In the below case study, we share the highlights from our Knowledge Transfer Partnership with VQ Communications:
KTP Benefits
- Businesses acquire new knowledge and expertise
- KTP Associates gain business-based experience and personal and professional development opportunities
- Universities, colleges or research organisations bring their expertise and enhance the business relevance of their research and teaching
Key Facts
- KTP provided VQ Communications with a key technology building block that will contribute to the company strategy and give substantial advantage in the market
- Staff at VQ have acquired Machine Learning expertise from UWE, allowing for a deeper understanding of its application
- KTP Associate progressed into a full-time position at the company
The Company
Based in Chippenham, VQ Communications produces software that allows customers to deploy and manage large video conferencing (also known as “Unified Communications”) services. VQ has established a leading market position over the last 15 years and VQ’s current product generation works with Cisco’s Meeting Server products and is being used by customers world-wide to deliver enterprise wide conferencing. VQ is a Cisco Solution Partner with Cisco recommending and selling VQ’s product.
The Challenge
The systems that VQ’s software manages are complex. VQ wanted to establish whether AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning) tooling could be exploited to identify problem calls and usage patterns. Such a system could provide advanced functionality within their product, allowing the customer to independently monitor, analyse and react to changes in system behaviour.
The Project
The team (consisting of VQ staff, academic experts from the Computer Science and Creative Technologies (CSCT) department at UWE Bristol and a KTP Associate) carried out analysis of VQ’s system logs and discovered that traditional methods of AI/ ML would not suffice.
Utilising human-in-the-loop methodology, the team developed and implemented a tool that enables a customer to teach the system how they want to categorize and report on their calls and system performance, achieving a reciprocal knowledge transfer with the human user.
The project equipped VQ with additional knowledge and an innovative approach to solving customer problems, all of which will further improve VQ’s market leading software. Based on the successful conclusion of the KTP project, VQ hired the KTP Associate and an additional Software Engineer. Furthermore, the academic team continue to provide AI/ML consultancy and UWE Bristol Computer Science and Cyber Security graduates have secured work placements within VQ.
Find more about Knowledge Transfer Partnerships here.