Comms Dealer

Nimans has joined an army of volunteers helping to transform a derelict Manchester street into a new village as part of a special TV programme.

Nimans has donated cabling, a data cabinet and accessories for the BBC's DIY SOS show which is converting 60 houses into a mini village for army veterans.

The BBC team, led by presenter Nick Knowles, has begun refurbishing homes in Canada Street and New Street in Newton Heath. In the space of just a week, they will become homes for former servicemen and women to live in with their families.

A veteran walk-in centre is also being created on the site which will be run by charity. Some of the houses will become shared properties where unemployed veterans will live while they re-train and learn new skills at a nearby college.

Dozens of local building firms and tradesmen are helping out with the project, including Nimans and its customer CIA 2000, supported by veterans working with charity Walking With The Wounded.

"CIA asked if we could donate some equipment and we were delighted to help such a worthy cause, especially as we have ex-military personnel within our business," said Nimans Chairman Julian Niman.

Presenter Nick Knowles said he came up with the idea for the village when talking to the founder of Walking With The Wounded Ed Parker about empty housing.

He said: "These young men have gone off to different parts of the world and had to see extremely difficult things. They didn't choose to do it, they go and do what they have been asked.

"Having done what we have asked them, they find themselves on the streets. This community is making it happen and housing them. Manchester, and companies such as Nimans and CIA 2000, should be very proud of themselves."

Intermedia has strengthened its channel presence following the appointment of Arrow as a distributor for its range of business applications.

Richard Walters, GM of Intermedia EMEA, said: "Through Arrow's customer network we look forward to enabling and equipping channel partners to grow new revenue streams."

David Fearne, Technical Director, Arrow ECS UK&I, added: "Arrow can start to bring enterprise-grade business applications as a service to the channel."

Jarmila Yu, Intermedia's International Marketing Director, added: "It's vital that SMBs have the freedom to focus on managing and growing their business.

"As a vendor we must do whatever we can to help partners and SMBs capitalise on the opportunities that cloud applications offer.

"Our UK brand campaign, newly enhanced channel partner programme and strategic channel relationships, such as the agreement with Arrow, bring this to life."

Talk Straight Group has separated out its wholesale operation under the new brand name TS Wholesale in a move that signifies the company's growing channel presence during the past 12 months.

Talk Straight provides the B2B market with connectivity, mobile, content filtering and network protection to over 1,000 schools under the Schools Broadband name.

Dave Tindall, MD, said: "The company is going from strength to strength and the separation of our wholesale division is part of a long-term strategy.

"Having invested heavily in a new carrier grade network now is the right time to increase the focus on our wholesale division."

Heading up the new division is Clive Stone who boasts much industry experience and has a clear strategy for TS Wholesale, aiming to attract talent from a global stage by building on existing networks and products and reaching out to new audiences.

He stated: "Letting customers understand what your capabilities are, together with understanding their requirements is a simple formula that has always worked well for me and my customers - and one that I intend to use to take TS Wholesale to the next level."

For the past four years Stone has been busy providing connectivity throughout the world for various international networking companies.

He also helped to establish the IX Manchester Steering Group for Network Operators in the UK, which with the help of the Steering Committee and LINX, continues to gain strength.

Lily Comms has treated its target-busting over-achievers to an all-expenses paid trip to Ibiza following the conclusion of a three month cross-company sales incentive scheme.

The scheme was designed to drive sales of the iPECS UCP communications system with targets set for direct sales from internal and external sales teams, upgrades to existing hardware generated by client services and sales from referrals gathered by the operations team.

The £750k target of was smashed with the final sales for the iPECS UCP coming in at £1.075m for the incentive period.

The best performing employees from each department enjoyed a VIP weekend on the Balearic Island with activities including a trip aboard a private yacht and fine dining at an exclusive island restaurant.

Lily Comms is on course to double turnover after expanding its operation into London and boosting staff numbers across all departments.

MD Chris Morrisey said: "We wanted to involve all departments within the business in the incentive and not just the sales team.

"There was a two-fold reason for this: Firstly, we treat the company very much like a family. No one area is more or less important than the other. We wanted to give everyone the opportunity to be involved.

"Secondly, it was an opportunity to develop lead generation techniques in areas we have previously not focused on."

Co-owner Adrian Jackson added: "The whole project was a great success and the staff who went on the trip really earned it. We are already planning our next incentive."

GCI Channel Solutions has been chosen by Netcall to head up a £1.5m Skype for Business deployment to Lincoln-based print specialist Danwood Group.

The UC solution will deliver enterprise voice, video and IM alongside virtual contact centre applications.

Commenting on the five year 1,200 seat deal Mark Whitehead (pictured), Director of Sales at GCI Channel Solutions, said: "During our channel build we discovered that one of the biggest challenges for resellers was finding a company to collaborate with on products like Skype for Business and Hosted Desktop.

"We now have the infrastructure, expertise and tools necessary to support resellers as they enter these lucrative markets."

Fiona Doak has been appointment EMEA Channel Director at WhiteHat Security. She brings 20 years channel experience and has a remit to revamp the current channel programme.

"The revamp will ensure that our partners are better supported, that we have a clear understanding of what they need to take us to market and put those resources in place," she said.
 
"The EMEA region is already a significant part of WhiteHat's business and I am looking forward to working with our partners to build out their sales pipeline and generate increased revenue. 

"I feel confident that the experience I bring building channel programmes for vendors including Infoblox, Juniper Networks and F5 will pay dividends, for WhiteHat and its growing partner community."

Nimans is offering free lifetime warranties across its range of SIP and DECT handsets as well as conferencing models from Yealink (UK).

The commitment will see any faulty devices replaced up to 12 months after their official end-of-life date and covers all current handset models including the popular T4x series - CP860 conference phone, W52H and W52P DECT phones, EXP40 expansion module and the recently launched T27PN & T29GN.

Ian Brindle, Nimans' Head of Conferencing and Telephony Sales, said: "Yealink enjoys a reputation for reliability and the lifetime warranties are further evidence of the confidence we have in its expanding product portfolio."

Under the warranty claims procedure Nimans will replace units deemed to be faulty. If the model has been discontinued an equivalent or better replacement will be supplied.

The UK SME sector is taking a global lead when it comes to embracing new software technology - but only when it is absolutely necessary to do so.

These are some of the findings of a global research study commissioned by business software provider Exact that compares how SMEs in different countries stack up against each other when it comes to technology adoption.

The 'Exact 2015 SME Cloud Barometer' - an independent research study of just under 3,000 SME leaders across the UK, the USA, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium - found those who are 'heavy users' of cloud software (defined as having three or more different cloud products in place) achieved far higher revenue growth and more than double the profit of those using fewer cloud products.

The study found the UK has the second highest number of 'heavy' cloud software users (27%), just marginally behind the USA (29%). This compares to 25% of SMEs in the Netherlands, 24% in Belgium and France, and just 10% in Germany. Overall, just under half of UK SMEs (47%) are now using at least one cloud business software tool.

Significantly, those who have embraced the cloud and are using multiple software products as part of their business processes showed on average 26% growth in revenue in 2015, compared to 14% among those using one or two online solutions, and 10% among those who don't use any cloud solutions at all.

Although the research shows the UK does have plenty to shout about when it comes to tech adoption rates among its five million+ SMEs, there are shortcomings when it comes to optimising working practices.

Only 10% 'actively look for new solutions that help us grow' - the lowest number among any of the comparison countries - while the most popular reason given for implementing new software solutions was "when we need to replace outdated versions" (54% - higher than any other country).

In terms of what is driving cloud adoption, IT cost savings is the primary reason for UK SMEs (32%) - unlike everywhere else where better security was the main reason for switching away from on-premise software solutions or traditional pen-and-paper style processes, particularly in Germany (36%). In all cases, easy access to information was cited as the third biggest benefit for moving business and finance processes online.

When it comes to financial challenges and how technology can help address those, getting customers to pay on time is the top issue facing UK SMEs (40%), followed by cash flow management (33%). These concerns are clearly justified; according to the research, 11% of UK SME's invoices are paid late, and 2% are never paid at all. UK manufacturers are particularly affected by late payments (16% are overdue), while wholesale & distribution businesses are most affected by invoices never being paid (5%).

These financial concerns might explain why among those cloud adopters who took part in the poll, accounting software is the most popular business tool being used (27%).

"Few business leaders would argue with the fact that having the right software tools in place can be vital to success," said Erik van der Meijden, CEO of Exact. "In fact, 63% of the SMEs who took part said they felt that technology is going to have a strong impact on the competitive landscape in their market over the next three years."

Lucy Fox, General Manager, Cloud Solutions at Exact UK, added: "There is a real opportunity here for UK SMEs to build on the success and status they hold on the global stage. To do so, businesses need to ensure they stay competitive, efficient and provide the very best in customer service. Cloud adoption levels appear to be growing, and highlighting the tangible benefits it can offer through research like this will hopefully encourage more UK SMEs to follow suit."

Bucks-based Olive Communications has scooped a £1.5m four-year deal from OneFamily, a mutual with more than £7bn of assets under management and one of the UK's largest mutual insurers.
  
Olive will implement a UC and contact centre solution based on Mitel's cloud-based platform along with a knowledge management system that will enable agents to more easily access information, documentation and FAQs.
 
Olive Communications CEO Martin Flick said: "This project demonstrates our ability in the financial sector for delivering business critical cloud communication services."

Avaya has named Nidal Abou-Ltaif as President for EMEA and APAC regions.

Since joining Avaya in 2003 as the Regional Sales Leader for the Middle East, Abou-Ltaif has been instrumental in expanding the company's presence in the territory.

In early 2014 Abou-Ltaif was selected to lead Avaya's Global Growth Markets sales theatre, including MEA, Turkey, Russia & CIS, India and SAARC, and Greater China.

Under his leadership, the Global Growth Market region (Middle East, Africa, Russia, India and China) was the fastest-growing within Avaya in FY2014, leading the company's networking business growth globally and achieving impressive performance in the mid-market with Avaya's iConnect channel engagement programme.

Pierre-Paul Allard, Senior VP, Worldwide Sales and president, Global Field Operations, Avaya, said: "Nidal has a significant history of success, a recognised people focus, a fierce passion for winning, and a track-record in helping governments and businesses use technology to make a real difference in people's lives.

"In this new role, his expertise and experience will prove invaluable in a market environment where change is the only constant."

Abou-Ltaif added: "Only when our customers rate us strongly can we consider ourselves to be truly successful. Having a customer-focused organisation requires building solutions and services that deliver the outcomes desired by our customers. This means having a team that understands our customers' challenges today and in the future, and one which has the expertise and imagination to build solutions that produce measurable and meaningful results."