Comms Dealer

The launch of a new partner programme is evidence of BT reinvigorating its channel commitment, according to Steve Rathborne, BT Business Partner Channel Director.

The move follows the integration of EE and BT and enables partners to sell branded fixed and mobile products and services.

"We're looking to extend the benefits to business customers who would like to source BT & EE services through channel partners," said Rathborne.

"BT has committed to invest more than £6bn in improving the speed and coverage of UK broadband and mobile services over the next three years."

The refreshed channel programme is supported by an enlarged partner sales team, a revamped service model, improved training and access to sales and marketing campaigns.

"Collectively, these initiatives will make it easier for partners to work with BT to increase sales and deliver an improved customer experience," added Rathborne.

BT is planning to introduce the Business Partner Gateway in Q3, a portal that offers access to quote tools, customer service channels, management information and marketing collateral.

The European IT market outstripped its American counterpart in Q1 2017 according to the Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC).

Nearly all European countries registered growth in sales through distribution up 3% from January to 6% in March 2017.

The period witnessed a turnaround in fortunes for countries that not so long ago posted declines. In March, Spain was up 13%, Portugal 19% France 4%, Belgium 12% Germany 7%, Norway 16% and the UK 12%.

"This shows that there is a real opportunity for growth in the industry," stated GTDC CEO Tim Curran.

"There is a bold new world in distribution, providing more than pick, pack and ship, and as a resource for vendors in their go-to-market strategies," added Curran.

"We come from an industry based on inventory, cost and fixed assets, but integration between distribution and vendors has produced an industry with lower inventory, but much higher fulfilment rates. That makes it more efficient and profitable."

"Distribution has widened as a model to touch every part of the supply chain. Leveraging distribution services means vendors can grow their profitability.

"Distribution can also help solution providers with skills shortages, particularly in the technology solutions around cloud. Vendors often say they need help to enable their partners to take advantage for the new ways of working.

"Distributors are doing this now, he concludes, but there is still more that they do that vendors are not yet making use of."

That said, Curran also noted that buying intentions among consumers showed some hesitation, especially in the UK where there are concerns over Brexit.

Arista has joined forces with Cloud Distribution to drive partner recruitment and bring its software based data centre solutions to market.

Figures suggest that the global data centre switching market will grow more than 30% between 2016 and 2021.

Bruce Hockin, Director of Data Centre Solutions at Cloud Distribution, stated "We recognise the huge opportunity for partners to capitalise on data centre growth, which is why we have created a new data centre infrastructure team purely focused on this market."

Arista Senior VP Global Operations and Marketing, Mark Foss, added: "Our partnership with Cloud Distribution will help facilitate the customer shift towards cloud networking."

Arista partner Flomatik's MD Ben Allwright anticipates forming stronger customer relationships. "Arista is a natural extension of our traditional network services offering, allowing us to drive value deeper into the data centre, creating a high performance end-to-end solution for our customers," he stated.

CONTEXT's channelwatch study shows that a high proportion of a 6,000-plus sample of European resellers are not interested in selling cloud.

The UK was most disinterested, with almost half those surveyed saying no cloud for them, but other major European economies (Germany, France, Italy, Spain) also showed around a third missing out, due to concerns over security and complexity, but also because they said they were not seeing demand from customers.

This may also be due to the established nature of the businesses, reaching that time in their lifecycle and that of their owners when the costs and upheaval in traditional sales and work-practices are not desired, particularly in the UK. This phenomena has also been noted in the US.

Looking at which solutions are being sold, most of those selling cloud had sold back-up, as expected, but security has also started to figure strongly this year, particularly in the UK and Germany. 

Storage in the cloud was on offer from over half the resellers in France and Spain.

Reporting the results at the Global Technology Distribution Council's European Summit in Vienna, CONTEXT said that a high proportion rated what distributors offered through hosting in the cloud as excellent or good; it was also clear that most resellers rated their distribution partners highly overall, particularly in Spain and Poland.

CONTEXT MD Adam Simon reported that some resellers in the UK and Germany had expressed concerns over rising costs and value, but they were in a minority.

Distributor Westcon has added Sonus Networks' Cloud Link solution to its Best of Breed Microsoft Office 365 Cloud PBX offer.

The promotional programme offers resellers additional discounts when selling a 3-part Microsoft ecosystem component sale comprising Sonus Cloud Link (the integrated appliance solution comprising the Sonus SBC 1000 and SBC 2000 session border controllers running embedded Microsoft Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition); Polycom voice handsets and Plantronics Wired and wireless UC headsets.

Nick Wright, Product Manager, EMEA, Westcon, said: "This Best of Breed programme is designed to alleviate any concern end users might have about investing in a total solution for transitioning from traditional voice deployments to a Microsoft Cloud PBX implementation at their own pace."

Kevin Baynes, Sonus UK & Ireland Country Manager, said: "Sonus Cloud Link speeds-up Microsoft CCE deployments with a pre-packaged code and wizard. We have experienced installation times being reduced from 7 hours to 1 hour."

The 2017 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey reveals that, despite economic and political uncertainty having an impact on organisations' technology strategies, the situation is in fact contributing towards an increase in digital innovation.

According to MSP Claranet, this finding highlights the fact that such uncertainty can be a positive for businesses that are prepared to go the extra mile to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

According to the report, 64 per cent of CIOs polled said the current climate of uncertainty is affecting how they approach their technology strategies.

However, far from retreating into their shells, an overwhelming 89 per cent said they are either maintaining or increasing investment in innovation.

For Claranet, this shows that uncertainty should be seen as an opportunity rather than a burden.

Michel Robert, UK MD at Claranet, said: "With political and economic turmoil still well and truly in full swing, a common knee-jerk reaction can be to embrace an austere approach to technology adoption, in order to save on costs and consolidate the company's position in the market. However, what this report shows is that the opposite may well be the best course of action.

"Regardless of the economic and political climate, the priority for any business leader should be working out how best to get ahead of their competitors. If anything, such external challenges mean that organisations need to think of fresh ways of doing things as a matter of course. It's a time to experiment with new approaches."

Distributor of broadband connectivity and hosted voice services DMSL has been appointed as a Premier Partner of BT, the telco's highest accreditation level.

The move sees BT invest in partner sales and gives DMSL access to exclusive support and resources.

Under its new designation DMSL is able to offer BT Authorised Suppliers discounts and promotions, demonstration and evaluation equipment, trials and pilots for new products, access to partner training and dedicated support from BT.

"As BT brings forward new products such as GFast and FTTP connectivity options and mobile devices and services, the opportunities for Authorised Suppliers are growing," said DMSL MD John Carter.

ITS Technology Group (ITS) has recruited a former Openreach top exec as MD.

Daren Baythorpe (pictured) was Openreach's MD for the Business and Corporate Delivery division, and has also held a number of senior management positions, as well as being an adviser with telecoms and utility sector companies including BT and Severn Trent Water.

Baythorpe, who has spent the last six months advising ITS on business strategy, said: "I'm now working with ITS and the wider team more formally. The business has many qualities and has worked hard to establish itself as a major altnet provider."

ITS CEO Roy Shelton added: "Daren has transformed some of the largest and complex workforces in the telecoms sector.

"Plans are already in place and being delivered for the growth of our 21 networks throughout the UK, including the augmentation of our concessions and our national network.

"ITS goes from strength to strength and with Daren's focus and direction along with our additional investment from our first institutional investor there are some exciting times ahead."

Norwich-based Comm-Tech Voice & Data has bagged Great Yarmouth company Fine Line Communications following the retirement of its owner.

Fine Line will continue to operate under its own brand.

Comm-Tech MD Justin Millar stated: "With the skill sets and assets both businesses can bring together, this is the natural choice to continue the legacy of both companies."

Former Fine Line owner Kenny Leak said: "Having decided to retire we have left the company in good hands. Comm-Tech will strengthen every aspect of the business and take the customer experience to the next level."

Comm-Tech was established 30 years ago and is a Vodafone Total Communications Partner.

Onecom marked its 15th anniversary with a surprise party for staff and the launch Onecom Employee Plus, a programme of learning, development and rewards designed to boost positivity and productivity inside and outside working hours.

The firm's 400 workers based at its Whiteley HQ and 11 regional offices also received £25 to spend on the celebrations.

COO Aaron Brown said: "To mark this milestone we wanted to reiterate our commitment to the training and development of our people, to their health and wellbeing and to establishing a positive work-life balance."

Pictured: Aaron Brown celebrates with Onecom staff.