A new force in comms has mobilised under the leadership of former commando Darren Hilton who's doffed his Green Beret in recognition of the high margin potential inherent in the Timico Partner Services channel campaign.
Not surprisingly Hilton rates passing his commando course and earning a Green Beret as a lifetime achievement and it is with a similar dedication to the cause that he pursues elite status in the channel for Timico's Partner Services. Like so many former Forces personnel Hilton found a home in the comms industry and formed an enterprise mobile applications business called Handheld PCs which was acquired by Timico in 2010. Hilton joined Timico's ranks and became the head of NewNet (another acquisition in 2010) moving the business to a wholly indirect model.
NewNet was established in 1995 to provide Internet connectivity, hosting, voice and networking solutions. The firm had built a presence in nine data centres across the UK and had made a significant LLU investment in key regions. NewNet rebranded as Timico Partner Services last month but the channel proposition has been in incubation for the past two years while the online ordering platform, PartnerEye, was in development.
"Having incubated the partner offering for two years while we built PartnerEye and recruited staff to support the channel, we now feel the time is right to launch the Timico Partners brand," explained Hilton, who is Director of Partner Services. "The offering is exciting and we have the right foundations in place. And with the support and financial backing from our parent company Timico Technology Group we are ready to promote our fresh and exciting new brand."
The backing Hilton refers to is significant. Timico Technology Group has grown significantly with 2012 turnover hitting £38.5 million, increasing to circa £42 million in 2013, with double digit growth projections for 2014. The company was founded in 2004 by Tim Radford and growth has been achieved through organic means and the acquisition of several service providers including Atlas Internet in 2005 and Redwood in 2012. According to Hilton, Timico wanted to offer a partner programme with a difference, essentially a tailored solution for each partner which would allow them the freedom and flexibility to order services for their customers and retain ownership.
"I'm excited to be bringing our new brand to the market when there's such a great opportunity, especially when we have the capability to deliver," he added. "It's a great time for us and I feel confident, with support from a fantastic team that we will continue to generate exponential growth. We want to build the brand and be recognised for our quality products and services while being flexible and creative with our solutions. Our aim is to be the supplier of choice with a large portfolio of quality partners who sell multiple products with confidence."
Hilton spent seven years in the military and the last 15 years in sales and senior management roles in the software, communications and Internet sectors. "I have broad experience as a reseller in the IT, mobile and connectivity sectors," he added. "Having a background across all of the technology sectors has been essential to my understanding of what the partners really need in order to grow their business. In my experience working with suppliers who genuinely invest time and effort in a business can have a massively disproportionate effect on their growth and success."
Timico has invested heavily in its network, data centres, SIP and hosted VoIP capability, which are all available to partners. The operational services include technical pre-sales, project management, technical support, product training and a straightforward ordering and billing portal. "We have built our proposition to make the portfolio of products and services simple to order and support," added Hilton. "The investment in our PartnerEye portal and also in a range of support staff, including pre-sales, technical support, provisioning and account management, are all crucial to allowing our partners to operate in the way they want to, while having confidence that all the support they need is available to them at any time. The portal can be accessed anywhere, from any device, with a range of packages to pick from to ensure the partner's sales cycle is as smooth as possible."
Target markets include Ethernet which, enthuses Hilton, presents partners with a 'massive opportunity'. "As broadband becomes a commodity and managed services become more popular, Ethernet takes over as a huge growth area for high bandwidth connectivity, which offers great margins for our partners," he said. "Another new growth area for us is Virtual Data Centres (VDC). Our partners can benefit from the infrastructure which has been heavily invested in by Timico Technology Group, so that they in turn can become VDC providers with the flexibility to go to market. Having the capability to accommodate all types of customer requests including hybrid solutions that include on-premise and the new virtual world is essential for our partners portfolio."
SIP trunking and hosted voice have now become a standard part of the product toolkit enabling resellers to have new conversations with customers around saving money and future-proofing their businesses. "Many businesses are solely dedicated to providing hosted services through the cloud," said Hilton. "As connectivity becomes increasingly important to the delivery of quality cloud-based solutions, these providers have had to make a strategic decision to provide this as part of the package to give them more control and, of course, make extra margin."
Timico has also witnessed success with its On-net presence around existing partner locations. "We currently have a number of exchanges that we have unbundled and are continuing to grow to increase our own On-net infrastructure," added Hilton. "One important aspect of this is working closely with partners on opportunities within their geographical locations to allow them to maximise their benefit from these investments."
Many IT resellers are evolving from generating one-off project-based income to more reliable monthly recurring revenue. This is a key focus for Timico Partners, pointed out Hilton, who is helping partners to progress towards this new model. "It's a challenge to find quality partners that are in growth and looking for the level of service that we can offer," commented Hilton. "It's also a difficult transition for some of our newer partners to shift from being wholly IT-focused to providing all of the extra services. We want to ensure that our partners receive training that's effective and memorable and it needs to be completed within the shortest timeframe possible. This helps them to build confidence in selling these new services and start creating new revenue by offering complete solutions rapidly."
Speed to market is a priority and to help partners respond fast to customer requirements they are demanding package pricing so that they can sell products speedily and efficiently, observed Hilton. "This presents a great opportunity to disrupt the market with some new Ethernet pricing and also provide a new tool which allows the partners to complete their own quotes quickly and easily," he added. "This is a real focus for Timico Partners and much time and money has been invested into developing a leased line quote tool on our PartnerEye ordering and billing platform."
The importance of having solid and in-growth relationships with channel partners has become a key focus for Timico. "Our partners already delivered a significant income to the Timico Technology Group's overall revenue which has naturally led to the business wanting a dedicated team to fuel this growth," commented Hilton. "We have a particular emphasis on developing partners in the IT industry and broadening their portfolios to offer managed services and Ethernet connectivity to their customers. We have a number of activities planned around partner generation. These include a racing day with 458 and F12 Ferraris in May and also race days at Goodwood where we can promote our offering while enjoying some downtime with our partners."•