Comms Dealer

Comms watchdog Ofcom has placed new demands on BT to improve its service, including rules for Openreach to speed up the installation of high speed business lines and reduce wholesale costs, aiming to bring prices down over a three year period from 1st May 2016.

The main charge controls relate to newer Ethernet lines (initial reduction in prices of 12 per cent) and older leased lines using traditional interface technology (initial nine per cent reduction). Ofcom also confirmed that BT's dark fibre network should be accessible to competitors. The announcement follows the regulator's Strategic Review of Digital Communications that outlined plans to impose tougher standards on BT's Openreach division.

Ofcom's report stated that since 2011 the average time between a customer's order and the line being ready has increased from 40 to 48 working days. Ofcom's proposals would require BT to reduce this to 46 working days by the end of March 2017, and return it to 40 working days the following year. The regulator also found that Openreach is failing to complete one in four leased line installations on the stated install date, and is proposing that by the end of March 2017 Openreach must complete 80 per cent of leased line orders by the date it promises customers, rising to 90 per cent from April 2018.

Ofcom has also said that Openreach must fix at least 94 per cent of faults on its leased line network within five hours. Jonathan Oxley (pictured), Ofcom Competition Group Director, said: "These new rules will mean companies across the UK benefit from faster installation times, greater certainty about installation dates and fast repairs if things go wrong."

Ofcom also requires BT to provide access to its optical fibre network, giving competitors physical access to its fibre optic cables and allowing them to take direct control of the connection. Oxley added: "We have outlined plans to reduce the country's reliance on BT's Openreach division. Our proposals on dark fibre do just that, letting BT's competitors better serve their customers by getting direct access to BT's optical fibre cables."

As part of the dark fibre proposals Ofcom would require BT to publish a draft 'reference offer' for industry, containing wholesale pricing and terms for access by 1st September 2016.

This would then be subject to negotiation between BT and other providers, with a view to BT publishing a final reference offer by 1st December 2016. Dark fibre access would then be available to telecoms providers from 1st October 2017.

The plans form part of Ofcom's Business Connectivity Market Review (BCMR). The new rules will be finalised at the end of April subject to consideration by the European Commission. BT responded quickly to Ofcom's new proposals, saying 'no surprises here'. In a statement the telco asserted that 'there is a strong case for less, not more, regulation'. BT conceded that service improvements are required and believes that Ofcom's proposals will have a detrimental impact on achieving its aims. The BT statement said, 'The required Ethernet price cuts and the introduction of dark fibre will not help to underpin service improvement'.

In its response to Ofcom's demands, BT described dark fibre as a 'flawed piece of regulation that introduces an unnecessary layer of complexity and will deter others from building their own fibre networks, which is at odds with Ofcom's recent statements about increasing competition at the infrastructure level. It is a cherry pickers charter benefiting those who don't invest in networks at the expense of those who do including BT, Virgin Media, CityFibre and Zayo'.

Mark Collins, Director of Strategy at CityFibre, said: "Ahead of the BCMR consultation we strongly urged Ofcom to ensure that any future approach to regulated pricing in no way distorts the market or discourages investment by independent infrastructure builders. We are in the process of reviewing the BCMR draft statement in detail to determine if Ofcom has achieved the correct balance of access regulation to Openreach's infrastructure with the appropriate incentives to support investment in new independent fibre infrastructure.

"Although Ofcom has recognised that Openreach needs to improve its business service delivery, the addition of dark fibre into its product portfolio will clearly add yet another layer of service and operational complexity." •

plan.com's remarkable growth trajectory must lift the spirits of all ambitious channel players with business expansion on their mind.

There is no doubting the drive that propels plan.com. The mobile distributor made its first connection in May 2014 and is already aiming to become a billion pound company, its ambitions fuelled largely by partner recruitment and an all-singing, all-dancing portal. "Our formula when we entered the channel was simple - ask partners what they want, listen to what they say and deliver it," said Chris Smith, Head of Business Development. "We expect to have over 550 partners signed up by the end of Q2 and the rate of recruitment has been consistently high since we signed up our first partner in April 2014."

Smith has no intention of relinquishing his growth objectives, which will soon be bolstered by initiatives to turn whole swaths of prospective partners into enthusiastic mobile, IoT and hosted VoIP providers, two service areas that have proved to be among the richest resources of revenue generation in the company's experience to date. "We expect our mobile base to double in 2016 and again in 2017," he added. "We are seeing strong growth across our other products with the standout areas being IoT and hosted VoIP, both of which are on target to contribute over 25 per cent of total revenues within the next 12 months."

With so many enthusiastic partners working on delivering next generation technologies, plan.com's channel engagement has naturally shifted up a gear. "We have been surprised by the speed of our growth, and impressed by how quickly our mobile partners have been adopting new products such as IoT and Hosted VoIP," commented Smith. "For partners, the first deal with a new product requires some handholding, thereafter they are flying. We have many success stories already, from a two-man business winning a significant IoT contract to a partner going from having never connected VoIP to more than 100 connections per month in less than six months.

"We see opportunities everywhere we look. In the partner channel there is a massive opportunity for dealers, partners and resellers of all shapes and sizes to add new products to their portfolios quickly and easily. We have already seen a large proportion of our mobile partners take up IoT and hosted VoIP and are starting to see IT resellers getting into mobile. The portal enables partners to build out their portfolios, drive revenues and profitability and become suppliers of unified comms. This alone will keep us busy for years."

Traditionally, noted Smith, the partner channel focuses on delivering to the 'one-man band', SoHo and micro to mid-SME space. "However, we have found that our proposition has enabled even the smallest of partners to compete and capture business with customers involving thousands of devices," he commented. "We have mobile partners selling hosted VoIP and IT resellers selling mobile. And we have everybody selling IoT and embracing that opportunity. We all know that IoT is going to be huge, and we have made significant inroads by leveraging the power of our portal to enable partners to quickly build customised IoT quotes and then wrap around a team of experts to support and handhold our partners to help them win business."

Having extolled the merits of a supportive team it follows that 'people power' plays a key role in the company's customer engagement strategy and growth ambitions. To underline its commitment to growth and to support the role of partners in its business plan plan.com has made a trio of important hires as it moves into a new phase of expansion. Angie Ablard joins as Head of Sales this month, Chris Reilly was appointed Training Manager in March, and Dominic Barnes joined from Carphone Warehouse in February where he was one of its most senior and successful BDMs. "We have positioned the team for the next stage of our growth," added Smith. "The fact that we have been able to secure high calibre individuals is also testament to the position we have achieved in the market in a short space of time."

Smith declared himself ready to welcome partners from all backgrounds, and his strong embrace is made possible by plan.com's advanced portal which also functions as a gateway for partners to enter new markets. "We set out to provide a proposition that allows all partners to literally become the network operator," he commented. "The tools put partners in the shoes of the operator, enabling them to offer proactive customer service which drives loyalty and retention.

"At the same time, we give partners freedom and control, allowing them to manage their business from anywhere in the world on a laptop, tablet or mobile. There is a significant opportunity to offer the portal to audiences outside our traditionally mobile-centric base, and get more partners onboard to sell more of our products. We have a high level roadmap and 'one billion pound company' is our destination. We'll write the story as we progress, seizing existing opportunities and creating new ones on the journey."•

Exclusive Networks UK Managing Director Graham Jones explains how Attila the Hun helped to turn a page in his life's narrative and start a new chapter in the distributor's UK story.

Exclusive Group racked up organic growth of 31 per cent and total revenues of 1.4 billion euro in 2015. Acquisitions helped to push the distributor past the one billion annual revenues target nearly two years ahead of plan, and a strong performance in the UK generated 55-plus per cent yearly growth under the leadership of Jones. He hasn't always flown so highly, having nose dived to a career low point earlier in his working life. But the experience proved to be a springboard of great significance.

Down on his luck, Jones found inspiration from a book on Attila the Hun, developed new perspectives on doing business and was revitalised when he plugged his career prospects into the Exclusive Networks powerhouse. "Being out of work for a year and a half was challenging," he stated. "You find out who your real friends are and you realise how quickly your network can evaporate. Joining Exclusive Networks UK in 2012 reinvigorated me in many respects. I brought my new perspective when I came back into the industry and it's proven to be invaluable."

To say Jones does business by the book would be an overstatement and simplistic, but nonetheless it is an accurate assessment of one the biggest influences on his career path. "I was luckily enough to meet Tom Day who wrote an incredible book called The Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun, which explored business warfare," he added. "How Atilla won his crusades is translated into a business context. These perspectives gave me a great understanding and new outlook on how to approach business."

Jones's own story is characterised by a fighting spirit and a flare for turning adversity into a triumph of self-determination, a trait that helped to set him on his career path in technology at an early age. "I wasn't particularly interested in school and failed most of my A Levels," he stated. "The only course available to me was Computer Studies at Liverpool Polytechnic. Luckily, I excelled, passing with two distinctions and caught the IT bug. I then met a guy who was opening the first microcomputer shop in the UK, in Liverpool, and eventually went to work with him. I sold one of the first Apple computers in the UK, which is now housed in a science museum in London."

Fast forward to July 2012, Jones breezed out of the doldrums and became Country Manager at Exclusive Networks with a remit to scale up for growth. "I have restructured the business slowly over three years and now have a great leadership team and great people, all key to a strong and agile company," he said. "That's played a huge role in our year-on-year growth and our strategy, which we continually refine. Keeping our character and culture will be key to maintaining that growth trajectory and passing the half billion mark in the UK by 2020."

These stellar figures show how far the company has travelled. It began life as an IT VAD called Techniland based in France. Olivier Breittmayer, CEO, advanced the idea that 'exclusivity' in channel partnerships based on a shared vision and mutual support should have more presence than just strategic policy, so Techniland underwent a rebrand to Exclusive Networks, a name that reflected the firm's key messages.

Its acquisition of VADition was the first big milestone in the UK. Other turning points were achieved when the Group hit the billion euro mark and the UK arm reached 200 million euro. In terms of future revenue, Jones expects to see more software driven solution sales with an increased uptake of cloud services, although he's not yet clear on what that means for Exclusive. "Will we become a cloud aggregator, or offer our own cloud to the SMB base? This is going to be an ongoing challenge for all distributors over the next few years," he commented.

The ever-changing nature of the security market also keeps Jones on his toes and he is ready to move quickly in response to industry developments . "In many ways we're totally driven by the hackers," he stated. "As the security market becomes more mainstream we are seeing a lot more people try and treat it as a commodity. That doesn't work. You've got to have the back-up, the tech, the pre-sales, the marketing and account mapping with vendors, while helping our VARs grow their businesses. We are consultants to our VARs and, in turn, VARs should be the same to their customers. The VARs being acquired are the ones who understand this."

Jones is keeping a keen eye on trends like security-as-a-service having witnessed a change from shipping lots of hard and software to simply providing license keys. "A main strand in our growth strategy is staying close to good vendors like Fortinet and Palo Alto," he commented. "We evolve with them to fill any gaps that come from their growth. Our approach has always been striking a balance between changing our strategy daily while also standing still. It's about being consistent while remaining agile enough to move with the times. It's a fine art to get right."•

Two spheres of industry regulation have been spinning with unprecedented activity in recent weeks, but now it's time to turn our attention to the implications of Ofcom's Digital Communications Review and the Government's Investigatory Powers Bill, writes Eli Katz, Chair of ITSPA.

In their own ways, the publication of Ofcom's initial findings on its review of digital communications and the Investigatory Powers Bill are likely to shape the communications industry for the next decade. Ofcom's Strategic Review of Digital Communications, billed as the ten year sequel to 2005's Strategic Review of Telecommunications which resulted in the creation of Openreach, was preceded by a vast number of statements from key industry and political stakeholders on whether Openreach should be structurally separated from BT. Indeed, a cross-party group of 121 MPs led by former Tory Chairman Grant Shapps MP backed the 'Broadbad' Report calling for structural separation.

Ofcom stopped short of recommending full structural separation of Openreach from BT, instead outlining measures to 'reform Openreach's governance' and strengthen its independence from BT so that it is 'governed at arm's length from BT Group'. They stated that full separation would 'entail significant disruption and costs to both BT and the wider industry' if pursued.

Away from this headline news, Ofcom also announced measures that aim to increase investment in fibre, including giving competing providers access to Openreach's network of underground ducts and telegraph poles (to be implemented this summer), and measures to encourage a step-change in quality of service across the sector, including rigorous quality of service standards for Openreach, and the introduction of an annual Service Quality Report to publicly name and shame the best and worst performing fixed and mobile operators.

Ofcom also aims to 'secure wide availability of services' through supporting the Government's 10Mbit/S broadband Universal Service Obligation commitment, placing new coverage obligations on companies that win new spectrum licences and finally reforming the Electronic Communications Code. A further development of great significance for communications service providers (CSPs) is the announcement that all of Ofcom's General Conditions, which outline CSPs' legal obligations, are to be reviewed.

Furthermore, regarding the hot topic of the regulation of over-the-top (OTT) services, Ofcom has highlighted to the European Commission that it would be 'disproportionate' to automatically extend the scope of the Telecoms Framework (currently under review) to all OTT services by default, and are calling for flexibility to be retained.

Less than a week after the publication of Ofcom's Review, the Home Office published the Investigatory Powers Bill. The Bill, referred to by many as the Snooper's Charter (a previous version of which was blocked by the Liberal Democrats in the last Parliament) is described by Ministers as essential for ensuring that law enforcement agencies have the necessary powers to combat terrorism and other serious crimes. However, the draft version of the Bill received severe criticism from across industry and three Parliamentary Committees.

On the day of the Bill's publication, Home Secretary Theresa May sought to quell fears by assuring Parliament that 'the majority of the committees' recommendations' had been reflected in the revised Bill text, claiming that strengthened safeguards, enhanced privacy protections and bolstered oversight arrangements had been introduced. The Government hopes for the Bill to become law by the end of the year due to the sunset clauses which apply to RIPA and DRIPA.

Despite these assurances, ITSPA, along with much of the industry, remains concerned by various aspects of the Bill, particularly the lack of clarity over Internet Connection Records (a record of the services that a device connects to) which will have to be retained by CSPs for a year, and the steps that the Government wants CSPs to follow regarding encryption.

Many tech companies are concerned that the Bill will require them to decrypt communications that have been encrypted by the end user, despite this being technically impossible (the Government has now stated that this will not be required), or include so-called 'back doors' which they fear would compromise the security of users' communications - a debate which is continuing on both sides of the Atlantic.

The key steps from the Ofcom Review will be implemented over a broad period of time, but further details on the proposals for bringing greater independence and autonomy to Openreach will be introduced later this year following discussions with the European Commission. ITSPA is holding a workshop for its members with Ofcom on the Review on April 7th.•

www.itspa.org.uk

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."•

The Pebbletree success story is born of entrepreneurial flair and the strength to instinctively flex with market demands, according to Managing Director Janni Thornton.

The first manifestation of Sunderland-based Pebbletree's strategic intent can be found in Thornton's original plan to create something different in the comms space, something that could not be ignored by cost conscious businesses. Any shift in tactics continues to be catalysed only by a desire to give customers what they need, and Pebbletree's modus operandi has become a 'personality' that shows the company at its agile best.

Before setting up Pebbletree as a family business Janni and her husband Robert previously worked for blue chip organisations in IT-based roles. They wanted to own their own company so decided to grab the bull by the horns and start up a software development business in 2005 providing bespoke solutions. A bright idea in early 2006 sparked the Soho66 brand into existence, which is now a high profile VoIP provider.

In 2007 the husband and wife team worked out of their spare bedroom. That summer, they shifted up a gear as orders poured in, enabling Soho66 to secure a market foothold against all the odds as the recession loomed. The catalyst was the gulf that opened up for companies under siege from the worst financial crisis in living memory, that were picking up the pieces with ever-shrinking budgets. "Businesses wanted to cut costs anywhere possible to keep their head above water, and Soho66 offered an affordable, reliable telecoms solution that could help companies save in excess of 60-70 per cent on their comms compared to traditional providers," stated Thornton.

During 2007-2008, Soho66 generated revenue growth of almost 63 per cent and a year later 103 per cent. Unfazed by the biting recession Pebbletree spotted another growth opportunity, this time in Ireland. So Thornton established Goldfish.ie in partnership with a close friend and adapted the Soho66 cloud platform to suit the Irish market. Today, Goldfish boasts a customer base of more than 3,000 businesses supported by a team of seven located near Dublin. "Our ability to innovate and diversify without requiring the go-ahead from investors or a board has given Pebbletree the flexibility to build a successful core of brands," commented Thornton.

In 2013 Pebbletree launched another brand, Quvu (pronounced queue-view), a browser-based contact centre management system that enabled the firm to reach some of the largest users of telecoms. A year later the product received 'highly commended' recognition for Best VoIP Innovation at the ITSPA awards. Soho66 then snared the Best VoIP prize at the ISPA ceremony, and last year ITSPA awarded Soho66 the Best Business ITSP (medium enterprise) gong. "2015 was a year to remember for Pebbletree," added Thornton. "We were also crowned champions at the Echo Business Portfolio Awards after winning Employer of the Year."

Soho66 accounts for the majority of Pebbletree's 30,000-plus UK customer base. Although it primarily targets the SME market with cloud-based telecoms solutions, larger customers such as enterprises and contact centres are also switching to its services having opted to move their comms to the cloud.

The company now forecasts a 2014-2015 revenue increase of 21.5 per cent and expects this to grow to 31.5 per cent in the current financial year. Its team of 28 will also expand to more than 30 staff by 2017. "We have grown organically from day one, are debt-free, have no investors and have been operating at a profit from the outset," added Thornton.

Crucially, Pebbletree's early growth was driven by a combination of vision and can-do leadership rather than a pre-planned long-term business plan. "In the beginning, strategy wasn't something that we proactively followed," added Thornton. "It may have been an unconventional business model but we knew the foundations we wanted to build the business on, and added strings to our bow when and where we could."

The strength of this approach is reflected in Soho66's success despite having no dedicated sales team. Furthermore, before Quvu's inception Pebbletree didn't have a sales department. "We grew thanks to word of mouth and recommendations from our customers," added Thornton. "As a self-built family business there has always been a strong focus on customer service. We continue to adapt, innovate and diversify as we see trends and shifts in the industry and marketplace, and believe that this approach, alongside our customer focus, has justified the steps we have taken and the decisions we have made. This approach is the reason why Soho66 is rated as the highest ranked VoIP provider of any of our competitors on TrustPilot, from over 400 customer reviews."

Just as popular is Soho66's Reseller and Affiliate programmes, pointed out Thornton, who noted that the company works with 110 white label partners and 288 affiliate resellers. "We see resellers as an important cog in our VoIP machine," she said. "They provide a consistent, specialist, high level of service. If resellers maintain their customer ethos and provide the right solutions they will succeed in any market."

According to Thornton, Soho66 and Quvu are the primary growth areas as larger organisations realise the benefits of next generation communications. "The prospects for Quvu are huge," explained Thornton. "Some of the largest and most influential contact centres are switching their call management platforms onto the cloud and enjoying the cost savings. Internationally, Soho66 and Quvu have a chance to gain significant ground. With existing customers in the Irish, South African and Filipino markets we have the opportunity to build a strong global customer base. Although our services are used worldwide, we refuse to fall into a corporate way of working and believe investment in our platform, infrastructure and team is the best way of ensuring success."

Although Soho66 has built its customer base without a sales team, Thornton recognises the need to support the Quvu product with selling expertise. "With Quvu, the top priority is to continue to build the brand, develop the product, understand our customers' needs and adapt future releases to mirror them," noted Thornton. "By building all of our solutions in-house we can adapt and alter our priorities as the market changes. This gives us more freedom to innovate and the opportunity to work alongside customers."

Pebbletree has invested significantly to ensure that its platforms are as stable, resilient and reliable as possible by using a number of different data centres, each of them operating redundancy and failover fault tolerance. Pebbletree also carries out 24/7 platform monitoring across thousands of unique monitoring points allowing it to immediately detect a problem and rectify any issues. Aside from these investments, Pebbletree has created Simply66 as its own brand, a Virtual Receptionist service built and run in-house at the Pebbletree HQ. The company is also a fully fledged RIPE NCC member, giving it access to its own IP numbering.

The Pebbletree portfolio continues to evolve whenever the team spots a gap in the market, and the company's track record in such matters has earned it a reputation for entrepreneurial talent. "As with Simply66 and Quvu, we saw the chance to provide customers with a complementary product to Soho66, or in the case of Quvu, an evolution of the Soho66 solution," she added. "By tracking, understanding and dissecting the market and our competition we give ourselves the best chance of staying ahead of the game."

Thornton embraces Pebbletree's future with excitement and ambition and looks back on a decade well lived. "In a career with many highlights, celebrating 10 years of Pebbletree has been my biggest achievement," she said. "It is a special milestone for Robert and I, and it is testament to the risks we have taken and the decisions we have made since we started the business."•

Turning non-technical industries into digital players is the fine art of Fifteen Digital Managing Director Robert Adams, who, for example, is helping the crisping market to make a packet.

Adams first encountered the world of IT at the age of three when his father bought him a computer. Three years later Adams was a dab hand at programming and needless to say he was already on a career path, deepening his knowledge and experience at school, achieving a high level of expertise that was recognised when he came second in the National Computing Awards. Perhaps it was the number-crunching of computer programming that diverted Adams from his destiny into a surprising career choice. "After leaving school I became an accountant," he said. "But I always had a passion for technology and at the age of 21 went self-employed to start up an IT business called Anet with my brother Mark."

Fifteen Digital was incorporated in February 2006 following a link-up with 15 Digital Marketing owned by John Borthwick. "Myself and John met through a mutual client and the digital marketing and IT skills we shared was obvious," added Adams. "We decided to merge the two businesses into one with the Stoke-based company offering marketing and technology solutions."
The following year Fifteen Digital started to offer web development and James Tierney joined the firm as Developers Director. "Three years later we opened up a second office in Darlington to replicate the success we had in the west midlands," explained Adams.

A more significant development in April 2014 saw Fifteen Digital purchase B2B Telecoms business Sitelink Communications, with Ian Walker coming on board as Communications Director. "Acquiring a telecoms business allowed us to broaden our range of services as well as our portfolio of clients," commented Adams. "Moving into full specification business transformation services enabled Fifteen Digital to provide a whole solution, permitting businesses to work towards their goals while we support their development more efficiently."

Last year's revenues reached over £1 million and the company now employs 27 staff with plans to double the headcount by 2019. Target markets include franchisor clients, leisure and entertainment brands, retailers, manufacturing firms, construction companies, training and recruitment agencies, health and beauty services, plus many more, including crisp makers.

"The creation of our Agritech solution has been a great success," explained Adams. "It now supports 20 per cent of the UK's crisping markets. This particular project allowed us to bring technology to an industry that's not normally considered hi-tech. This shows the benefits that technology can bring to any business. One of our biggest opportunities is our specialism of developing provenance and trace solutions. In 2015 we won the Business Enabler Award at the Lloyds Bank National Business Awards. This was for our collaborative partnership with a large crisping potato provider which led us to create the LiveTrace system."

The LiveTrace system provides provenance and traceability over all produce to the full supply chain, ensuring food safety regulations and standards are met. "The system has revolutionised our client's business through efficiency and effectiveness," said Adams. "A challenge we face is encouraging low tech industries to adopt technology in their business areas. We have demonstrated the importance and benefits of applying smart technology to business activities.

"It's now a case of sharing these benefits and encouraging more companies to get on board and transform their business for the better. We have found a niche for supporting companies that aren't technical by helping them to become more technologically advanced. A challenge that Team Fifteen finds inspiring and exciting."

Other challenges include developing and growing the Fifteen Digital team. "Finding new suitable candidates can be problematic, as well as creating training programmes around new technologies for the team to adopt," noted Adams. "The technology market is strong and thriving with new agencies and businesses being established every day. Ensuring that we stand out in a prosperous and growing market is vital."

Two months ago Fifteen Digital kicked off its tenth anniversary celebrations with various activities taking place over the year including a £10,000 fundraiser challenge for local Stoke charity The Donna Louise Children's Hospice. Adams commented: "The past ten years have been exciting for Fifteen Digital, with Team Fifteen doubling in size, regional and national award wins and a growing portfolio of clients and projects."•

By Elvire Gosnold, Director, Blabbermouth Marketing: The continued popularity of multichannel marketing means that strong and consistent brand identity is more important than ever.

Multichannel marketing is the communication with customers and prospects using a combination of indirect and direct communication channels such as websites, direct mail, email, mobile etc. A multichannel approach is a fantastic way to engage with your target audience. However, ensuring the key messages and corporate 'look and feel' are the same across all marketing channels is harder to execute if not planned correctly.

Consistency can be easily lost when several companies and agencies are working on the same brand. For example, there may be an in-house marketer for collateral, an e-marketing agency for e-shots and web designers for web updates. When so many different parties are working together, brand subtleties can get inadvertently missed.

Detailed brand guidelines are an obvious starting point to ensure there are clear rules for all parties to adhere to. Viewing your marketing activity as an integrated campaign rather than individual marketing projects is another way of flagging any inconsistencies at an early stage.

Sending out differing messages to your target market will lead to confusion. But ensuring there is straightforward consistency across all your marketing is simpler than you think. Easy checks such as making sure your business card has the same font and colours as your product proposal document makes a difference to how prospects and customers view your company.

Branded product sheets explaining your services in an easy to understand manner is also advisable, and don't forget to clearly state why your company is better than your competitor.

Samsung has crowned Bournemouth-based 4Com as its leading reseller of Samsung Unified Communications solutions worldwide.

4Com combines Samsung's business phone range and networking products with its own software to create a solution that dovetails with the requirements of customers.

Peter Law, Samsung's Channel and Distribution Manager, stated: "4Com's rapid growth has helped boost our own market share in the UK."

4Com Chairman and MD Daron Hutt stated: "This is a great example of two companies succeeding by making the customer experience central to what they do and how they do it.

"We have some exciting plans for the future, but we're looking forward to our continuing relationship with Samsung which is now an invaluable part of our product mix."

Pictured: Peter Law (left) and Daron Hutt

Riverbed is strengthening its partner strategy with updates to existing channel programmes and the introduction of new initiatives such as a track for managed services and a Consulting Partner scheme.

The company is also investing in its value added distributor programme.

"In this transformational time in the IT industry, Riverbed is doubling down on its investment in our partners," said Karl Meulema, Senior VP for Global Channels.

"We are making resource, programme and IP investments designed to engage with our partners at the customer level, build differentiated embedded solutions and services, create a partner services economy, and develop revenue and services opportunities for our partners in the channel-led space.

"Technology including mobile, SaaS and cloud are disrupting business models, providing new ways to engage and connect with customers as well as entirely new routes to market," Meulema added.

"These updates to our partner programme are designed to help our partners make this market shift."