Comms Dealer

TalkTalk Business has been awarded Platinum status by Mitel, making it one of four such partners in the UK.

Simon Skellon, VP, at Mitel, said: "Our Platinum level Partners attain this status thanks to their technology expertise, combined with excellent customer service and success in offering our products. TalkTalk Business has consistently met all of our Platinum Partner criteria."

ShoreTel CEO Don Joos is urging resellers to adopt 'unorthodox thinking' to push their businesses forward in the fast changing digital world.

At his keynote at the US vendor's UK & Ireland Partner Forum held at the Shard in London this month, Roos told reseller delegates that being unorthodox does not necessarily create chaos.

"The pace of change is staggering and to move forwards and do things differently we must detour," he said. "Great businesses constantly evolve to be comfortable being uncomfortable. You must have unorthodox thinking to create a new reality. When we are brainstorming ideas and a crazy idea comes to the table - that's when I get excited."

Talking in the context of Shortel's channel roll out of its Connect Cloud UC platform, Roos underlined his company's commitment to delivering channel partners 'people to machine' communications solutions which mid-market customers are now demanding.

"We are in a connected world now and the connections are evolving. Five billion interactions could be occurring at any minute. For Shoretel, it is now less about communications and more about interactions.

"Mid-market customers want to consume solutions and embed applications into the work flow of their organisation. Comms is still people talking to each other, but we are now seeing more interaction at a people to machine level. For example, when I walk into a room for a conference call I want to be recognised with presence via my smartphone, I want a conference bridge passcode delivered to me and my conference presentation fired up and ready to go."

Roos concluded by advising reseller delegates to start think about developing secure bespoke APIs for customers, maybe with external partners, to fully benefit from Connect Cloud opportunities.

Special Report by Indraneel Arampatta, Analyst at Megabuyte: Johannesburg and AIM-listed distribution and infrastructure services player Datatec has updated the market on the cautionary warning released in January, announcing that it is in a sale process for its value-added distribution arm Westcon-Comstor, valuing the business unit at 'more than $800m', which would equate to 9.1x 2016 EBITDA.

Datatec has also issued a severe profit warning for the year ended February 2017, with both headline and underlying EPS expected to more than halve in the year to less than $0.10 and $0.16 respectively, a significant miss from expectations for a slight improvement. The miss comes from another poor performance by Westcon, especially in EMEA where there was disruption to a major SAP implementation, but Logicalis is trading in line.

Firstly, the sale. Datatec is a holding company for three autonomous divisions: Westcon-Comstor, a value-added distributor of IT and networking products and a key Cisco partner; Logicalis, which provides IT solutions and managed services globally; and Analysys Mason, Datatec's small consulting division which provides market research and services to companies in the TMT sector.

The subject of the cautionary warning in January has now been revealed as the Westcon-Comstor business unit, which Datatec is looking to sell (to an as yet unknown buyer) at a valuation of more than $800m or 9.1x 2016 EBITDA. Even prior to today's Westcon-driven warning, the business has been struggling as of late, with revenues for the latest reported year (to February 2016) remaining flat at $4.9bn, alongside a significant drop in EBITDA from $125m to $88m.

This was further compounded in the first half of fiscal 2017, during which revenues fell 8.0% to $2.3bn (-8.4% in constant currencies) and EBITDA fell 19% to $42.9m.

It seems that further disruption at Westcon has hammered group performance in 2017 overall. Alongside the sale notice, Datatec also issued a profit warning for the full year, noting that headline and underlying EPS will be more than 50% down year-on-year, or less than $0.10 and $0.16 respectively.

The warning blamed worse-than-expected results by Westcon, which faced disruption as it reached the final stages of a SAP ERP implementation, which brokers noted was similar to previous issues seen in the North American unit. In contrast, Logicalis is said to be performing in line with management expectations.

Megabuyte view
Whilst we had anticipated that the cautionary announcement related to the sale of a unit, today's more interesting news is the continued problems at Westcon and its clear impact on overall group performance for fiscal 2017. It remains to be seen whether the Westcon deal will go through, particularly given today's profit warning that may make the bidder(s) think twice, and/or revise down their offer. However, subject to final valuation, a sale of Westcon has strategic merit, enabling Datatec to focus on Logicalis and its services offering, which we see as a key driver of growth in the infrastructure services market globally.

A 'trip to Iceland' Samsung incentive offered by Daisy Distribution resulted in an uplift of 7.5% in sales volumes, while sales of the target £250 premium device range grew by 69% in the incentive period.

The scheme ran from August 2016 until the end of January this year and focused on the purchased volumes of premium Samsung devices.

The top nine purchasing partners from the three league tables won a three-day trip to Iceland which included a Jeep tour and snowmobiling.

Julien Parven, Marketing Director at Daisy Distribution, stated: "It is important that we not only teach and nurture our partners to succeed, but that we reward them for their hard work. This trip was the perfect way for us to do this after a fantastic five months of business on Samsung devices.

"From a Samsung perspective, it is also a great opportunity for the vendor to experience life within the independent partner channel and the challenges and opportunities that brings."

Plans are underway for initiatives to promote the A Series devices following their relaunch in Q1 2017 with successful partners in line to win Samsung display kits for their offices.

There are also plans for an incentive on the Galaxy S8 which is due for B2B market launch at the end of April.

Solar Communications has completed the integration of last year's acquisitions of Denwa and Response Data Communications. The enlarged business is now operating under one brand, Solar, with RDC and Denwa retired from the market.

The Denwa offices in Burnley have been fully decommissioned with the majority of staff being relocated to the Salford Quays facility.

Solar now boasts offices in London, Chippenham, Manchester and Harlow, and employs 100 staff across its operations.

Its portfolio is boosted by expertise in SD WAN, Cloud UCaaS, Contact Centre, On-site and Cloud Storage.

John Whitty, CEO of Solar Communications said: "The most challenging and critical part of any acquisition is always to ensure that the continued service delivered to both sets of customers is maintained at the same standard, and where possible improved, avoiding any adverse customer or end user impact.

"The success of this transformation largely depends upon ensuring the staff feel comfortable and are warmly welcomed into the new organisation, while being provided with the requisite tools and facilities to transition seamlessly.

"The Solar team for executed the integration programme successfully within tight time constraints, with very little, if any, disruption to the normal business operations.

"The team delivered the integration of three reasonably sized businesses technically and operationally, within 28 working days - which is no mean feat."

Slough and Maidenhead are poised to join the growing ranks of Gigabit Cities including neighbours Reading and Bracknell as infrastructure provider CityFibre prepares to replace more legacy copper-based networks with a pure fibre alternative.
 
CityFibre partner Berkshire-based IT and telecoms firm BtL Communications, will work to connect businesses in Slough and Maidenhead across the network, providing them with access to gigabit-speed internet services up to 100 times faster than the UK's average speeds.

The build will light up 38km of fibre network from Slough Trading Estate to the town centre, and a further 10km across Maidenhead.

This investment is set to contribute to Thames Valley Berkshire LEP's prediction that boosting ultrafast connectivity will generate an additional £1.2bn GVA for the region over the next five to seven years.
 
Nick Gray, City Development Manager at CityFibre, commented: "Berkshire is known as an economic powerhouse, and Slough in particular - a renowned hub for blue-chip businesses and start-ups - has grown its reputation as one of the UK's most tech-savvy towns in the region.
 
"From the latest Tech Nation Report we know that the digital technology industry contributes billions to the UK economy, creates high value jobs and attracts investment from all over the world.

"This presents excellent opportunities for Thames Valley communities. It is vitally important, therefore, that this growing region has the best connectivity possible to enable it to remain competitive on a global stage."
 
With customers already connected to CityFibre networks in Reading and Bracknell, BtL Communications, will be offering businesses in Slough and Maidenhead access to some of the fastest download and upload speeds in the world.
 
BtL MD Rob Lamden, commented: "We have been helping businesses in the region with their IT, telecoms and internet connectivity since 2001 and we are very pleased to be working with CityFibre to make a real difference to the region's digital landscape.
 
"Having grown up in Maidenhead and Slough from the age of nine, I am particularly motivated to bring the gigabit revolution to the towns I grew up in."

Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.5 trillion in 2017, a 1.4 per cent increase from 2016, according to Gartner.

This growth rate is down from the previous quarter's forecast of 2.7 per cent, due in part to the rising US dollar.

"The strong US dollar has cut $67 billion out of our 2017 IT spending forecast," said John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner. "We expect these currency headwinds to be a drag on earnings of US-based multinational IT vendors through 2017."

Fujitsu is enhancing its Select channel programme with a €1m investment in new online tools. The refresh includes a dedicated training and certification programme.

Dave Hazard, VP sales operations and channel at Fujitsu EMEIA, said: "We are making a significant investment to enhance our Select programme so our partners are better able to succeed as they adapt to the challenges of digitalisation.

"Clearly, IT is becoming more complex and we'd like to help our partners bridge the gap in the development of necessary skills."

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has ruled that BT must adjust its wholesale minimum dark fibre prices to improve competition and provisioning in the market for high bandwidth Internet access.

Richard Thompson, Commercial Director at TalkTalk Business, said: "We are pleased that the CMA has recognised that BT's wholesale dark fibre price needs to be adjusted to ensure that it becomes the cost-effective alternative it was originally intended to be.

"While there is still much to be agreed, we are excited about the opportunities dark fibre will bring to increasingly data-hungry businesses."

Growing ICT technology providers under pressure to invest substantially in virtual and hosted services should look at preserving working capital by exploring asset finance.

"The right financial partner will support ICT firms with innovative structures to release cash from customer contracts, eliminating expensive business consultants," said Dan Proctor, Commercial Director of HH Vendor Finance.

"By leasing their infrastructure, growing ICT firms can build required services, while preserving cash flow, minimising debt and maintaining equity.

"An unpredictable business environment can disrupt the most prudent ICT budget, and leasing is the only vehicle that allows firms to accommodate essential investment without breaking the annual budget."