Comms Dealer

NetPay Solutions Group MD Carl Churchill has been selected as a finalist in the Great British Entrepreneur Awards (Small Business Award), taking place on 25th November at the Ballroom Southbank, Central London.

He said "It is great for the whole of our team to receive this recognition and is a vote of confidence in what NetPay is doing to help UK businesses and the economy."

Simon Burton, founder of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, added: "The entries we have received for the Great British Entrepreneur Awards can only be described as awe inspiring. The quality has been outstanding. The judges have had the difficult task of whittling the great and good of the entrepreneurial community down to the very best and we are delighted by the companies that have made the shortlist."

Unify has extended the availability of its communication and collaboration platform, Circuit, to more than 30 countries, mostly within the European Union.
 
The platform brings together voice, video, real-time document editing and management, messaging and file sharing into a single cross-team view.

Circuit is available to Unify channel partners via a Referral Selling Model and an Extended Agent Model. 
 
Under the Referral model partners are able to offer Circuit to current and new customers by referring these potential customers to Unify after developing the qualified lead.

The Extended Agent Model enables partners to quote, close deals, and maintain their customer relationship on behalf of Unify.

"Our primary goal with our partner program is to create additional revenue streams for partners," said Jon Pritchard, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Channels at Unify.

"Selling Circuit provides an entry point into the SaaS sales environment, while expanding the conversation with customers around the benefits of improved team collaboration."

Industry and business heavyweights have co-signed an open letter published in yesterday's Financial Times calling for the removal of 'structural barriers to competition that will unlock the next wave of investment in communications infrastructure that the country urgently needs'. The full text reads as follows...

Sir
Every home and business in Britain deserves fast and reliable broadband access. It is essential if Britain is to fulfill its potential to be the world's leading digital economy. Unfortunately, today's broadband market is letting customers, businesses and Britain down. It is time we considered radical reform. 

Ofcom is currently conducting the most fundamental review of the communications market in a decade, and has identified serious problems with the ownership of the national telecoms network by BT Openreach. These include a conflict of interest in the role of BT, poor quality of customer service and difficulties in enforcing the existing regulatory regime. The result is a sub-standard experience for millions of customers and diminished opportunity for alternative providers to compete effectively.

There is an urgent need for increased competition so that alternative providers are encouraged to invest and innovate to solve the challenges ahead. These include investment to deliver broadband coverage in hard to reach areas, improved service quality and reliability, fibre products suitable for Britain's SMEs, and new ultrafast broadband services.

We do not believe that the fundamental problems identified by Ofcom can be addressed by tinkering with the existing regulatory framework. Ofcom has done a good job of delivering competition on the old copper network, but the powers given to it are insufficient for the new superfast world.

It is therefore crucial that Ofcom moves as quickly as possible to ask the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), with its far reaching powers, to undertake a full market investigation. Only the CMA, with the support of Ofcom, can address the structural barriers to competition that will unlock the next wave of investment in communications infrastructure that the country urgently needs. We cannot afford to wait.

Yours sincerely
 
Chris Bryce, Chief Executive, Association of Independent Professionals and the Self Employed
Matthew Riley, Chief Executive, Daisy Group
Chris Pateman, Chief Executive, Federation of Communication Services
Malcolm Corbett, Chief Executive, Independent Networks Co-operative Association
Simon Walker, Director General, Institute of Directors
Jeremy Darroch, Chief Executive, Sky
Dido Harding, Chief Executive, TalkTalk
Jeroen Hoencamp, Chief Executive, Vodafone UK

The virtual economy is changing the nature of business relationships according to BT Business research which found that 62% of British businesses have regular customers they have never met in person, and more than half have customers they have only ever contacted by email.

The research covered areas such as the importance of networking, the role of social media and the changing nature of collaborative working.

The survey also revealed that the 'new economy' is being driven by social media. More than half of those on Linkedin (54%) have accepted a LinkedIn request from someone they had never had any previous contact with, and three quarters have accepted a request from someone they have never met in person (73%).

This practice has led to new business opportunities in 39% of cases and a new business partnership in 31%.

But traditional methods of building business relationships are still going strong: 71% of new business leads still come from existing customers and clients, 38% through mutual friends and 31 per cent from attending networking events.

Similarly, face-to-face communication is still the most common method of internal collaboration in those companies surveyed, and the evidence suggests that employees would prefer to use it more given the option.

Danny Longbottom, MD, UK SME, said: "We see the ‘Virtual Economy' playing a major part in our customers' businesses on a daily basis, particularly when it comes to international trade and exporting among smaller and mid-sized businesses.

"It is interesting to see wider evidence of the cultural changes it brings. While this new way of working, driven by high speed internet access and associated new technologies like cloud applications, has numerous benefits, the results also provide some food for thought to businesses about the fundamental nature of people and how they work best.

"Technology is a facilitator, but face-to-face and telephone communication still have an important role to play, and people work and collaborate best when they are able to communicate in whatever way best suits their goals."

Dr Nicola Millard, head of customer insight and futures, BT Global Innovation Team, added: "There is one sophisticated piece of technology that hasn't been updated recently - and that's our brains.

"Our inner caveman still dictates a lot of our behaviour. That's why, despite thousands of technologies out there that will shrink distance, we do often still default to face-to-face.

"As we virtualise, there is a huge need to understand the dynamics of collaboration better as, in doing so, we can collaborate more effectively in both the real and virtual world and move from 'networking' to 'net-working' for future business success."

Oriium has underscored its data management credentials following a link-up with Arcserve, a data protection and recovery specialist that has during the course of the last year witnessed 37% growth in the UK mid-market space.

Channel-only Oriium provides data management and infrastructure consultancy including managed and hosted services and will cover Arcserve's whole portfolio including its UDP Appliance which, among other functions, reduces backup times and cuts the amount of disk storage required.

Oriium MD Chris Kiaie said: "This is an important milestone for us and represents a significant opportunity for partners and customers."

Giovanni Goduti, Northern European Sales Director, Arcserve, added: "This alliance will enable, accelerate and support our rapidly growing UK market."

Invosys is to add a new audio conferencing product to its Number Manager portal next month, giving users the ability to create and manage audio conferencing services.

The product can be set up on any number type, including international numbering, and allows users to assign multiple numbers to the same conference service, providing local access for all participants involved on the call whether they be based in the UK or overseas

Bespoke Welcome Messages can be uploaded giving personalised introductions and to ensure the service accommodates any branding requirements.

Participants in the conference calls can record their names to be announced as they join the call so the host can easily track attendance.

All conferences can be recorded, stored online, emailed to desired recipients or sent directly to any FTP server.

The product features a PIN access system for security. Conference Hosts are able to generate a separate PIN to ensure the call cannot begin without their attendance and to give them full control of the meeting and discussion points, particularly useful when a call involves clients and third parties.

Steve Glaister, Sales Director, said: "In modern times companies can have staff spread nationwide and sometimes worldwide, and so it's essential that colleagues and their clients are able to communicate efficiently.

"The benefits to the organisation are numerous - conferencing reduces both staffing and travel costs, ensures more efficient use of time and increased productivity, as well as a reduction of a company's carbon footprint."

The future success of MSPs depends on their ability to resolve the prevailing ‘analysis-paralysis' paradox, according to speakers at this year's Managed Services and Hosting Summit (staged by IT Europa, 17th September at London's Bishopsgate).

It could be strongly argued that the managed services environment is maturing nicely, but ironically, the organic nature of managed services could also render it locked in a near-permanent status quo, never developing to its full potential. At one end of the spectrum a stream of stimulating new entrants and technology innovations will refresh the traditional IT industry anew, but on the other hand, customer inertia will stunt an industry that perforce cannot realise its full capacity for growth. Therein lies the paradox: Customers are holding back from making buying decisions because of the pace of change, a condition SolidFire's CEO Dave Wright calls ‘analysis-paralysis'.

Changes in customer buying behaviours are influencing the development of emerging managed services providers as well as more established ones. Therefore the industry must reconsider its sales approach and customer engagement processes if it is to achieve its full potential. MSPs need to be smarter at understanding the technology needs of end users, as well as knowing how the different departments within an organisation use technology.

In a keynote address to delegates, Mark Paine (pictured), Research Director at Gartner, underlined these factors and cited research that illustrated the shift away from traditional selling methods like direct telesales towards engagement with a broader range of buyers who are more informed about the options available to them. ‘Knowledge is a dangerous thing', and selling to such customers can be a challenge with 45 per cent of IT spend already decentralised.

The ‘empowerment' of end users could be interpreted as a baby step towards disintermediation, but the opposite is true, with fears over the possible commoditisation of the sector allayed by David Bellini, President of ConnectWise, who has been selling managed services for 25 years. He boldly claimed a premium over other service providers because his people are ‘better', they can resolve issues quickly and the solutions he provides are generally ‘more reliable'. "The commoditisation scare resurfaces every few years and we've seen it off every time," he stated. "Standing your ground as a MSP depends on improved management within the company. Everything has a ticket, including people."

The fast-changing and rising expectations of customers are a key point of difference, believes Bellini. In such a fast moving industry a new buzzword could within a year become mainstream language. Millennials are helping to catalyse the acceptance of new phrases into everyday speech. They expect always-on comms, constant innovation and are less keen on face-to-face engagement. They're even turning against voice and phone communication. As customers, millennials have different demands on MSPs compared to earlier generations, yet MSPs must still cater for the expectations of more traditional users.

The one common factor that bridges the generation gap is customer service. Mark Banfield, VP of International at Autotask, cited research undertaken by the company that underscores the importance of QoS, delivering on time, sticking to budget and specification, as well building a close working relationship with customers who want solid advice and a single point of contact. "Price should not become an issue if you get these things right," he added. "This works for us. We are absolutely not the cheapest in the market, but we obsess about the customer experience."

The go-to-market philosophy advanced by Banfield is a proven antidote to the ‘analysis-paralysis' scenario identified by SolidFire's CEO Dave Wright, who also affirmed that differentiation through good service is key. However, promoting stand-out attributes can be problematic. "In many cases customers can't identify differentiators so they go with familiar brands," he said. "Many MSPs are struggling to stand out and this can limit their success."

Comment
The Managed Services and Hosting Summit identified the primary determining factors that are likely to shape the future look and survivability of MSPs, whose longevity cannot be separated from their ability to unlock the status quo while keeping in touch with a traditional base. Their priority is to action a new approach to customer engagement that reflects changes in end user buying behaviours. Just as important is having the capacity to differentiate. This can be achieved through outstanding consultancy, faultless project delivery and impeccable after-sales service. None of this is rocket science, but turning the obvious into actionable strategy remains a challenge and until achieved the ‘analysis-paralysis' paradox will remain unresolved.

NaviSite Europe has named David Penny as Regional Channel Director and Gary Smallman as Operations Director. The aim is to boost NaviSite's footprint in the UK market and expand NaviSite's European presence.

David Penny joins from Huawei where he and his team setup the channel business for the company and grew it from a start-up organisation to a significant business arm, with relationships established via the UK major distributors and over 100 VARs, Managed Service Providers and Systems Integrators.

In his new role, he will be in charge of developing and driving NaviSite Europe's channel programme with a focus on new partner recruitment and establishing solid go to market plans with existing and new partners across the UK and Europe.

With over 15 years of experience working in managerial and consultative positions within operations and data centre environments, Gary Smallman has been appointed the role of director of operations at noviciate, where he will be responsible for continuing to drive services to NaviSite's customer base.

Previously employed as the Service Delivery Lead for Charityshare, he has delivered IT services to multiple major charities. He also held positions at Colt Technology Services, Align.com and CSC.

Sean McAvan, Managing Director, NaviSite, said: "As we continue to grow our business we need the best people at the top to drive our vision of being the most reliable and flexible cloud and managed services provider in the UK. We look forward to having them help grow our business in the increasingly competitive cloud and managed hosting market in the UK and across Europe."

A quarter of SMEs are struggling to manage their IT infrastructure according to research by Censuswide on behalf of essensys.

Of the 350 business decision makers polled a third of board directors believing their IT is too complex.

The research highlighted a number of other IT frustrations with 29% of business decision makers also agreeing that IT is too expensive; 21% find it hard to stay up to date with new technologies; and 27% says the cost of rolling out new IT services is too high. Less than 8% of those surveyed said they didn't have any IT frustrations.

Mark Furness, CEO at essensys, said: "The way people work is changing all the time as we move towards an ever more hyper-connected world.

"However, the fact that our research has highlighted all of these frustrations means that, more often than not, the reality is lagging behind the hype.

"Not because businesses don't want to embrace new technologies, but because they are hindered by complex implementation, cost and a lack of flexibility.

"We believe that businesses should expect more from their IT infrastructure. IT should indeed play a key role in leading change and innovation inside organisations rather than be a barrier and a source of frustration.

"Businesses should therefore no longer accept IT solutions that are reliant on complex management tools, have high maintenance demands and are difficult to scale."

essensys's report sets out how businesses need IT infrastructures that are driven by far greater automation and sophisticated orchestration technology, empowering people to easily self-serve and manage their services.

"IT can really be a main driver of productivity and competitiveness and thankfully, the experience is a lot better than what most people expect," added Furness.

Following the release of Windows 10 on 29th July distributor Entatech UK has witnessed five-times growth in sales, largely attributed to a bounce back following a pre-launch lull in sales.

Entatech MD Dave Stevinson said: "Windows10 was a much needed injection of enthusiasm that the industry needed. The demand in late July and August has been particularly pleasing."