Comms Dealer

IT leaders need to take more leadership when it comes to meeting business need in a secure and efficient way, according to Andrew Mullen, VP of Sales and Marketing at Talon Storage.

The development of shadow IT has been dominated by the proliferation of external SaaS collaboration platforms as employees look to improve productivity, but the problem is that the documents and data in question are still being taken externally to the organisation's infrastructure - creating unknown quantities of risk that is hard to assess or manage, claims Mullen.

He said: "Shadow IT is a major risk for any organisation, and it's no easy task for IT leaders to eradicate illegitimate software as almost anyone can purchase low-cost subscription licenses and have new applications up and running in no time at all. IT leaders either approve the use of this software, without doing a full risk assessment, or procure their own version of it.

"IT leaders can solve the threat posed by shadow IT by reassessing their current IT estate's collaboration capabilities and to find ways to make sure that data never needs to leave the enterprise IT estate. Enabling collaboration on documents in such a way removes the need for employees to go to external platforms, such as the public cloud."

Intelligent file access and collaboration software within the IT estate that delivers optimal global file sharing, which overcomes the barriers of latency, bandwidth and network reliability, will not only significantly reduce the risk of shadow IT, but will lead to more effective document management and avoid file duplication, improving employee productivity, believes Mullen.

"Failure to do so will only result in the continuation of data leakage - a growing problem for large-scale organisations operating in multiple geographic areas," he added.

Resellers from across northern England converged at Nimans' Manchester headquarters for a workshop about the company's GS-hosted proposition that offers upfront or recurring revenue opportunities, or a combination of both.

A Manchester dealer said: "We've not sold hosted before but the event has opened my eyes to what is happening in the market and how Nimans can help us break new ground.

"This is the next chapter for telecoms and a new movement. We need to be on the journey before someone else offers that option."

GS-hosted includes a free three-year hosted seat licence with every handset purchased. A choice of three models are available - Standard, Advanced and Executive - with upfront margin potential of 45% or recurring margins of 65%. Already hundreds of resellers have signed up and made enquiries about the service that has turned the market on its head.

Head of Network Services Mark Curtis-Wood began the seminar by posing a 'why hosted, why now?' question.

"It is time for change," he said. "Some people try and ignore it and pretend it's not happening while some embrace it. Any change can be uncomfortable at first. The world of hosted can initially be a scary place but we are here to support you on that journey with a product set you've not sold before."

Resellers heard how Nimans is a 'good barometer' to measure changing market trends, with a huge volume of IP and Lync enabled end points now being delivered, emphasising how 'something is happening' in the wider comms world.

"Nimans wanted to stand out from the crowd and offer something different to enable you to differentiate in the market. We came up with something compelling," Curtis-Wood added.

Maingate has launched Connect Flex, a new data communications and connectivity solution designed for the smart energy sector.

Across the energy ecosystem there are hundreds of thousands of distributed assets, from smart meters to substations, transformers to cut-out switches, that each require monitoring and sometimes control.

Remotely monitored assets may be connected via a fitted SIM card, provided by the mobile network operator, that handles the communications coming from and to the devices.

If a utility or other asset owner wants to change provider in order to secure financial savings or better quality of service they are forced to also replace the SIM cards.

In practice this means an engineer visiting every one of potentially thousands of assets to physically replace the cards. As it stands, players are effectively tied in to one provider for the lifetime of their physical assets.

Maingate's Connect Flex service claims to tackle the issue of vendor lock-in. By supplying their own provider-agnostic SIM cards, Maingate's service allows owners and operators to remotely change providers, without replacing the physical cards.

As part of the Connect Flex service Maingate will handle any change of provider, to ensure that no connection or data is lost during the transition.

In addition, the Connect Flex service allows SIM cards to be fitted into energy hardware at the point of manufacture, which significantly reduces engineering costs.

Asset owners and operators are then free to choose the right provider for their needs at the point of installation, depending on coverage requirements and the best provider in each location.

"Connect Flex is an example of Maingate's push to develop solutions focused on decentralising the energy system and opening it up to change," said Maingate's UK Managing Director, David Owen. "The openness and transparency on which Connect Flex is built is the key to applying the Internet of Things to the smart energy ecosystem."

Nimans is taking part in a Samsung Christmas giveaway, with 78 festive presents being handed out to Samsung dealers throughout December as part of a yuletide sales incentive.

The '12 Days of Christmas' promotion spans dozens of prizes - from Amazon Vouchers to Galaxy tablets, home entertainment systems and Samsung TV's - as a thank you and reward for loyal customers.

Every Samsung System or WLAN Solution sold in November will be awarded an entry into one of 12 Christmas Prize Draws beginning on 1st December. A new prize draw takes place each working day for the next 11 days culminating in the grand prize of a Samsung 8 series curved UHD 55in TV worth £2,800.

Nimans' Head of Systems, John McKindland, says all Samsung Systems, including WLAN sales that include a controller, qualify for entry.

"2014 has been a great year - but this has only been possible thanks to the continued support and commitment from our channel partners. As a thank you, Samsung are giving away a range of gifts to bring some festive cheer across our reseller community," he explained. "It's going to be a Christmas to remember for many of our loyal customers."

Chess has snapped up Scottish telecoms reseller NetDatatel, its fifth acquisition this year.
 
The Morayshire company specialises in the oil and gas industry in Scotland and its portfolio includes calls, broadband, data networking and PBX installation.
 
The reseller will operate under the Chess name and adds £1.5 million to the Chess Groups' turnover.
 
Chess Chief Executive David Pollock said: "We have acquired a business striving to become a leading telecoms supplier in the important Scottish market."
 
Richard Btesh, Chess Director, added: "Bringing into the fold of the Chess Group a company with a strong pool of resources in the gas and oil industries is another strong statement for our growth.

"We continue to acquire specialist telecoms, data and ICT businesses. This acquisition follows recent acquisitions Parachute IT, Integra ICT, Avenir Telecoms and The CRM business as strategic additions."
 
Chess has completed over 70 acquisitions in the past 10 years.

It seems the 'business turnaround' industry is just as fond of acronyms as our own. Its brightest luminary, PY Gerbeau, swears by a brace of acronyms that form the foundation of his approach to breathing life back into drowning organisations. His two favourite management values - JFD (Just F' Do It) and FIF (Fit In Or F' Off) - have not failed him yet.

Gerbeau's loyalty to his tried and tested JFD and FIF formula has helped him to secure many notable successes but he is perhaps best known for rescuing the Millennium Dome from what appeared to be certain failure.

It goes without saying that the Gleneagles audience were light years away from needing a 'helping hand', but the flamboyant French entrepreneur and former professional ice hockey player (he became a member of the French national team until an injury curtailed his sporting career) provided Comms Vision delegates with a lively and at times hilarious lesson on leadership and managing business change.

His penchant for taking over failing businesses and reinventing them as fighting fit machines is well documented. And a strict adherence to his non-nonsense management values plus four other key principles ensure that successful outcomes are a dead cert.

Gerbeau's Fab Four principles – Flexibility, Adaptability, Agility and Common Sense - when combined help businesses to adopt a chameleon-like strategy that enables them to adapt to changing and threatening environments, but only if organisations are orchestrated in the right direction.

"Management is not about knowledge and giving orders, it's about being a conductor," added Gerbeau. "The only rule is to ensure that staff play together from the same song sheet.

"Business starts and finishes with people. And as a leader you need to reinvent yourself. It's not just about being visionary, it's about being a doer. So be absolutely committed, live the brand, get people to change and pass on your passion to your staff."

Brands can take years to build but minutes to destroy, and you have to get it right first time or be punished, warned Gerbeau. "Staff need to believe in the brand values and the biggest challenge is to lead by example," he added. "Staff want to learn and be inspired.

"The chief exec needs one week a year on the floor to remind them of who they work for - the customer - and staff want to understand them as a person.

"Leaders have a mission. It's not about money, it's about making a difference - and you make a difference by showing people you are on a mission."

Devising a strategy can be easy, but implementing one is another matter with change management being a potential sticking point. "Getting people used to change is a challenge," added Gerbeau. "This can be done by changing departments around and moving desks every three months to give people a taste of change. Without change businesses won't survive."

The framework of a popular TV quiz show proved a useful conceit to unearth some of the pressing issues that sit on the middle ground between resellers and vendors.

A Family Fortunes style competition based on two 'families' of selected vendor and reseller representatives served as a light hearted device to test the compatibility of viewpoints based on important questions about the reseller benefits, or otherwise, of being closely aligned to vendors and their channel programmes.

In the debate that followed, SAS Global Communications' CEO Charles Davis picked up on the key issue of technical support and the growing complexity of the evolving market.

He said: "There are good products, but getting them installed and working can be a different matter. The old lines of demarcation are gone and we need to pull the bits of a solution together. A lot of technical knowledge is required."

Gamma's Sales Director John Hawe added: " It's all about making things absolutely simple. We're putting more products together because the technology has to be simpler."

To say that the power has shifted into the hands of customers would be to greatly understate the strength of their position, especially in matters of their choice of communication tools and their requirement for a seamless user experience.

In a Comms Vision panel debate, Rufus Grig, Chief Technology Officer, Azzurri, said: "The days of us telling customers what to use are over. They will vote with their feet based on the user experience. If you don't create a compelling and easy to use tool people won't use it. Collectively, the industry hasn't got that right yet. Customers want outcomes.

"Take fixed-mobile convergence: To me, that should be fixed-mobile substitution because people prefer the experience of using mobile phones."

There is nothing new about the need for a 'fresh conversation' with customers, but the widening gap between the IT function and the emergence of so-called Digital CIOs could see resellers grow detached from the customers they value so highly.

In a Comms Vision panel debate Russ Attwood, CEO, Unify Communications, said: "There is a coming wave of Digital CIOs. We need to reshape how we sell. Not many of the sales people we employ are capable of holding the new conversation. We have a lot of work ahead to re-engineer sales so they can have a business-led engagement."

Campbell Williams, Group Strategy and Marketing Director, Six Degrees, added: "IT directors are not the decision makers now. They are part of the conversation, but the whole management team is involved."

The coming to power of Digital CIOs marks the demise of the IT function as we have known it since the early '90s, ending what the new breed regards as an immovable object stuck in a time warp, according to Ian Cox, owner, Axin.

Digital CIOs are earnestly determined to transform their organisations, stripping old-IT of its calibre. And there is strong evidence to show that the traditional CIO role is diminishing as fast as the imperative for a new engagement model is growing.

"IT is challenged by Digital," Cox told Comms Vision delegates in a keynote address. "This should be a golden age for IT but it's a challenging time. IT has been left behind and there is now a gap between the business and the IT department."

Digitalisation impacts most companies in the marketing department first, and in a recent survey cited by Cox a third of CMOs claim that IT falls short of expectations, believing it to be too slow for digital, and that the IT function still tends to build rather than integrate best in class solutions.

"CMOs bypass the IT dept and go straight to vendors," added Cox. "There needs to be a new model for IT."

IT used to be a function of automation and improving what existed, it was reactive to problems. But hamstrung by its legacy IT is now unable to react to Digitalisation which demands fast responses.

Wiping the slate clean, Digital CIOs are on a mission to make transformational changes. They are business focused leaders who drive growth and innovation through IT.

According to Cox the characteristics of a Digital CIO are easy to discern. "They are not technical, they have no real IT experience, and they are highly engaged with stakeholders," he said.

"They don't need to know how to strip down a server. They focus on delivering business value and search for new opportunities. Their key attributes are business and commercial, they have influence and communication skills."

What does this mean to resellers? "Focus on business value and outcomes," urged Cox. "Look for ongoing engagement, be flexible, agile and proactive. Build a trusted relationship and avoid the sales approach.

"Digital CIOs want early and regular engagement. They need to know what's coming next, but they may disengage if you 'sell' to them."