Andy Bord

In the UK, fraud and scam calls are undermining customer trust, leaving vital communications unanswered. With 86% of consumers wary of unknown numbers, businesses face missed opportunities—56% miss their revenue goals, and 79% see reduced lead volume. Hiya’s Outbound Branded Calling is transforming how companies connect, rebuild trust, and boost answer rates. Discover how to craft your voice performance strategy today: https://heyor.ca/LMHId4 #ScamCalls #VoicePerformanceStrategy

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VodafoneThree Ofcom has told Keir Starmer and Rache Reeves it is pleased with the results of the VodafoneThree merger. In an open letter to Starmer and Reeves, chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes hailed early consumer benefits and the investment resulting Three merger. Dawes said consumers are already seeing benefits. Network integration has delivered faster 4G speeds for around seven million people across the UK, even at this early stage. Coverage has also improved sharply. Dawes said the merger has removed 16,500 square kilometres of mobile “not-spots”, boosting connectivity in areas that previously suffered from weak or non-existent signal. #business#financial#SME

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How are Technology, Media & Telecoms businesses staying ahead in an evolving global trade environment? Our latest report explores how the sector is responding to disruption with confidence, investment in resilience, and a shift in market strategy. Download the TMT spotlight here: https://grp.hsbc/6043AyRAl

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At Vodafone, we've been encouraging parents, carers and their children to talk about staying safe online for over 15 years. We know online and offline are often blurred for children & young people so we work with our amazing partners at NSPCC and Digital Awareness UK to help families build healthier digital habits with loads of resources on our Digital Parenting site. Our latest campaign by The Elephant Room showcases the importance of talking - and recognising that it's often our kids or young people who know more about their online behaviours and lives than we do - and have much to teach us. Check it out. And keep talking. Remember NSPCC's Childline and Helpline are there for support and guidance too. #DigitalParenting #everyoneconnected #NationsNetwork #onlinesafety https://lnkd.in/eS3z2tX9

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💡 How is Nationwide Building Society modernising payments to build a more resilient, trusted and future-ready mutual? In our latest FinTech Strategy feature, Dan Wilson, Head of Customer Journey – Payments, shares how Nationwide is transforming its core payments infrastructure, scaling innovation and delivering secure, seamless experiences for millions across the UK. 💬 “We’re seeking to modernise the Group’s core infrastructure but also build the tools and features our customers need to help them manage their money and payments.” Dan Wilson, Head of Customer Journey – Payments Here are five standout highlights from Nationwide’s payments transformation: • ⚡ Migration of Faster Payments to a pioneering Dual-Cloud architecture • 🏦 91.5% of Faster Payments traffic already live on the new cloud-native platform • ☁️ ISO 20022-compliant payments system built for billions of annual transactions • 🤝 Strategic partnerships with Form3 and Accenture accelerating secure modernisation • 📈 Faster Payments volumes up nearly 93% in five years, requiring scalable resilience Nationwide is redefining what it means to be a modern mutual — combining trusted service, advanced payments infrastructure and a customer-first approach built for the future. Read the full story and interview with Dan Wilson in the latest edition of FinTech Strategy Magazine: 🔗https://zurl.co/fwv9y 🤝In partnership with Form3 Accenture #Fintech #Payments #DigitalTransformation #BankingInnovation #Nationwide #FinancialServices #ModernMutual

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Tune in for the latest take on the UK software and ICT scene from Ian Spence and Neel Arampatta. It's tough out there, and growth rates continue to edge down, though tech is still on average growing in real terms, software more so than ICT. More positively, Ian and Neel chat about good companies still knocking the ball out of the park, doing interesting things with AI and so on.

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Many thanks to INCA - Independent Networks Cooperative Association for inviting me to be on the first panel at their ‘State of the Altnets 2026’ event yesterday in London. I really enjoyed the discussions throughout the day, and the chance to catch up with colleagues from across the altnet community. My sense is that market sentiment will improve this year, and my main messages during the panel discussion were: 1)       Some altnets are performing well (in terms of take-up and/or ARPU) – this is often overlooked by some market commentators – we need to get past the view that it’s all ‘doom and gloom’ 2)       Recent M&A activity, notably the nexfibre/Netomnia and Freedom Fibre/Truespeed transactions, is likely to have a positive and catalysing effect on the sector 3)       Gigaclear’s turnaround by its lenders is also expected to be positive for the market, and may re-open the possibility of a rural aggregation play down the line.

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Mentioned within this podcast are two challenges for 2026 that seem polls apart but are both critical to enable customers to truly exploit the technology dividend within their business. Naturally AI is one, but getting the move away from PSTN boxed and done releases customers, and resellers, to discuss the realities of growth delivered by a tech supported future. Time to put the past in the past and focus on the modern enablers that will transform UK SMB in ways greater even than the telephony revolution of the 1960's, 70's & 80's?

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Rock Rail and our workers pension fund investors are pleased to have invested over £1 billion into 90 new Arterio rolling stock trains and Rock Rail will be working with the newly nationalised South Western Railway to transform passenger journeys with significantly increased capacity and improved performance and quality of Waterloo services.

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Great to finally announce our first acquisition following our separation earlier this month - and share some exciting news from TalkTalk Business. We have acquired Planet IT, a provider of managed IT support, cybersecurity solutions and Microsoft cloud services, as we continue to build out our capabilities as a managed network service provider. Planet IT will continue to operate under the leadership of Gavin L Jones and Sean Smith, while we work together to support our clients.

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Is your bank secretly more interested in its own balance sheet than your financial life? The honest answer, according to my latest guest on the Joy of CX, is probably yes. In this new episode I sit down with Alastair Campbell (not that Alastair Campbell) author of the brilliant new book Healthy Money, and a man who has spent decades inside some of the world's biggest banking and telecoms organisations: Standard Chartered, HSBC, NatWest, Singtel. We explore a question that I think goes to the heart of what's broken in financial services: why is the banking industry the only industry in the world that is regulated to profitability? And what does it mean for customers when the very architecture of your bank, its products, its technology, its leadership is designed around the needs of the balance sheet rather than the reality of your financial life? We cover a lot of ground, including: ➡️ The banking industry's corporate midlife crisis and why strapping AI onto a decades-old architecture is the equivalent of putting a pair of skinny jeans on a middle-aged man ➡️ The modern financial reality that banks are still ignoring blended families, gig workers, 12 employers over a lifetime, retirement stretching to 95. The product set was designed for a world that no longer exists. ➡️ The custodian opportunity: why banks have a once-in-a-generation chance to become the trusted guardian of customers' financial health, and why that's a race they could actually win against Apple and Amazon, if they choose to play it authentically ➡️ The architecture problem: why the real transformation isn't cultural or strategic, it's the fact that banks are built around accounts, not around financial lives ➡️ The Spotify moment for banking: Alastair's compelling vision of configurable financial services, where every customer runs a personalised financial life on the same underlying platform One line from the conversation that has stayed with me: "If you are authentically focused on the health of your own balance sheet, it's no surprise your customers don't trust you to be on their side." The banks that figure this out have a real future. The ones that don't will end up as a dumb balance sheet behind someone else's wallet app. Fascinating, honest and genuinely thought-provoking. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 🎙️ The Joy of CX:  Link to the episode in the comments below #CustomerExperience #Banking #FinancialServices #HealthyMoney #CX #Leadership #Transformation #FinTech #JoyOfCX

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A big step forward for rural connectivity in Dorset - today marks the launch of Dorset Council UK’s brand-new mobile coverage checker 📶 This tool gives residents and businesses a clearer picture of mobile signal strength across the county, helping them make better-informed decisions about the best providers to use where they live and work 🏠 It follows six months of innovative work by Gary Littledyke, Amy Thomas, and Verity Reardon, who collected data across Dorset’s 2,400-mile road network - using the council’s waste collection fleet to gather signal information as the trucks made their rounds 🚛 The project forms part of Dorset Council’s wider strategy to improve digital infrastructure and inclusion, particularly in rural and hard-to-reach areas 🌳 By better understanding coverage gaps, the council aims to support investment in better mobile connectivity, working closely with network providers and central government 🏛️ Explore the mobile coverage checker and full press release here:👉 https://lnkd.in/e_yGRnat #DigitalInclusion #ConnectivityMatters #SmartCouncil #InnovationInAction #MobileCoverage #PublicSectorInnovation #RuralConnectivity

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The analogue switch-off isn’t optional. The UK’s analogue landline network is being withdrawn as part of a national transition to digital services. This change is driven by several key factors that organisations need to understand before making decisions: 1️⃣ Ageing infrastructure that is increasingly difficult to maintain 2️⃣ Reduced manufacturer and supplier support for analogue systems 3️⃣ Improved reliability offered by modern digital networks 4️⃣ The need to support future services beyond voice alone This is not a supplier-led decision - it is a nationwide programme. Understanding what relies on analogue lines is essential before change, helping reduce risk and avoid disruption. 🦆 Start the conversation before the switch-off starts. #digitaltransition #analogueoff #telecomchange #infrastructuremodernisation #telecomclarity

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The UK’s telecoms landscape is undergoing one of the most significant changes in decades. While the transition away from legacy WLR lines is being positioned as an “upgrade” to deliver better, future-ready services, many businesses remain unclear about how this shift will impact them and whether they’ve been guided towards the most suitable solution. Reports are already indicating a 45% rise in faults on existing WLR lines as engineering resources are redirected to new infrastructure projects. As a result, legacy services are becoming increasingly unstable. With only around 160 working days remaining before the full switch off, businesses should be aiming to complete migration by September 2026 at the latest. Delaying action doesn’t just increase operational risk it could also lead to significantly higher costs, particularly with anticipated price rises in April and September. The scale of the challenge is substantial. Across the UK, 2.8 million lines still require migration, including 475,000 business services. At the current migration rate of approximately 45,000 lines per week, the numbers simply don’t add up. Businesses that wait risk being caught in a growing backlog. At Pen Telecom, we guide organisations through every stage of this transition. From assessing your current infrastructure to recommending the right solution — whether full fibre or VoIP — we manage the migration process to ensure continuity with minimal disruption. Are you confident your business won’t be left behind? For clarity and control, visit www.pen-telecom.co.uk or email service@pen-telecom.co.uk to start the conversation. #BTSwitchUp #DigitalMigration #BusinessConnectivity #Telecoms #VoIP #FullFibre #PenTelecom #UKBusiness #FutureProof

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🚨 Warning! 35% of mast site providers in the UK are now considering walking away from hosting mobile infrastructure, citing steep rent cuts, aggressive legal tactics, and a breakdown in trust with Code operators. Important to analyse these results and the corelation that they may have to the proliferation of Notices to Quit (NTQs) leading to the dismantlement of wireless sites and subsequent network coverage and capacity issues.

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Very proud to announce our partnership with BT to boost live streaming at scale for our customers in the UK #BT #MainStreaming #Streaming #Edge

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I was pleased to have the chance to talk about the Mobile Market Review yesterday, although it is hard to sum it better than Baroness LLoyd in her intro to the review: "if we want a more prosperous, innovative and inclusive UK, world class connectivity is not optional, it is essential. Mobile connectivity sits at the heart of this mission". Changes to planning rules, net neutrality and annual spectrum fees would make a world of difference to the investment outlook.

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