Comms Dealer

Unify has announced general availability of its OpenScape X1 appliance, an all-in-one solution said to bring the benefits of a professional voice and unified communications to the below-30 user market sector.

Tony Smith, Sales Director, channel UK & Ireland for Unify, told Comms Dealer: "This announcement heralds an exciting new chapter for our SME customers, who are increasingly recognising the value of UC to improve efficiency and customer service.
 
"OpenScape Business X1 completes the transition of HiPath 3000 to the OpenScape Business family - a massive opportunity for our partners to realise revenue now. The new portfolio will also deliver a cost effective, flexible, agile and innovative solution to SMB businesses and help them to overcome the challenges related to employee requests to find new ways to work."

Key features of OpenScape Business X1 appliance include: professional voice, UC and mobility for small offices, branches and the home; embedded UC features for up to 30 users, including key functions such as presence, visual voicemail, voicemail to e-mail, and ad hoc conferencing; myPortal To Go app for Android and Apple iOS with fully integrated mobility to support anywhere workers.

The appliance also has a One Number Service and offers presence, favourites, voicemail, directories and journal functionality to users wherever they choose to work, aimed at improving collaboration among virtual teams.

Telefónica has signed-up 250 European and US partners to its M2M Global Partner Programme, reaching this target figure six months ahead of schedule. The Programme was launched in the USA in June 2013 and expanded to Europe in February this year, a move that saw 170 new partners - including device manufacturers, solution providers and distributors - sign-up while another 100  companies are said to be close to joining as M2M partners.

Rafael García Meiro, Director B2B Global Partners Sales for Indirect Sales Channels at Telefónica, commented: "Our Programme has been positively embraced by the m2m market, exceeding our initial expectations and proving that this framework can establish new commercial opportunities.

"We're moving fast, having surpassed our partner targets six months ahead of plan. We will now be working to extend the Programme into new regions which will further accelerate membership and enhance the portfolio of M2M solutions we can sell to our customers."

Telefónica is also leveraging the Programme to find successful M2M Service Providers that could become future vertical solution partners.

Zest4 has bolstered its management team with the appointment of cloud and mobile supremo Adam Cathcart as Sales Director. He boasts a strong track record at executive level as well as deep knowledge of the cloud, hosted IT and comms marketplace.

"Zest4's growth and ability to help partners offer a fully mobilised UC solution is in demand in the channel, and something that I am keen to be a part of," said Cathcart. "I'm looking forward to using my previous experiences as the business continues to develop its channel programme."

Barriers that stunt a reseller's ability to sell and support UC solutions have been broken down by a series of new partner models rolled out by Zest4, claims the firm. "While the channel is acutely aware of the need to sell UC solutions there is a bridge to cross in terms of knowledge, skills and support to make this a reality," stated Adam Cathcart, Sales Director.

"Zest4 has built a programme to bridge this gap, offering a choice of models that enable partners to do business on a per product basis and structure their UC portfolio."

Cathcart also noted that the new programmes encompass different skill sets, meaning that partners may be fully accredited or may have just sold one or two products.

Using the Introducer model Zest4 manages the sale, but for partners who want to UC-enable their sales teams Zest4 takes them through an academy and education programme leading to full accreditation. Partners can also join the programme as an accredited partner based on their capability.

Cathcart added: "The Zest4 Partner Programme has been born out of a true understanding of partner needs and a desire to support partners in making the journey into becoming UC solutions specialists."

Alternative Networks has been accredited with five ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) international standards. The accreditation follows Alternative's recent award of ISO20000 for IT Service Management. Only 5% of the BSI's global database have four or more ISOs.

Alternative now has six offices throughout the UK and employs more than 600 people in the provision of a complete communications and technology portfolio, including cloud computing, virtualisation, managed hosting, fixed-line voice, mobile, systems, IP networks and complex billing software solutions.

"As one of the few BSI customers of its size to hold certification to five management system standards, Alternative should be very proud of this latest achievement," commented Suzanne Fribbins, EMEA Product Marketing Manager at BSI Group.

Advanced Business Solutions has launched OpenMobile Expenses - a new app that enables business workers to submit expense claims via their smartphones or tablets when working remotely.

OpenMobile Expenses is said to reduce processing time between the submission of a claim and its approval. Users are also able to submit photographs of receipts to evidence their expense claims, eliminating the time and costs involved in paper-based administration and reporting.

A new comparison web site could be a godsend to resellers aiming to give SME customers the best possible deal on their mobile comms estates.

CompareBusinessPhones.co.uk,is the brainchild of Manchester-based telecommunications entrepreneur Ashley Bailey.

"Large corporates understand the telecoms market and get the deal that is right for them and their users' needs, but the picture is very different for smaller businesses," he said.

"With limited knowledge and less time available to research a dozen websites for the best tariff or tablet price, these smaller businesses need to be able to see, in one place, all the deals that might better suit their needs. 

"At a time when every business is looking to cut costs and improve efficiency, our site makes finding the best deal easy for businesses of every size."

Bailey claims Blackburn Alarms, a security business with 11 mobiles, using 1500 minutes per device has saved £5280 (66.7%) over the term of the new two year contract by working through his website.

"Any business user can simply work through the site and discover the best tariff for their needs, then click the link and deal direct with service provider, with the option to buy online or over the phone. Transparency is the key to our offering, with the site providing live tariffs, updated daily direct from the networks; it's why we're so confident SME's will get the best deal.

"Importantly, we make our money from delivering new customers to the service providers. CompareBusinessPhones adds nothing extra to the cost of the contract. What the business sees, the business pays," added Bailey.

Cloud customer contact vendor NewVoiceMedia has raised $50m to accelerate its global growth programme.

New investor Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) led the funding round, joined by existing shareholders Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), Highland Capital Partners Europe, Eden Ventures, Notion Capital and salesforce.com. This takes the total raised by the company over the last 18 months to $105m.

The UK's broadband target for 2030 is not suitable for purpose especially when compared to other nations.

That's the view of Mike Smith, Virgin Media Business Director of Small and Medium Business propositions, who believes that more education and a 'tailored' approach is need to truly benefit UK SMEs.  
 
In response to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) report on UK broadband for SMBs, Smith said: "Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy and digital is vital in helping them seize new opportunities. There is some great work already underway with initiatives such as the 'superConnected Cities', but further collaboration needs to focus on tailored solutions that meet the diverse needs of the UK's small businesses.

"It's also about educating the market, driving adoption and upskilling the UK to make the most of digital, for example 36% of businesses have no web presence and 46% would like to make more use of being online. In doing so, we can drive a stronger marketplace.

"It is only through looking at the challenge that the FSB raises from multiple angles that we, as an industry, can affect change," added Smith.

After a 'year of change' The Federation of Communications Services has a clear vision to become the leading lobbyist and mouthpiece for the comms provider industry, according to chairman Justin Orde.

In his his annual report Orde told members: "The need for a clear and all-embracing voice to speak out for B2B communications has never been clearer or more urgent.

"The FCS is also the only organisation with the history, the breadth and the membership firepower to represent our industry's big-picture aspirations to policy makers and pundits.

"FCS's relationships with Ofcom, PhonepayPlus and the various industry stakeholder groups is not enough, by itself, to gain the kind of traction our industry needs to ensure markets are transparent, competition is free, and the vital, enabling capabilities of high quality business-grade communications are understood and appreciated beyond the confines of our own industry."

Orde said the FCS Board members have committed their time and experience to developing FCS into an articulate and future-proof mouthpiece for the industry.

"It's a big vision that will see FCS growing and developing to embrace new members and new technologies in the years to come."