Full Year Review – 2022
2022 is now in the rear-view mirror, and it’s been quite the year!
Following two years of a pandemic, this year we (mostly) were free of the Covid lockdowns or restrictions and able to go back to a ‘normal’ existence, albeit with hybrid-working fully here to stay (hello comfy clothes, groan-face to the surmounting heating bills).
For Gamma, it’s been a fantastic year, with growth and development aplenty, not to mention a birthday milestone. For the outside world, less so: with conflict, the controversial World Cup, and a dramatic Oscar’s slap heard around the globe.
But let’s focus on the year for Gamma, as your coffee will be cold by the end if we try to cover everything. So, grab your leftover festive snacks and cosy in as we reflect on Gamma’s year in 2022.
January – March
After a relatively quiet (dry) January, February kicked off with our announcement that we had partnered with Thales to produce Eco-SIM across our channel partner network and business mobile customers, further reinstating our long-term goal of reducing environmental damage.
February’s jam-packed news continued with Gamma being included in the Three UK and Transport for London initiative to bring mobile connectivity to the London underground. Then Gamma Communications Nederland introduced Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams to the Dutch market, further solidifying Gamma’s position as a leading UCaaS provider in Europe.
Unfortunately, February ended with the horrendous news that Russia had invaded Ukraine. Effective the beginning of March, we introduced a Ukraine Support Package for all our end customers. Our colleagues in Germany also brought supplies to the Polish/Ukrainian border and helped 52 Ukrainian women and children back to Germany, where they have since been looked after. In addition, Gamma announced we would halt billing for calls to Ukraine across our products, including CircleLoop. Throughout the year, the conflict has continued, and we are still supporting Ukraine through these awful times.
Making the impossible pivot, March also saw us celebrate International Women’s Day with a week of insights from across the different departments to break the gender bias – check out our features on LinkedIn as well as the interview with Marketing Director Andrea Herbert.
April – June
We celebrated Earth Day with some posts highlighting the great work Gamma is doing for the environment, with our aim to become Carbon Net Zero by 2042. Unsurprisingly, staff from across Gamma offices were keen to muck in and completed a local community clean-up initiative.
Mental health was the focus for May, which saw our Channel Sales and Marketing teams complete an Around the World in 80 Days Challenge (24,901 miles), raising over £4,000 for charity Mind. Amazing effort!
Mental Health Awareness Week then continued with an interview with Martin Roberts – a survivor of the Hillsborough disaster and founder of mental illness charity, Keep In Mind Ltd. Gamma also finished the week by introducing our newly appointed 12 Mental Health First Aiders across the country, to show that mental health is important to maintaining a strong workforce.
The leadership team also saw some changes, with Bill Castell joining us as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) while Andrew Belshaw became Deputy Chief Executive. While Bill’s seven months might have flown by, his ideas and solutions have already profoundly impacted our Gamma teams.
Gamma’s best-kept secret was then unveiled when we announced we had been awarded a contract with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to provide Microsoft Teams Direct Routing solution. This news was swiftly followed by our aggregated procurement award by Crown Commercial Services (CCS) to provision mobile voice and data services.
June was clearly the month for events, with the Gamma Summer Xplosion in Germany kicking off with more than 30 exhibitors attending the Hoftex event hall in Hof, Bavaria to celebrate 25 years of subsidiary ICT’s partnership with the German Gamma group. Among the inspiring keynotes, there was a spectacular party atmosphere with incredible food and live music from the band Aischzeit.
The Channel Partner Roadshow swiftly followed (theme #GammaAtTheMovies) with SimpleSwap being announced as our unique all-in-one service to seamlessly migrate legacy PSTN services to the all-IP future. Closing after three weeks of brilliant events across Europe, with a final screening at BFI IMAX, London, it was a pleasure to greet our partners in person again.
Then the month concluded with our epic Frontiers show, which started with author Nina Schick discussing Deep Fakes. The day followed up with Baroness Manningham-Buller (former General Director of MI5), who taught us how to embrace change, uncertainty, diversity, and how to lead under pressure. The event then closed with a uniquely inspiring and hilarious speech from Eddie Izzard.
July – September
It was a bittersweet start to July, with Andrew Taylor retiring and Andrew Belshaw stepping in as Interim CEO. Andrew Taylor joined Gamma as CEO in May 2018 and certainly brought the company a long way! Under Andrew’s Taylor’s leadership, we doubled in size, expanded into Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands, and acquired multiple UK businesses. We’d like to sincerely thank him for all he has done for Gamma over the past four years.
Net Zero week saw us share some of the vital work that Gamma is doing to reach our goal of Carbon Net Zero by 2042 – including fighting ‘vampire devices’. Yup, you read that right.
Gamma turned 20 this year, and we have found unique ways to celebrate. We kicked off the anniversary celebrations with the epic Charity Cycle event, which saw our committed pedallers tackling sweltering weather from Scotland to the South Coast, clocking up 587 miles/945km. In addition, our European volunteers took part in ‘remote cycling’ between the European offices to virtually cover a staggering 5300 miles/8500km. Together, our fantastic volunteers raised £16,314 for UNICEF UK. Round of applause, please!
Ok, not Gamma-related but the Lionesses won the Euro22 tournament, with 87,000 fans watching on from the stalls – the team broke another record with the highest-attended match for any European Championship! Worth a mention, and we think you will agree.
Once again, we supported 62 UK Universities through Clearing in August and received overwhelmingly positive feedback. This also mirrored our strong half-year results announced in September which were a testament to the dedication and commitment of Gamma teams and partners.
However, we were deeply saddened when Queen Elizabeth II passed away on 8th September, the longest reigning monarch in British history. The nation’s figurehead for more than seven decades. Rest in peace, Your Majesty.
After a tough week of mourning for many, our incredible team completed the Great North Run, raising £8,470 for Rossendale Hospice. The generosity continued with the Gamma Ball Rally, which allowed us to team up with our partners to traverse Europe for charity – three days of driving through Brands Hatch, Brussels, Strasbourg, Colmar and Geneva! A fantastic experience for all involved but for some fabulous causes too – raising £80,000 to charities like ATEGhana and SpecialEffect. Well done, team!
October – December
Awards season was upon us in October, and we were proud to be given not one, but TWO awards at the Comms Council UK awards: Best Infrastructure and Best Innovation categories (we were commended for Contact Centre Solution – Horizon Contact in the latter).
Following that, we were practically blushing when we won another two awards at the Comms National Awards (Best CCaas Vendor and Best Partner Programme (Over £10m)) as well as the Best Wholesale Sales Team award at the Global Carrier Awards. We are continually thrilled to have been recognised for all the hard work that our teams put into making Gamma an excellent service provider and partner.
November continued the plaudits with our announcement of being certified Microsoft Solutions Partner for Modern Work due to our commitment to Microsoft Teams technology. This designation provides access to new capabilities and resources, meaning a more robust service for our customers and partners to meet the demands of hybrid working.
We rounded off the 20th-anniversary celebrations with a special Happy Birthday video commemorating the last twenty years, from our humble HQ in Newbury to growing the Gamma family overseas.
November also saw our first Transformation Leadership Team meeting held in Manchester. It was a magnificent event for the senior leadership of the UK, Netherlands, Spanish and German offices to gather and discuss the opportunities ahead for growing the business.
And November delivered one more final announcement – Andrew Belshaw’s permanent appointment as Gamma’s CEO. Andrew has been with Gamma for 15 years, and we are thrilled he will continue leading us through this exciting new chapter for the company.
Lastly, If you have been following our LinkedIn content throughout the year, you will likely be aware of the PSTN Switch Off happening in 2025. Well, December saw us launch the PSTN Switch Off podcast series in conjunction with Tech UK, where we gather industry experts for advice on how businesses can prepare ahead of the deadline to move to All IP solutions. Please go on – give it a listen, and like/subscribe!
Looking Ahead to 2023
2022 has been a rollercoaster of a year for many, but for Gamma has been a positive time in which we have embraced hybrid working together – and it shows from the accolades and feedback from our partners and customers.
We wouldn’t have had such a tremendous year if it weren’t for our teams across the UK and Europe, delivering daily and going above and beyond to work together to get the right solutions.
We’d also like to extend a huge thank you to our customers and partners for your continued support this year.
Let’s have a final farewell to 2022! And we will see you in 2023!
