbound messaging campaigns using SMS short codes and long numbers
  • Inbox for all inbound and reply messages
  • Scheduled messaging campaigns on ad-hoc or recurring basis
  • Global messaging delivery and international messaging using local SMS numbers
  • User access controls using roles and permissions to allocate access.

Benefits

  • Extend engagement with end users using Intelligent 2-way messaging
  • Reduce operating costs by removing manual communication processes
  • Extend reach using multiple and most penetrative communication channels
  • Improve customer satisfaction by providing alternative channels of engagement
  • Improve service continuity using automated renewal alerts
  • Reduce cost of DNAs using automated reminders (appointments, reservations)

Pricing

£0.03 a unit

Service documents

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 michael.green@boomcomms.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

9 3 1 6 9 9 7 7 7 5 4 0 0 1 4

Contact

Boomerang I-Comms Ltd Michael Green
Telephone: +44 207 224 5555
Email: michael.green@boomcomms.com

Service scope

Software add-on or extension
Yes, but can also be used as a standalone service
What software services is the service an extension to
Boomalert
Boomengage
Boomtrack
Cloud deployment model
Public cloud
Service constraints
Nil
System requirements
Requirement for internet access

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Email or online ticketing
Support response times
1 Hour
User can manage status and priority of support tickets
Yes
Online ticketing support accessibility
WCAG 2.1 AAA
Phone support
Yes
Phone support availability
24 hours, 7 days a week
Web chat support
Web chat
Web chat support availability
9 to 5 (UK time), 7 days a week
Web chat support accessibility standard
WCAG 2.1 AAA
Web chat accessibility testing
None as yet
Onsite support
Onsite support
Support levels
Standard (working hours) support is included. Premium Support is at an additional cost as described in the pricing sheet, depending on the level on service.
Support available to third parties
Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
On site consulency, leading to set-up and training is provided by the Account Management team. Training is also available on-line and via the interactive help options embedded within the product portal.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
  • HTML
  • PDF
End-of-contract data extraction
Data is extracted and delivered in CSV format to the user.
End-of-contract process
All is included for off-boarding customers. Extraction and delivery of all data in CSV format remains the property of the customer.

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Supported browsers
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Opera
Application to install
No
Designed for use on mobile devices
Yes
Differences between the mobile and desktop service
The solution for the mobile device is a bespoke application that allows access as if from a large screen device.
Service interface
No
User support accessibility
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
API
Yes
What users can and can't do using the API
REST, SOAP. boomerang also offers a step by step walkthrough set-up wizard to assist with the developing and setting up of APIs. The User Interface has an easy to access icon which takes users through to the API builder wizard.
API documentation
Yes
API documentation formats
  • Open API (also known as Swagger)
  • HTML
  • PDF
API sandbox or test environment
No
Customisation available
Yes
Description of customisation
The system administrators can customise and set defaults for messaging parameters. The layout of the dashboard is also highly editable and able to be set to produce an optimised view for the administrators.

Scaling

Independence of resources
The platform has been designed and built to achieve 99.99% service availability. VMware provides full hardware fault tolerance along with multi-site failover in the event of a data outage or network routing issue - full and immediate failover is delivered in real time between the two locations. The cloud architecture allows the service to auto-scale / de-scale based on consumption, ensuring that surges taking activity beyond expected levels, can be easily accommodated.

Analytics

Service usage metrics
Yes
Metrics types
Portal
Reporting types
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request

Resellers

Supplier type
Not a reseller

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Other security clearance
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
Yes
Datacentre security standards
Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
Penetration testing frequency
At least every 6 months
Penetration testing approach
In-house
Protecting data at rest
Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v3.0
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
Csv
Data export formats
  • CSV
  • Other
Other data export formats
Excel
Data import formats
  • CSV
  • Other
Other data import formats
Excel

Data-in-transit protection

Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
Data protection within supplier network
TLS (version 1.2 or above)

Availability and resilience

Guaranteed availability
The organisation currently complies with a range of requirements, policies and controls, including Cyber Essentials, NCSC Cloud Security Principles and has also achieved ISO 27001:2017 accreditation, the international standard for information security. The following tools, policies and frameworks have been implemented, including a statement of applicability and objectives for: • An information security management system (ISMS) covering the organisation and its staff, the products available over G-Cloud, and relevant supply chain activity that either processes customer data or has some interaction around it e.g. development of the service.
• Risk assessment and ongoing risk management covering our customer information and related information assets based, around the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the information. This ensures that appropriate and proportionate policies and controls are put in place, in line with Annex A of the standard, and following ISO 27002 code of practice.
• Regular staff awareness and training, including an HR security lifecycle that covers recruitment, induction, in life management and exit of staff or change of responsibilities
• Governance of the ISMS through performance evaluation at regular intervals.
Additionally, our approach to information assurance includes processes and tools for managing specific aspects of EU GDPR such as, privacy by design.
Approach to resilience
Full daily level 0 backups are taken and held off-site using R1 CDP Data continuity. Backups are held on file for 365 Days and verified after each successful SNAP shot. To compliment the daily backup set, hourly checkpoints are also taken and held on a rolling 30-day rotation. The backup set then allows the platform or specific subset of the infrastructure to be rolled forward / backward at any given time with no data loss. All system files and data are copied to a second storage node for redundancy and availability. Back-ups are regularly tested to ensure that the information and data which has been backed up can be restored in the event of deletion, loss, corruption, damage or made unavailable due to unforeseen circumstances working against our defined backup schedules.
Outage reporting
Comprehensive monitoring and associated alerting has been implemented across all components underpinning delivery of Boomerang services.
Both internal and external monitoring is utilised within the datacentre facility to monitor all key elements of the network and physical presence. Both the origin and flow of traffic into our core data centre network switching are inspected for anomalies. The inbound network is also monitored for any DDOS attacks against the core switching or BGP issues.
If outages occur, the customer is notified by email.

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed
Yes
User authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Username or password
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
New users of the system can only be added through the controller / administrator's permission set. New users' details are aded to the system through the portal and invited to join. Confirmatory e-mails are sent to new users who must then set a password to continue. The portal allows setting a variety of levels of permissions for users.
Access restriction testing frequency
At least every 6 months
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
At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification
Yes
Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
British Assessment Bureau
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
17/10/2019
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
Nothing. All is covered
ISO 28000:2007 certification
No
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
No
Cyber essentials
Yes
Cyber essentials plus
Yes
Other security certifications
Yes
Any other security certifications
  • DART
  • Cyber Essentials Plus
  • ISO 27001:2017

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
Network devices, including firewall and boundary devices, are in place to monitor and control communications at the external boundary and at key internal boundaries within the network. These boundary devices employ rule sets, access control lists (ACL), and configurations to enforce the flow of information to specific information system services. ACLs, or traffic flow policies, are used to manage the flow of traffic.Internal connectivity to the platform is IPSEC secured directly by IP based firewall rules. This is validated by regular scans carried out by an external provider checking the network tier and penetration of components within the architecture. All Service access points are secured using SSL encryption (HTTPS), to protect against data interference. All data is encrypted from leaving the platform until received by the requesting device. All software development processes conform to a Secure Development Policy, ensuring that:
• Access to development environments is fully controlled.
• Development environments are secured appropriately and changes managed correctly.
• Security is considered as part of the design and planning phases.
• Code is developed according to best practice and recognised standards and managed using secure repositories.
• Security forms an integral part of the testing and release strategies.

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard
Supplier-defined controls
Configuration and change management approach
Changes to any system components, configurations, software and system code are regulated and controlled via a structured change management process to minimise the impact of any changes upon service users. Changes are recorded and evaluated according to their priority, risk and their impact upon availability of services and changes must be formally approved prior to implementation.
Vulnerability management type
Supplier-defined controls
Vulnerability management approach
External tools are used regularly to ensure that security of the service is optimal and that industry standard best practices are continually adhered to:
• Vulnerability Management scans – Carried out against all assets in the Boomerang estate
• Web Application Scans – Checks and verifies that the application code is secure to DDS standards.
Protective monitoring type
Supplier-defined controls
Protective monitoring approach
External tools are used regularly to ensure that security of the service is optimal and that industry standard best practices are continually adhered to:
• Vulnerability Management scans – Carried out against all assets in the Boomerang estate
• Web Application Scans – Checks and verifies that the application code is secure to DDS standards
Incident management type
Supplier-defined controls
Incident management approach
• Maintain a strategy for reacting to, and recovering from, adverse situations which is in line with senior management’s level of acceptable risk;
• Maintain a programme of activity which ensures the company has the ability to react appropriately to, and recover from, adverse situations in line with the business continuity objective;
• Maintain appropriate response plans underpinned by a clear escalation process;
• Maintain a level of resilience to operational failure in line with the risk faced, the level of negative impact which could result from failure and senior management’s level of acceptable risk;

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
No

Social Value

Fighting climate change

Fighting climate change

Boomerang is committed to safeguarding the environment and believes businesses are responsible for achieving good environmental practice and operating in a sustainable manner. We are committed to managing our environmental impact and improving our environmental performance as an integral and fundamental part of our business strategy and operations. It is our priority to encourage our employees, customers and suppliers to do the same. Not only is this sound commercial sense ; it is also a matter of delivering on our duty of care towards future generations. Boomerang is committed to promote and achieve these objectives: 1. Comply with or exceed the requirements of current environmental legislation and codes of practice; 2. Minimise waste and increase and promote recycling where possible; 3. Work with companies that offer secure disposal and recycling of IT equipment; 4. Minimise energy and water usage in processes and day-to-day operations in work premises in order to conserve supplies, and minimise our consumption of natural resources, especially non-renewable ones; 5. Apply the principles of continuous improvement in respect of air, water, noise and light pollution from our premises and reduce impacts from our operations on the environment and community; 6. As far as possible purchase products and services that do the least damage to the environment and encourage others to do the same; 7. Assess the environmental impact of any new processes or products we intend to introduce in advance; 8. Promote suitable training and ensure all employees understand the environmental policy and conform to the high standards it requires applying them to day-to-day operations; 9. Evaluating supplier credentials in regard to environmental sustainability and working with suppliers that are aligned to our approach; 10. Aim at reaching targets defined in this Policy, related to reducing energy consumptions, improving staff training on recycling and reduce emissions.
Covid-19 recovery

Covid-19 recovery

As we aim to beat COVID-19, we hope our communication solutions help businesses around the world adapt to working remotely and communicating during an unprecedented time. Internally we are protecting the health and well-being of our employees and anyone affected by our work. We have developed a proactive plan designed to minimise the impact of COVID-19 within our workplace. We require all employees to protect themselves and their co-workers from a potential coronavirus infection. If an employee has cold symptoms, such as cough/sneezing/fever (above 37.5 °C), or feel poorly, they will stay at home and advise their line manager. If an employee has a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, they are to inform their manager and cannot return to the office until they have fully recovered.
Tackling economic inequality

Tackling economic inequality

Boomerang’s communication solutions allow organisations of all sizes to grow efficiently by saving costs on their communications internally and externally. We provide cost-effective tools to help manage various workflows. Our patented technology allows companies to be communicating in real time, in a clear and efficient manner. Boomerang’s technology is designed to empower staff across all sectors of an organisation, making everyday jobs simpler to manage and in turn will reduce employee turnover.
Equal opportunity

Equal opportunity

The Company is committed to a policy of equal opportunities and its intention is to fully comply in all aspects of appropriate and current legislation. This policy will apply in respect of recruitment and selection procedures, career development, promotion, training, payment practices, and all other terms and conditions of employment. It is the responsibility of each employee at every level to promote Equal Opportunities and to pursue non-discriminatory policies and practices in employment and through behaviour language, attitude and actions so that no discriminatory practices occur. It is our policy to promote Equal Opportunities throughout the company and to ensure that no employee or job applicant is less fairly treated or suffers any harassment because of discrimination whether directly, indirectly, through victimisation or harassment. Failure of any employee to observe the principles laid out in this policy will become subject to the company disciplinary procedure and may result in breaches of the law.
Wellbeing

Wellbeing

Boomerang recognises the protection of health and the promotion of wellbeing as important factors in sustaining attendance at work and supporting job satisfaction and career success and progression. Boomerang is committed to providing a working environment for its staff which minimises risk to health and promotes positive wellbeing.

Pricing

Price
£0.03 a unit
Discount for educational organisations
No
Free trial available
Yes
Description of free trial
Free trials are available allowing a user full access to all features found in the purchased version. Trials can be limited by time or number of messages sent. With discussion from the sales / support teams, trials can be extended.
Link to free trial
https://boomerangmessaging.com/trial/

Service documents

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 michael.green@boomcomms.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.