The Company

Optevia

Optevia is focused on helping predominantly UK government and public sector bodies transform themselves into responsive, caring, cost effective customer service orientated organisations using Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Optevia has a long term track record of delivering excellent Microsoft Dynamics CRM based solutions to UK government, and is Microsoft’s number one partner in this sector. Optevia’s success is founded on Microsoft Dynamics CRM installations at numerous central & local government agencies, councils, and other public sector organisations.

Profile

Optevia helps government and public sector bodies throughout the UK and Ireland transform into responsive, caring, cost efficient, customer service orientated organisations.

Optevia has a long pedigree of delivering customised CRM, business intelligence and data management systems to public sector organisations, based on Microsoft technology.

Optevia’s solutions are designed to address its customers’ needs for low risk, standardised, easy to integrate, easy to use, shared service and SaaS ready software. Optevia’s engagements are delivered on specification, on schedule and on budget.

As Microsoft’s leading public sector CRM partner, Optevia specialises in:

• Local Government
• Fire & Rescue Services
• Regulators
• Criminal Justice Agencies
• Regional Business Development Agencies

Optevia Management Team

Andrew Bailes – Partner

Andrew is responsible for Optevia’s professional services business.

Andrew has managed large CRM projects for Hewlett Packard, Shell Oil, Mobil Oil, Westpac Bank, UBS Bank, The Child Support Agency, Ofsted, The Department of Work and Pensions and The Pensions Regulator throughout his career in the CRM industry since 1994.

Andrew was previously director and country manager at CallSoft, Switzerland. Andrew has an honours degree in industrial management and is a fully certified Microsoft Dynamics CRM & Genesys systems engineer.

Christopher Brooks – Partner

Chris is responsible for Optevia’s consultancy business.

Chris’ client experience includes managing large CRM projects at Lloyds TSB, Abbey National, Cheltenham & Gloucester Building Society, Zurich Insurance, The Inland Revenue, Kent County Council, Doncaster Council, Hastings Council, Rushmoor Council, Bromley Council and Hackney Council.

Before Optevia, Chris held positions as chief executive at CallSoft, and director, European operations at Information Management Associates. He has worked in the CRM sector since 1988. Chris was also formerly responsible for the federal government business at Digital Equipment (Compaq/ HP) Canada.

Chris is a fully certified Microsoft Dynamics CRM & Genesys systems engineer.

Tim Vernon – Partner

Tim is responsible for strategic direction and company management.

Tim has managed large public services projects at The Metropolitan Police, Surrey County Council, Kent County Council, The Inland Revenue, The Department of Trade and Industry and The National Insurance Contributions Office.

Before Optevia, Tim was managing director at CallSoft Limited. Previously Tim was responsible for Unisys’ IT security practice across Europe, and marketing director at ICL’s financial services division.

Richard Jones – Sales Director

Richard is responsible for Strategic Sales and Partner Management predominantly in the North of England, Scotland and Ireland

Richard has managed large public services projects for Optevia at Ofsted, Northamptonshire County Council, Morpeth and Alnwick Councils, Kent Fire and Rescue Services, Ordnance Survey Ireland and the Arts Council Ireland.

Before Optevia, Richard worked in the Public Sector for the Capita Group and was Corporate Sales Manager at the Comino Group Plc.

History

Optevia has deep expertise and proven experience in helping public sector organisations to become more customer centric

In 2001, Optevia was formed with a shared mission to assist public sector organisations to build and manage successful customer relationships, by advising on the most appropriate integration of people, processes and technology. With its roots in CTI and contact centre technologies, amongst Optevia’s first customers were The Department for Work & Pensions, The National Insurance Contributions Office and EDS.

In 2003 Optevia began to focus exclusively on delivering tailored  customer service solutions based on Microsoft technology, becoming a Microsoft Business Solutions Partner. Customers won included Kent County Council and The Inland Revenue.

In January 2004 Optevia was one of only four organisations to help Bill Gates, Microsoft’s chairman and chief software architect, launch Microsoft Dynamics CRM to the UK Market. The company went on to secure the first Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution deal at The Local Government Association.

In 2005 Optevia began to consolidate its years of experience working with public sector organisations by developing the Optevia Local Government Template (LGT). The LGT is a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) product family, comprising a base template and a series of services that map and automate a wide range of common UK government business processes, based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM technology. Customer wins included The Criminal Justice IT Agency.

By 2006 Optevia was the second largest Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner by installed licences (Microsoft financial year ending June 2006), and the dominant Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner for the UK government sector. New customers included: Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council, OFSTED and Dartmoor National Park Authority.

In 2007 Optevia worked with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM version 4.0 early adopter programme with new customer the Welsh Assembly Government, which was one of only 25 organisations using the new system ahead of its launch in January 2008. Other new customers included: Ordnance Survey Ireland, Castle Morpeth Borough and Alnwick District Councils and the Office of Fair Trading.

2008 Optevia is continuing to deliver on its promise to help public sector bodies to put their customers at the heart of their organisations. With new partner ICS, Optevia is broadening its geographical reach further into Ireland. In addition to on-site implementations, Optevia can now offer customised Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a hosted service through its relationship with hosting partner Netstore.

With deep sector expertise and replicable low-risk solutions, Optevia continues to work with organisations in the following sectors:

• Local Government
• Fire & Rescue Services
• Regulators
• Criminal Justice Agencies
• Regional Business Development Agencies

Microsoft Competencies

Microsoft Competencies are a series of accreditation standards that demonstrate expertise and experience of key business and technical capabilities. These competencies help to differentiate Optevia’s offering and help customers to assess whether they are the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner with the right resources to match their needs. Further, the Microsoft supported programme ensures that Optevia remains up to date with exclusive training opportunities and product development information.

As a Gold Certified Partner, Optevia only needs to achieve one Microsoft Competency, but to date it has achieved four:

• Microsoft Business Solutions

• Service Oriented Architecture and Business Process

• Custom Development Solutions

• Business Intelligence

Competency Descriptions

Microsoft Business Solutions Competency Overview
Achieving the Microsoft Business Solutions competency demonstrates that Optevia is accredited with financial and supply chain management and customer relationship management (CRM) expertise with Microsoft business-management solutions.
The Microsoft Business Solutions competency supports Optevia’s expertise in providing solutions that address mission-critical business priorities.
The Microsoft Business Solutions competency is for Microsoft Certified Partners and Gold Certified Partners with proven proficiency in deploying Microsoft Dynamics and related applications. Optevia specialises in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, demonstrating its expertise and giving it access to exclusive Microsoft training to help it stay ahead of the game.

SOA and Business Process Competency Overview
Today, servers running Microsoft BizTalk Server and Microsoft Host Integration Server on Windows Server 2003 form the backbone of a growing number of integration and business process solutions. Delivering the high levels of reliability and availability required of business-to-business websites requires not only great technology but also the competency to plan, deploy, support and migrate those solutions.
Microsoft solutions partners have capitalised on this opportunity to help organisations build integrated, interoperable, modularised, extensible and secure e-business solutions that connect information, systems, people and processes. Achieving the Microsoft SOA and Business Process Competency highlights Optevia’s proven proficiency in implementing and deploying business process applications featuring:

• Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)
• Business-to-business application integration (B2B)
• Business Process Management (BPM) Solutions
• Adapter Development

Custom Development Solutions Competency Overview
The Custom Development Solutions competency positions Optevia to work more closely with other Microsoft developers, ISVs and system integrators. With an emphasis on Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, the competency demonstrates proficiency in the following three specialisations:
Application Infrastructure Development: focusing on delivering applications built using Windows Server 2003, BizTalk Server, SQL Server, SharePoint Products and Technologies and Visual Studio.
Smart Client Development: focusing on delivering custom-developed solutions accessed through a client like Visual Studio, Visual Studio Tools for Office and Microsoft Office.
Web Development: focusing on delivering web-enabled deployment solutions required in organisations that wish to operate and transact through the internet using Visual Studio, ASP.NET, IIS, Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server.

Business Intelligence Competency Overview 

Accurate business intelligence often equals competitive advantage. That's why robust business-intelligence solutions are always in demand. The Microsoft Business Intelligence competency showcases Optevia’s in designing, deploying and customising business-intelligence offerings. The Business Intelligence specialisations are:
Business Intelligence Platform: designing, deploying and customising business-intelligence solutions based on the Microsoft platform.
Performance Management: helping customers make better decisions based on improved performance measurements and plans.

Link:
Microsoft UK’s partner program site