Comms Dealer

Intercity Technology has lifted the curtain on a new in-house developed UC platform that CEO Andrew Jackson says will make a mark on the global map as well as the channel landscape.

Intercity Technology is an extended family business that has retained its core family values despite undergoing a technology and acquisition driven transformation that encompasses new markets, more people and greater scale. At the helm is CEO Andrew Jackson whose father founded the business in 1985. Based in Birmingham Intercity was one of the early pioneers of the mobile phone industry and signed Vodafone's first UK partnership agreement. The company has since broadened its service portfolio and transformed from a pure-play mobile provider to an IT and communications solutions specialist. Jackson became CEO in 2013 and quickly went on the acquisition trail to build a well rounded internationally competitive technology business.

He joined the company in 2008 following a five year stint working as a senior executive at Ernst & Young where he was heavily involved in M&A. "This experience prepared me for our acquisitions of Imerja and Gage Networks," commented Jackson. "The business had seen 30 years of organic growth when we embarked on our first acquisition so it felt like a step into the unknown, but it's the best thing I've ever done. Acquisitions always catalyse change and bringing Imerja and Gage into the fold has been no different. But both sets of colleagues have integrated well and we are very much one team. We're a family and all staff at Intercity Technology are treated as valued individuals. The future is looking positive with everyone trying to achieve our shared objectives. Deals like these are often difficult and complex, but as a management team we navigated both incredibly well."

The acquisition of IT services provider Imerja was significant as it expanded Intercity Technology's capabilities and gave it footholds in a number of new vertical markets including the public sector. The company now has 250 employees based in five office locations. Group turnover is £50 million but Jackson's ambition is to get to £75 million by 2020. "We are still very much on the acquisition trail and will continue to look for opportunities to add capabilities where we feel there is an opportunity for growth," noted Jackson. "We also see the launch of Touch Technology as the start of a new path to growth, based on innovative technology we have developed in-house."

According to Jackson the introduction of Touch Technology, a global UC platform, is a game changer. "Because this is something we developed in-house it makes us a vendor as well as a services provider," he said. "We've invested £10 million in its development. Touch Technology is a patented alternative to other major players in the market. We are also working on developing Infrastructure as a Service and looking forward to taking some of these solutions to the channel in the second half of 2017. I can't give too much away, but it's set to take computing on demand to a new level."

Jackson wants to establish Touch Technology as the go-to unified communications platform for growing businesses across the globe, particularly those with international operations or cross border aspirations. "It's an area where we see huge growth potential," he explained. "The Touch Technology platform is our biggest current opportunity. We have so many markets to attack and I'm proud of the team for creating proprietary technology that rivals the very best out there. I want to see Intercity Technology as a credible alternative to the most established IT providers in Europe. With the broad suite of solutions we now offer, coupled with our proprietary technology, we can make a big dent in our target markets."

Intercity Technology's relationships with customers are based on shared long-term goals. That means providing technology solutions that change the way they work for the better. "Many companies are moving traditional IT out of their offices and into data centres giving them the flexibility and scalability to grow," said Jackson. "Intercity Technology's USPs in this area are our in-house data centres, data sovereignty in the UK, expertise, delivery, and removing complexity from the process. I've learnt that businesses succeed when they keep things simple. Clarity is crucial and this is particularly important in the IT and comms industry."•

Every reasonable business leader agrees that people are the lifeblood of a company, none more so than Exponential-e's Head of Channel Alp Kostem who infuses people-centricity into every aspect of his management style and growth strategy.

For Kostem, putting people first is not an adopted strategy, it is in his nature. It's a personal quality that dovetails with Exponential-e's championing of staff as the primary driver of growth, and this approach has given the company a remarkable hand of cards that comes up trumps every year as revealed in its impressive financial figures. Exponential-e has seen solid compound annual growth since 2002 - without a whisper of M&A activity. In its latest set of annual figures revenues were up 24 per cent to £97.5 million, with 45 per cent growth in EBITDA to over £20 million. Profit before tax was up 48 per cent at almost £10 million.

"Our goal is to hit the £200 million target within three years," said Kostem. "There's been speculation on whether the company is for sale, but that isn't the case. Creating opportunities and investment in young people is far more important to our CEO Lee Wade. His personal goal is to ensure that Exponential-e is recognised as a world class company. Growth is driven by our profits which are used predominantly to fuel research and development work. This R&D and a firm focus on investing in people is what drives the company forward."

Kostem joined Exponential-e in 2010 and his primary focus has been growing the channel and increasing revenue, gaining strength from his previous work experiences in the recruitment industry and fast growth organisations. "I focus heavily on hiring, training and re-training people to join our team," he explained. "We now have one of the biggest channel teams in the UK with 38 people. I attribute this to our channel products and offerings, how we cater for dealers, resellers, partners, wholesalers and carriers - with flexibility being key.

"We've developed our own brand of ICT products to put on top of the network, and by supplementing this with our 900-plus active channel partners we have been able to continue our momentum. Exponential-e is also a diverse company in terms of its markets - strong in the public sector, finance, broadcast and retail. Around 3,000 end users are using our products."

Exponential-e's channel sweet spot is £20-50 million revenue partners. But there are no hard and fast rules. The company also has much bigger and smaller partners which is testimony to the flexibility of Exponential-e's broad product portfolio. "We are also completely agnostic and work with any other UC or cloud offering, whatever works best for our customers," added Kostem.

His predilection to working closely with people can be traced back to a five year stint in the high pressured IT recruitment business during the Y2K dot.com bubble. The experience was a one-off, a reflection of the times and close to being torrid. But Kostem emerged with key skills he otherwise would not have picked up, and the experience lay the step stones of a career path that has always been people oriented. "It was survival of the fittest in IT recruitment around the turn of the millennium," he said. "I've not seen such a cutthroat and dynamic environment since. Not to mention the 85 to 100 hour weeks that were part and parcel of the time. But it gave me a good grounding in how to use the telephone. Knowing how to make 200 calls a day is a skill worth having."

Frustrated by the vagaries of 'selling people' Kostem decided to sell solutions which are more predictable in their nature, and worked for John Caudwell when he set up Reach Telecoms, which later became Caudwell Communications. "This was an interesting experience in how to quickly grow a market presence and make a return in a short space of time," added Kostem. "John was one of the most impressive people in business I've ever seen."

Then, start-up company V Networks beckoned. Established in 2005 V Networks grew to circa £23 million in two years. It was sold to TalkTalk Business in December 2008. "V Networks was a lean, mean channel machine," noted Kostem. "This was a completely different kind of experience and interesting to see a start-up grow to such a size in a short space of time. It was also a challenge to learn how to sell for a company that had no existing partners or references. I continued at TalkTalk for a year and a half, working on three acquisitions during my time there."

Kostem's background makes him an ideal candidate to play a key role in advancing Exponential-e's 20-plus per cent growth rate year-on-year, which is a difficult task. So Exponential-e listens to partners and end users to drive new products and services based on demand, and also responds appropriately to external forces that have an influence on the market, such as the up-coming GDPR regulation. "We are looking to target the security space and will recruit experts in the field," added Kostem. "We want to offer our own security proposition that will be separate to our other products. The GDPR regulation and the constant attacks that people are seeing keeps such issues in the public consciousness."

Aside from external regulatory and technological forces, the big challenge facing most channel organisations is how to recruit the best people. The scale of the task is most acutely felt by fast expanding companies such as Exponential-e. "We're growing fast and a big challenge is finding and matching the right people to the right positions within the company," added Kostem. "We tend to take on graduates, so we invest a lot of time, training and effort into our people. Products can be developed relatively straightforwardly, but people don't just 'happen' in the same way."

Hence the Exponential-e academy which is in its 11th year. The company takes people from all walks of life - young people, career re-starters, those with degrees and those straight from school - trains them over a six month period and places them into the appropriate department. "Many academy graduates have risen up the ranks within the business," commented Kostem. "My biggest achievement is moving from a sales focus into hiring, training and investing in young people to work in our teams. The fact that I get to empower people, see my team members buy their first house, get married and have children is a huge source of personal pride."•

With the launch of a state-of-the-art data centre in Leeds Firstnet Solutions's reputation as a fast rising northern powerhouse is assured, according to Managing Director David Cusworth.

Leeds-based Firstnet's new £24 million data centre, launched in March, is not only 'just the job' for channel partners and customers, it is also a boon to job seekers in the local area as the facility is expected to generate around 100 new positions. As well as adding people, the data centre adds colocation, cloud platforms and disaster recovery to Firstnet's services portfolio, including its own cloud solution powered by Nutanix and targeted at SMEs. Cusworth said: "The opportunity to expand and invest in this building to create a certified Tier III facility was too good to miss. Our customers now have access to the latest technology in managed services and a host of additional support, including office space with over 100 desks designed specifically for workplace recovery and relocation needs."

It was in 2014 when Firstnet began to flourish having earned a reputation as the 'go to provider' of IT services in the Leeds city region. That same year Firstnet's profile was raised across the nation when it featured as a finalist in a number of industry awards and scooped the Comms National Award in the Best Enterprise Mobility Solution category. The company currently has a headcount of 30, circa 250 customers and revenues of around £4 million; while Cusworth's plan to target £20 million turnover by 2020 and 100 jobs is advancing nicely.

"Our growth plans are aggressive but as any business owner knows fast growth poses a whole raft of challenges, but I have a great management team and I know there isn't any obstacle we can't overcome," said Cusworth. "A milestone for us was changing our mindset from a small business to a medium sized operation. We now undertake large scale IT projects and roll outs to the enterprise and corporate marketplace and have established Firstnet Education which provides IT services to schools, while Firstnet Data Centre offers colocation for resellers, cloud for the SMB space and workplace recovery services to the corporate and enterprise market - all fully end-to-end services."

Cusworth 'fell' into IT by chance and fate could have played a hand as he started out at Pipex which, also by chance, was based on the site of Firstnet's new data centre. As an entrepreneur and with a successful career in IT sales under his belt Cusworth decided to go it alone having spotted a gap in the market to offer enterprise solutions and services to the SMB marketplace. "I persuaded my wife Angie, who is an exceptional Operations Director, to join me in my vision and we have taken the business from strength to strength every since," he said.

The industry trend that most interests Cusworth right now is the high level of acquisitions in the distribution arena which he believes will eventually, sooner rather than later, leave just four or five large distribution players. The role of resellers is also evolving, noted Cusworth, who urges them to partner with their customers. "For resellers to succeed it is imperative that they understand their clients' businesses and how they can add value to them," he added. "All VARs should help customers change their perception of IT as a cost centre to a profit centre.

"IT is always changing and to be successful you have to be ahead of the curve and able to offer the latest technology. Resellers also need to be aware of the IT landscape. Ten years ago virtualisation was the big thing, then it was the cloud, now it's Business Intelligence, analytics and the Internet of Things. If resellers can't give client's what they want and need someone else will. And as the landscape changes new challenges spring up every day such as GDPR. It is our duty to enable clients and support them and their businesses through these challenges, so we are working with our customers to ensure they are GDPR compliant and able maximise the business benefits that BI can provide."

Educating customers is perhaps a VAR's biggest opportunity, backed up by what Cusworth says is Firstnet Solutions' greatest source of potential growth - its new data centre and the associated cloud services it brings. "This facility will enable us to provide a true IT service to our clients," he added. "We have an amazing in-house team and the business wouldn't be where it is without them. Within three years I expect Firstnet to be a £50 million turnover business and the go-to IT company in the north of England. We have grown quickly and will continue to do so - there just doesn't seem enough hours in a day."•

From school days to nowadays Liquid Voice UK co-founder and Managing Director Chris Berry has shown a resilient entrepreneurial spirit that is reflected in his channel ambitions and sharpened appetite to go head-to-head with major global vendors following new investment.

In January this year SVL Business Solutions secured a 25 per cent equity interest in channel partner Liquid Voice, the developer of call recording and contact centre solutions. Following the deal, SVL Business Solutions, a NICE Systems Platinum Partner, plans to set up a new division to offer the Liquid Voice range of products as well as its SmartVoice portfolio of PCI compliance, customer satisfaction and contact centre training solutions. According to Berry, the deal enables Liquid Voice to maximise new business opportunities and extend its presence in the contact centre, financial and public safety markets. "We are working on an arm's length distribution agreement with SVL being our first fully accredited services partner," he said.

Prior to his appointment as Liquid Voice's Managing Director Berry was Sales Director, a post held since the company was first formed. Aside from two brief stints as a corporate employee Berry has spent most of his working life as an owner and Director running his own businesses. His ambition was evident at an early age having set up his first IT consultancy business mid-way through his A levels. "I spent time as a CTI consultant with Comino/Civica where I was responsible for the design and commissioning of IVR and ACD systems fully integrated with their CRM and EDRM solutions for the public sector," said Berry.

Leeds-based Liquid Voice was established by Berry and Andrew Barrett in 2005 having brought Civica/Comino's suite of computer telephony applications to market. "Our original strategy was to capitalise on the growing demand for contact centre solutions with a focus on call recording, quality management and integration," added Berry. "Liquid Voice fills the space where manufacturers don't do so well in terms of service and delivery, providing added value to customers."

The business has been profitable from the outset and after building the product portfolio and establishing a customer base Liquid Voice switched to an indirect sales model. "The transition presented a number of challenges and we have learnt what a software-based business needs to have in place to support the channel and the attributes of a good channel partner," said Berry. "The move to indirect sales through channel partners with accreditations and distribution models is a key factor in Liquid Voice's success in all countries where we operate."

He noted that technological evolution is prompting resellers to become SIs that offer a one-stop-shop so customers do not have to deal with multiple suppliers. "There should also be a focus on raising the level of professionalism throughout the industry with solution sales that meet the ongoing needs of customers rather than only looking for short-term profits based on where the best margin is available," said Berry.

Liquid Voice is now an international operation with offices in the UK and New Zealand and circa 600 customers in a range of market sectors including utilities, retail, financial services, public sector and outsourcing. "I am proud of the way that Liquid Voice has continued to grow despite the uncertainty that the economy has experienced over the last few years," commented Berry. "Liquid Voice has become a well known brand and has the technology and products to effectively compete with the world's largest manufacturers, which presents an opportunity for channel partners to come on board and join us."•

Ahead of the education sector's summertime ICT buying period Comms Dealer highlights the areas of opportunity for resellers and spotlights the technologies and integrated solutions under consideration by schools planning their summer break upgrades.

Bound by pressure to keep costs low, many education authorities have a technology agenda that takes the 'more for less' scenario to a new level. "The focus this year is on hardware, security and connectivity," said Phil Scanlon, Commercial Director of IT Services at Elitetele.com. "Online learning and online curriculum activities are also a priority, enabling pupils to study in or outside school and have the same experience, while removing the need for paper trails, physical books and paper study notes for revision. Pupils need access to coursework, notes, revision, tests and help wherever they are, especially outside of school hours."

Scanlon also noted the trend of schools opting to become academies and highlighted the challenges that are associated with this migration. "In becoming an academy a school needs to transition from local authority control into a more commercial-like organisation," he explained. "They need software to manage areas of the organisation that were previously handled by the local authority, such as financial accounts, payroll and property maintenance. We are also seeing a number of academies coming together to form multi-academy Trusts that require the centralised delivery of software applications. As the number of academies joining multi-academy Trusts grows ICT buying will become a more centralised function with a focus on reducing costs through increased buying power."

When it comes to UK colleges, there is an aim for fewer, larger and more financially resilient organisations. As a result, many colleges are in the midst of a merger or have already merged with another local college, presenting a new opportunity for ICT suppliers. "There is potential for resellers to get in front of colleges during the merging process," explained Daisy's Public Sector Sales Director Justin Collins. "When the time comes to choose one single supplier their name is already in the hat."

Another important trend is distance learning. Colleges have a target to conduct 25 per cent of their teaching online. If they haven't already done so colleges will be looking for the infrastructure to successfully support the ability to interact remotely with large numbers of students. "This opens up talks for BYOD solutions, Wi-Fi and cloud networking, not to mention the security of those networks," added Collins. "And the fast pace of the mobile industry drives a more regular refresh cycle to ensure that the latest devices can be supported by the wireless infrastructure around the sites. We are dealing with Digital Natives here, so high quality connectivity is a must, along with the ability to access the network from wherever students are located and with speeds fast enough to do whatever they need to do."

Another area of focus, which is often underplayed, is a telephony refresh. Many education sector institutions are sat on 30 year old telephony infrastructures that need replacing, and with BT set to turn off ISDN by 2025 many schools and colleges are doing a SIP migration at the same time. "It's important that their telephony has the ability to scale up and provide the flexibility to merge services," noted Collins. "This is particularly important when it comes to demanding situations like clearing. That is why the option of Skype for Business is often an attractive one in these cases - it's cost-effective, easy to deploy and does what schools need it to do."

In terms of mobility, schools need staff members to be contactable on and off school grounds and able to access features remotely so that they can ensure parents or guardians are kept up to date. "For example, when a school trip is running late it's important that staff have a method to update the school's main announcement service," pointed out Craig Rimmer, Partner Account Manager, Panasonic Business. "There is more focus on cost saving, but an increased requirement for call recording and mobile integration. The infrastructure behind newer technologies such as mobile integration can be a challenge, and in some cases it's difficult to find cost-effective solutions that meet the requirements of some organisations within education."

Distributor ICON works closely with channel partners in the education space and the recurring theme is connectivity and safeguarding. Schools, teachers and students want to be part of the connected world but the challenge is to meet the network and connectivity needs of all those involved without compromising the duty of care to either party. "ICON worked hard to secure the 4ipnet product simply because of its suitability in tough markets like these," said Mark Shane (pictured), Sales Director at ICON. "Not only does 4ipnet provide fast wireless networking and role-based connectivity restrictions, it is also approved for wireless voice which is desirable today."

ICON continues to witness strong demand for wireless communication devices as this sector needs to communicate with the core faster than ever before. There is also high demand for tablet-based classrooms and e-learning. This will create channel opportunities not just for tablet hardware and support but also for the wireless and fixed network infrastructures. "Schools want to provide students with Internet access but at the same time need to restrict and manage the bandwidth they consume," added Shane. "Some schools want to allow Facebook access during lunch time but not at other times. Because of these complex requirements we have seen growing interest in better Wi-Fi management."

Interest in 4G connectivity also continues to grow and ICON has been consulting with partners and their clients to understand what they want to achieve from this technology. Wireless networking has also been enhanced with the release of 802.11ac Wave 2. "New, faster networks are always needed in schools as the older infrastructure often fails to cope with up to 30 students in a small area all turning on notebooks at the same time," commented Shane.

"The initial surge of pulling down their roaming profiles from the network can make a Wi-Fi network grind to a halt. ICON has partners who have sold as many as three wireless network upgrades to the same school as demand for faster more robust wireless networking increases."
The days when a teacher simply regurgitates text books are long gone. "The new approach in many primary and secondary schools is an 8-10 minute screen cast at the beginning of the lesson to outline the learning objectives," commented Shane. "The lesson itself will then use various mediums to support the learning objectives. This is becoming more and more dependent on Wi-Fi and results cannot be achieved without a robust wireless network. We all know the frustration of trying to work in a hotel on a poor Wi-Fi connection, imagine trying to learn while using one."

For reasons such as this there are less schools that want to buy technology at a low price, and more that want to engage with partners who can help them understand how to achieve their goals. "There is also greater demand for enhanced support and maintenance packages as schools become more dependent on the technologies deployed in them," commented Shane. "Technology will continue to play an important role in education. Purchasers in this sector are becoming more aware that a wait and see approach to technology is not a workable model. Being married to a maths teacher has also opened my eyes to how technology is being used in schools and colleges. It has changed a lot since I was in short trousers."•

In his strategic reactions to new market opportunities hSo Managing Director Chris Evans is not short of a dead cert growth plan. Here, he reveals the strategies and drivers that will double company revenues within three years.

Evans has key markets and channel expansion directly in his sights and is pushing forward a strategy to double revenues within three years via a mix of organic growth and acquisitions that he hopes will generate a 10 per cent EBITDA profit margin. "The organic growth will be powered by investments in growing our presence in channel, wholesale and public sector markets," commented Evans. "A key development for hSo (HighSpeed Office) has been getting on the RM1045 Network Services Framework and gaining Crown Commercial Service supplier status. That enables us to bid for Government contracts to supply data connectivity, IP telephony and traditional voice services, and resulted in us winning many millions of pounds of additional business."

hSo is currently a circa £10 million turnover company with around 40 employees. Its enterprise team targets organisations with 100 to 1,000 employees and those with multiple sites. The channel team tends to work with IT support companies while the wholesale operation mainly deals with hosting firms, ISPs and service providers. "We are working to grow the wholesale side of our business," added Evans. "Our acquisition of Goscomb Technologies boosted our wholesale and channel offering substantially. We can now offer services in over two dozen data centres and have many more wholesale customers as a result of the acquisition. It also improved our economies of scale, enabling us to offer better prices to our channel partners and customers."

Evans describes hSo as a network service provider specialising in bespoke cloud solutions for voice, data and IT security. "We were founded in 2000 to become the Broadband Office of the UK," he explained. "We bid to provide IT and telecom services to buildings owned by a consortium of property owners. We won the tender but the dotcom boom turned to bust and we lost our funding. Thankfully, the property owners saw our potential and agreed to fund us."

hSo has wholesale relationships with all UK telecoms carriers. "Resellers have been poorly served by the major carriers," claimed Evans. "As a SME, hSo can focus on customer service, responsiveness and tailoring solutions to individual customers. This is something resellers appreciate as well as keen pricing. We always listen to the feedback from our customers and partners and respond accordingly by developing appropriate products. We prefer to be led by customers' needs rather than speculatively developing products that may or may not have a market."

hSo serves customers nationwide but its base in London brings a requirement to occasionally leverage partnerships in the regions. Evans hopes to plug these gaps with potential bolt-on acquisitions that extend hSo's geographic reach while on boarding local people to serve customers locally, as well as acquisitions that increase scale or strategic and product options. "We continue to look for complementary products for which there is growing demand," he added. "In recent years we have added public cloud connectivity and hosted voice services based on BroadCloud and Asterisk. We're open to filling gaps through organic development or via targeted acquisitions."

Another key factor driving hSo's growth is cloud computing. "We now provide connectivity to public cloud platforms AWS and Azure and have our own private cloud platforms based on Citrix and VMware virtualisation," commented Evans. "A challenge will be to deliver services that combine the pricing of the public cloud with the security of the private cloud."

It is a challenge Evans is certain to overcome given his previous working experiences which are wide ranging. He trained as an accountant with Ernst & Young in the 1980s and was based in Reading which at that time was the UK's nearest approximation to Silicon Valley. "Having worked on fundraising for a client, Dolphin Telecom, I was asked to join the company," recalled Evans. "Dolphin Telecom was a network provider that combined GSM phone and push-to-talk technology in a single handset. I then joined hSo in 2001 as Financial Director. But in 2003 the Board asked me to replace the existing CEO. Back then my role was focused on establishing systems and processes. Now, my day-to-day tasks are orientated more around growing the business by attracting the right talent and increasing revenues. The biggest challenge is determining what developments are going to be the next big thing that can be used by the business world to improve performance."

Again, this is a hurdle that Evans will surely overleap given his eye for an opportunity and ability to turn opportunities into market realities that generate revenues. His foresight is evident in the decision to achieve important accreditations to win new business, such as ISO accreditations and RM1045 which are responsible for public sector contracts worth £3 million being won during the past year. Evans described the uptick as 'transformational'.

He also believes that strong customer relationships will grow in importance due to tougher conditions ushered in by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) within the context of a stringent data protection environment. "This will make winning new business, which is hard at the best of times, even tougher," commented Evans. "Resellers with a close personal contact with their customers will be in a stronger position to defend and grow the business relationship. Cultivating customer relationships will become more critical."•

For a man with the unswerving courage of his own convictions, Steve Soper's plan to build Beta Distribution into a £500 million business within five years is entirely plausible.

Soper's longer-term growth strategy confirms what those familiar with Beta Distribution have long known - that the company is a sleeping giant and sooner or later the industry would wake up to its growing influence. According to Soper, that time has come. He grasped the reigns as Managing Director in 2008 after a seven year stint in the firm's FD seat, taking over from founder Gary Wilson, now Chairman, who established the company with his wife Irene in 1980 as a fixer of Canon calculators, moving into print distribution. Those days are long gone. "During the past 10 years we've transformed the business from a niche print distributor with revenues of around £30 million into an international operation approaching £220 million," said Soper.

The printer consumables market still accounts for over 50 per cent of Beta's business and gave the company a broader footprint across the reseller channel. Alongside this Beta established a Technology Solutions division to capitalise on the growing data storage market, becoming an authorised distributor for the likes of Fujifilm and Maxell based largely on tape back-up products. "In recent years we have entered the hardware and software side of this market with new distribution agreements," added Soper. "This business has a service led proposition so we now provide VARs and MSPs with a range of pre and post-sales services through technical experts."

Last year Beta set up Digital Media Solutions which provides end-to-end digital signage solutions, covering the supply of the product through to final installation, and offers a content creation service. "The signage market is set to undergo a significant change in the way it is sold as Samsung, in particular, is targeting a model where users can effectively rent screens through Samsung Capital, allowing hotels, retail outlets and many other verticals to entertain large scale projects on an opex rather than capex basis," noted Soper.

Beta employs circa 140 people and trades with around 3,000 resellers of all descriptions including IT resellers, MSPs and VARs. In particular, Beta is increasing its presence in the data/technology market through new vendor and customer trading relationships and the recruitment of skilled staff such as Solutions Architects.

The company is also growing its presence in more regions at home and overseas. "We have expanded into Europe with sales operations in Benelux, France, Germany and Poland, which are all serviced from a warehouse in Maastricht," said Soper. "This European business, that didn't exist three years ago, now generates annual revenues of 40 million euros. In the UK we have our head office in London and warehouse in Birmingham as well as two recently opened sales offices in Reading and Leeds."

To say that the past three years have been strategically active would be to greatly understate the extent of recent developments at Beta. "We have added 35 more vendors since 2014, largely in the enterprise storage arena," said Soper. "We have introduced a ten-strong Technology Solutions sales team to provide the expertise needed to support MSPs; and we have completed a number of high profile technology based projects from concept to final installation."

Projects such as this show how IT distributors can do more than simply provide product and credit to the channel, observed Soper. "To survive distributors will have to look at services and solutions to protect their margin and act as a partner to resellers rather than merely a source of credit," he added. "It's all about services. VARs will need to transition their business and become solution providers and they will expect their distribution suppliers to support them in this transition."

Three focus areas are the new paradigm for Beta Distribution - providing print hardware, consumables and data storage to IT resellers; delivering disruptive data storage technologies, products, services and solutions to VARs and MSPs through the Technology Solutions business; and supplying end-to-end digital signage products, services and solutions (plus off the shelf meeting room solutions) to AV specialists and resellers. "Our main focus is on organic growth across the three business areas," added Soper. "But consolidation is all around us, notably the acquisition of smaller specialist or niche distributors by the big broadliners. We were recently involved in the potential acquisition of Entatech, although ultimately we pulled out. I expect further consolidation to take place and we remain on alert for any future opportunities."

As well as consolidation, the changing demands of end users and how they purchase has an impact on distribution. "As end users move from capex purchases into various opex models such as consumption, pay-as-you-grow and subscription, resellers want support from their vendors and distributors to ease the financial burden sitting just with them," Soper explained. "These models are not just confined to cloud-based services. More and more end users, and therefore resellers, have a requirement for hardware, software and services to be wrapped up in monthly payments.

"Vendors have been adapting their finance and leasing models to accommodate this transformation. Samsung Finance is a great example of how large LFD projects can be deployed in this way. Distribution has to adapt both commercially and operationally to be able to deliver these changing business models with, or on behalf of, the vendor."

Given a magic wand, Soper would dismantle a market structure that allows tier 1 brands to have a monopoly on what resellers, and ultimately end users, see as the only solution to their problems. "There are so many vendors with great technologies and stories that, given the chance, could enhance the end user experience and resellers' margin," he said. "I'll give you an example, we recently designed and helped install the entire IT infrastructure of a new UK clearing bank. It was given the usual tier 1 options, we gave them an alternative that went over and above the customer's requirements and saved them over 25 per cent. Technology Solutions will generate growth by bringing disruptive products and technologies to VARs and MSPs in a direct challenge to the tier one vendors."

Presented with potential new market opportunities such as this, Soper never takes a 'wait and see' stance if he senses tangible potential. But while confident about future revenue growth, there is still much to do. "My biggest achievement is growing Beta to its current size, but the job is far from done," he stated. "Beta Distribution is still one of the industry's best kept secrets. During the next five years the challenge is to ensure more and more resellers have access to us and fully understand what we can offer to the channel." •

Intercity Technology has recruited ex-Virgin Media Business sales director Georgina Lord to head up its inside sales and marketing teams.
 
Lord worked with Virgin Media Business for nine years and became the youngest and only female director within the organisation.
 
Andrew Jackson, CEO at Intercity Technology, said: "Georgina is a talented and hard working individual. Her drive and industry knowledge will be vital in leading the inside sales and marketing team.
 
"This is a pivotal time for the company as we transition from our traditional roots to develop our own technology solutions. Georgina's expertise in sales and her passion for this industry is exactly what we need."
 
Lord added: "Intercity has made some ambitious, strategic acquisitions over the last few years, and I'm relishing the task of bringing together all elements of the business and revamping the sales and marketing strategy."
 
"I already feel like part of the family and I'm looking forward to building our client portfolio and cementing the brand as a key player in the market."

BT has launched a new security service to protect organisations from cyber threats and malware through greater visibility and better monitoring of devices connected to their corporate network.

The BT Managed Endpoint Access Security leverages technology from ForeScout Technologies, an Internet of Things (IoT) security company, to provide real-time agentless visibility and control of devices connected to corporate networks. This includes managed, unmanaged, private devices, Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) and IoT.

ForeScout's agentless approach to network security provides real-time discovery, classification, assessment and monitoring of devices allowing end-customers to see what is on their network, from campus to cloud, and to securely manage it.

ForeScout can also orchestrate a policy-based security enforcement operation, with leading IT and security management products to automate security workflows and accelerate threat response.

David Stark, vice president, Security portfolio at BT, said: "By bringing ForeScout's technology into our portfolio we extend our ability to protect organisations against the latest threats through improved visibility and control. Whether it's protecting a head office or a branch site, adding the ability to monitor just about any device connected to the network offers a much required additional layer of security to companies moving into the digital world."

Todd DeBell, vice president of Global Channels, ForeScout, said: "With more devices connecting to enterprise networks than ever before, the attack surface is expanding exponentially. Staying ahead of the game is an ongoing effort for any organisation. ForeScout's relationship with BT will bring additional reassurance to CIOs and CISOs looking for improved security and better orchestration, while allowing us to tap into BT's extensive global reach."

Milton Keynes-based Mirus IT Solutions, a specialist in IT and managed print services, has bagged local partner 2r Systems following a five year collaboration.

The deal takes Mirus's annual turnover to almost £10m, with a projected 2021 target of £15m of which 75% is expected to be recurring revenue.