Fibre 1 was established in 2017 and since then has vastly grown. We are committed to providing the highest level of services in the telecoms industry. Our company has gone from strength to strength over the last 4 years, allowing us to expand the business and team, and always growing our channel partner network. We are very competitive across all our pricing and truly believe in “Your Company, Your Connectivity” ensuring we meet the needs of each and every business as its own. We pride ourselves on 1st class support and a highly trained team to deal with the individual needs of our customers. We have a strong portfolio of products meaning we can review what is best for the business and offer a quote with the best price on the market. I’m Aimee Walker, I have been with Fibre 1 for over 1 year now and I am the Finance and Operations Manager. My role varies daily from overseeing operations, to invoicing, to heading the channel to liaising with the chambers and Partners.
After being shortlisted for a National Award (for the second year running), we were absolutely ecstatic to be crowned Reseller of the Year at the Comms Business Awards. In contrast to last year’s virtual ceremony which saw us get dressed up for the awards on Zoom, this year the Directors donned their glad rags and headed down to Birmingham for one of the biggest face to face events in the telecoms calendar. They attended the ceremony in order to re-connect personally with fellow industry members after a hiatus due to the pandemic with no inkling they were to be named the winner. With the delight of being shortlisted, they were shocked to hear “Fibre 1” announced as the best in their category. We are delighted to be recognised for the continuous hard work through tried and testing times and look forward to many more successes in the future.
Over the past 20 months, Fibre 1 has stuck together and continued to keep our customers in the forefront of our mind. We believe we handled the pandemic professionally and proactively allowing us to come out the other side stronger than ever. We provided 24/7 support to customers throughout the pandemic who were aligning to the changes in business as they knew, ensuring they had the best possible connection and care available. We used this time as an opportunity to review our approach and our focus shifted to ensuring we could help our current and potential customers save money and improve their flexible working options. We assisted businesses with analysing and improving existing set ups and structures and helped implement the working from home guidelines.
In the last 12 months, we have moved into the renewable energy sector, providing fibre and connectivity for some of the UK’s biggest windfarms including SSE renewables, along with some smaller local companies such as Moray East Offshore Windfarms. Renewable’s technologies are deployed in a distributed, modular fashion, making them less prone to large-scale failure. This brings advantages during severe weather events or complex emergencies as such technologies can be rolled out quickly wherever needed, ensuring customers can supply electricity to people without complex and time-consuming infrastructure development. Due to our remote location, this gives us an edge over competitors as channel partners are aware of the ability we have to provide services UK wide with little to no difficulties.
We launched the integration of Microsoft Teams with our VoIP telephony solution allowing staff to make and receive calls wherever they are using another device such as a mobile or laptop. No extra software or hardware is required to get up and running on Teams and it includes customers’ existing bundled minutes helping them to work remotely whilst keeping costs down. As restrictions continue to be lifted this solution will give companies the flexibility to introduce a hybrid working model and allow their employees to continue to work efficiently remotely.
We also introduced a Switch and Save Campaign to help as many companies as we can to reduce their costs without compromising on quality or service. The hassle-free service helps companies save money on their telecom and connectivity needs by reviewing company costs and highlighting any potential savings that can be made. Our service is a quick and effective way to highlight these savings and the best part is we take care of all the hard work.
We are currently the short sponsor at both Highland League club Lossiemouth and League 2 side Elgin City. Both clubs are part of our affiliate partnership program along with Championship side Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC. The partnership will see revenues go back to each club to support their vital fund raising strategies and community development programmes. This money can be used by the clubs in any way they see best including supporting their youth development. Due to the pandemic, the local clubs suffered severely with the increased cost of testing and no income being generated, however we were able to support them with the hefty costs via the funds raised through the partnership. With the COVID guidelines still in place, it was impossible to have face-to-face meetings and site visits so being able to grow and develop these partnerships remotely and effectively, was a massive achievement.
We are delighted to be the first corporate sponsors for Moray School Bank, a charity who carry out invaluable work in our local community. We provide them with their broadband and telephone services at their head office as part of our support. The charity continues to improve children’s lives, living in our local authority by helping to lighten the financial burden of families facing hardship. They are committed to helping children be equal and have the opportunity to reach their potential at school.
We are extremely proud of the contribution we make to our local community and the support we give to the individuals mentioned above is done to allow them to grow, develop and in turn, continue to help our local community in their own way.
We wanted to partake in this Member of the Week campaign as we think it is a great opportunity for us to showcase our services and business. We are keen to engage with people and be able to help improve companies’ connectivity and telephony service all whilst saving them money.
The ISDN switch-off is gaining momentum, which means that the copper services currently used for many voice calls and switchboards will stop working soon. Fibre 1 are experts in helping companies switch from their ISDN to VoIP solutions and we’ve supported many companies through their ISDN switch already, with minimum downtime and in a totally controlled, hassle free manner.
VoIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol and is a system through which voice data is sent digitally via the internet, rather than in sound waves via the landline network. Put simply, with VoIP, you make and take calls over the internet, instead of over a traditional ISDN line. Relying on wi-fi instead of the landline network comes with a range of benefits. Because VoIP evades the copper line, it avoids the costs related with connecting calls over long distances. Instead of paying per call or per minute, you pay a set fee each month which covers things such as calls to other countries and call data allocation. Sophisticated call features, such as auto-attendants and call recording can complement the system depending on your requirements.
Fibre 1 can also offer the added benefit that we can fully integrate Microsoft Teams with our VoIP system allowing remote working to be available for employees. Teams Integration will allow your users to make and receive calls wherever they are with the added collaboration benefits of: File Sharing, Screen Sharing, Video Calling and Instant Chat. All that is required is an additional licence to enable Teams integration which complements our VoIP phones to provide users a physical desk phone whilst in the office and Teams softphone feature on a smartphone when out and about.
We have been developing portals and a ticketing system which are almost ready to launch. The online platforms will give channel partners direct access to pricing information and the ability to order FTTP and 4G solutions. By having this incorporated on to one platform, it allows us to keep our partners and customers at the forefront of our minds, ensuring they can provide services from anywhere. As a result, streamlining our business process in order to maximise customer and partner sales cycles and ensuring Fibre 1 stay relevant in the ever-changing telecoms industry. Our digital transformation benefits both our team and customers as they have all the information they need at the click of a button.
Our plans over the next year are to develop high-level direct business accounts/channel partner accounts throughout the hosted telephony, Fibre connectivity solutions market, targeting relevant projects in Moray, the Highlands, UK and International markets. We plan to build on existing ongoing annual revenue models including carrier telecoms pre-select, FTTC, MPLS, Ethernet solutions, Cityfibre and wireless Ethernet. We have also developed a channel portal which is almost ready to launch. In addition to this, we are aiming to provide the best-in-class customer services and service provision to all customers and channel partners through Scotland and the UK using the internet as a tool to improve the customer and channel partner experience. Finally, we want to continue to build an excellent working environment for all our staff to develop and enhance their career prospects.
Our aim in the coming years is to reach over £7 million in contracted revenue business along with adding to our current channel partner base aiming to have in excess of 200 on board. We believe we can successfully achieve this through a combined approach to brand building, networking, marketing and working with public sector agencies and local chambers of commerce.
We appreciate the role of the Chamber in bringing together members which allows us to make new connections and keep in touch with what is happening within the local business community through their Social Media Channels and Networking Events. Without the fantastic work of the Chambers – such events wouldn’t be possible!
Fibre1’s top tip for making the most of your chamber membership would be keeping up to date with all the chamber news as they are fantastic at sharing good news stories and promoting local businesses.