Collaboration & Unified Communications

Key facts

What the pillar covers

Its capability list is: cloud voice and unified communications; Microsoft Teams, Zoom and RingCentral expertise; secure meetings, messaging and collaboration platforms; migration from legacy telephony and communication systems; ongoing support, management and optimisation; and governance, adoption and user experience support. The four outcomes it names are productivity, experience, flexibility and adoption.

The Global Capabilities brochure describes the same pillar in supply terms. emPOWER Collaboration offers a complete telephony, unified communications and call centre management solution as a service, supports on-premise, mobile, managed, hosted or hybrid deployment, removes the need to pay for hardware and infrastructure now or in the future, and gives access to advanced enterprise-grade features for a fixed monthly fee. Our positioning is that it gives mid-market organisations capabilities previously only available to large enterprises at a fraction of the cost and complexity.

The emPOWER Network materials describe voice carriage and application prioritisation across the managed network. Confirm the carrier, WAN and platform paths in the proposed design: a network QoS capability does not establish control of every public-internet or third-party segment.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams services that bring chat, meetings, collaboration and business communications together in a platform users already know. The emPOWER Network materials describe Teams PSTN services and Direct Routing. Archers' case study describes replacing legacy VoIP/PBX with Teams calling; the Berry Street account described its Teams telephony migration as in progress at publication. Teams also sits within the Microsoft Practice's Modern Work solution area. Do not infer a particular Teams traffic path or benefit from general Microsoft 365 ExpressRoute capability; confirm supported workloads and routing in the design.

Zoom

Zoom collaboration services that support secure video meetings and hybrid teamwork as part of a connected business communications environment.

RingCentral

Cloud communications through RingCentral, supported by our expertise for unified voice, messaging, meetings and customer communications. The Lovisa case study describes RingCentral as one of our global strategic partners within our emPOWER Voice offerings, and documents blueAPACHE acting as trusted advisor: assessing Lovisa's current-state problems and future requirements, recommending RingCentral RingEX, facilitating workshops with RingCentral, and confirming the platform met the operational and functional criteria, after which Lovisa's internal team ran the deployment with RingCentral Professional Services and our support. RingCentral's call queuing, reporting and management functionality supported both a 24/7 internal IT service desk and a new follow-the-sun customer service centre.

How it is delivered

In practice our role can range from advisory (Lovisa: recommend the platform, run workshops, validate fit, then support a customer-led rollout) to full delivery (Archers: replace an aged legacy VoIP/PBX with Microsoft Teams calling inside a fixed-price IT-as-a-Service engagement; Berry Street: selected through a second RFP to replace an end-of-life on-premises voice solution with Teams telephony).

Migration choices in the Lovisa case. The case study reports deployment to 42 countries in four weeks. It identifies a new numbering plan and reuse of most handsets with remote reconfiguration as factors that helped speed the rollout. It separately describes a follow-the-sun customer service centre with local numbers worldwide. The case study reports country-specific telephony restrictions and workarounds at the time; assess current local requirements for each proposed deployment.

Carriage and QoS. Connectivity materials describe defining business-critical applications and applying QoS policies across the managed network. Confirm voice and video prioritisation and third-party boundaries in the design. The supplied terms name Schedule 6 for Voice Carriage and Schedule 7 for Unified Communications; determine the applicable Schedule and Service Description for each ordered component rather than assigning every PBX or platform function to Schedule 6.

Ongoing management. The pillar describes support, management, optimisation, governance and adoption capabilities. The Managed Services brochure includes telephony within its help-desk scope; agree incident ownership, covered systems and escalation paths for the services ordered. Supplied General Terms v3.6 describe standard monthly reports within five Business Days of month end during the Service Period and six-monthly reviews, subject to agreement applicability and variations.

Third-party terms. Microsoft Teams, Zoom and RingCentral are third-party platforms. Under clauses 3.20 to 3.24 of the General Terms and Conditions the customer is bound by the licensor's terms whether or not they have been brought to its attention, we use best efforts to supply those terms at signing, and if the customer breaches them the licensor may require us to terminate that part of the service without liability. Clause 12.5 allows us to pass through licensor price changes proportionally from the date they take effect.

Support and service levels

Connectivity materials describe proactive 24/7 network monitoring and a service desk from 7am to 7pm on business days; the Managed Services brochure describes an unlimited 24/7 help desk including telephony. These are offering-specific descriptions. Confirm the collaboration service's covered components, support hours and escalation arrangements in the Service Order.

Any Service Level for voice or UC is the one written under the heading "Service Level" in the Schedule 6 or Schedule 7 Service Description, measured with our tools and subject to the Reasonable Excuse exclusions, which include third-party software used by us and acts of third parties, both of which are relevant when the platform is Microsoft, Zoom or RingCentral.

Scope note on mobile. Supplied terms list Mobile Services under Schedule 8. The supplied ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certificate lists Voice Carriage and Unified Communications within the ISMS scope but does not list Mobile Services. It does not certify individual products or services; confirm current standing and scope for procurement.

How it integrates with the other pillars

• Connectivity. Voice carriage, Teams Direct Routing, SIP trunking, hosted PBX and QoS are delivered on the emPOWER Network, and IX peering is cited for lower latency to Microsoft 365, Teams and Zoom. Sealy of Australia's international voice and data network is the clearest example of the two pillars delivered together. See the Connectivity hub.
• Cloud. Network materials describe Teams PSTN and Direct Routing alongside cloud connectivity capabilities. Confirm supported Microsoft workloads, actual routing, licensing and network components for the deployment. See the Cloud hub.
• Security. Human Risk Management materials describe phishing, awareness and email-related capabilities; MDR materials describe identity-threat detection. DMARC is a separate email-domain authentication offering. Confirm provider requirements, account coverage, integrations and licensing for any security services ordered; these are not automatic protection for every collaboration platform. See the Security hub.
• Managed Services. Telephony is in help desk scope, and Teams calling migrations appear inside managed services engagements (Archers, Berry Street). See the Managed Services hub.
• Microsoft Practice. Teams, SharePoint, Copilot and the wider Microsoft 365 workplace ecosystem are the Modern Work solution area of the Microsoft Practice hub.

Our client outcomes

Defining the collaboration service

Separate platform licensing, call carriage, network access, endpoint configuration and ongoing support. These layers may have different suppliers and service descriptions. Record who handles a platform incident, a carrier problem and an office-network problem, including the hand-offs. Treat number changes, recording and contact-centre requirements as explicit scope decisions. A feature in a vendor platform is not evidence that it is licensed, configured or supported in the proposed service.

Which document defines the commitment

The supplied General Terms v3.6 give the Service Order precedence over the General Terms, followed by the Schedules and then the Acceptable Use Policy (clause 2.3). Record the agreed scope, exclusions and negotiated departures in that document set. Keep the versions supplied at signing with the executed order and signed variations. Two offers with the same service name can cover different systems, operating hours or responsibilities.

Responsibility across the delivery chain

Supplied General Terms v3.6 clause 27.5 permits subcontracting all or part of the Service Agreement without customer consent or notification, subject to any agreed variations. Clause 27.5 nevertheless makes us liable for our subcontractors’ acts and omissions to the same extent as for our employees. This differs from a third-party supplier contracted directly by the customer. Identify which arrangement applies to each dependency in the design. Where supplier identity, delivery location or change notification matters, request a documented supplier list and put any agreed notification or approval requirement in the Service Order; the general clause does not supply that visibility automatically.

Continuity when an external event interrupts service

Clause 23 addresses force majeure separately from normal incident management. Performance is suspended to the extent a qualifying event causes delay or failure. The definition includes specified events outside reasonable control; it is not a blanket classification of every outage. If the delay exceeds 20 Business Days, the other party may terminate by written notice. The clause also requires payment for services to termination and the applicable Early Termination Payment. A continuity plan should cover operational recovery and the commercial consequences of prolonged interruption. Confirm the Schedule’s exit calculation rather than assuming an externally caused outage creates a cost-free exit.

Checking charges and preserving an invoice dispute

The General Terms require payment of the invoiced amount by its due date even while an amount is disputed. The customer has 60 Business Days from the invoice date to notify an error in writing, with its calculation and evidence. A dispute about our subsequent determination requires a Dispute Notice within 10 Business Days of receipt of that determination. Missing the required windows can waive the right to correction, subject to the fraud exception. Overdue amounts attract the published margin of four per cent over the RBA Cash Rate, calculated daily. Reconcile ordered quantities, approved changes and billed usage promptly; do not wait for a periodic service review to raise a billing error.

Confidential information and access

Clause 16 provides mutual confidentiality protection. It covers information marked confidential, information identified orally and confirmed in writing within 30 days, and information that should reasonably be understood to be confidential. Customer Data, Customer Records and Customer Software are included; our agreement and fees are also confidential. Permitted disclosures include appropriately bound personnel on a need-to-know basis and specified professional advisers, with other exceptions in the clause. Identify who may receive operational reports, configuration details and commercial information. Access to information to deliver the service is not a general permission to circulate it.

Related

• Microsoft Teams
• Zoom
• RingCentral
• Connectivity hub
• Managed Services hub
• Microsoft Practice hub
• Security hub
• emPOWER Core Network and Data Centre Interconnect
• Human Risk Management
• Lovisa case study
• Sealy of Australia case study
• Zoom case study
• Archers case study
• Retail and Consumer Services industry page
• Not for Profit industry page
• Service agreement
• Home

Which collaboration platforms do you support?

Microsoft Teams, Zoom and RingCentral, each with its own service page. The emPOWER Network materials describe Teams PSTN and Direct Routing; the Lovisa case study calls RingCentral a global strategic partner within our emPOWER Voice offerings. We also offer Zoom collaboration services as part of a connected communications environment. The platform recommended depends on the customer's current state, requirements and goals, as the Lovisa case study describes.

Do you carry the voice traffic yourselves?

The emPOWER Network materials describe Teams PSTN and Direct Routing, SIP trunking and terminations, hosted PBX and contact-centre capabilities. Confirm the components blueAPACHE supplies, their applicable Schedule and any third-party carriage in the design. QoS scope depends on the managed traffic path.

Can we keep our existing handsets and numbers?

The Lovisa deployment reused most existing handsets, reconfigured remotely, but deliberately abandoned legacy numbers in favour of a new numbering plan to speed the rollout. Handset compatibility and porting should be confirmed per platform during scoping.

How is emPOWER Collaboration priced?

The Global Capabilities brochure describes the pillar as advanced enterprise-grade features for a fixed monthly fee without hardware or infrastructure purchases. Confirm the current proposal's licensing, endpoints, usage and exclusions. Supplied General Terms v3.6 describe monthly advance billing for fixed fees and proportional licensor-price pass-through under clause 12.5; a fixed fee is not a guarantee against contractual price changes.

Is there an uptime or call-quality commitment?

Check the applicable Service Order and Service Description. Under supplied General Terms v3.6, a contractual Service Level must be expressly identified under that heading and is subject to the agreement's measurement and exclusion provisions. Network monitoring alone does not establish an uptime or call-quality commitment.

Who do we call when telephony fails?

Use the incident contact and escalation path agreed for the ordered service. The Managed Services brochure describes 24/7 help-desk coverage including telephony, while Connectivity materials describe business-day service-desk hours and 24/7 monitoring. Confirm which support arrangement covers the affected platform, carrier and network component.

Can collaboration services support a contact centre?

The Lovisa case study shows RingCentral call queuing supporting a 24/7 internal IT service desk with agents on three eight-hour shifts, plus a new follow-the-sun customer service centre with local numbers worldwide.

Does collaboration include security controls?

Security services such as Human Risk Management, DMARC and MDR identity-threat detection may complement a collaboration deployment. Confirm platform compatibility, email-provider requirements, account coverage and ordered scope; they are not automatic collaboration inclusions.

Are Teams, Zoom and RingCentral licences covered by your terms?

They are third-party software. Under clauses 3.20 to 3.24 of the General Terms and Conditions the customer must comply with the licensor's terms whether or not they were brought to its attention, and a breach can require us to terminate that part of the service without liability. Under supplied v3.6 clause 13.7, the customer must provide the specified licence evidence within five Business Days of a written request.

Is emPOWER Collaboration within your ISO 27001 scope?

The supplied certificate 202507-118 lists Voice Carriage and Unified Communications within the ISMS scope and states dates from 1 August 2025 to 1 August 2028. Mobile Services is not listed. These dates do not independently verify current standing, and the certificate does not certify individual services.