Comms Dealer

Content Guru has been listed as a G-Cloud 8 (G8) Software-as-a-Service provider for its suite of storm communications, payment and management services.

G8 services became available on the Digital Marketplace on 1st August, providing an update to the previous iteration, G-Cloud 7, which went live in December 2015.

Martin Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer, commented: "Content Guru has over a decade of experience in providing advanced cloud solutions to the public sector, and G Cloud has proven an important route for us to reach government organisations whose needs we can meet.

'As such, we can't wait to take advantage of the many opportunities that the initiative offers for both suppliers and government bodies."

Entanet is hoping to catalyse more sales of Ethernet circuits by offering 100Mbps on 1Gbps Virgin on-net bearers for the same price as a 100Mbps on 100Mbps connections.

The offer, which runs until mid-November, sees Entanet getting behind on-net circuits provided by Virgin Media Business where demand has been greatest.

It enables Entanet partners to offer customers more flexibility to extend bandwidth without paying the higher premium normally charged for a 1Gbps bearer.

During the offer period, partners will be able to save around £1,500 over the contract term on orders for the higher capacity on-net bearers.

Stephen Barclay, Sales Director at Entanet, said: "It means resellers can offer better value to their customers and ensure that they keep coming back as their bandwidth needs increase.

"Demand for Ethernet services is rising all the time due to the increased use of hosted and cloud-based services and we've seen an increasing number of requests from customers to go beyond 100Mbps.

"Many businesses had underestimated how much additional bandwidth they'd need in the future and are getting close to using the full bandwidth capacity on their 100Mbps bearers. Our promotion means resellers can offer them plenty of room to accommodate their expanding bandwidth requirements."

A relocation to new offices in Croydon has readied ICUK for its next growth phase and recruitment drive.

Director Paul Barnett said: "Croydon is attracting £5.25bn investment over the next five years and our new office location places us at the heart of this regeneration, giving us a spring board to aid business connectivity in the area. We can now open ourselves up to a wider workforce who simply don't want to endure the daily grind into central London."

Leslie Costar, Director, added: "2016 has seen ICUK witness growth in excess of 130% in our portfolio. Although much of this has been managed through automation of our in-house portal, we recognise the importance of talented individuals and will be expanding our team."

US-based Datapipe has bolstered its presence in the European market with the acquisition of UK managed cloud services provider and Advanced AWS Consulting Partner Adapt for an undisclosed sum.

Datapipe CEO Robb Allen said: "Our similar approach to guiding client's on their cloud journey makes the acquisition a natural fit for us and will increase our scale and service capabilities in the UK and broader European market."

The acquisition bolsters Adapt's pure managed cloud proposition and global reach and gives its customers access to Datapipe's global data centres and cloud, compliance, security, governance, automation and DevOps solutions.

Stewart Smythe, CEO at Adapt, stated: "UK-only consolidations in our space can get messy and be short-sighted. We have chosen a far more exciting path.

"We are seeing emerging customer requirements for a tactical and strategic presence overseas so it makes sense for us to advance the UK's capability in a global market rather than create more bulky domestic organisations. This agreement is about mutually enhancing regional and global capabilities."

The acquisition is part of Datapipe's strategy to gain momentum in the management of multiple cloud platforms, including AWS, Microsoft Azure and its own hosted private cloud Stratosphere.

Last year the company acquired AWS assessment, automation, and migration company DualSpark to simplify the complexity of migrating and optimising apps and infrastructure in public clouds.

The Institute of Telecommunications Professionals (ITP) has issued its advice for telecoms companies on the apprenticeship levy, following the government's announcement that the scheme will go ahead next year.
 
The levy is designed to fund 3 million places for apprentices, paid for by companies with a payroll of more than £3m and charged at a rate of 0.5% of their annual bill. The scheme will start in 6th April 2017, despite calls for a delay from business leaders due to economic uncertainty.
 
For the telecoms industry, this means:
• All companies with a wage bill of over £3m per annum will be required to pay the levy into a digital account which the government will top up by 10%.
• Those with a lesser bill than £3m will not be required to pay, but can draw from the scheme. 
• Levy-paying employers will use money in their digital account to pay for apprenticeship training.  If they do not have enough money in their account, the government will 'co-invest' with the employer to cover the extra amount needed.
• Non-levy paying employers will only be required to contribute 10% of the cost of training an apprentice. The government will cover the 90% of remaining training costs, and will also cover 90% of the extra amount if levy-paying customers do not have enough funds to cover all costs.
• Small employers will not pay anything if they employ apprentices under the age of 19, and will receive a £1k payment with an additional £1k payment to the training provider.
• Employers not using their levy fund within 18 months will lose it and the government will reclaim it.
• The next funding guidance will be published in October 2016.
 
"Despite a mixed reception, and some resistance from key business groups, the long awaited apprenticeship levy will go ahead," said Ann Potterton, CEO of the ITP. "We welcome a scheme which encourages more apprenticeships for young people. However, with only nine months until it comes into play, and only six months from guidance publication to set up, telecoms companies need to act now to make sure they are prepared."
 
The ITP recommends:
• Those with a wage bill of more than £3m access the government's online calculator to work out how much they will need to pay. They will need to know the percentage of their workforce living in England, and the type of apprenticeship training they will need.
• Ensure all payroll systems are set up to start paying the levy from April 2017.
• Funding will be received via a digital government account which businesses will need to register with from January 2017. 
• All companies should start to look at recruiting apprentices either in-house or through an official scheme straight away.
 
Potterton added: "The ITP is the only organisation which specialises in telecoms apprenticeships, and our current scheme is still available until April. We are actively recruiting companies wanting to start apprenticeship schemes this autumn or next spring, and can help with the recruitment, funding and administration. We can also help businesses to understand what they will pay, what they are entitled to, and how to spend the levy or set up their own scheme to grow their own talent."

Pinacl has cosied up to international customers who procure centrally from London with a move into new offices at 1 Canada Square in Canary Wharf.

Liam Wynne, Global Account Director, said: "The move allows us to be more effective in responding to the needs of our customer base. It also affords us the opportunity to expand our core solutions into the city."

Pinacl MD Rob Bardwell added: "We are in an exciting growth period following the management buyout a year ago. Our presence in London puts us at the heart of one of our key customer markets."

Anyone seeking a foretaste of the future role of analytics in shaping the customer experience need look no further than last month's round table discussion hosted by TeleWare in association with Comms Dealer.

It is beyond argument that big data - universally acknowledged as a boon to the industry and a sector obsession - has brought with it real challenges when harnessing, segmenting and monetising the expanding sea of information that sits both within and outside an organisation's network. The round table discussion shone an overdue spotlight on the intrinsic potential of big data and the industry's efforts to fully realise the commercial value of deep and useful insights provided by analytics.

The issues revealed by the debate are as fundamental as the freedom of customers to persecute organisations that provide a bad contact experience. Disaffected clients can easily post negative social media reviews in real-time and switch to competitors at the drop of a hat. Not for nothing therefore will analytics and systems integration become a dominant theme. But what is to be the nature of the new reign?

"We work in the customer engagement contact centre world," commented Martin Taylor, CMO at Redwood Technologies. "We're seeing demand for voice-type control and service levels, such as monitoring and recording, applied across all channels including email, web chat and social. Customers want to achieve this without creating too many silos and inefficiency, and integrate more closely with information systems, particularly CRM. This is a business level decision rather than an IT function because it introduces more automation while reshaping the entire organisation."

Customer interactions have in the past been constrained to a traditional phone call, but digitalisation and social media have let loose the fall-out of a bad customer experience across numerous channels. Much of the impact of this multi-channel environment comes from how data is managed and handled. Not surprisingly, data analytics has assumed a unique potency in the industry's mind. "There is strength in understanding your customers quicker than anyone else and adapting to them," said Derek Watson, Managing Director at Aurora. "Knowing customers is your biggest asset, along with your speed of learning."

What also matters is how organisations react to their customers as individuals, and how the industry enables businesses to deliver an impeccable customer service. "The conversation is different, it's based on the company's aims and objectives," said Peter Gee, Managing Director at NIU Solutions. "We work with financial organisations. This sector is competitive and acquiring customers hinges on the digital customer experience. It's about how we can help their business as a trusted advisor. Technology is the enabler, not the answer. Customers see value and differentiation in this approach."

Analytics and the customer experience are inseparable and represent a new direction for the industry that will see data scrutinised with the sublime concentration of a scientist and the results applied in imaginative ways. What matters most is how the industry responds. Rob Quickenden, Chief Strategy Officer at Cisilion, cited one example of how the company is helping customers play the analytics trump card. "We're currently working with a large fitness company," he stated. "This is a competitive market and the organisation is struggling to keep members. It therefore wants to analyse how sales teams are interacting with the consumer base and how they integrate with Facebook and Twitter.

"But the social media team is not aligned to the sales department. Analytics are applied to sales calls only, while other contacts between staff and customers are unmeasured. That data is out there and we need a mechanism to join it up. Because of this we are seeing high level conversations outside of IT. It's about having an open infrastructure that harnesses every part of the customer journey. It's also about understanding not just the business's behaviour but also how consumer behaviour impacts their organisation."

Finding a way through the thickets of an information forest towards the sunny uplands of effective data analytics poses a strategic obstacle for any organisation. It's a difficulty TeleWare is addressing with gusto. "Joining up data with different medias across the whole customer journey, including information that sits outside of the organisation such as social media, is a challenge," stated Steve Haworth, CEO at TeleWare. "There is a lot of data external to businesses that can be pulled in."

The rapid rise of analytics is like a hit over the industry's head, powerful enough to cause a re-examination of traditional modes of operation and influential enough to redefine the customer experience and how that is best delivered. Why? Because those who live by the loyalty of their customers can easily die by their inability to give customers what they want, which is likely to be increasingly complex, according to Quickenden.

"One of our customers wants to integrate LinkedIn and their CRM system," he added. "They want a system that automatically updates itself to let them know when a key customer contact moves job. Losing a head of purchasing or CFO can have a big impact in the B2B market and affect relationships. This is how analytics and system cohesion works. Not having this information could give business rivals an edge, and also bring new opportunities for companies that have strong relationships with key people who move on."

Tightly integrated systems also enable organisations to become adept at giving customers what they want first time around and draw strength from the customer experience they offer. But strengthening their ability to deal with high numbers of contacts is a different matter altogether. "You can have qualified people dealing with a small number of enquiries, but what some of our customers in the health sector face, for example, is massive volumes of demand and the only way to scale the knowledge is to automate it," said Taylor. "You can't possibly provide a knowledge-based service at great scale."

The implications of automation may seem a distraction from the personalised intelligence offered by deeply segmented analytics but it is nonetheless a direction of the industry. "There is a rise in demand for self-service automation, especially in B2B," observed Graham Harris, Product Director at Daisy Wholesale. "In B2C this has already been delivered. We can book so much online for example and it's a painless experience. In B2B we will see growing demand for self-service interactions."

Just as intriguing is the gradual development of commodity-type products. It won't be long before big networking solutions will be built via a portal with drag and drop control of routers and security apps etc. "This 'build your own' network model with auto configuration is coming through," added Harris. "That's an interesting dynamic in the VAR space, very different from vendors telling VARs to skill up and make money from professional services."

The potential shrinkage of revenue steams derived from professional services adds more emphasis to the role of analytics in generating incremental growth based on a differentiated customer experience. Whether customer contacts are automated or personalised the quality of the experience remains crucial. "If you can't change the user experience customers will move elsewhere," added Gee. "The challenge is to service multiple customers. Agents are able to conduct a number of chats at the same time rather than one phone call. It's a shift that cannot be ignored. A big finance company we work with conducts 80 per cent of contacts online and 20 per cent on the phone.

"Budgets are tightening and competition is increasing. The hospitality sector for example is super competitive and there's pressure on IT budgets to come down and be more efficient. At the same time I've got to innovate and differentiate my business. Doing better with less money is a massive problem. You can't do it just through technology, you have to work on partnerships that help to sell and apply information and data."

All of the above are issues and challenges that no channel business can realistically avoid, and they must show courage in uncertain times. "Post-Brexit fear is affecting how people make decisions," pointed out Bill Smith, Director at STL Communications. "We are seeing an over reaction in the market that puts people off making decisions. In 2008 buyers sat on their hands which didn't help us sell. This will be the case for two tough-ish years and could be a catalyst for change as organisations seek to do things better and cheaper to mitigate the effects of Brexit."

Rather than default to a defensive position and cave in to economic insecurities in the wake of Brexit, channel firms must shun uncertainty and take positive action to harness the untapped data that exists. This agenda is already set by Zen's partners, noted Martin Clarke, Head of Channel Sales. "Our partners want greater access to our data and our analytics," he said. "There's a lot of data in the business but external access to detailed analytics has been limited. Now the partner base is showing big demand for more insights to be presented to CRM systems. This is an interesting dynamic and something we're keen to exploit."

This push for more insights is symptomatic of an industry in a state of permanent flux, and signifies that whoever finds differentiation, by whatever means, is in control. "Our industry has grown accustomed to rapid change but it is increasingly difficult to differentiate against competitors and generate revenue by monetising our offerings," stated Mark Rosson, Managing Director at Connect North. "The smart organisations will embrace analytics as a means of getting closer to customers and partners, both of which are ultimately our most valuable business assets."

The rise of data analytics is a stroke of good fortune for the channel, and a welcome antidote to a number of challenges that is starting to deliver results. Sensing the way the wind is blowing, Haworth showed a determination to lead the industry. "We're investing heavily in analytics," he said. "The capability to analyse data at a granular level, understand individual preferences and drive recurring revenue will increase the value of an organisation. It's about rich data and knowing how to segment it in the right way. The challenge is working out where that value lies, how we use data, what can be charged and where that money comes from. As well as investing in the analytics piece TeleWare is betting heavily on Skype for Business. We see a massive industry shift into the IT world, away from pure comms."•

Regulator Ofcom 'took on' BT but its bigger test will be convincing a sceptical comms industry that it has gone far enough.

Ofcom's ruling not to split off Openreach from BT reflects the regulator's lack of strategic vision and its inability to take a tough decision for the better, according to Ricky Nicol (pictured), Chief Executive at Commsworld. He believes Ofcom's reluctance to break Openreach away from BT is more about the pension deficit within the Group and the financial issues this would create, rather than any real strategic play. He said: "This will be the last throw of the dice for BT to hold onto Openreach and is a result of short-sighted conclusions from Ofcom.

"It is wrong to maintain what is effectively a monopoly. This will not encourage investment in the critically important infrastructure the UK needs for prosperity and development. We have many customers still waiting, after more than two years, to get connectivity; and over 20 customers have been waiting for more than a year. The UK is desperate for an improvement and the best way is via a competitive choice for customers."

Full separation was never an option given the complications of pension fund obligations, noted Adept Telecom's CEO Ian Fishwick. "There are probably more ex-employees than employees and most worked before Openreach even existed," he said. "So if you break off Openreach how do you decide what portion of the pension issue it takes with it? Many have been under the false impression that Openreach was a separate company with its own financial accounts. It never has been and it is amazing Ofcom has allowed this for so long.

"Perhaps the biggest issue is how the cash generated from Openreach's profits is used. Should BT be allowed to treat it as Group cash and fund areas like football TV rights? Or should Openreach be forced to spend its own cash on improving the UK's infrastructure? I sit firmly in the latter camp. Whether anything changes depends on how this will be enforced. The devil is in the detail."

SAS CEO Charles Davis called on Openreach to rethink its future role in the industry. "A fundamental mind-set change is required by Openreach to show that the carrier industry can enable UK businesses rather than be seen as a limiting factor," he stated. "The status quo that BT has been able sustain has delivered little improvement to businesses and consumers. Of course there are complex issues for Openreach to resolve in a BT-exit such as who to manage the pension fund, but just like Brexit workable solutions can be found."

According to Ralph Gilbert, Director at Focus Group, there is a long way to go to level the playing field, a situation not helped by Openreach being under the umbrella of the BT Group. "I am concerned about the proposal," he commented. "It would seem the larger CPs such as BT Retail, TalkTalk and Sky will be major Openreach customers which means smaller CPs may struggle to compete if there are preferential rates on infrastructure services."

These issues ultimately depend on how Openreach operates as a distinct company and how its leaders make decisions. Under Ofcom's proposals non-executive directors, including the chair, will form the majority of the new board and be appointed and removed by BT in consultation with Ofcom. The regulator recommends that Openreach should develop its own strategy and annual operating plans within an overall budget set by BT Group.

Ofcom's CEO Sharon White added: "The new Openreach board will have to take investment decisions as a matter of law and the decisions must work for the whole of the UK. I understand why people see the attraction of selling off Openreach. It seems straightforward, but, for example, pension issues could take years to resolve. These new rules provide all the benefits of separating Openreach and can happen straight away, without delay."

Ofcom will monitor the 'new Openreach' and board level decisions and judge whether they are being taken in the interest of customers. "If this does not deliver independence, faster broadband and better service we reserve the right to revisit a sell-off," added White. "There needs to be more investment in fibre to the doorstep, with engineers arriving on time and doing the job first time."

In February Ofcom made it easier for telecoms providers to invest in competing infrastructure by improving access to Openreach's network of telegraph poles and its ducts. On 31st July new rules came into force giving telecoms providers further rights to access physical infrastructure. These measures are designed to reduce the cost of deploying broadband networks by sharing access to infrastructure across different sectors.

Ofcom also announced a range of measures to ensure that all phone and broadband companies provide an expected quality of service. Since then the regulator has taken more steps to improve services as well as boosting coverage, such as automatic compensation and easier switching. Ofcom has set out stricter minimum requirements for Openreach to repair faults and install new lines more quickly. From next year, the regulator will publish tables on communications providers' quality of service.

Ofcom's new plans followed last month's CMS Select Committee report which criticised Openreach for its poor quality of service and BT's under investment in the UK's digital infrastructure.

 Colt is targeting a new set of agents and ramping up its channel activity following a period of double digit growth via partners.

The man at the centre of Colt's channel expansion bid is James Kershaw, Sales Director for the Indirect Channel. He joined the company in 2010 and manages channel development across its northern region. Previous roles include stints at Lixxus and Claranet; and he's seen a big shift in the market with customers wanting more consultancy and independent advice before signing up to a service. "This is primarily due to digitalisation which has brought with it a myriad of companies offering a variety of services, creating more information to digest than ever before. So identifying the right partner is not always a straightforward task," said Kershaw.

Colt is hoping to attract resellers with the skills to help companies move to the cloud and digitally transform their businesses, as well as manage this process with IT services. "Colt will enable partners to have a wider conversation with customers through a consultative service around their business challenges," stated Kershaw. "And help them to scope out a project based on a business outcome, not a piece of telecoms equipment or technology.

"These new agents will be able to support the business with the right storage, IT virtualisation and mobility operations alongside other solutions. Colt's high bandwidth network infrastructure will enable these information intensive businesses."

Kershaw has witnessed, in particular, greater usage of Colt's core data and voice products. "When looking at data, 1Gb and 10Gb circuits are now the norm, and we are continuously helping more of our customers connect to cloud providers," he said. "For voice, the migration to SIP/VoIP from traditional TDM has been significant year-on-year and, as well as immediate cost savings, customers have been able to utilise a wider range of features previously unavailable to them. These were the main contributors to the double digit growth Colt saw in its agent channel last year."

Colt's portfolio includes Software Defined Networks (SDN), Direct Cloud Access (DCA) and UC services. Kershaw says many agencies have won a number of complex pan-European deals and significantly grown their customer numbers by selling services such as these. "The agent model allows Colt to collaborate with customers on every level," noted Kershaw. "We must ensure that we can offer services to both our direct, larger and enterprise customers, as well as the vast number of SME accounts.

Companies want support throughout a business project and not just to be provided with a product such as mobile working or just selling phone lines. Organisations are becoming less sensitive and loyal to a technology, but instead want a combination of solutions to their business problems. The push for consultancy is also driven by large companies moving their infrastructure into the cloud, or starting new IT projects. They understand that this can't be handled in-house."

Colt's new consultancy model draws on experiences gained in the US and Germany where a fresh channel approach has already been deployed. "The agent model is well established in these two regions, and it has shown us that if executed and supported in the right way it is an invaluable route to market for us as a supplier and the end customer regardless of their size," commented Kershaw. "The 'sell with' model gets Colt closer to the end customers and allows us to better address the business need in every account, which means we can deliver a bespoke and relevant solution."

In the UK, the SME market accounts for 99 per cent of the operating businesses so companies like Colt need to adopt these types of agent models to increase their 'feet on the street' in order to grow the customer base. "Due to the vast number of companies in the UK SME market agents will help Colt to address a far wider proportion of businesses as an extended workforce," commented Kershaw. "At almost every level a customer now has far higher expectations from vendors such as Colt. Gone are the days where providers can set the expectations when it comes to initial delivery time, support hours or communication methods.

"Businesses now need services in days, or even hours, rather than months. They want to make a change in real-time without order forms or, in some cases, talking to us. Providers that aren't evolving or listening to the new fluid generation of CTOs, CIO and COOs will miss this natural evolution."

Colt's new partners enter the 'Flying Start' programme which offers a combination of learning platforms and materials. Portals keep partners and agents informed on the latest product releases, as well as educating them about related technical aspects that complement the product range. Colt has also introduced new measures to increase customer retention and minimise churn, covering the various customer touch points and the output score is reflected in an agent's development plan. "Colt agents, or trusted advisors, only need to focus on customers, everything else is covered," said Kershaw.•

Decisive and dynamic action should be the channel's only response to the fizzing M2M market, according to Comms365 Managing Director Mike Van Bunnens.

In this time of M2M and IoT expansion it would be foolish for the channel not to play to its traditional strengths of agility and adaptability; and the biggest threat to a reseller's business is to ignore what could be their greatest opportunity for years, believes Van Bunnens. It is clear to him where the future lies. "There is a chance for resellers to grab a share of this market, add value to the existing customer base, increase differentiation while gaining a foothold in a fast moving dynamic sector," he stated. "It's time for resellers to get serious about M2M."

This is no time to be impartial, according to Van Bunnens, who two months ago instilled a bias towards M2M in the Comms365 business following the appointment of two IoT heavyweights, Nick Sacke as Head of IoT and Products and Situl Shah as Head of Business Development, all part of a push to drive IoT solutions via partners.

They bring 45-plus years joint experience including expertise in developing and implementing IoT, M2M, wireless, IT security and managed ICT solutions. The move is a clear sign of the future direction of the business, focused on enhanced connectivity, M2M and cloud solutions.

Decision time is here and there's no place for half-hearted gestures. "What is holding the reseller community back?," asked Van Bunnens. "Why are resellers not leveraging their experience in both mobile telephony and corporate communications to deliver high value M2M deployments? Even those that have dabbled in mobile data, including broadband and Internet services, are typically opting for a turnkey solution and reselling a carrier's bundle with no added value or differentiation. They should step back and consider the opportunities that exist even within their current client base. It will soon become clear that most resellers could rapidly identify mobile data opportunities, from remote monitoring and management to backup."

From smartphone enabled bike locks and talking vending machines, to remote management of water treatment works and CCTV, M2M comms is transforming life for businesses and consumers. Yet to date, few traditional telecoms resellers have addressed this market. Van Bunnens insists that M2M offers a 'fantastic opportunity' to add significant revenue and create a 'compelling and differentiated offer'. "Whether you call it M2M, the Internet of Things, telematics or pervasive Internet, the truth is that the ease, speed and security of the latest generation of mobile data technology is opening up great opportunities for innovative businesses," he said.

M2M now underpins a raft of business applications - from EPOS and ticket machines to CCTV, digital signage and parcel tracking - but the majority of such implementations have been carried out by the main service providers. Few resellers have gained traction in this market despite the opportunity. Perhaps their slow reaction is due to the practical challenges associated with entering this market.

"While M2M offers opportunities not only to add revenue but also to create clear market differentiation, it is not a straightforward transition from mobile voice to mobile data," stated Van Bunnens. "And the lack of reseller friendly education and support has without doubt constrained M2M market development.

"This is an area that has been dominated by a small numbers of players, primarily the service providers. To gain a share resellers will need to consider an evolution of the business model and some investment in additional resources. Data is certainly more complex than voice. Applications, security, hardware, configuration, support, monitoring and management are all essential components of a successful M2M deployment, and resellers can also benefit from reusing existing skills and capabilities to add value into the marketplace."

Van Bunnens emphasised that it is important for resellers to understand where value can be added and the types of applications or connectivity that can be successfully introduced to a portfolio. "M2M has been based traditionally around small packets of data and therefore relatively low cost but high volume connectivity," he explained. "How easy would it be to gear up to manage thousands of connections transmitting 1MB or 2MB of data a month and the associated support that follows a large deployment? Or, is the existing model perhaps more suited to providing larger data requirements where the end application includes Internet access, video and other more bandwidth hungry services?"

Resellers can continue to ignore M2M or simply opt for the basic reselling of a carrier's turnkey solution. But for those that want to actively embrace this rapidly developing market and gain some clear differentiation, there are a few key steps to take. Firstly, understand the opportunities. "This requires a partner with a demonstrable track record across the board in M2M/IoT deployments, from fixed IP SIMs to wind turbines, and one that can highlight potential pitfalls and wider opportunities within a deployment," stated Van Bunnens. "Also, remember that M2M requires a multi-year commitment from both sides including daily support. After all, this type of service is long-term, not just a quick fad that can be started and stopped at will.

"M2M will continue to evolve at pace and the next wave will see applications and security become prominent factors for differentiation. Right now, the market is dominated by a few companies, many of which are not always providing the depth of service required."•