Comms Dealer

A reseller's approach to providing UC&C solutions could also be the defining factor of their future path, inextricably linked to the single vendor versus hybrid solution debate, and central to the look and feel of their integration capabilities over the long-term.

UC&C is an especially important area where complexity and productisation are, in some respects, converging. But despite this apparent convergence these two distinct approaches - sophisticated solution delivery and pretty much off-the-shelf - are poles apart, dividing resellers into one of two camps according to their strategic go-to-market choice - single vendor or hybrid. That said, it could be the middle ground where the battle will be won and lost.

Selling individual products will rarely deliver a solution that covers every aspect of real and non real-time communications, according to Content Guru's CEO Sean Taylor pictured above), who argues that the best approach to UC&C is for organisations to implement a core multi-channel, multi-functional communications platform that's capable of operating within a broader standards-based IT environment. "This strategy not only enables users to access key communications applications such as office telephony, audio conferencing, call recording and voicemail, but also link seamlessly to external systems and databases to create the additional features and content that individuals require," he said.

One of the most important goals of any UC&C project, noted Taylor, is to create an environment that is cost-effective, flexible and delivers a unified user experience. "A true hybrid UC&C solution seamlessly integrates on-premise systems and cloud services to deliver a whole greater than the sum of its parts," added Taylor. "A hybrid approach to UC&C is invaluable when clients wish to retain previous investments in comms systems rather than rip-and-replace. It's a logical strategy. The challenge for UC&C strategists is how to seamlessly integrate their core UC&C platform with these resources to fulfil the broader UC&C vision. At this point, the success of a project often comes down to the skills and capabilities of the supplier to carry out these integration tasks."

A single vendor approach may best fit a customer's requirements for UC&C if they just need IM, presence, audio, video conferencing and an IP voice platform. Skype for Business, for example, delivers this functionality while also supporting an ecosystem of third party applications from contact centre to billing, IVR and recording. "For a robust cloud-based telephony platform that also supports a broad range of contact centre functionality, online card payment handling and integration to a broad range of CRM and back office systems, then a platform such as storm at the centre of a UC&C ecosystem will better fit the bill," added Taylor.

Organisations that best utilise UC&C to drive their business agenda use a multi-vendor or hybrid approach, according to Darren Pattie (pictured left), EMEA Channel and Distribution Director at ShoreTel. "This is the best way to provide a best-of-breed solution along with the essential commercial flexibility and business agility," he said. "Critical in this approach is to work with vendors that have an open strategy to integration and a rich development of third party integration."
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Hybrid could mean a mix of different vendor technologies to provide the best infrastructure to power a business, but it could also mean one vendor's portfolio delivered in multiple ways to meet the changing customer and market requirements. "ShoreTel's goal is to offer true choice and flexibility to customers," added Pattie. "This is achieved through offering not only a UC solution for on-premise, but also as-a-service through the cloud or a hybrid combination of the two, such as a UC platform on site with contact centre or mobility solutions as a service from the cloud. This means the customer has one platform and one user experience and can choose the model that fits their business."

Resellers offering a consultative approach and an integrated hybrid solution can add value. The vendor, for their part, must be able to support them through a rich integration set of services and an agile engagement model that helps resellers stand out. "A channel will need to consider how a single vendor can develop multiple solutions that deliver value to the customer, and also consider the vendor's commitment to research and development across all areas of their portfolio," said Pattie.

"The other option is to look for a vendor that can focus on providing a rich, seamless integration to third party solutions, delivering a best of breed solution and a great customer experience. When you combine that flexibility with a suite of professional services that can be tailored to meet a customer's specific needs, the channel and end user can be confident they have a solution that gives them what they need today, and has the agility to change and meet the needs of tomorrow."

When it comes to UC&C, noted Charles Aylwin (pictured left), Channel Sales Director for 8x8 Solutions, end users are best served by a single vendor with expertise in creating a safe and seamless communications ecosystem. "Separate third party applications can bring the added complications of additional passwords, subscriptions, updates and re-works to keep operational after each separate vendor's upgrades," he stated. "Keeping on top of all this can take time, and crucially for businesses, cost more. They may find a single vendor works better for them as long as all the features they're looking for are available."

Customers might see hybrid as important for their UC solution because they want a variety of features across cloud and on-premise, or they need to retain some legacy on-premise systems for operational or cost reasons. "While it is true that hybrid solutions are sometimes seen as a relatively painless midway point between a true UC solution and a customer's investment in previous generation technology, often the result is a compromise which can't deliver the real world competitive advantages of a properly scoped and planned move to a full cloud solution," added Aylwin.

Creating fully featured UC platforms that integrate with a variety of applications will be the future for UC, believes Aylwin. Customers will no longer choose product A or B, but instead choose the features they need and won't have to pay for what they don't use.

It's also useful to think of hybrid in terms of the mode of consumption - opex cloud-based services working in conjunction with on-premise systems - the simplest example being the use of secure cloud backup for on site servers or hosted telephony working with local CRM integration, pointed out Stephen Ashley-Brian, Converged Product Manager, Gamma. He expects to see the simplification of integrated hybrid services to the point that they become productised. "Customers may well benefit from such integrated solutions, but only when they can be consumed in a manner that makes them comparable with many of the services now regularly used via the cloud," commented Ashley-Brian.

He advocates a frank comparison between the complexity, cost and ongoing support required between these two approaches, and observes that resellers can vary tremendously in terms of their ability and appetite for new services. "A sanity check on their own support model should heavily influence the final decision," he said. "Simply put, single vendor is great if you want to sell the most common user cases; but go hybrid if you have the need, customer appetite and ability to do more."

MeetingZone has the ability to deploy Skype for Business Enterprise Voice in a hybrid offering, mixing cloud and on-premise to deliver a single solution. "A hybrid solution offers the customer a balance of having on-site control while gaining the advantage of low capital investment for the cloud-based element of the solution," explained Scott Somenthal (pictured left), Channel Manager for MeetingZone's Skype For Business team. "To be successful when taking hybrid technologies to market, many resellers will need to either re-invest in new technologies or find a good partner that specialises in the complementary technology they want to drive to market."

MeetingZone works closely with a number of partners without the ability to deliver Skype for Business Enterprise Voice as a cloud or hybrid solution. "Technology is fast evolving and customers are demanding seamless end-to-end collaborative UC&C solutions," added Somenthal. "The starting point is to understand the customer's needs and then work out the best solution to meet their requirements. If it can be done with a single vendor that's great. However, as complexity increases the reseller will need to invest or work with another partner with the ability to deploy the solution."

MeetingZone goes into each customer opportunity with an open mind to understand their environment. "We would not force a hosted or Skype for Business Enterprise Voice solution on someone that wishes to keep their PBX," added Somenthal. "However, they may wish to integrate the technologies to take advantage of IM, presence, audio and video conferencing. Therefore, resellers need to have an ability to deliver a number of technologies due to the diverse nature of UC&C."

From a reseller's perspective, according to Paul Burn, Head of Category Sales at Nimans, a single vendor solution is preferable, up to a point. "In an ideal world this is the best fit, but it's probably unlikely everything the customer wants will be there, depending how deep you go into their business," he said. "At that point the hybrid model has to be adopted. Resellers must be realistic and they may need more options in their kit bags."

Berry Telecom's success challenges the widespread ideology that 'business is business', according to co-founder Simon Langford who stands by his conviction that 'business is people'.

In many ways Berry Telecom is a reflection of the people who have most influenced Langford. His parents instilled the core values that he abides by day-to-day - honesty, friendliness and a positive instinct to always look for the best in people. In business life, Langford's role model remains the late Phillip Edmonds, former Managing Director of Pro-Voice. "He taught me that a company is nothing without its people," explained Langford. "Phillip always made sure that everyone was looked after, valued and appreciated. These values underpin Berry Telecom's beliefs and practices."

This ethos extends to customers who are also front and centre at all times. "We have a rapidly expanding customer base so our focus has shifted slightly from a sales environment to a service one," explained Langford. "We have put in place the support structure and internal processes to ensure customers, throughout their Berry experience, receive the same high level of service."

Finding good staff to provide this support is a challenge. "We've broadened our recruitment methods by using social media and new media channels," said Langford. "To promote staff progression and retention we have also implemented clear promotional paths and developed a motivational working environment with effective incentive schemes. We also ensure that knowledge is disseminated throughout the organisation and we empower staff to act. Our smooth processes and monitored workflows mean that everything we do keeps the customer in mind and informed along the way. I get great satisfaction knowing that we're providing a rewarding and dynamic environment for our staff."

Langford started out as a trainee telecoms engineer for Pure Telecom. He gained an appreciation of the needs of customers, their expectations and concerns when updating their telephony systems. Fast forward to 2011 when he worked alongside fellow Berry co-founder Paul Hallam at a previous comms company, and Berry's seed was sown during conversations about how they would do things differently. "I was the joint Sales Director and Paul was Technical Director, so between us we almost had it all covered," said Langford. "We needed someone to help with the numbers so we spoke to a friend, Jo-Anne Udy, who was working in finance for B&Q and later joined us as Finance Director."

The conversations became more serious and after some fundraising from family and friends they quit their jobs on the same day. "We were asked to leave the premises immediately and our company cars were taken away," noted Langford. "I remember calling my friend Chris to come and pick us up from a local pub. It was liberating, a real Jeremy McGuire moment, but scary.

"After recruiting one of the industry's best telemarketers we started making outbound sales calls from Paul's kitchen, sharing a laptop and a couple of mobile phones. Since then we haven't looked back. I have a copy of the first Berry sales invoice in a frame in my bathroom at home. We hired more staff, rented an old barn as our head office and began to expand."

In the space of four years Berry Telecom now employs over 40 people, has relocated to bigger premises three times and is turning over almost £5 million a year. The company was named by Samsung as the vendor's fastest growing UK reseller and was then awarded the Comms Dealer Sales Team of the Year 2015.

"Refining our internal processes as we expanded was a big challenge," added Langford. "Things started to grow organically, but there comes a time when you get to a certain size and have to work more efficiently. We're currently rolling out a series of work streams to ensure every department is heading in the same direction. We're also implementing initiatives to ensure customer satisfaction can be measured."

Berry Telecom has several key partners, chiefly Samsung. "Our relationship is truly two-way," explained Langford. "Samsung supplies us with the latest technology and we function as a sounding board for new releases and product developments. Our Technical Director, Paul Hallam, was recently invited to meet the Board from Korea to discuss upcoming software developments."

Other talking points of interest include the speedy uptake of SIP and VoIP and the death of ISDN. "There will be a shift in expertise from one technology to the other and Berry needs to handle and manage this transition," commented Langford. "We're assessing how much focus should go onto this now. It's a balance between jumping the gun too early or getting left behind. But it's important to fully understand different industries and their unique needs so we can tailor our products appropriately and target customers."

Sales will always be important, but retention and adding value to customers is also fast becoming a priority. "We don't treat customers like a number," added Langford. "Each and every one is important to us and many become personal friends. We believe in working together and helping each other in any way possible. Our industry must not lack the customer engagement typically seen in utilities. We need to get consumers excited about telecoms and the benefits on offer."

To say that Langford is a 'people person' would be to greatly understate the value he places on staff and customers and their well-being. "We're a friendly and happy team," he commented. "We have a strong sales and customer-focused culture which is backed up by a fun, vibrant and youthful working environment. Two years ago we took the whole crew to Ibiza. Later this year we're heading off to Marbella - if we meet our targets."•

By Anton Le Saux, Head of Connectivity and Partner Sales at O2 Telefónica UK: M2M is increasingly being adopted by smaller companies as it becomes more established and more affordable.

While M2M technology does bring with it numerous benefits - from enhanced reporting to remote management and monitoring, as well as boosting efficiency and convenience through automated processes - it is important to ensure that your business and your market are ready for this step.

Sufficient planning is a must and should include all parts of the business so that you can map out exactly where M2M will fit in strategically and operationally. It could impact more areas than you realise, from the control and monitoring of assets through to customer experience and ultimately brand perception. This will enable you to identify exactly how you want M2M to work for you. Part of this is also identifying who, within your organisation, will be responsible for managing the process.

Your selection of M2M supplier is crucial as there is a wide choice available, from off-the-shelf packages to more bespoke and supported solutions with designated account managers and help desks. Some M2M suppliers, such as O2, are hands-on and can help you navigate the IoT to your best advantage. With the right partner on board that fills in the gaps in your own team, you can utilise their expertise and experience to take care of project road mapping to maximise results.

Stepping into the world of M2M is a big decision and it could also be one of your best decisions. The key is not to rush. Do your research and planning and make sure that when you make the decision to move to M2M, your business will reap the optimum return. (anton.lesaux@telefonica.com - partnersdigital.telefonica.com)

By Andy Grant, Managing Director, Bowan Arrow: We all rely on mobile devices to access information while on the move or outside of the traditional office environment. We are consumed and connected, always wanting access to information that will help us navigate our way through work and help our business decision making.

With this in mind, is your website optimised for mobile devices?

The importance of a mobile-optimised website was underlined recently by an article in B2B Marketing Magazine stating that out of the world's total population of seven billion people, close to six billion own a mobile phone. Roughly 2.5 billion are using the Internet and about 1.8 billion are active on social networking platforms (approximately 66 per cent of the global Internet population).

In a recent Business Decision Makers Online study, 77 per cent of respondents said the web is the place to find out about new products and companies, more than twice as many as the next highest medium. That is not a statistic that your business can ignore. So how do you and your company achieve a consistent approach to social, digital and mobile?

Firstly, make your content easily accessible and relevant to your target market. Provide information that decision makers can use to form opinions while conducting their background research. According to Marketo, 57 per cent of B2B lead generation comes from SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), and 55 per cent of businesses have closed deals from social media leads.

IT Europa is to stage its ninth annual European Software & Solutions Summit on 14th April 2016 in London.

The event, which incorporates the European ISV Convention, will bring leading Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Solution Providers together with hardware, software and service organisations to explore and address the issues affecting the development of the IT Industry in Europe and to develop and strengthen partnerships aimed at supporting solution-based sales.

Over recent years ISVs and Solution Providers have been very much the driving force behind growth within the IT and Telecoms markets.

This seems set to continue this year with Gartner predicting European Enterprise Software sector growth of 7.6 % in constant-currency terms in 2015 - more than twice the 3.7% growth rate in European IT spending as a whole.
 
The European Software & Solutions Summit 2016 will build upon the success of its eight predecessors, which have been staged in Brussels, Frankfurt, London and Berlin, and attract leading ISVs and Solution Providers from all over Europe.

The summit will feature a high-level conference programme with leading industry speakers addressing the challenges and opportunities facing ISVs and Solution Providers in Europe.

Under the umbrella theme of 'Creating Solutions for the Digital Age', presentations will explore the new era of business and IT being heralded by digital technologies and the Internet of Things (IoT) and examine the meaning and impact of terms such as Industry 4.0 and Enterprise IT 3.0. We will also look at the use of Big Data as a catalyst for change and the emergence and growing importance of customer experience management.
 
"Organisations across Europe are looking for solutions that will deliver real value and business benefits for their organisations. Increasingly, that means moving beyond looking for just more efficient ways of doing the same thing to finding smarter ways to capture and analyse data and integrating new cloud-based solutions with legacy applications," says Alan Norman, Managing Director of IT Europa.

"The European Software & Solutions Summit 2016 provides a unique opportunity for Europe's Software and Solutions communities to come together to address the issues affecting the development applications.

"It also provides a framework within which major hardware and software vendors, as well as service providers and system integrators, can meet and engage with the directors and decision makers of Europe's most significant ISVs and Solution Providers to create new business opportunities."
 
The European Software & Solutions Summit 2016 will take place at the Lancaster London Hotel, London, on 14 April 2016. ISVs and Solution Providers wishing to attend the convention and vendors, distributors or service providers interested in sponsorship opportunities can find further information at www.eusss.com

IT services company CCE has partnered with TalkTalk Business and is eyeing the market for managed desktop services in the SME sector based on TalkTalk Business connectivity.

Initially TalkTalk Business and CCE will target SMEs keen to grow, but do not have in-house resources and budgets to build the right IT infrastructure to support their plans.

"In today's digital age it is critical for businesses to be available 24x7, because customers demand the same level of consistent service all the time," said Giles Thorpe, Managing Director, CCE.

"That's why it is important for CCE to partner with network and infrastructure partners to deliver the standard of connectivity our customers expect."

TalkTalk Business has installed its own equipment in more than 3,000 of the UK's local telephone exchanges, which cover 95% of UK businesses.

Alex Tempest, Director of Partners at TalkTalk Business, added: "We recognise that businesses - especially small and ambitious companies looking for growth, have the opportunity to thrive in the global marketplace thanks to the latest developments in superfast broadband and Ethernet.

"Combining our connectivity with CCE's enterprise IT know-how will enable customers to respond dynamically to fast-changing markets."

In addition to managed desktop services, CCE is also looking forward to taking up TalkTalk Business SIP trunking powered by tIPicall.

Swansea-based comms provider Siarad Network has completed a project to install all of the telecoms systems and connectivity at transportation company Frenni's base in Port Talbot.

An important aspect of the implementation was to ensure downtime and connection losses are minimised.

Garath Williams, MD of Siarad Network, said: "Using a local telecoms company can often be more beneficial for companies like Frenni, rather than a conglomerate with support services based overseas."

Nimans has marked the third birthday of its IP-based comms platform with a new two-day iQ PBX technical training course to be held at its Manchester HQ (October 20-21).

"Since its launch in 2012 the Asterisk-based platform has established itself as a firm favourite for resellers looking for a complete out-of-the-box solution at a highly competitive price point, backed by maximum flexibility," said iQ Business Manager Judith Addison.

The X600i gateway solution is supported by various products such as POE switches and iQ handsets, according to Addison who emphasised how multi-trunk call recording, call management, hotel software and an iQ softclient solution are some of the ways resellers can maximise revenues.

"The iQ X600i is a flagship feature rich product with many standout qualities - such as SIP trunk connectivity - without adding any licences," she said.

Avnet has named Sirma Ozkan as its new VP of Marketing for EMEA effective 1st October 2015.

Ozkan has worked in the IT distribution industry since 2008 in a number of roles including channel management, product management and marketing.

She joined Avnet in Turkey in April 2013 as Marketing Manager and currently holds the role of Sales and Marketing Director for Technology Solutions in Turkey.

Graeme Watt, President TS EMEA, said: "Sirma has made a significant contribution to the company's success and progress in Turkey and now has the opportunity to make the same impact at EMEA level."

Ozkan added: "Marketing is one of the key success factors contributing to business results. My focus, among other things, will be to look at the regional marketing strategy and identify key areas where we can collaborate further with Avnet sales teams, partners and suppliers."

Ozkan will relocate from Istanbul to Bracknell.

York-based IT distributor Varlink has added DataVan to its portfolio of EPoS vendors, introducing the Taiwanese manufacturer to the UK market.

Varlink will soon be distributing the DataVan Glamor and Bravo ranges of EPoS Terminal, aimed at resellers in both the retail and hospitality sectors.

Both terminals are resistant to dust and spills and the fanfree design of the Glamor series ensures low energy usage, reducing the total cost of ownership for the end user.

Varlink Managing Director Mike Pullon said: "We have worked hard to find an established manufacturer capable of providing us with reliable and well specified products backed by the commercial understanding and flexibility required to enable us to establish their brand in the UK."