aimm News

Mobile World Congress 2016 – A personal view from Hugh Griffiths

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

The world’s biggest mobile trade show, Mobile World Congress, took place in Barcelona between 22-25 February 2016. As has become customary, the show’s attendance broke previous records: the GSMA announced on the final day that 101,000 people had attended MWC in 2016, an increase of almost 8% over the 2015 show’s attendance of 93,000.

The event is slowly moving to become more of a consumer electronics show as a variety of networks connect an increasingly significant number of consumer devices together. Read my report here: Review of Mobile World Congress 2016  .

 

AIME supports PhonepayPlus Statement on the 14th Code of Practice

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

PhonepayPlus today announced their 14th Code of Practice, accompanied by a statement and draft procedures. In AIME’s response to the consultation AIME identified, on behalf of membership, over 30 areas of concern or observations on the proposed operation of the Investigations and Sanctions part (part 4) of the 14th Code of Practice.

 

A majority of AIME input has been accepted and has resulted in either changes to the Code or the supporting procedures. The changes that were not accepted are accompanied by responses from PhonepayPlus that will serve as reference material for any future review of processes.

 

We are confident that PhonepayPlus has set out to ensure a fair and pragmatic process exists and our observations were mainly in the event that the process went wrong. AIME expects PhonepayPlus  to have at its disposal a robust investigation and sanction procedure that targets the individuals and companies that seek to cause damage to consumers at the expense of the well behaved providers that make up AIME’s membership.

 

Our concerns for members who fund the operation of PhonepayPlus are that the process is economical, legally sound and fair.

 

In the unlikely event that a member will have a case raised against them, that there is an opportunity for an early settlement akin to the “on the spot” fine for a minor traffic offence.

 

If the process has gone wrong for a provider, we want to ensure that there is an appeals process to allow for economical review of a case without the need for a judicial review. AIME has successfully won this change amongst others.

 

We expect the 14th Code to go live in July 2016 after Ofcom and EU consultation. The full PhonepayPlus statement can be read here:

http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/news-and-events/news/2016/march/statement-following-consultation-on-the-14th-code-of-practice

Charity Text Seminar a Success!

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

Charity Text Donation Seminar a Success

AIME and PhonepayPlus jointly ran a free one day Charity Text Donation Seminar in London on Friday 19th February. This was well attended by many small charities who came to learn more about how to use text donations to improve their fundraising, make sure that their marketing campaigns are compliant, learn the importance of increasing donations by Gift Aid and to ensure the audit standards are good.

As well as regulatory updates from PhonepayPlus, there were highly informative presentations from Telefonica, OpenMarket, Instagiv, Cymba, Vir2, Open Fundraising, Fonix and BBC Children in Need.

With positive feedback from the attendees it has been suggested that this event is run on an annual basis to ensure the spread of the successful intelligence sharing. A link to the presentations for the day is here.

You can also read about the event on PhonepayPlus’ blog here.

Feedback from the day:

I attend the Charity Seminar last week and I just wanted to say thank you for such a well-organised, informative day. It was really useful and I hope there will be a similar seminar next year! Samaritans

Thank you for organising Friday. It felt like a good session, let’s do it again soon. Open Fundraising

Great event. Informative, relevant and enjoyable. Can’t ask for more! OpenMarket

Well done on organising such a great day. RSM2000

 This event was so informative and useful, and should definitely be an annual event! Parkinsons UK

Take a look at our current Board candidates

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

We now have several members who have stepped forward for a position on the AIME Board.

You can see their bios and manifesto’s by clicking the attached link. 2016 Candidates bio doc

Voting for the candidates will go live on the 29th February at which point we will then call for members to cast their votes using the link we will provide. You can then cast your vote until the 13th March.

There is still time to put your candidacy forward for consideration if this is of interest to you but nominations will close on the 29th February. Please take the time to read the Board Responsibilities document before submitting your candidacy.

 

Board Elections – Nomination for candidates now open

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

During February we welcome nominations/candidates for the upcoming vacancies on the AIME Board. Each Board member serves a term of two years each before coming up for election. If you wish to apply we ask that they are accompanied by a Bio, Manifesto and a photograph sent to andrea@aimm.co.

If you would like to submit your candidacy please ensure that you take the time to read the document about Board Responsibilities.

On 28th February, we will close nominations and ask Members to vote over the next two weeks. Election results will be announced on 17th March.

Members will be asked in March to vote for their favourites of all the nominees. Sponsor members get three votes, Executive Members get two votes and Associate Members get one vote.