Siegburg, August 2017. A great result for walter services: After all, the scientific study commissioned by Focus and Focus Money took thoroughly analyzed 10,000 companies in Germany with the largest number of employees.

Which companies know best how to give a boost to their employees and offer them a wide range of professional and personal development opportunities? In order to find an answer to this question, scientists at the Helmut-Schmidt University of Hamburg distributed a questionnaire to all participating companies that accounted for 50 percent of the evaluation. The other 50 percent were derived on the basis of data that did not depend on the company and related to factors such as work climate and corporate culture (accounting for 20 percent each) and economic stability (accounting 10 percent).

The analysis for the categories of work climate and corporate culture was based on a Social Listening campaign involving tens of thousands of online messages and over a million social media sources. For calculating the scores, three values were determined for every company illustrating the ratio of positive, negative and neutral references with respect to the sum total of references. The key performance indicators for economic stability with regard to growth and consistency of development were derived from a corporate database for the period from 2011 to 2015.

Based on the calculated values, 100 points were awarded to the respective winner in each industry category, which at the same constitutes the benchmark for the other companies. walter services received 71.5 points, ranking 7th in the category 'IT & Communication'.

“We are very proud of this reward”, says Wolfgang Salzig, Chief Human Resources Officer at walter services. “For us it is proof that we have made an important step forward with our personnel development measures – especially also in the public eye. As a customer service provider and call center operator, we frequently see that university graduates still have outdated prejudices. We are a very modern company with a highly sophisticated IT infrastructure, though, and especially in the fields of IT and controlling but also in management and HR we have a lot of opportunities and benefits to offer.”

 

WHO IS WALTER SERVICES?
The walter services group counts among the largest and most successful customer service companies in Germany, with about 3,000 employees at 9 sites. For almost 40 years, the service provider has been looking after large, renowned brands, ensuring added customer satisfaction.

Mannheim / Siegburg, December 2017. In an increasingly digitized world, where information is not only collected but also made available in various places and highly interconnected, the protection and security of company data constitutes both a complex task and great challenge. The globally recognized certification now also officially confirms that the walter brand Cloud Services have not only implemented an Information Security Management System (ISMS) but are successfully using it.

ISO/IEC 27001 is based on a comprehensive and detailed procedure defining and controlling the requirements regarding the compilation, introduction, operation, monitoring, maintenance and improvement of a company’s IT processes. The systematic approach and procedural focus, inter alia, are directed at minimizing IT risks within companies, ensuring operational security and system and process availability, not to mention guaranteeing information privacy. For walter cloud services GmbH, this is yet another important step on the journey towards becoming a professional cloud service provider and proof of the company’s comprehensive safety and security efforts.

Consequently, Dr. Benjamin Helbig, CIO of walter services GmbH and Managing Director of walter cloud services GmbH, considers the certification a significant milestone: “For us, as a B2B cloud service provider, ISO/IEC 27001 is indispensable. Its defining parameters help partners, customers and the public trust in us – especially in regard of compliance and legal certainty. Be it personal data or business secrets, the risks are omnipresent on the World Wide Web. Therefore, at walter services, we have never cut corners when it comes to safety and security. At the same time, it is a matter of course in this day and age to establish continuous improvement procedures and to further develop safety and security measures at the same pace as technical progress and the associated opportunities require.”

WHO IS WALTER CLOUD SERVICES?
walter cloud services GmbH is a subsidiary of IT services and a spin-off of the services group. walter services is one of the largest and most successful customer services companies, with about 3,000 staff working at nine sites. For almost 40 years, walter services has been looking after large, well-known brands and is based on a sound foundation of expertise in the field of security, safety and protection of personal customer data.

waltercloudservices.de

Ettlingen / Cologne, March 2017. With its new ISO 50001 certification, walter services consistently pursues its sustainability claims as well as economic efficiency and effectiveness aspirations.

The purpose of an energy management system certified to ISO 50001 is for continual improvement of an organization’s energy performance. In the time between the pre-audit and the recertification audit – three years after receipt of the certificate – unused energy efficiency potentials should be developed, energy costs cut and greenhouse gas emissions reduced; this includes carbon dioxide and other environmental impacts of energy usage. This means that the energy management system makes a considerable contribution to environmental and climate protection. To this end, walter services has entered into a continual PDCA framework (Plan, Do, Check, Act), which will show whether action is being taken, processes are being adhered to and targets are being met.

Meinolf Brauer, Managing Proprietor of walter services says:
“We’ve been aware of the necessity and urgency of reducing CO2 emissions and optimizing energy balances long before the UN climate summits in Paris and Marrakesh, so we’ve been active in this area for quite some time now. Not only do we see our commitment as part of the economic optimization of our company, but also and moreover as an important contribution to sustainability. Therefore, certification to ISO 50001 was a logical step in the right direction for us. It shows both our clients and our staff that we take our corporate responsibilities seriously and are making a contribution to society.”  

WHO IS WALTER SERVICES?
The walter services group counts among the largest and most successful customer service companies in Germany, with about 3,000 employees at 9 sites. For almost 40 years, the service provider has been looking after large, renowned brands, ensuring added customer satisfaction.

Ettlingen/Cologne, November 2016. Within the scope of a nation-wide survey in Germany, jointly carried out by the family magazine ELTERN and the statistics platform “statista” this summer, the best employers for families were identified and received an award, last week. For the first time, also the service provider walter services was named “Best Companies for Families 2016”, and even in two different industries at that: “Internet, telecommunications and IT” and “HR services, consulting, agencies, natural science and technology”.

“We are very proud of this award, and we are thrilled that our employees counted us among the most family-oriented employers, their vote placing us at the top of the range – this clearly is nothing we take for granted. My heartfelt thanks go out to all of you who made this outcome possible”, comments Meinolf Brauer (CEO and owner of walter services) on the award.

The prize was given to companies having more than 500 employees in Germany, and that offer the most family-friendly working conditions to their employees. The award was based on evaluations submitted by more than 19,000 people in Germany, who were asked about their opinion in this matter. Companies from 15 industries were assessed, taking into account the direct evaluation by their own employees and the indirect evaluation by employees of other companies in the same industry.

See article in german magazine

WHO IS WALTER SERVICES?
The walter services group counts among the largest and most successful customer service companies in Germany, with about 2,500 employees at 10 sites. For over 37 years, the service provider has been looking after large, renowned brands, ensuring added customer satisfaction.

Ettlingen/Cologne, August 2016. The wage negotiations on behalf of the roughly 2,500 staff of walter services have come to a successful conclusion: In October, remuneration will rise by up to 2.4%, followed by another increase by up to 2.3% in January 2017. Moreover, the establishment of the very first trainee wage agreement in the industry was determined. walter services and the trade union ver.di reached this final agreement this week.

Based on the new wage agreement, walter services staff at all of the eight German sites will receive a total pay rise of up to 4.7%. From August 2016 onwards, trainee remuneration will increase by 7.7% for the first, 8.0% for the second and 8.2% for the third year of training, respectively. In addition, it was fixed in writing in the new trainee wage agreement that all trainees, after successfully completing their training, will be offered a permanent contract as a matter of course. The term of the wage agreement shall be until September 2017.

“I’m very pleased that, together with ver.di, we have delivered a negotiation outcome that is viable for all parties. We have reached a result that our employees will benefit from, whilst maintaining all options for our company for further sustained growth. Both aspects are equally important to me”, concludes Meinolf Brauer, owner and CEO of walter services in his summary of the negotiation results and adds: “I’m particularly proud of our new and individual trainee wage agreement – the first and only one in our industry. It means that to each and every one of our trainees, a training at walter services is not just a training but a genuine, reliable job prospect”.

WHO IS WALTER SERVICES?
The walter services group counts among the largest and most successful customer service companies in Germany, with about 2,500 employees at 10 sites. For over 37 years, the service provider has been looking after large, renowned brands, ensuring added customer satisfaction.

Ettlingen/Cologne, March 2016. This week Initiative Mittelstand announced the winners, finalists and ‘BEST OF’ shortlisted companies for the INNOVATIONSPREIS-IT 2016. The IT solutions provided by walter cloud services were rated BEST OF in the ‘Cloud Computing’ and ‘Telecommunication’ categories of this renowned award.

The jury of leading experts, made up of professors, scientists, industry representatives and specialist journalists, rated the 5,000 products and solutions according to a defined catalogue of criteria. These included the innovative content and the use and suitability for medium-sized businesses, to name just a few relevant points. For the first time, walter services took part with its new product walter cloud services and made it straight into the shortlist in the categories ‘Cloud Computing’ and ‘Telecommunications’.

As a consequence, Benjamin Helbig, Chief Information Officer at walter services, sees more advanced technology and systems being implemented at walter services. “For us as a customer service provider, it is essential to have a secure and powerful technological infrastructure that is efficient, effective, absolutely reliable and, above all, guarantees excellent quality standards. Therefore we have been making massive investments in state-of-the-art technology in the last two years and have created an IT infrastructure for us and our clients that features the highest security standards and convincing capabilities”.

When asked what motivated the company to extend the current product portfolio with Cloud Services at this moment in time, Frank Wagner, Chief Compliance Officer at walter services, said: “Another very important aspect for us has always been the issue of data protection and data security as personal details of clients and staff deserve both our full attention and the utmost care. Active defence against attacks, full encryption and access security are absolutely essential in this area. With our German High Security Cloud we are best prepared. After the well-known decision by the European Court of Justice and the developments that resulted from it, we decided to provide the advantages of our cloud solution to a wide audience quickly and easily”.

Meinolf Brauer, Chief Executive Officer and Owner of the walter services group, continues: “With our High Security Cloud and our service portfolio, we have managed to create a range of offers that are truly pioneering as well as being in line with the market and industry demands – I couldn’t be more delighted. We are more than honoured at being nominated as one of the ‘BEST OF 2016’ for the INNOVATIONSPREIS-IT by such a high-ranking, expert jury – and in two categories as well! It strengthens our business and proves that we are on the right track with our secure cloud solution”.
Since 2004, Initiative Mittelstand has been honouring the most innovative and medium-sized-business-compatible IT solutions and products with the annual INNOVATIONSPREIS-IT at CeBIT, the world’s largest computer fair. The aim of the award is to encourage businesses of all sizes to develop and implement long-term IT innovations and make them available to a wide audience. On 14 March, the winners will be announced at CeBIT with the appropriate celebrations.

                

 

Cloud-Bestenliste/walter-cloud-services

Telekommunikation-Bestenliste/walter-cloud-services

 

WHO IS WALTER SERVICES?
The walter services group counts among the largest and most successful customer service companies in Germany, with about 2,500 employees at 10 sites. For over 37 years, the service provider has been looking after large, renowned brands, ensuring added customer satisfaction.

Berlin/Cologne, 23 February 2016. During a ceremony within the scope of this year’s Call Center World at the Estrel Convention Center in Berlin, Meinolf Brauer, CEO and owner of walter services, accepted his appointment to the “European Economic Senate”.

The European Economic Senate (EES) was personally represented by Dr. Ingo Friedrich, President of the European Economic Senate and former Vice President of the European Parliament and Wolfgang Franken, Secretary General of the European Economic Senate to officially appoint Mr. Brauer and present him with the associated certificate.

Quote Dr. Ingo Friedrich: “We know Meinolf Brauer as an ambitious and straightforward individual, who does everything to reach a designated goal. We see that he applies his skills to get things moving and, whilst doing so, observes a set of values that in today’s business world is no longer something that goes without saying. Entrepreneurs have to have the visionary acumen to also take unpopular decisions at times. It’s no different than in the political arena. Looking ahead is vital if you are responsible for a large number of people, and in doing so, Meinolf Brauer has always remained an honorable merchant, trying to achieve the best both for his employees and his company. We are convinced that Meinolf Brauer will be a Senator at the EES who thinks outside the box and is always aware of the bigger picture.”

Quote Meinolf Brauer: “It is an extraordinary honor to have been short-listed and appointed as a Senator of the EES to represent our segment of the industry. I am pleased to accept this demanding and unique task by making available my knowledge and my experience concerning specific topics in order to contribute to the political decision making process on a factual and technical level.”

from left to right: Ulrich Beiderwieden (ver.di), Dr. Ingo Friedrich, Meinolf Brauer, Wolfgang Franken


European Economic Senate (EES)

The European Economic Senate (EES) is a non-partisan and pan-industrial European body comprised of successful European companies and individuals, who, as advisors, make available their knowledge and their experience to political decision makers. The EES comments on current topics, devises solutions and suggestions and tackles the challenges politics and the economy are being faced with today at unprecedented speed. As a fair and respectful partner to the political sphere, the EES aims at helping shape the future of Europe.

www.eu-wirtschaftssenat.eu

WHO IS WALTER SERVICES?
The walter services group counts among the largest and most successful customer service companies in Germany, with about 2,500 employees at 10 sites. For over 37 years, the service provider has been looking after large, renowned brands, ensuring added customer satisfaction.

Ettlingen/Cologne, February 2016. As a pioneer in the market for customer services, walter services is harnessing almost 40 years of experience in the large scale processing and storage of personal data of customers of large and renowned companies. Now, also companies that – especially in view of the current development in data protection law –are looking for a safe harbor for their data are to benefit from this experience and sophisticated IT infrastructure, which counts among the most modern, secure and powerful in the industry / in the market.   

Under the new brand walter cloud services, the experienced customer services provider has bundled its competences and modern IT infrastructure into five attractive service packages: Managed Services, Business Process Services, Communication Services, Storage Services and Computing Services. Each service package is based on a broad range of service models – infrastructure, platform and software as a service – and supply models – private, public, hybrid and multi cloud, allowing our clients to configure their own, individual and of course safe cloud solution. The same is true for service depth, as this can be selected individually, too: from consulting, evaluation and planning to development, implementation and migration up to production operation.       

 “Cloud computing has been a hot topic for quite a while, now. For us, cloud computing is not just a fad, but indeed the natural entrepreneurial response to constantly increasing customer requirements, extremely fast-paced innovation and diverse influences of a globalised and digitized world. And I am not saying this as a provider but primarily as a user of a modern, safe and powerful private cloud.” states Meinolf Brauer, owner and CEO of walter services. “Setting up one of the most modern IT infrastructures and our German High Security Cloud, from the very beginning, it was our logical conclusion to bundle our experience, competence and technology to put together a new offer and make all that available to other companies. Particularly in view of the current development of the European jurisdiction and data protection laws, I am proud to present our business partners and also other interested companies with one of the safest cloud offers out there.”

Especially in terms of safety and security, the service provider accepted no compromise but applied the highest standards: from operational safety via IT safety to legal safety. For example, in our own German data centers, all connections and systems are designed fully redundantly. Multiple encryption, a multi-stage firewall layout and our own Security Response Team as well as numerous additional measures guarantee maximum IT safety, whilst our own Compliance Management and certified Chief Compliance Officer provide the corresponding legal safety. For its customers, walter services pro-actively sought confirmation and received the following independent certifications: ISO 9001, ISO / IEC 27001 and PCI DSS.

www.waltercloudservices.de

 

WHO IS WALTER SERVICES?
The walter services group counts among the largest and most successful customer service companies in Germany, with about 2,500 employees at 10 sites. For over 37 years, the service provider has been looking after large, renowned brands, ensuring added customer satisfaction.

Ettlingen / Cologne, December 2015. walter services has joined the Allianz für Cyber-Sicherheit (Alliance for Cyber Security) and is now a member of the initiative founded by the Federal Office for Internet Security (BSI) in collaboration with the Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM). This makes the service provider part of the alliance of companies and institutions that together are pursuing the objective of increasing cyber security in Germany and strengthening the country’s resistance to cyber attacks.

With almost 40 years of experience in customer service and in dealing with large volumes of personal data, the topic of security is of the utmost importance to walter services. When developing its new IT infrastructure, the company paid special attention to data protection and data security in addition to the parameters for performance and flexibility. This sensitive and personal customer data is only saved within walter services’ own network on a ‘private cloud’ on their own servers in their own certified data centre in Karlsruhe.

“For our clients, placing their customer interfaces in the hands of a service provider is basically a matter of trust. We have to gain this trust through the continuity of our service quality and performance as well as through security”, explains Frank Wagner, Chief Compliance Officer at walter services, on why the company was inspired to join the initiative. “Solely due to the massive amount of personal data involved in customer service, protecting and securing it is of extreme importance to us. Therefore, we’ve set very high priorities in this regard and have done a lot over the past two years. For example, we’ve invested massively in our new IT infrastructure and the highest security standards. In this respect, joining the Alliance for Cyber Security and sharing our experiences in this area was a logical step”.

Members are able to report cyber attacks in order to increase transparency regarding the methods and interests of attackers. Using this information, the Alliance for Cyber Security can continuously expand its extensive knowledge base for members and participants. Interest groups and bodies of experts also meet to discuss and exchange information. Ultimately, all these activities should help to sustainably hinder cyber attacks on institutions within the Federal Republic of Germany.

Dr. Benjamin Helbig, Chief Information Officer at walter services, knows what he’s talking about when it comes to the number of attempted attacks on corporate data centres. “Our security systems prevent around 500–750 attacks per day. In order to keep the risk as low as possible and to avoid potential damage, we make no compromises when it comes to data security. Against the backdrop of current developments in cyber crime and the safe harbour agreement, I can only say that our investment strategy was absolutely right”.

 

BACKGROUND
The unstoppable development of digital networking means that companies run the risk of becoming victims of cyber attacks. From practically anywhere in the world, operational processes can be observed, influenced and even permanently impaired as nowadays almost all of a company’s business processes are combined in various sophisticated information and communication technology systems. The study e-Crime 2015, published by KPMG, shows that in the past two years 40% of companies in Germany were affected by cyber crime with the average total amount of loss resulting from these offences coming to around €371,000 – in individual cases, losses of over €1 million were incurred. Server crashes immobilise individual departments and even entire production lines, and often lead to losses in sales. This is one reason why many rating agencies evaluate a company’s operational risk according to their IT security. However, the damage resulting from a cyber attack is not always obvious nor can it be directly quantified. It may be a long time after know-how theft or insights into sensitive company data have occurred that a system security breach can be held responsible. According to the KPMG study, violations of trade and corporate secrets can end up costing around €600,000 per instance. The only thing that is certain is that no industry and no company can say they are not affected by cyber crime.

 

WHO IS WALTER SERVICES?
The walter services group counts among the largest and most successful customer service companies in Germany, with about 2,500 employees at 10 sites. For over 37 years, the service provider has been looking after large, renowned brands, ensuring added customer satisfaction.

Ettlingen/Cologne, August 2015. In compliance with our customer and future oriented corporate identity, walter services group, one of the largest owner-operated customer cervice providers in Germany, has applied for the security certificate “Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard” (PCI-DSS) and fulfilled the comprehensive security requirements in all respects. This offer is part of an approach of aiming to cater for our clients’ needs and offer bespoke and top quality solutions for your company’s success.

There was one crucial argument for the PCI certificate: Whilst Germans still take a more critical stance when it comes to paying by credit card compared to most other nations in the world, the credit card is gaining ground nonetheless also in Germany. According to the study “EHI Online-Payment-Studie 2013”, 20.5 percent of customers pay for their purchases by credit card. Also the survey by statista speaks for itself: As of a net income of over 2,500 EUR, there are one or even several credit cards around in German households, and between 2009 and 2013 the value of transactions executed by credit cards increased almost by half from close to 40 to almost 60 billion EUR.

“Many people are not aware of the fact that the option to pay by credit card actually is a sign of the dealer’s reliability. The PCI certificate advocated by all the important credit card organizations manages the processing of credit card transactions in cashless payments and is an indispensable component of the transaction”, Frank Wagner, Chief Compliance Officer at walter services explains the company’s motivation. “If a commercial enterprise wants to offer its customers the option of paying by credit card, it has to comply with the strict PCI-DSS guidelines. To prove this, it agrees to a thorough examination. Depending on the transaction volume, there are different levels requiring regular checks of the security standards of a company or its service provider. Hence, the dealer has to make preparatory efforts for its customers’ trust.”

This is an investment that we at walter services are happy to save for our clients, all the while offering them multiple benefits. For the dealers, payment by direct debit and invoice means a high nonpayment risk, which does not apply in credit card transactions. For their customers, payment by credit card is straightforward and fast. This results in reduced cancellation rates during the ordering process and has a positive impact on sales – win-win!

Dr. Benjamin Helbig, Chief Information Officer of walter services group emphasizes: “We focus on reliability, security and trust. Our clients can pass these values on to their customers because we professionally assist companies in the development of their customer relationships and continuously invest in the reliability and quality of our systems. The PCI label is yet another certification walter services has obtained to cater for our customers’ needs, just like the ISO standard EN ISO 9001:2008 in pharmaceutics or the leading international standard for information security management systems ISO 27001 for our own computer center with server sites in Germany.”

WHO IS WALTER SERVICES?
The walter services group counts among the largest and most successful customer service companies in Germany, with about 2,500 employees at 10 sites. For over 37 years, the service provider has been looking after large, renowned brands, ensuring added customer satisfaction.

walterservices.com

 

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Cologne/Ettlingen, July 2015. One of the city’s largest employers, which is currently employing 350 people, has created many new jobs. The walter services group has generated 100 new job opportunities at their site in Cottbus as part of a project for their client Sky Deutschland. “We are pleased that Sky has decided to choose walter services and especially our site in Cottbus to work as a partner on their new major project. Once again, this highlights the successful and reliable collaboration we have had over the past years as well as the trust they have placed in our company,” said Kerstin Heinrich, Site Manager of walter services in Cottbus.

With over 4.2 million clients, Sky is a market leader in the Pay-TV industry in Germany and Austria. The walter services group is one of their oldest partners and they have assisted Sky as a consultant and support provider for existing clients. “We have already been successfully collaborating with walter services for nearly ten years. As a result, we have opted for a synergic approach for the rapid and successful development of our new major project,” explained Thorsten Meyer, Director of Revenue & Partner Relationship Management and Customer Service at Sky Deutschland.

Walter services will need a new team as of mid-August for this project. This means that 100 customer consultants will be needed to cover the telephone and postal consulting and support services for subscribers in Cottbus.

In mid-August, the first members of staff will already begin a 4-week training programme. This includes introductory and further trainings on Sky’s systems, products and services. The employees will also get intensive communication training. “Comprehensive training of our employees is very important to us because it gives them the assurance as well as the skills they need in their daily work. We are happy to invite anyone who is interested in the job to come to our information events,” announced Kerstin Heinrich.

 

INFORMATION EVENTS: DATES
Friday, 31/07: 10 am – 12 pm and 2 pm – 4 pm
Friday 07/08: 10 am – 12 pm and 2 pm – 4 pm

 

WHO IS WALTER SERVICES?
The walter services group is one of the largest and most successful customer service companies in Germany. The service provider has been working for over 37 years for major and renowned brands and strives to improve customer satisfaction. www.walterservices.com

Cologne/Ettlingen, July 2015. After the successful restructuring work at walter services, further
positive changes are imminent for the pioneer in the service provider industry. As a result of the
positive business development over the past months, the owners of walter services Holding GmbH
have decided to transfer the company into strategic hands.

The French Webhelp Group is set to purchase a substantial portion of the group, including the international business and the perry & knorr units. Meinolf Brauer, CEO of the walter services group, will take over the walter services companies in Germany as part of a management buyout and will continue to manage the business. The financial details of the agreements remain confidential.  In January 2014, the managerial team around Brauer knuckled down to restructure the walter services group and put it on a viable, forward-looking path again after the company had previously initiated insolvency protection proceedings. Originally, this process was scheduled to last five years. However, after just 18 months the team managed to lay such an excellent foundation that the owners could start
looking into sales as an option. The French Webhelp Group was one of several potential buyers. The four offices of perry & knorr in Flensburg, Kiel, Parchim and Berlin as well as walter services’ international units in Austria, Switzerland, Poland and Romania are expected to be transferred to the Webhelp Group as early as the end of July.

“I am proud to have found a truly reliable partner in the Webhelp Group. They will continue to professionally and sustainably develop the perry & knorr companies as well as walter services’ foreign representations. This was the aim we set on behalf of our employees and customers. That’s what we strove for,” says Meinolf Brauer, CEO of the walter services group.

Regarding the walter services companies in Germany, Brauer makes use of the option of a management buyout offered by the owners. “I’m so convinced of walter services as a company and of the success of the journey we have embarked upon that this is just a logical step. walter services will receive income from the Webhelp transactions, and we will use this to consistently invest in further optimization and quality growth.” The now owner-operated companies within the walter services group are: the walter services Holding, walter services Deutschland and the walter services companies in Berlin, Bremen, Cottbus, Ettlingen, Frankfurt (Oder), Magdeburg, Mannheim and Marburg accounting for about 2,600 members of staff as well as 130 members of staff at homechannel24.