Microsoft Conversational AI
Ceox helps public sector exploit Artificial Intelligence to deliver intelligent conversational agents to interact with citizens.
Ceox Conversational AI Services cover discovery, design, implementation and support. Microsoft’s public cloud Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning tools and services are set-up to improve service delivery enabling users to interact with services naturally.
Features
- Use Microsoft Azure AI platform to deliver Conversational AI
- Deliver Intelligent Conversational Agents, Chat bots, Intelligent Bots and Chatbots
- Deploy Robotic Process Automation (RPA), deep learning frameworks, Neural Networks
- Microsoft Cognitive Services, Azure Bot Service, Azure Databricks, Computer Vision
- Azure machine learning, Cortana, Bot framework, IoT Edge, Compute
- Bing Search: Custom, Entity, Image, News, Spell, Video, Visual, Web
- Azure Machine Learning Service, Translator, Language Understanding (LUIS)
- Cortana, QnA Maker, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Form Recognizer
- Speech to Text and Text to Speech Translation, Text Analytics
- Anomaly Detector, Linguistic Analysis, Speech Translation, Personalizer, Ink Recognizer
Benefits
- ITIL based service management providing support via a service desk
- Full support for user research, design, develop, delivery, build, live
- Experts in supporting Local, Central Government departments and other agencies
- Build using agile, iterative, open standards and user-centred methods
- Understand ethics, legal, policy, licences and licensing, develop AI roadmap
- Deploy virtual agents and virtual assistants, perform skills transfer
- Drive intelligence, predict trends and reports using Data, AI analysis
- Multi-Channel Customer Engagement with apps, websites and artificial intelligence
- Ensure that tone of voice and persona reflects your organisation
- Planning, Setup, Migration, Quality Assurance, Performance Testing, Testing, Cyber Security
Pricing
£1 a unit a month
Service documents
Request an accessible format
Framework
G-Cloud 11
Service ID
5 9 3 3 2 2 7 0 0 1 6 5 0 9 9
Contact
Ceox
Gavin Harte
Telephone: 0333 987 4495
Email: digitalmarketplace@ceox.co.uk
Service scope
- Software add-on or extension
- Yes
- What software services is the service an extension to
- Our software is built upon Microsoft's Azure Platform.
- Cloud deployment model
-
- Public cloud
- Private cloud
- Community cloud
- Hybrid cloud
- Service constraints
- None
- System requirements
-
- Processor - 1.9GHz x86- or x64-bit dual core processor
- Memory - 2-GB RAM
- Display - Super VGA with a resolution of 1024x768
- Bandwidth greater than 1Megabit per second (125 KBps/Kilobyte per second)
- Latency under 150 ms
- Windows 10 - Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft Edge
- Windows 8.1 - Internet Explorer 11, Windows 8 - IE10
- Windows7 -IE10, IE11
- Latest versions of Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple Safari
- Further information can be found here - https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh699710.aspx
User support
- Email or online ticketing support
- Email or online ticketing
- Support response times
-
Support Incidents are classified under one of four levels depending on severity:
Level 1: Critical,
Level 2: Major,
Level 3: Significant,
Level 4: Minor.
The levels have the following response and resolve times:
Level 1: 1 hour respond, 4 hours resolve;
Level 2: 4 hours respond, 8 hours resolve;
Level 3: 1 day respond, 5 days resolve;
Level 4: 5 days respond, 10 days resolve.
Ceox service desk runs during standard UK office hours with 24x7 available at extra cost. - User can manage status and priority of support tickets
- Yes
- Online ticketing support accessibility
- None or don’t know
- Phone support
- Yes
- Phone support availability
- 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
- Web chat support
- No
- Onsite support
- Yes, at extra cost
- Support levels
-
Ceox can tailor support levels to an organisation depending on requirements. By default, incidents are assigned one of four levels depending on severity:
Level 1: Critical - The system is unavailable for all users.
Level 2: Major - The system is unavailable for some users and no workaround exists.
Level 3: Significant - There is an issue which is impacting some users and no workaround exists.
Level 4: Minor - There is an issue but users can workaround without impact.
The levels have the following response and resolve times:
Level 1: 1 hour respond, 4 hours resolve;
Level 2: 4 hours respond, 8 hours resolve;
Level 3: 1 day respond, 5 days resolve;
Level 4: 5 days respond, 10 days resolve. - Support available to third parties
- Yes
Onboarding and offboarding
- Getting started
- The level of onboarding and offboarding support provided by Ceox depends on the customer's requirements. Ceox can provide full support for organisations who want to rollout the service to their whole organisation. Ceox can also support small pilot trials if desired. At the end of the engagement, Ceox can tailor the level of offboarding support required. Ceox also provides a number of training options including: train the trainer, training for key individuals, classroom training for all users and floor walking support.
- Service documentation
- Yes
- Documentation formats
-
- HTML
- Other
- Other documentation formats
- Microsoft provide online videos and interactive learning portals
- End-of-contract data extraction
- Customers can export their data at any time using the standard export services. Ceox can provide complete support in undertaking this process.
- End-of-contract process
- The amount of notification required to end the contract depends on the length of contract taken out and will be included in the call-off contract. At the end of the contract process, Ceox will assist the customer in extracting any data or moving to another supplier as required.
Using the service
- Web browser interface
- Yes
- Supported browsers
-
- Internet Explorer 10
- Internet Explorer 11
- Microsoft Edge
- Firefox
- Chrome
- Safari 9+
- Opera
- Application to install
- No
- Designed for use on mobile devices
- Yes
- Differences between the mobile and desktop service
- The platform can be used to deliver Mobile Apps or mobile responsive websites through which the user interacts. The service can also provide language processing which users activate by calling a number and speaking to the service.
- Service interface
- Yes
- Description of service interface
- The service can be accessed through a number of interfaces, predominantly a web browser but also through the mobile and tablet applications.
- Accessibility standards
- None or don’t know
- Description of accessibility
- The services provided are back-end services which are usually accessed through another means such as a website, mobile app or by calling a customer support centre.
- Accessibility testing
- To date, no testing has been completed with users of assistive technology.
- API
- Yes
- What users can and can't do using the API
- The API is how the service is exposed to most organisations so they can build solutions on top of the platform.
- API documentation
- Yes
- API documentation formats
- HTML
- API sandbox or test environment
- Yes
- Customisation available
- Yes
- Description of customisation
- Our service is designed to be customised to suit the needs of the user. Typically the service is integrated into other digital platforms.
Scaling
- Independence of resources
- The service operates multiple scale groups in each data centre and automatically provisions new customers into a scale group. The architecture of scale groups is designed to meet the many needs of operating a service at scale, including security, scalability, performance, tenant isolation, serviceability, and monitoring. Each customer has their own individual database, separate from other customers’ databases. Data processing is logically segregated through capabilities specifically developed to help build, manage, and secure multi-tenant environments.
Analytics
- Service usage metrics
- Yes
- Metrics types
- Service stats on usage and AI functions can be provided as part of the service.
- Reporting types
-
- API access
- Real-time dashboards
Resellers
- Supplier type
- Reseller providing extra features and support
- Organisation whose services are being resold
- Microsoft
Staff security
- Staff security clearance
- Other security clearance
- Government security clearance
- Up to Security Clearance (SC)
Asset protection
- Knowledge of data storage and processing locations
- Yes
- Data storage and processing locations
- United Kingdom
- User control over data storage and processing locations
- Yes
- Datacentre security standards
- Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
- Penetration testing frequency
- At least once a year
- Penetration testing approach
- Another external penetration testing organisation
- Protecting data at rest
-
- Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v3.0
- Physical access control, complying with SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
- Encryption of all physical media
- Scale, obfuscating techniques, or data storage sharding
- Other
- Other data at rest protection approach
- For data at rest, the service deploys BitLocker with AES 256-bit encryption on servers that hold all messaging data, including email and IM conversations, as well as content stored in SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business. BitLocker volume encryption addresses the threats of data theft or exposure from lost, stolen, or inappropriately decommissioned computers and disks. Each organisation’s files are distributed across multiple Azure Storage containers, each with separate credentials, rather than storing them in a single database.
- Data sanitisation process
- Yes
- Data sanitisation type
- Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
- Equipment disposal approach
- Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v.30, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001
Data importing and exporting
- Data export approach
- Customers can export their data at any time using the standard export services. Ceox can provide complete support in undertaking this process. Data can be exported to Excel or using built-in functionality can be replicated to a separate SQL Azure instance.
- Data export formats
-
- CSV
- ODF
- Other
- Other data export formats
-
- Various formats can be exported depending on the desired location
- Ceox can provide assistance in choosing the most appropriate format
- Common formats include XML and database backups
- Data import formats
-
- CSV
- ODF
- Other
- Other data import formats
-
- Various formats can be imported depending on the original format
- Ceox can provide assistance in choosing the most appropriate format.
- Common import formats include database imports or XML upload
Data-in-transit protection
- Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
-
- Private network or public sector network
- TLS (version 1.2 or above)
- IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
- Other
- Other protection between networks
- For data in transit, all customer-facing servers negotiate a secure session by using TLS/SSL with client machines to secure the customer data.
- Data protection within supplier network
-
- TLS (version 1.2 or above)
- IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
- Other
- Other protection within supplier network
- Please see http://aka.ms/Office365TI and http://aka.ms/Office365CE
Availability and resilience
- Guaranteed availability
- The level of availability guaranteed by Microsoft is 99.9% availability (based on 24x7). Microsoft pay service credits if the service does not meet the required up-time for a given month and Ceox will pass all service credit from Microsoft straight to the customer. More details on the level of SLA can be found here: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/support/legal/sla/
- Approach to resilience
-
Microsoft publish details on resiliency in Azure here:
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/features/resiliency/ - Outage reporting
- Outages are reported through the Azure admin center, users can see the status of the current service health, historic service health and planned maintenance. Ceox can also handle the reporting of outages for customers.
Identity and authentication
- User authentication needed
- Yes
- User authentication
-
- 2-factor authentication
- Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
- Username or password
- Other
- Other user authentication
- User authentication will depend on the way the services are exposed to external users. Typically this will be through usernames and passwords or GOV.UK Verify.
- Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
- The service comes with an admin portal which can be used to configure the services. These admin roles are used to restrict access to users and can be tied into Active Directory or Azure AD.
- Access restriction testing frequency
- At least once a year
- Management access authentication
-
- 2-factor authentication
- Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
- Username or password
Audit information for users
- Access to user activity audit information
- Users have access to real-time audit information
- How long user audit data is stored for
- Between 6 months and 12 months
- Access to supplier activity audit information
- Users receive audit information on a regular basis
- How long supplier audit data is stored for
- Between 6 months and 12 months
- How long system logs are stored for
- Between 6 months and 12 months
Standards and certifications
- ISO/IEC 27001 certification
- No
- ISO 28000:2007 certification
- No
- CSA STAR certification
- No
- PCI certification
- No
- Other security certifications
- No
Security governance
- Named board-level person responsible for service security
- Yes
- Security governance certified
- No
- Security governance approach
-
Ceox runs a security management system aligned to ISO27001. As part of this, there is a security working group which handles the assessment and control of information security risk.
Microsoft also run an information security management process details of which can be found here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/trustcenter/cloudservices/azure - Information security policies and processes
- Ceox use ISO27001 aligned policies and procedures to ensure that information security risk is controlled adequately. There is a Security Working Group (SWG) which handles the assement and control of information security risk.
Operational security
- Configuration and change management standard
- Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
- Configuration and change management approach
-
Microsoft has developed formal standard operating procedures (SOPs) governing the change management process. These SOPs cover both software development and hardware change and release management, and are consistent with established regulatory guidelines including ISO 27001, SOC 1 / SOC 2, NIST 800-53, and others.
Ceox uses configuration and change management procedures produced inline with ISO9001 and ISO27001. These are based on the ITIL framework and make use of DevOps tooling where possible. - Vulnerability management type
- Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
- Vulnerability management approach
- In support of the Information Security Policy, Microsoft runs multiple layers of antivirus software to ensure protection from common malicious software. Servers within the Azure environment run anti-virus software that scans files uploaded and downloaded from the service for viruses or other malware. Microsoft has its own Security Response Center (MSRC) that also supplies information to all our customers covering the whole range Microsoft products.
- Protective monitoring type
- Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
- Protective monitoring approach
-
The service employs sophisticated software-defined service instrumentation and monitoring that integrates at the component or server level, the datacenter edge, our network backbone, Internet exchange sites, and at the real or simulated user level, providing visibility when a service disruption is occurring and pinpointing its cause.
Proactive monitoring continuously measures the performance of key subsystems of the Azure services platform against the established boundaries for acceptable service performance and availability. When a threshold is reached or an irregular event occurs, the monitoring system generates warnings so that operations staff can address the threshold or event. - Incident management type
- Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
- Incident management approach
-
Ceox runs an incident management process based upon ITIL's Service Operation practices. These include detailed processes for handling security incidents.
Microsoft has developed robust processes to facilitate a coordinated response to incidents. Details of which can be found here: http://aka.ms/Office365SIM
Secure development
- Approach to secure software development best practice
- Conforms to a recognised standard, but self-assessed
Public sector networks
- Connection to public sector networks
- Yes
- Connected networks
-
- Public Services Network (PSN)
- NHS Network (N3)
- Joint Academic Network (JANET)
Pricing
- Price
- £1 a unit a month
- Discount for educational organisations
- No
- Free trial available
- Yes
- Description of free trial
- Microsoft offer free consumption of Azure which can be used for a proof of concept. Ceox can assist customers who wish to make use of Microsoft's free trial offer.
- Link to free trial
- https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/free-account-faq/