The 'total eclipse' of the Eclipse name by its parent KCOM within an overall rebrand project will be greeted with ambivalence by some and a degree of surprise, even trepidation by others, so Comms Dealer grabbed an hour with KCOM Director Pete Tomlinson and quizzed him on the thinking behind the strategy and any effect it may have on its partner channel.
For over a decade Eclipse has built a solid reputation with its reseller partners for the support and service it provides in the supply of connectivity and cloud infrastructures to SME and mid-markets in the UK. Originally founded by Mark Langdon as an Internet services business, Eclipse was acquired by KCOM in 2006. Unaudited figures from September 2014 to September 2015 saw Eclipse's revenues up £3 million on the previous year at £29.6 million, and up to September 2015 revenues had already hit £19 million with an EBITDA of £3.9 million. Overall, KCOM Group revenues for 2014/15 were £128.3 million with an EBITDA of £13.1 million.
All this means Eclipse accounted for 30 per cent of Group profits and will perform equally well if not better this financial year. With this in mind our first question for Tomlinson had to be, why fix what wasn't broken? "I think we're rather like a couple that have been living together for the past decade finally deciding to get married, take the same name and living happily ever after. Changing a name won't change a business, for better or worse," he said. "We are deliberately doing this under a rebranded KCOM and this was the right thing to do. It simplifies our business, brings together our four market facing brands - KCOM, Eclipse, KC and Smart421 - and makes it easier for customers to access all of our capabilities."
Tomlinson confirmed that although the final brand logo was designed by an outside agency the original decision to dissolve the popular Eclipse name and unify the four divisions under the KCOM brand (which has less resonance in the reseller channel) was arrived at democratically within the KCOM Group.
"We've been simplifying our business behind the scenes for some time and while we've still some work do, now was the right time to visibly move our companies to a single brand. This wasn't a directive from some 'outside entity', this was a joint commitment by each of our original Group brands to come together and give our customers access to all of our expertise. The thinking was driven by our colleagues across the business, but we also believe it is important to bring in outside specialists where they can add value. So it's been a mix of both, but we all had a say in the final decision.
"While moving to a single brand is the most visible thing for customers, it is really something of an evolution across all our brands. I understand some partners will be a little nervous and maybe even sad to see the Eclipse name replaced by KCOM. We get that, but it's the same people supporting them in the same way so they needn't worry."
Tomlinson has been instrumental in building the Eclipse brand and its reputation in the channel, so was he and his partners sorry to see it go? "I've had an incredible time leading the transformation of the Eclipse brand over the past four years and I'm amazingly proud of what the team has created. However, for all that time I've also been part of a wider KCOM Group leadership team, so it's not about leaving something behind, it's about new opportunities for us and our partners.
"I think people can get too hung up on a name. I will always fight to keep everything that Eclipse stood for alive in terms of service, culture and capability. That's really the whole point of bringing the brands together across our organisation. We've been talking to our channel partners throughout the process and made sure that they were informed. Honestly, the reaction has ranged from a resounding 'meh!' to simply 'just don't mess up what we like about you guys', which were both reasonable reactions.
"Our original KCOM brand has a long history in the channel, but we're also aware that recently Eclipse has had a higher profile as a fast growing challenger brand. If we get it right our new KCOM identity has the potential to deliver the best of both worlds. I think we will, but I call on all our partners to challenge us if ever we don't get right, so we can fix it quickly. Over time our offering will expand but we're very keen to keep our partner portal and the personalities behind it exactly the same."
Tomlinson confirmed that the channel will remain a core part of how the company goes to market. "I'm a firm believer in not having separate 'channel' and 'direct' brands," he added. "In fact, your readers who were at the last Comms Vision event will remember me talking about just this point alongside our Head of Direct Sales when he was running a WAN sales master class for partners."
Tomlinson stressed that one important change from the unification that could be most advantageous to partners will be the opportunity to add extra services to their portfolios. "We have a lot of capability that partners cannot easily access right now, or it's not in a service model that works for them. The unification of our four divisions makes it easier for us to fix that and innovate as one business."•