Comms Dealer

Openreach is certain to garner CP plaudits following the introduction of additional resources and service enhancements that reference actual demand from CPs.

At the heart of developments is the re-launch of WLR PSTN Premium, an Optical Spread Connection offer and the Enablement Library, designed to make information relating to Openreach's products and services more accessible.

The Enablement Library is already a big hit having gained widespread approval from beta users, according to Caroline Hughes (pictured), GM Portfolio Marketing at Openreach.

"The feedback so far has been phenomenal," she said. "We are planning to expand the content and expect the site to become a critical resource for our customers."

WLR3 PSTN Premium now offers three in-tariff features (Premium Business Helpdesk, Business 2 Plus and Smart Divert), plus two bolt-on options (available at exclusive premium line discounted prices).

"Businesses rely on connections and being out of touch with customers is something they cannot afford," said Hughes. "WLR Premium offers fast, prioritised repair times, call divert capabilities, dedicated service management centre support, tighter appointment slots and named engineer services."

The Premium service is available on a per-line basis and according to Hughes it offers better value for money compared to buying individual service enhancing bolt-on products separately. She also noted that the Premium Business Helpdesk offers CPs a dedicated team of experts who will case manage complex or problematic jobs through to resolution.

This team of UK-based WLR service experts are available at all times and CPs can deal with the same person. The Premium repair service, Business 2 Plus, prioritises faults over other faults with the same SLA. "Repairs are made within two days and if Openreach fails it will pay CPs one month's line rental for every day or part day beyond this (for total loss of service)," added Hughes.

"With Premium, CPs also get our call diversion service for free. They can forward to any UK fixed or mobile or 0800 number, and some overseas numbers, so no call is missed."

As well as the in-tariff features CPs gain discounted access to two bolt-on options: More Focused Appointments (64% cheaper as part of WLR Premium) that provide access to two hour early morning or late afternoon appointment windows; and Named Engineer (50% cheaper as part of WLR Premium) which identifies the engineer that will attend the appointment slot, 48 hours in advance. This information is increasingly required by secure and sensitive sites.

Openreach's round of enhancements also proposes an Optical Spread Connection offer, launched on 1st November, enabling CPs to spread the upfront cost of an OSA Optical circuit over 12 months with no additional charges. The scheme runs until 31st March 2015.

"This offer is driving serious interest among smaller CPs," noted Hughes. "It helps them to take their first step into the optical space and compete with bigger companies.

"It makes the investment decision to adopt our highest bandwidth services easier than ever, and helps to ensure no customer is locked out from meeting the latest market needs.

"With optical products now more accessible CPs can win new business and meet growing bandwidth requirements."

In more good news that will also bring predictably positive results for CPs, Openreach has unveiled an online tool that makes customer facing collateral, educational material and training resources easy to find.

"The Enablement Library allows anyone to quickly locate, save and share brochures, fact sheets, videos and other resources on our range of products and services," commented Hughes.

"With over 130 product, service and solutions pages on our website it can be time consuming for customers to find material or notice additions. The eLibrary provides everything in one place and has a powerful search capability along with other features requested by CPs."

O2 Business has adopted a new partnership approach for its direct and distribution network that marks a big departure from its familiar modus operandi. From 1st April next year O2 Business will work with fewer direct partners, those who are more likely to win and retain high value business. The O2 Direct Partner Network will replace the existing Centre of Excellence programme, and the move reflects 'the need to evolve in an increasingly digital marketplace', said the firm.

The new programme will see O2 Business focus on developing deeper relationships with selected direct partners and key distributors.
Jason Phillips, Head of Partners for O2 Business, said: "The new O2 Direct Partner Network marks the biggest change to our partnership approach in the last five years and we're excited to bring this initiative to market.

"I am confident that this programme will give O2 Business and its partners the agility and flexibility to deliver mobility and digital solutions."

The O2 Direct Partner Network has four key components: O2 Exclusivity (new extended five year contract with additional revenue share and a range of benefits for exclusive partners); Excellence Awards (£8m investment in incentive payments over the next three years for the best partners, with two new annual awards focused on the customer and digital excellence; new commercials and a bigger dedicated support team.

Softcat has broken the £500m barrier with growth achieved entirely organically.

In its full financial results for the year ending July 31st 2014, turnover increased 28% to £504.8m, up from £395.8m the previous year. Operating profit increased 30% to £35.5m, while EBITDA improved 31% to £37.3m.

In the last four financial years turnover has increased from £146m to £505m and operating profit has grown from £10m to £35.5m.

Softcat has now delivered 36 consecutive quarters of year-on-year growth.

"We were delighted to break through the £500m barrier," said CEO Martin Hellawell.

"These exceptional growth rates have been achieved against a backdrop of a market estimated at single digit annual percentage growth.

"We have taken significant market share to achieve these results."

The growing popularity of NCONNECT's cloud telephony proposition has forced a staff recruitment campaign that aims to double the current headcount to 20 by the end of January.

NCONNECT, the UK subsidiary of Munich-based NFON AG, set-up just a year ago in west London and has already partnered with more than 30 channel companies, become accredited to the UK Government's G-Cloud framework and added tens of thousands of seats to its service.

"Our reseller recruitment has been successful for the last two quarters, and we're on track to finish our first full year in the UK with more partners than we expected and a significant in-house team with all the skills and resources to support them," said Rami Houbby, MD.

NCONNECT's parent company has operations in 12 European countries. Its founder, Marcus Otto, stated: "We see a big opportunity to invest in the UK market with more people and support for more partners.

"2015 will be a pivotal year in our continuing international expansion as we look to start and scale up in more countries."
 

Tech Data's strong Q3 (ended 31st October) results saw net sales of $6.8bn, an increase of 6% from the prior-year quarter.

Gross profit was $335m, or 4.95% of net sales, compared to $326.1m (5.12% of net sales).

In Europe, net sales were $4.1bn (approximately 61% of worldwide sales), an increase of 8% in the same period last year.

"In Q3 our teams responded to robust demand for PCs in both regions and mobility products in Europe," said Robert M. Dutkowsky, CEO.

"Our operational focus drove good margin and expense management, resulting in excellent operating leverage. Our expansion in Europe has been at a quicker pace than anticipated this year.

"As we have said throughout the year, fiscal year 2015 is a market and operationally focused year for Tech Data.

"This dual focus, combined with our broad product and customer portfolio, have enabled us to capitalise on current market opportunities, improve our operating performance and grow non-GAAP earnings by 25% during the last nine months, while earning a return on invested capital of 11% for the trailing 12 month period.

"Tech Data's capabilities and strategic position in the IT ecosystem are stronger today than ever, and we are pleased with the trajectory of our business as we enter our final quarter of fiscal 2015."  

Dutkowsky said that an 'upside' for Tech Data's model is in the cloud. "Tens of thousands of resellers need a pathway to the cloud and the vendors don't know how to get them there," he added. "That will be our job and our opportunity.

"The Internet of Things represents an explosion of new devices, and all of those devices are going to put pressure on networks and data centres - so more servers, more storage, more networking.

"To make all of that be secure there will be a whole new set of vendors and new sets of technology that will focus on security. Those are areas where we have a strong presence."

Exponential-e has extended its regional reach with a new Manchester office.

The firm plans to double its current northern sales force over the next year.

"With Manchester acting as one of the largest economic areas outside of London, the new office will be pivotal to our ongoing regional growth plans for the UK and will ensure that we have a presence in technology hubs across the UK," said Lee Wade, founder and CEO of Exponential-e.

"The Government's commitment to creating a northern powerhouse has meant forecasts for private sector growth in Greater Manchester outstrip growth for the UK as a whole."

"We can now offer our customers headquartered in Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and all the surrounding areas an on-the-ground presence being just around corner from them, which gives us a strong base as we grow our business further across the country."

Phoenix IT Group's play in the managed services space continues the step away from unprofitable business with the firm successfully renewing several long-term customer relationships and securing a significant five year deal with South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

In an update on the company's results for the six months ended 30 September 2014, Phoenix IT also reported that its net debt is £18.5m lower than the same time last year at £56.1m. Profit before tax increased by 238%.

Phoenix Chief Executive Steve Vaughan said: "We are six months in to the roll-out of our new strategy and our financial platform is more stable, the ways in which we work are becoming more efficient and the quality of service delivered to clients is improving.

"Alongside these efforts, we have also secured important account renewals and a large-scale, multi-year new customer win that are important confirmations of our credibility."

Nimans' Head of Network Services Mark Curtis-Wood has put a spotlight on the potential of superfast broadband to act as a catalyst for M2M adoption.

The Government's SuperConnected Cities scheme could be a major boost for M2M, he believes, pointing out that faster speeds and bigger bandwidths will lead to greater awareness of M2M.

The distributor is now a SuperConnected Cities authorised supplier and Curtis-Wood thinks that highly populated regions, like cities, are getting 'smarter', and that superfast Internet connectivity is a key feature of the smart city landscape.

"While there is not necessarily a direct link between fixed bandwidth and M2M, which is more about mobility, there is a strong synergy in city environments especially," he said.

"M2M has the scope to expand in cities because of the nature of what it can do in terms of smart car parking and traffic light systems etc.

"In these concentrated areas there's more likelihood of higher volumes of data being transmitted. This is one piece of a much bigger jigsaw and I've no doubt SuperConnected Cities will potentially be a big driver for the future growth of M2M."

The Government initiative provides financial support of up to £3,000 for superfast Internet connectivity to small and medium businesses.

"The growth in our economy is going to come from small business owners rather than large companies," added Curtis-Wood. "We are already starting to see companies with a workforce of 15 people taking on large bandwidth 100Mb pipes.

"They need massive bandwidth for now and also in the future. Upfront costs tend to be the most prohibitive factor so anything that helps businesses overcome these barriers is a welcome move."

Outsourcery has become one of a limited number of Microsoft's UK partners with ability to bill, manage and support Office 365 following its participation in the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Programme. The programme is designed to drive cloud sales by enabling partners to provide direct billing, sell combined offers and services, as well as directly provision, manage and support Microsoft products and services.

Outsourcery now owns the complete customer lifecycle, allowing it to sell Office 365 subscriptions and help customers take advantage of cloud services by owning the entire billing process and directly managing support.

Outsourcery Co-Chief Executive Piers Linney said: "We are able to further integrate Office 365 with our own offering down to billing whereas previously the billing and contractual relationship was managed by Microsoft.

"We can add material value for end-customers by integrating Office 365 with our own cloud capabilities to create hybrid solutions for commercial and public sector organisations."

Phil Sorgen, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Partner Group at Microsoft, added: "The Cloud Solution Provider Program puts our partners at the centre of the customer relationship. Through participation these partners have demonstrated dedication to helping our mutual customers successfully move to the cloud."

Virtual1 has launched a London-wide Gig Internet offer under a 'Christmas has come early' banner to partners and prospective partners with a ready-to-launch campaign toolkit.

The offer is available on Gig circuits with bandwidths of 100mb, 300mb, 500mb and 1Gig and includes zero cost for a managed router worth over £4,000 on Virtual1's London network. The campaign runs until end February 2015.

Virtual1 MD Tom O'Hagan commented: "Businesses are taking a serious look at their bandwidth needs over the next few years and we traditionally see partner end customers look to either upgrade or replace business-Internet at this time of year.

"The campaign is designed to give a lift to both our partners and their customers, just in time for Christmas."