Comms Dealer

Union Street Technologies is claiming an industry first with the launch of a free service that enables partners to measure their effectiveness against rivals. The new service evaluates the baseline and comparative data gathered by Union Street's aBILLity billing platform and produces analytical reports that enable reseller partners to compare their activities against industry averages.

The opt-in service allows participating partners to identify gaps between current and desired performances in key areas. Benchmarking will initially offer eight reports.

Union Street MD Tony Cook said: "By harvesting anonymised data from our billing platform, Benchmarking provides reseller partners with valuable business insights.

"These include reports on revenue growth, profit margin and charge rates, as well as analytics on how revenues are split between services, calls and by carrier.

"As Benchmarking gains traction it will help partners to spot early trends in sales of certain services and enable them to focus their sales and marketing activities on those areas."

Benchmarking represents an investment of almost 2,000 man hours and £100k, and with 450-plus reseller partners using the aBILLity platform Cook says his customer base represents a good knowledge base for statistical reliability.

"The reports will provide a strong industry benchmark average and a valuable indication of business performance for resellers," he said. 

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Navigating an insightful course through deep oceans of billing data has until now been near impossible. But one captain of industry has pushed for this Holy Grail with an insistent hand, and data can no longer keep its secrets to itself in Union Street's partner Benchmarking report.

In data analytics, as in billing, Union Street Technologies is blazing a trail with the launch of Benchmarking, a free analytics service that enables reseller partners to compare their business performance against industry averages. The results are derived from a large sample of Union Street's client base and represent a good knowledge base for statistical reliability. In practice, Union Street's Benchmarking service breaks out significant data and then segments it into a number of categories that, for example, signpost performance indicators, pinpoint missed growth opportunities and areas where growth inhibiting factors may need to be overcome.

Managing Director Tony Cook said: "By harvesting anonymised data from our aBILLity billing platform Benchmarking provides reseller partners with valuable business insights, comparing their performance with that of the wider industry. These include reports on revenue growth, profit margin, charge rates and how revenues are split."

With over 450 reseller partners using the aBILLity billing platform Union Street's customer base represents a significant proportion of resellers operating in the UK. "The consolidated data harvested will provide a strong industry benchmark average, and a valuable indication of business performance for resellers against their peers," added Cook.

The quest for clarity of strategic vision must lie in converting every drop of gathered data into meaningful information that captures a number of important and relevant trends. But there are no magic bullets, and the work put in by Union Street developers has been, and continues to be, praiseworthy. Union Street developed Benchmarking in response to what it believes is a growing awareness within the channel and the wider business community of the opportunities presented by data analysis.

Union Street's Head of Sales and Marketing, Vincent Disneur, explained: "Analytics is driving businesses forward in all sorts of ways. As organisations start to integrate and share information across common platforms and APIs, new types of business data are created offering valuable perspectives on industry and company performance. Companies operating across the communications sector will pay ever closer attention to their data to gain deeper insights into customer preferences, behavioural patterns and how best to respond.

"Benchmarking is a significant extension of this practice and we're the first company within the channel that has developed meaningful analytics based on billing data. By sharing this information with our partners we can help them visualise their business, improve performance and better understand their relative competitiveness."

Benchmarking tells us that it's real details, not flimsy forecasts, that should give direction to strategic thinking, so Cook is urging all partners to opt into the service. "The reporting utilises rolling average data collected securely and anonymously from the previous 12 months," added Cook. "When we refer to an industry average in the reports we are not claiming that this is a precise figure as it is simply derived from the CPs who have subscribed to this.

"However, we believe that once we have a minimum of 200 reseller partners included the sample will be large enough to provide averages that closely reflect the industry as a whole. The Benchmarking reports only use high level information and the averages do not identify any individual CP other than the one receiving their own unique reports. We do not collect or publish any data that could be used to identify any of their end user customers."

It is worth exploring at this point a snapshot of some of the analytical data already available (what follows is only a sample of the full reporting capabilities). The Revenue Growth Ranking report compares a partner's average revenue growth with that of other resellers. This rate is compared against the industry average and also against the average found among the top performing ten per cent of CPs.

The Margin Ranking Report compares average profit margin to the industry average and the top 10 per cent performers. The report also shows an absolute ranking position in a sample of over 100, and highlights any deviation from the average margin. The Revenue Growth Report displays as a percentage the month-to-month growth in revenue for a partner's business, which is represented on a graph. Using the graph users can also compare the revenue growth of their business with the industry average.

The percentage split between revenue generated by calls and services is presented in the Calls and Services Report. And the Revenue by Call Type Report displays in percentage terms how a partner's revenues generated by calls are split between voice, mobile, local rate, national rate, GPRS received, freephone and ISDN data. More call data is detailed in the Revenue by Carrier Report which explains how a partner's wholesale expenditure is split by carrier and then compared to the industry average across other comms providers.

It is not hard to sense the expectation surrounding the benefits that Benchmarking offers to participating partners, especially when you consider the priority Union Street has placed on ensuring the accuracy and broad range of its insight reporting. "To ensure that anomalous readings will not distort the reports the Union Street team has taken steps to smooth the data featured in the Benchmarking service," said Cook. "In order to avoid anomalies caused by CPs with exceptional or freak billing figure we use the 95th percentile method when calculating the averages. By ignoring the top and bottom five per cent of samples the overall average is closer to a realistic industry benchmark."

Once a billing period is closed in aBILLity, statistics are automatically submitted to Union Street via a secure web service. When a minimum of 50 reseller partners have submitted their data the statistics for the billing period they have contributed to will be made visible on a web-based dashboard. Industry averages are recalculated daily as more resellers submit their monthly statistics.

For Union Street, there is no such thing as data-lite, and its reporting is incontrovertibly insightful, reliable and almost without boundaries, believes Cook. "As Benchmarking gains traction it will help Union Street's partners to spot trends in sales of certain services early on, so they can focus their sales and marketing activities on those areas accordingly," he added.

"The Benchmarking Service will initially feature eight key reports. However, due to the flexible architecture of our system new reports can be added without limit. We actively encourage our partners to submit feedback and share their ideas for how our solutions can be developed, and this will be essential to the development of our Benchmarking service going forward."•

Analyst projections on the boundless revenue potential for M2M continue to spill forth, but the channel's ability to deliver on the promise has been limited - until now.

The path down which M2M resellers are being led by pioneers such as Zest4 is certain to become a road to riches if analyst predictions are to be believed. The early signs are that reseller business leaders who take responsibility and decide to enter the M2M arena are already gaining ground, having taken their education seriously, developed the confidence to sell M2M solutions, and added opportunism into the mix. Staunch support from supplier partners will underpin these basic requirements, and Zest4's experience mirrors this development path.

Its first foray into the M2M space was indicative of a market finding its feet. However, Zest4's baby steps soon extended into strides of certainty as the company marched towards channel-ready status. "When we first offered M2M to our resellers we assumed the opportunities would start flowing, similar to mobile business," said Mandy Fazelynia (pictured), Operations and Business Development Director. "But we underestimated the complexity of M2M and IoT and soon realised that every solution is different, requiring bespoke security, tariffs, commercials and pre and post-sales support. Our partners value their customer relationships and are cautious about quoting for new solutions when they are not 100 per cent confident in them. This led us to completely re-think our approach to ensure we had the infrastructure to provide that confidence and make the opportunity come to life for our partners."

The role of partnerships is fundamental to the success of M2M. Zest4 has partnered with Arkessa which provides the technical know-how required by these solutions. Arkessa has over 10 years experience in providing M2M solutions and has trained the Zest4 team to understand how M2M solutions apply to all market sectors, and it provides additional technical support for more complex requirements. "As a result of this partnership we have developed a partner enablement and training programme to ensure that resellers achieve success and confidently win new business," added Fazelynia. "We have extended the Zest4 Partner Academy to include M2M training and built a tool-kit of materials that enable partners to offer M2M solutions."

M2M applications are already evident in many major UK cities. Although not specifically an M2M solution, users of London Underground have rapidly adopted the use of contactless debit cards to pay for their travel. "Contactless card transactions have exceeded one million per day, which is a strong indicator of how the public is embracing the convenience of mobile and card payment systems, and how these technologies can help with customer flow," added Fazelynia. "By adopting M2M solutions, bus, taxi and train companies can also offer their customers the same levels of convenience. With the implementation of mobile payment systems (mPOS), passengers could also enjoy easy on-board payment facilities."

M2M technology can also help taxi and bus companies improve their customer experience by offering mobile Wi-Fi access. Tourists, local visitors and business people are becoming increasingly dependent on connectivity while on the move. By providing mobile Wi-Fi access, customers will be able to plan their next hotel stay and keep up-to-date with their workload during their journey. "Signage is another area of growth that we're seeing in the M2M market, which, together with mobile Wi-Fi offers a great opportunity to fund the service through advertising and sponsorship activity," added Fazelynia.

She noted that Zest4's mobile reseller partners are the early adopters of M2M, exploring their existing customer base to identify opportunities. "These resellers have knowledge of mobile networks so the move into M2M is a natural progression for them," added Fazelynia. "IT resellers are also keen to get on-board. Their experience and knowledge of security and firewalls, and the integration of M2M/IoT solutions into an existing IT infrastructure is enabling them to confidently move into this new arena. With our support, partners are finding quick wins in taxi solutions, public transport and logistics. They are also beginning to uncover opportunities in retail, leisure and healthcare market sectors, opening up further potential for the future."

The initial stages of plan.com's entry into M2M focused on raising awareness of M2M propositions in the reseller channel. This prompted the take-up of basic M2M solutions with minimum levels of required input. But within a short period of time the propositions started to change, involving the delivery of more detailed and complex solutions including job dispatch management, street light control and large scale mobile Wi-Fi deployments. "Now, we're dealing with a much wider scope of M2M solutions and significantly larger propositions," said plan.com's co-founder Keith Curran.

The firm's proposition focuses on the mobile connectivity of the M2M device. The company offers complete SIM provision and once connected it provides real-time monitoring and management of every aspect of the customer's account including SIM management, billing and reporting. "Our strategic aim is to provide the connectivity for all areas of M2M propositions as opposed to focusing on a specific device proposition," said Curran. "Resellers play a key part in our strategy as they essentially have the relationship and realise the propositions with end user customers. We currently have relationships with over 500 resellers."

It is only relatively recently that resellers have started to understand and get on board with the potential of M2M. With many resellers being new to this still largely unknown area of business, plan.com needed to develop a consultative approach as opposed to being a simple supplier. "Resellers are enthusiastic to adopt and sell M2M propositions but they've also highlighted a strong requirement for hands-on support, which is something we have embraced and delivered," added Curran. "This can range from basic training to joint customer visits to help support, advise and often hand-hold the sales process."

There is an array of opportunities for resellers, not just with new customers but also in identifying the M2M requirements within their existing customer base. The obvious areas of opportunity are currently in transport, energy and security. "The core opportunities include vehicle tracking and logistics management, alternative energy propositions such as wind turbines, and both fixed and mobile security installations that don't just use the SIM to transmit live data but also as a back-up should typical methods of Internet connectivity fail," explained Curran.

He also pointed to future trends in areas such as medical and retail. "We are hearing a lot about the Smart Home, but this technology is also relevant to the office environment, the key areas including temperature and security management and control," added Curran. "Many M2M technology solutions will be adopted by local Government as part of their efficiency and cost reduction programmes. This represents a massive opportunity for the reseller channel. Those resellers who get in early will be seen as experts in the M2M space, simply because there are very few resellers from any channel really embracing M2M."

The natural partner profile for M2M is the mobile reseller. But there is another key channel which to date has shied away from the SIM - IT resellers - and with all roads leading to the SIM this channel is starting to see ways of increasing their profits by supplying the same meat and drink devices and solutions but also with the connectivity/SIM. "For all channels there is still a need for education," commented Curran. "This needs to be taken on board by the networks as well as key distributors. We work closely with the network and for large or more complex propositions we will often both visit the customer with the partner to provide the support to help secure the deal."

For resellers wanting to develop M2M business, Curran offered some top tips on qualifying, demonstrating, selling and closing M2M deals. "Don't be afraid to have a go," he stated. "You won't necessarily be up against a massive array of competitors. Invariably you will be the only reseller in the room. A little knowledge goes a long way and puts you on the front foot from the beginning of the engagement. We focus on helping resellers gain this basic knowledge, but they must be willing to learn and adopt a positive 'how difficult can it be?' approach. This way they get to understand the solution and secure the customer contract."

Pangea's Managing Director, Dan Cunliffe, suggested that the slow uptake of M2M by the channel could in part be attributed to pre-conceptions about the term 'M2M'. "From a channel perspective we are finding that M2M has a certain connotation," he said. "It's part of the education piece to understand that this market is about using data in a smart way to drive a solution. For example, a partner of ours had not thought about offering a fleet management solution to their existing customers. Most organisations generally have at least two vehicles. The partner explored whether their services could extend to the fleet, and then asked about creating a private Wi-Fi network for all the vehicles in the company.

"The total contract value of that deal was between £250,000 and £300,000 for the partner. This is just one example, but it came out of the training and sales support being offered to our clients. Developing IoT business is all about collaborating with the right partner that understands the channel, has credibility and most importantly knows where the value lies in the market."•

Come what may in the comms industry, headsets will always be a central theme of the 21st century contact centre and other key markets, and Jonathan Davies, Agent Sales Manager, is urging all resellers to acknowledge this fact.

The reality is that once a contact centre or UC solution has been established it is conspicuously incomplete without the inclusion of appropriate headsets. We can build comprehensive solutions to keep organisations fully connected to their customers across all channels, but even the most sophisticated deployment will fail to fulfil its potential unless the roll out of optimised headsets becomes a matter of policy. Davies is enthusiastic about charting the positive impact of headsets and with a particular focus on the Agent brand he explains why headsets are essential and should be routinely sold into the major arenas. "No one can underestimate the role of headsets in the burgeoning UC and mobile markets," he stated.

One reason Agent headsets, a UK-based brand, have been successful is their growing popularity among a strong base of resellers, noted Davies, who is positioning Agent as a viable alternative that flexes with the demands of end users. "Once a reseller has established a foothold in a particular market, selling headsets becomes a case of having the right approach and products when customers need them the most," he said. "Perhaps the best example of this is when Agent sales gathered momentum during the financial crisis, a time when cost was a primary consideration for all purchasing decision makers. With our products customers quickly found that they could acquire quality headsets cost-effectively."

Headset sales at present are driven by more than cost and quality of build. Functionality and the flexibility to adapt to all customer requirements have become prime considerations for technology buyers, and this year Agent is expanding its product range with an emphasis on the traditional merits of value and high quality but also enhanced by a sharper focus on providing an all encompassing alternative to rival brands in the market.

One newcomer to the Agent portfolio is the AU range of USB headsets. "These corded headsets for Unified Communications are a balance of robust design and competitive pricing which positions them for the UC call centre and VoIP office," explained Davies. "Agent is also refreshing its traditional corded headset offering with the addition of the premium AG range, incorporating an ultra noise-cancelling microphone, lightweight aluminium housing and a three year warranty as standard."

For those resellers wanting a cost-effective solution for large deployments Agent has introduced a new 'workhorse' noise-cancelling headset called the AP series, pointed out Davies. Agent also sells the W880, a multi-use wireless headset for both traditional telephones and UC, while the corded headsets continue to support the swappable cables needed for both uses as well as a 3.5mm jack for tablet and smartphone.

According to Davies the W880 illustrates how Agent is playing an important role in driving the widespread adoption of wireless headsets, showing organisations the efficiencies that can be derived from staff not being tied to their desks, and also exhibiting the benefits of hot desking. "This versatility in the Agent product range dovetails neatly with the growth of flexible working environments, where more people than ever before are buying headsets to use with many devices rather than just a fixed call centre desk or a desk phone in their office," added Davies.

While healthy headset revenues do lie in mobile, contact centre and UC environments, the market must also grow from the ambitions of a reseller base that is hungry for margin and displays an appetite to give customers what they want. "Agent offers resellers the chance to put the margin back into selling headsets," noted Davies. "But that hasn't been the only incentive to the expansion of Agent's market share. Resellers who get behind the brand soon find that customers do welcome an alternative solution. In a space where performance and value are key, and when the customer gets the headsets into their hands, Agent quickly becomes an attractive proposition."

Not surprisingly, the Agent brand continues to gain attention from proponents who value its properties of ease of sale combined with a dovetail-like relevance to all customer situations and requirements, claimed Davies, who also noted that customers are pleasantly surprised by their foresight to make an 'alternative' buying decision despite their tendency to stick with what they know.

"For those who want to grow revenues from headset sales there are huge spaces in the market lying fallow," commented Davies. "Some customers, for example, buy according to habit and do not consider alternatives due to perceived concerns about the complexity and cost of other options. But the reverse is always the case in our experience. When buying Agent these preconceptions are shattered. Customers are impressed by the contrast they see and feel they're purchasing something better for less money."•

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."•