Comms Dealer

At its extreme, complexity is the catalyst of decline and squandermania - the sensible strategy is to keep things as simple as possible, according to David Axam, Director, Hosted Communications, BT Wholesale.

In precise form, Axam addressed Comms Vision delegates from a position of authority on how to resolve complex matters for the better. Ironically however, simplicitly is difficult to achieve, he said from experience.

Early in his career Axam helped to build some of the first VoIP products. His challenge was to ship more of them.

"Simplicity was the key that has since shaped my thinking," he said. "Simple product modifications transformed shipments of 100,000 units to literally millions.

"In the UC world there are so many possibilities but the danger of choice and richness is that we forget the simplicity. We must keep the richness but add simplicity."

Axam moved to his new role in April this year and applied his proven strategy to promote simplicity, aiming to repeat his earlier trick with straightforward strategic modifications that make all the difference.

"In April I set my direction," he said. "And introduced clear and simple propositions that add choice."

He noted that the relationship between simplicity and increased effectiveness is undeniable, and he has applied his thinking to 'simple unambiguous' partner relationships, also based on a simple premise, that people buy from people.

"We introduced channel managers and have 46 per cent more orders as a result of the people-factor," he said. "It's about converting hearts and minds by building trust."

Digitalisation is here to stay. Long gone are the days when doing business was about finding a niche, creating a product and shifting as much of it as was humanly possible.

Also slung in the historical dustbin of industry priorities is the evolved services business that emerged during the '90s. Today, customer centricity reigns, and what we do about it is the difference between success and failure, according to Pete Tomlinson, Director of Product, Marketing and Sales, Eclipse.

"The industry must move to a relationship-centric model," he told delegates in his keynote address. "Customers have a new expectation based on outcomes, not ownership. We've moved from selling boxes to partnering with customers on their outcomes."

The outcome of a survey of 150 IT leaders conducted by Eclipse offered new insights into what really matters to them. Despite 84 per cent of respondents understanding technologies such as UC, 68 per cent were clueless about what to do with it.

"They need help with the actual 'how'," added Tomlinson. "This is a massive opportunity for the channel."

This end user knowledge gap could be the grandest unexploited revenue source to date, and resellers with a customer-first approach stand to gain most.

"In our survey, 77 per cent of IT leaders stated that supplier relationships built on trust and confidence are more important than the features and benefits of a solution," said Tomlinson.

Their readiness to sacrifice functionality in favour of trusted partnerships extends further, with 60 per cent ranking product roadmaps as a preference when selecting a supplier. This means that the tech-centric model must become user-centric.

"The starting point needs to be a conversation around customer personas," said Tomlinson. "Not a discussion about which part of the technology stack needs to be replaced. There are different personas within a business, with varying user profiles and different needs that must be addressed."

In this model a single sale will not cut the mustard, but mapping out the customer's lifetime value will be far more lucrative, even at low margin entry points in the relationship with higher margin service provision highly likely further down the line following cross-sales based on consultation and advice.

"Our industry has been good at giving away its most valuable asset - knowledge," added Tomlinson. "We are moving away from products towards higher value in knowledge and consultancy. Successful resellers will have the confidence to monetise their knowhow and create a consistent customer experience built on a culture of innovation."

The comms industry's biggest, most plentiful digital opportunities can only be realised by embracing data, according to Richard Robinson, Managing Director and VP EMEA at Turn.

In a Comms Vision keynote address he said everything is to play for, but old marketing methods must go, and resellers will lose out if they stick to traditional marketing roles.

Robinson pointed out that marketers now rank customer experience optimisation as the most exciting opportunity, and perhaps the most disruptive change to marketing practices in memory.

"Consumer behaviour is transitioning into business behaviour," he said. "Customers are demanding a better experience around personalisation.

"The traditional approach to marketing has limitations, being linear and spread too thinly because people are now self-directed in their buying habits."

He noted that B2B buyers are 57 per cent of the way through the procurement process before approaching a brand. "The challenge is a complex fragmented media landscape which makes being discovered difficult," he added. "It's about how customers find information through multiple paths to purchase."

Given the self-directing nature of today's buying process it is no surprise to learn that 80 per cent of consumers feel brands do not treat them as individuals. They want a customised approach.

"Businesses need to reach customers at moments of most influence, which is difficult to do if you don't know who they are," said Griffin. "But this data can be captured by registering for downloads for example. Data is at the heart of customer engagement strategies."

He segmented data into three categories: Leads generated from websites and CRM systems; data from partners and vendors that enriches customer profiles; and the creation of a data management platform and demand side platform - all designed to uncover a hidden audience via insights that bring the power of personalisation, enabling marketers to target people around their topics of interest while also understanding RoI.

Robinson summed up the implications of these trends for comms resellers: "Put the customer and their journey at the heart of your approach," he commented. "Use data to engage with customers and empower the way you do business with them."

All this is just part of the bigger picture. There has been a 70 per cent increase in the number of people involved in the buying cycle, while 45 per cent of decision makers are millennials (born after 1980). With 90 per cent of millennials using social media and smartphones - the writing is in the wall.

"There is no single person in the the buying cycle," added Robinson. "Different individuals within organisations are influential, all researching technology and how it relates to them and their requirements.

"It is critical therefore that we have a connected, consolidated view of the customer across all touch points."

Digital services company Atos is to acquire Unify from Gores and Siemens.

Atos intends to create an integrated proposition for unified communications and real-time capabilities enhancing social collaboration, digital transformation and business performance.

The transaction is subject to employee representative's bodies' information and consultation and the approvals of the regulatory and antitrust authorities. Closing is expected in the first calendar quarter of 2016.??Thierry Breton, Chairman and CEO of Atos said: "The contemplated acquisition of Unify will increase our offerings for the digital transformation for our customers.

"They are looking for seamless services solutions for their entire digital portfolio and a reliable partner that can service their needs end-to-end. Unify portfolio and customer base is a perfect match that complements existing Atos digital capabilities".??Alec Gores, Chairman and CEO of The Gores Group, stated: "Since the start of our joint venture with Siemens AG, we embarked on a transformation plan focused on operational excellence and meeting the needs of our global customers. Together we invested in innovation, rebranded the company, recruited an impressive management team, and transitioned the business to a channel-driven, software-first company.

"We believe Unify is well positioned to take the business to new levels of success and performance with the support of its new shareholder."??Joe Kaeser, President and CEO of Siemens AG, added: "I am convinced that Atos is the perfect solution for a sustainable future of Unify and its customers. Atos is a proven and a trustful partner and a specialist for successful integration of acquisitions. At the same time, we are diligently executing on our Vision 2020, focusing our business and position Siemens along the value chain of electrification, automation and digitalisation."??Founded in 2008 as Siemens Enterprise Communication and headquartered in Munich (Germany), Unify is a joint venture between The Gores Group (51%) and Siemens (49%), active mainly in Europe and in the Americas.

With 5,600 employees and active in over 60 countries, Unify today generates €1.2 billion revenue.

The traditional carrier industry is ripe for widespread disruption, according to Andy Lippman, Associate Director of MIT Media Lab, speaking in a Comms Vision panel debate (and pointing out that he cannot forward a text). In part, he believes, this is due to homogenous corporate cultures devoid of oddballs who think differently.

"There is no cult of innovation, the variance has gone," he stated. "Listen to your daughter. Kids don't have old answers to new questions, they have fresh answers to new questions. Technology is anything that is invented after you were born. The trick is in the imagining - we can make it in six months if we get rid of the past."

Toasting the business potential of technological innovation can lead to a hangover, the biggest headache being the challenge of growing while evolving, which are separate agendas, according to Adrian Hipkiss, Vice President EMEA at ShoreTel.

His conference speech was unequivocally for those delegates wanting to overcome today's big business challenges, and he cited ShoreTel's own journey as an example of what can be achieved when growth and business transformation strategies are perfectly aligned.

In terms of product innovations, from the moment that ShoreTel decided to grab the bull by the horns it went about the task with dedication, developing four million lines of additional code and employing 300 extra software engineers to create the recently launched Connect platform.

ShoreTel's challenge was to overcome market resistance and drive the UCaaS market in favour of partners. Its strategy was simple, but the undertaking to transform the 'static' into the 'dynamic' was significant.

"If there is no choice to solve a business problem customers will stay where they are," he said.

"ShoreTel's focus is the SME market up to 5,000 seats. We provide choice for that space, rather than force them to make a decision."

ShoreTel Connect is a single communications operating platform that is delivered on-premise, via the cloud or a mixture of both. This means one sales conversation with a choice of deployment models to fit end user requirements. Connect also offers a single user experience and scales up to 5,000 seats.

"This disruptive technology enables companies to do things that were once beyond their reach," added Hipkiss.

What is remarkable is that ShoreTel developed its Connect platform during a period in which it outperformed analyst market projections, paid down debt following its M5 acquisition, developed new channel support programmes, while upgrading its recurring revenue forecast to 62 per cent by 2017.

"Our challenge was how to keep the existing base happy while driving revenues from new opportunities," added Hipkiss.

Using its experience ShoreTel is well placed to help partners make their transition into market disrupters rather than be disrupted, and help them change 'the known into the discovered', according to Hipkiss.

"This is a philosophical question," he said. "And needs a leadership decision to be creative while driving up revenues.

"To change the nature of your organisation's culture you need to be more consultative. This starts with solution and sales training."

To help partners be 'known and discovered', ShoreTel offers digital marketing, free training and sales enablement along with lead generation, partner forums and help with social media to create awareness.

The one constant in history is that change and disruption is ever present but not always obvious, perhaps moreso today than ever before, according to keynote speaker Matt Griffin, CEO of 311 Institute.

And disruption is three-times faster today compared to 15 years ago, more voracious in nature and driven by ordinary people, and extraordinary talents who think outside the box, who all go online.

Reliable statistics indicate that there are three billion people connected to the Internet today, with projections of five billion by 2025.

A simple calculation shows there is a far higher chance of disruption given these mind boggling numbers, which speak for themselves.

People have ideas and also the means to act on them, explained Griffin. Many technologies that are available today, such as 3D printing, have the potential to massively disrupt industries, like the manufacturing process, logistics and supply chains.

Griffin put the number of emerging technologies at 240 - from NFC to robotics to AI to drones. These technologies fit into 14 categories of which nine are pin-pointed as megatrends, largely based on the IoT.

Getting to grips with such numbers is not the whole issue. Griffin then turned his attention onto how these technologies may be leveraged.

"Today, anyone with a good idea is more connected, able to get funding quickly and they have faster access to resources," he said. "Using the PaaS model it's easier to build a prototype and then gain instant access to markets for little outlay. A great idea can more easily be taken onto the global stage, while the cost of starting a business has fallen 1,000-fold."

Underlining the big potential for industry disruption Griffin also noted that in 2004 ten million start-ups were registered. Fast forward ten years and that figure now stands at 100 million ambitious, ideas-led organisations wanting to change the world.

"These companies are able to encroach established markets from anywhere on the planet," added Griffin.

Their impact can be eye watering. Griffin also cited high growth in the number of so called Unicorns, those start-up companies now valued at $1bn-plus. Between 2000 and 2010, nine such firms were known. Since 2010 the number has shot up to 174 millennial businesses with no legacy to speak of, all practicing the 'art of the possible' in a disruptive way.

Perhaps not surprisingly given the numbers above, Griffin cited an IBM survey in which it was found that the a CEO's top concern is now the competitive impact of technology.

"CIOs were back office, but now they are coming out of the woodwork as the most innovative and disruptive influencers, while the drive for cloud and innovation is changing business culture," added Griffin.

Less obvious is what's happening in space. Griffin drew the audience's attention to a company called Spacex which aims to disrupt not just one industry, but many.

SpaceX is no ordinary hi-tech millennial organisation. Its owner, Elon Musk, co-founded Paypal and he owns Tesla Motors, among other interests.

He proposed a space-based Internet system and is busy working on putting his plan into practice, based on 4,000 low orbit satellites that would provide global coverage, offering $100 broadband for life, noted Griffin.

"Compare this to digging fibre into the ground," he added. "With SpaceX, there's no digging, just software updates. Industry disruption is only just getting started."

Lippman's opening keynote was a triumph. For forward thinkers with ambition, he opened new avenues of thought. But for the less adventurous, the implications of disruptive technology, as he sees it, may be a worrisome prospect for those unable to read the market and give empowered customers what they want.

The long-held convention that technology drives change was summarily overturned by Lippman, and the principle that 'society' is now central to collective democratic institutional and industry disruption was strongly argued.

He reminded Comms Vision delegates that 'people from MIT never get it wrong', so his assessment of deeply rooted social institutions being challenged by everyday Internet users should not be seen as being ballooned out of all proportion. It is a major extension of power into the hands of individuals.

Technologists aren't anywhere near the real drivers of change, he suggested. The place to look for the next big disruption is among the people who use technology, not the innovators.

This point matters. The implications are that end users will ultimately call the shots and resellers must peg their strategies to the incremental demands of this power shift to remain relevant.

Change there must be, and its significance was made clear by Lippman who offered delegates an opportunity to re-imagine tomorrow's world through the MIT lens.

"Look at what's happening with disruptive technology," he said. "It's not technology driven, but pushed by societal factors. The demands on technology are what society needs and wants.

"Today's disruptions such as Uber, AirBnB, Bitcoin and Kickstarter are not based on technological invention, but they challenge deeply rooted social institutions by transforming heavyweight social practices into massless and weightless viral phenomena.

"Viral systems are grassroots ideas that start small, scale and gain value in scaling. They can be a programme, a hardware design, a communications system or means of social interaction."

Lippman noted that the spirit of disruption goes hand in hand with the idea of faith in numbers. "The fundamental change is the Internet," he added. "The Internet was anonymous 20 years ago, now our true identities are online and everyone knows who you are. The world has turned upside down, and this disruption strikes deep at the heart of social institutions."

The real need is to understand the technical and social drivers that cause change in the way we do things, he pointed out. "This is more than bandwidth, it's where those bits go and how we use them to overturn deeply rooted institutions and replace them with massless, scalable and agile Internet institutions," he said.

Slow transformative processes are becoming viral, noted Lippman. He highlighted the way we lend items to friends - people who over time we get to know and trust. But our identities on the Internet have built a level of trust in people we haven't met directly. "What was a slow social process in knowing people is now fast, weightless and explosive. That's why Uber allows strangers into cars," he added.

"Ironically, most disrupters are not based on any great technical invention. Instead, they are a combination of societal readiness and rapid growth."

A revolution takes more than a motivated populace or a good idea, it also depends on the entrenched losing the will to lead, explained Lippman.

"In recent political terms, Egypt and Libya lost the will, Iran did not. Industries are no different," he said. "When they face a challenge and their urge is to fight it, then they have lost the will to lead, but if they go one better than the challenger they have a chance."

To underline his point Lippman cited the taxi industry and questioned whether it had lost the will to lead. When faced with an assault the first instinct is to fight, but the proper reaction is to beat and subsume the threat with a cool rather than a hot head, calculating how to lead with a winning combat strategy. Lippman also cited the finance industry as 'teetering on the edge', ripe for disruption.

"We live in an era that has disruptions that strike at institutions by people with no fear," he added. "This isn't necessarily about a change in technology, it's more an evolution of society. That's what's going to change communications. It's about attitude."

For example, computer programming has been traditionally slow and controlled by 'geeks', but this could become part of human life with 'viral programming made easy' and available to everyone. Bitcoin is viral money based on a fully distributed system. There is no central control, noted Lippman.

"Bitcoin reflects a current social sentiment that puts more trust in distributed systems than in centralised ones," he added. "It is based on an algorithm executed by many and owned by none, validated by five years of unbroken operation and over $1.3bn in (presumed) value stored in it. More importantly, its irrevocable, time-stamped ledger is a public record that has many potential non-financial uses.

"Bitcoin is the extreme of a viral system. It's not about money, it's about proving the system works and the distribution of trust."

Lippman studies viral systems through invention, sometimes of a technology, sometimes of an idea. "We validate this often through deployment," he commented. "One way to approach the problem is by considering technical thresholds that open new doors. Teleconferencing, for example, never caught on the way it was envisioned, but when it moved to portable always-connected devices, it became FaceTime."

About Andy Lippman
Andrew Lippman has a more than 35-year history at MIT. His work at the Media Lab has ranged from wearable computers to global digital television. Currently, he heads the Lab's Viral Communications research group, which examines scalable, real-time networks whose capacity increases with the number of members. This new approach to telephony transfers 'mainframe communications' technology to distributed, personally defined, cooperative communicators. In addition, he co-directs MIT's interdisciplinary Communications Futures programme.

ISPA, the voice of the UK Internet industry, has initially responded to the publication of the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill.

ISPA believes law enforcement should have reasonable access to data and we support this new legislation as it tries to simplify the myriad of existing laws governing this area.

ISPA Secretary General Nicholas Lansman said: "ISPA welcomes the attempt to modernise and clarify the law. We will work with Government to ensure that the Bill provides ISPs with a clear and stable legal framework that balances necessary powers with oversight whilst minimising the impact on business."

The Draft Bill is highly complex and some of the provisions seem to be an extension of existing powers, for example the inclusion of a "request filter" and how Internet Connection Records are defined. ISPA will be responding more fully in the coming days on the implications of the new legislation.

ISPA looks forward to working with members and intends to give evidence to the Joint Committee scrutinising the Draft bill in the coming weeks. ISPA Chair James Blessing will further be giving evidence to the Science and Technology Committee's inquiry into this subject on Tuesday 10th November.

Union Street has implemented a new Agile framework into the company's development and project management processes, led by José Fernandez, Chief Operating Officer.

Agile software development is a term used in the software industry to describe a group of development practices which promote the organic evolution of solutions through close collaboration between developers, project managers and key stakeholders.

Agile development methods have become increasingly popular in recent years thanks to a number of benefits including speed, accuracy and increased adaptability in the development process.

With a team of 40 developers in-house and high annual investment, last year amounting to over £1m, Union Street believes that implementing an Agile framework into its development processes will lead to big increases in efficiency, allowing the company to leverage its development resources to even greater effect.

Fernandez said: "High quality software development lies at the heart of the Union Street proposition, which is why we continually invest such high levels of revenue back into R&D.

"We're also very proud of our development team which comprises of some of the most talented people the industry has to offer.

"Moving to an Agile process will enable us to unlock the true potential of our development resources and deliver feature rich software releases for the whole of our customer base with increased frequency and with absolute certainty. This will of course lead to a number of benefits for our clients, including the opportunity to have a greater level of input into our development process."