Comms Dealer

Gamma welcomed an intake of 350 channel partners during its 2014 university themed roadshow. The Universities UK tour visited Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, The University of Manchester, Keele University and Imperial College London.

Gamma's senior team including CEO Bob Falconer (pictured) were on hand to meet and greet delegates both before and after the morning seminars, which updated delegates on how channel partners are deploying Gamma's range of voice, mobile and data services.

Richard Bligh, Marketing Director, commented: "It's great to get out and see our customers at a location that is convenient to them and hear how Gamma's products and services are helping them grow their businesses. Going out to see our partners is important to us. The questions are great and the feedback invaluable in helping shape the right products for our partners to take to market."

Gregor Cumming, Head of Sales at Gamma channel partner Atlas, said: "There were a number of excellent presentations by guys who not only know their stuff but are clearly as passionate and excited by it as we are. The roadshows are another valuable example of how Gamma continues to support us."

Hosted UC specialist thevoicefactory is in full production mode according to Sales Director Paul Harrison who has manufactured a strong pedigree in advancing the market for hosted solutions.

Taking a new start-up to a five-year-old business with global reselling partners delivering a range of applications has been an 'interesting and challenging' journey, noted Harrison, who aims to build one of the strongest brands in the UK comms sector. His first move into telecoms came in 1998 when he headed up Nortel Networks' CVX Dial up business in EMEA. The offering was an advanced modem bank with sizeable customers such as AOL and Freeserve. "The solution quickly developed and in early 1999 we trialled it with BT Spain and delivered one of the first VoIP solutions," said Harrison. "In 2002 I joined hosted platform vendor Netcentrex as Sales Director for Northern Europe targeting the service provider market to deliver hosted telephony, mainly using protocols H.323 and MGCP with SIP being a distant third protocol."

Following a three year stint selling hosted telephony platforms to Eirecom, Inclarity and a number of Nordic service providers Harrison joined BroadSoft in 2005 as its Northern Europe and Middle East VP Sales. "I was the third BroadSoft employee in Europe and set about selling the BroadSoft platform to every main service provider including TDC, Etisalat and a number of UK providers including thevoicefactory in 2009," he explained.

thevoicefactory was incorporated in 2008 and a year later funding was in place. "We purchased a full BroadSoft solution with Acme Packet Session Border Controllers," said Harrison. "A technical lead was hired with BroadSoft experience and the platform was built. The solution went live in Q1/2010. And in June 2010 I joined direct from BroadSoft as the Sales Director and share holder. In 2012 the principle investor was bought out and the debt repaid. I then became the principle shareholder."

Over the past 18 months thevoicefactory has witnessed 370 per cent growth in new business and has expanded the technical team from three to eight and relocated to new offices to accommodate growth. "Our full indirect model, based on working with large reselling partners, has seen our growth extend from the UK to mainland Europe and beyond," added Harrison. "Revenue has doubled in the past months and we see this growth continuing. The foundations have been laid and selected partners are delivering. It's all about having the solution at the right time, and that time is now. IP telephony and SIP are now widely accepted. The connectivity has become more affordable and businesses are moving key services to the cloud. We see a majority of new RFPs requesting hosted.

"The challenges we see with the channel is a lack of understanding about the hosted market and also the benefits of the technology. We are careful to pick our partners and ensure they can support the customer by bringing out the advantages of hosted UC rather than competing on price."

Harrison's channel proposition offers a full white label solution with no chains and allows partners to bring their brand to the end customer. "Our partners can also choose their connectivity, IP phones for their customers and if required bring their own carrier for the minutes," added Harrison. "We are seeing larger service providers signing up to resell our solutions as hosted telephony becomes mainstream."

The firm's customer base has moved from SME to mid-market with a mix of SIP trunking and hosted telephony across these sectors. Harrison is also seeing strong growth in verticals such as energy, hospitality and automotive. He says that traditional PBX solutions no longer meet their requirements. Although hosted telephony has not been widely adopted in certain verticals such as hospitality and energy, thevoicefactory is engaged in these markets with customers already live on its platform. "Telephone solutions used to be a revenue generator but now they are a cost," said Harrison. "Our expectations for this market are huge. It is the last stand for PBX vendors as they fight to the bitter end to protect this vertical. Let the battle commence."

thevoicefactory's strategy is to deliver a full UC solution where telephony control and usage also moves onto the desktop as an application. The benefit to the enterprise is to improve productivity and be agnostic to the device. "Nearly all mid-market customers joining thevoicefactory require this integration, and our real-time reporting solution provides an answer to the question, 'do you want to know what you don't know'," commented Harrison.

Aside from keeping an eye on market developments Harrison is also tracking the development of WebRTC which provides the ability to communicate with rich services such as video from any browser at any location. "Video has always been delivered on a closed network or poorly on a solution adopted by businesses such as Skype," added Harrison. "We see WebRTC has a key part to our service offering in the future."

Moving forward, it will also be about market segmentation, believes Harrison. "The cheap guys will look to get market share and be disruptive, but thevoicefactory and partners will be offering service quality and feature rich solutions," he commented. "I believe the winners will be the providers who can offer a reliable solution with excellent support coupled with a 'fit for future' solution."•

Last year the team behind Yes Telecom's success reunited to launch Zest4, a fast expanding company with big ambitions to take partners on a growth journey in the UC space. Here's their story...

Familiar faces include CEO Freddie Fazelynia, Finance Director Kevan Wakerley, Operations Director Mandy Fazelynia, Head of Channel Sales Rob Foster, and Head of Hosted Solutions Keith McBride. They established Zest4 (the trading name of All Communications) in late 2012 and began trading in April 2013. "During our planning stages we spent time deliberating what our model should look like," explained Freddie Fazelynia.

"We discounted the time and resource consuming data centre and cloud technology model, and decided to get our channel management in shape. The best way to do this was to start with what we knew best which was mobile and connectivity solutions, delivering these for mobile dealers and resellers, fixed line resellers and a handful of IT specialists. Later in the year we started selling telephony systems both traditional and hosted."

From a standing start in April 2013 the company now boasts over 4,000 mobile subscribers of which 15 per cent also take connectivity. "Our customer base and associated revenues have grown slowly but steadily over the last 10 months and we have been choosy about the type of business we take on," added Wakerley. "Not only do we assess revenue and margin but the propensity of a customer to take additional products in the short to medium term is paramount. Our revenues are healthy and we believe they are more than 50 per cent higher per user than the industry average."

The company's annualised revenues currently stand at £2.5 million with a target to hit £5 million by the end of the year. "At the start of 2015 we expect all our revenue streams to be active, our infrastructures bedded down and our expertise firmly in place," said Wakerley. "We will then be in a position to scale with minimal risk and anticipate exceeding our target revenue of £21 million. Our customer base will vary in size and while we will support solutions for all sizes of business our target market is SoHo and SME with up to 250 employees. We expect our average customer size to be in the 12-20 bracket."

Zest4's headcount is set to double from 19 over the coming months and will reach 75 by December 2015, noted Wakerley. "Staff requirements are much lower than we have had in previous businesses but with the development of portals and self-care and the channel doing much of the first line customer support, there is no need for excessive numbers," he added.

A big priority is to develop the product portfolio in order to become a true digital telco, explained Foster. "We are currently working with channel partners providing both Vodafone and O2 mobile, along with fixed line and hosted telephony solutions," he commented. "Shortly we will be adding cloud-based products including Office 365, Lync and Sharepoint. These products, combined with the ability to provide connectivity and devices with leasing options available for the SME market, will be beneficial for channel partners from mobile, fixed line and IT backgrounds to increase revenue and move into the digital space."

Mandy Fazelynia noted that it was always the company's intention to be a provider of UC solutions and digital experiences. "The opportunity in converting traditional PBX to VoIP solutions has been a key focus for us and we have built a solution for our channel partners to enable them to uncover opportunities in this space," she said. "The impact of 4G and the growing popularity of smartphone and tablet devices will transform the way businesses communicate. Whether through email or messaging communication, accessing and sharing data or plain voice conversations, mobility is key in this changing world."

The uptake of cloud-based products and the potential to link products with cloud and connectivity is Zest4's primary focus and the firm is aligning its portfolio and back office operations to meet the demand in this area. "Growth in the M2M market is also a key influence on our strategy and we have recently contracted to be Telefonica O2's first M2M Wholesale partner," added Mandy Fazelynia.

"We will be supporting our partners in uncovering and providing M2M solutions and enabling them to dual brand bill these solutions as opposed to introducing the customer and then having no further involvement."

The uptake and future potential of VoIP is also a key growth area, pointed out McBride. "Looking at one experience across all devices is another area of focus for Zest4 and something that the SME market is encouraging conversations about," he added. "The business benefits of cloud-based services such as Office 365, Lync and Sharepoint are enabling businesses to work more efficiently, from anywhere at any time on any device. Work is fast becoming a 'thing you do' and not just a 'place you go to' and our focus is on providing solutions that enable businesses to evolve with a flexible working policy."

The challenge, noted Foster, is in evolving and enabling partners to have different conversations with their customers that will open up the opportunity to provide UC solutions. "It is imperative that we work with the right partners and ensure their business models change," he said. "We are addressing this by providing the tools to enable our partners to gain knowledge and experience with new products, uncover opportunities, engage with their customers effectively and provide solutions together with Zest4."

The Zest4 channel proposition operates under both dealer and reseller models. The current proposition includes mobile, fixed, data and hosted products supplied wholesale from O2, Vodafone, Gamma, M247 and Outsourcery. "Our aims are to recruit and work with more channel partners that currently operate in the IT or fixed space who have a desire to expand their knowledge in providing UC solutions," said Mandy Fazelynia. "We are also looking to recruit mobile dealers and resellers who are ready to make the transition into UC and are looking for support to get them into this space."

The Partner Portal makes doing business efficient, and after sales support ensures that churn stays low, according to Mandy Fazelynia. "The Zest4 Training Academy can be accessed by our partners to train their teams on the full product range," she said. "And our marketing team assist in putting together campaigns, opening up conversations and pitching the proposition. Resellers have an opportunity to work across all markets and become UC consultants for their customers. Continuing to specialise in one service in isolation is no longer an option and not a good strategy for customer retention."

The UC market will become more competitive and customers' requirements more demanding. "Those parties who can meet these demands and become knowledgeable across a range of products and who can differentiate themselves from the majority will be the ones who succeed," she added. "Those who are unable to evolve in this way will ultimately fail."

The firm plans to provide additional cloud services including Dynamics, file storage and application development. "Because Zest4 is new we have no legacy or baggage to hold us back," said Mandy Fazelynia. "Growth is driven by forming strong relationships, understanding our partners' business and working with them closely to support and enable their growth plans and transition them into selling a wider product portfolio."

However, growth for growth's sake is not an option, noted Wakerley. "We want to retain our culture and be in control of our own destiny," he said. "We have learned this from past mistakes. Our culture is the most important aspect of our business and is the glue which holds everything else together. The people we have and the people we recruit in the future determine this culture of staff retention and development. Although a new company, we will leverage the values that made Yes Telecom a success, and our culture will reflect our past winning formula."•

Pictured above: The Zest4 management team

Fusion Media Networks Managing Director Lee Norvall has gained a reputation for turning clarity of vision into strategic reality. Here's his story...

Pushing the boundaries - both mental and physical - has become second nature to Norvall. Not so long ago he undertook a part-time physics and astronomy course and graduated at UCL, and he is a keen Thai boxer. Norvall also gets his kicks from boxing clever in the comms space, applying his flair for total application to the task in hand, which in 2004 was to realise his vision of creating an alternative business broadband provider in the form of Fusion.

"I identified a huge opportunity for, and alternative to, business broadband provision using BT Wholesale and set about building broadband access services to the businesses markets using LLU," he said. "From this base infrastructure we introduced a range of managed Ethernet, MPLS/VPLS network and security solutions. Coupled with our colocation services we can now provide a true private cloud, IaaS and PaaS solutions."

Norvall kicked off his career working in development and networking for the hotel and leisure industry in 1992 after leaving college. In 1998 he started his first company called Lavron Technologies targeting the same industry. Lavron was one of the first ISPs to implement BT IPstream. Fast forward to eight years after Fusion was established and Knight Ventures helped arrange the funding for a MBO of Fusion from Pearson Group. Knight's syndicate of investors also provide strategic advice on growing the business.

Fusion's network partners include BT Wholesale, Openreach, TalkTalk, Virgin, EU Networks, Zayo, Level 3 and SSE. "Fusion has made a significant investment in creating a large UK access network infrastructure, aggregating all carriers to offer a next generation platform with over 12,000 points of presence," added Norvall. "The key opportunity was to invest in the latest infrastructure rather than relying on less competitive legacy systems. Our self-healing network is fully managed and proactively monitored. Using the latest technologies and equipment allows us to provision and support the network quickly and efficiently without the limitations of legacy standards. Ownership of the network allows us to control quality and have absolute visibility."

In November last year Fusion unveiled its latest Virtual Data Centre (VDC) solution which it says brings enterprise-grade on demand cloud services within reach of SMEs. "Our Virtual Data Centre is a white label platform on which to develop and upsell a whole raft of business solutions and services, offering an effective approach to simplifying IT infrastructure and reducing costs," said Norvall. "With drag and drop simplicity and onscreen server imaging, business applications and network resources can be provisioned, backed-up or restored in minutes at the click of a button. There's no need for new equipment, network engineering or infrastructure build and maintenance. You simply set up and pay for server resources and business services as they're required."

Norvall aims to keep evolving Fusion's product sets while at the same time growing the company's channel presence, increasing staff headcount to support growth. "For the year ahead we are strengthening our infrastructure and offering resellers more products and resources from our VDC cloud platform, enabling them to build their own highly available managed services," added Norvall. "Our aim is to build individual relationships rather than be a mass supplier. We do this with a transparent, uncomplicated service, quality products and a constantly evolving portfolio to meet the changing needs of channel partners."

According to Norvall, Fusion operates one of the largest UK Ethernet access network, enabling it to get geographically closer to customers while offering an end-to end service from its VDC cloud platform to the desktop, which means SLAs are guaranteed end-to-end. In conjunction with Ethernet connectivity, Fusion's fully Managed Security Services are key to any business and they address the escalating threat of cybercrime.

"It's a competitive market and ambitious resellers need access to support services that give them the edge," said Norvall. "Providers like Fusion supply resellers with the network, security and cloud platforms backed up with the support required to do business in the fast lane. We offer a true partnership to resellers and aim for long-term relationships with a bespoke service that make every partner special."

Norvall has worked with Sean Pearman, Head of Indirect Channel, for eight years and he continues to be a 'great source of support'. "And with input from our Non-Executive Director Steve Burges and Knight Ventures we gain the strategic strength to generate ongoing growth and expansion in this exciting industry," Norvall added. "There is no other sector like comms which is constantly evolving, and it's motivating to see other companies building their businesses using our products."•

A new force in comms has mobilised under the leadership of former commando Darren Hilton who's doffed his Green Beret in recognition of the high margin potential inherent in the Timico Partner Services channel campaign.

Not surprisingly Hilton rates passing his commando course and earning a Green Beret as a lifetime achievement and it is with a similar dedication to the cause that he pursues elite status in the channel for Timico's Partner Services. Like so many former Forces personnel Hilton found a home in the comms industry and formed an enterprise mobile applications business called Handheld PCs which was acquired by Timico in 2010. Hilton joined Timico's ranks and became the head of NewNet (another acquisition in 2010) moving the business to a wholly indirect model.

NewNet was established in 1995 to provide Internet connectivity, hosting, voice and networking solutions. The firm had built a presence in nine data centres across the UK and had made a significant LLU investment in key regions. NewNet rebranded as Timico Partner Services last month but the channel proposition has been in incubation for the past two years while the online ordering platform, PartnerEye, was in development.

"Having incubated the partner offering for two years while we built PartnerEye and recruited staff to support the channel, we now feel the time is right to launch the Timico Partners brand," explained Hilton, who is Director of Partner Services. "The offering is exciting and we have the right foundations in place. And with the support and financial backing from our parent company Timico Technology Group we are ready to promote our fresh and exciting new brand."

The backing Hilton refers to is significant. Timico Technology Group has grown significantly with 2012 turnover hitting £38.5 million, increasing to circa £42 million in 2013, with double digit growth projections for 2014. The company was founded in 2004 by Tim Radford and growth has been achieved through organic means and the acquisition of several service providers including Atlas Internet in 2005 and Redwood in 2012. According to Hilton, Timico wanted to offer a partner programme with a difference, essentially a tailored solution for each partner which would allow them the freedom and flexibility to order services for their customers and retain ownership.

"I'm excited to be bringing our new brand to the market when there's such a great opportunity, especially when we have the capability to deliver," he added. "It's a great time for us and I feel confident, with support from a fantastic team that we will continue to generate exponential growth. We want to build the brand and be recognised for our quality products and services while being flexible and creative with our solutions. Our aim is to be the supplier of choice with a large portfolio of quality partners who sell multiple products with confidence."

Hilton spent seven years in the military and the last 15 years in sales and senior management roles in the software, communications and Internet sectors. "I have broad experience as a reseller in the IT, mobile and connectivity sectors," he added. "Having a background across all of the technology sectors has been essential to my understanding of what the partners really need in order to grow their business. In my experience working with suppliers who genuinely invest time and effort in a business can have a massively disproportionate effect on their growth and success."

Timico has invested heavily in its network, data centres, SIP and hosted VoIP capability, which are all available to partners. The operational services include technical pre-sales, project management, technical support, product training and a straightforward ordering and billing portal. "We have built our proposition to make the portfolio of products and services simple to order and support," added Hilton. "The investment in our PartnerEye portal and also in a range of support staff, including pre-sales, technical support, provisioning and account management, are all crucial to allowing our partners to operate in the way they want to, while having confidence that all the support they need is available to them at any time. The portal can be accessed anywhere, from any device, with a range of packages to pick from to ensure the partner's sales cycle is as smooth as possible."

Target markets include Ethernet which, enthuses Hilton, presents partners with a 'massive opportunity'. "As broadband becomes a commodity and managed services become more popular, Ethernet takes over as a huge growth area for high bandwidth connectivity, which offers great margins for our partners," he said. "Another new growth area for us is Virtual Data Centres (VDC). Our partners can benefit from the infrastructure which has been heavily invested in by Timico Technology Group, so that they in turn can become VDC providers with the flexibility to go to market. Having the capability to accommodate all types of customer requests including hybrid solutions that include on-premise and the new virtual world is essential for our partners portfolio."

SIP trunking and hosted voice have now become a standard part of the product toolkit enabling resellers to have new conversations with customers around saving money and future-proofing their businesses. "Many businesses are solely dedicated to providing hosted services through the cloud," said Hilton. "As connectivity becomes increasingly important to the delivery of quality cloud-based solutions, these providers have had to make a strategic decision to provide this as part of the package to give them more control and, of course, make extra margin."

Timico has also witnessed success with its On-net presence around existing partner locations. "We currently have a number of exchanges that we have unbundled and are continuing to grow to increase our own On-net infrastructure," added Hilton. "One important aspect of this is working closely with partners on opportunities within their geographical locations to allow them to maximise their benefit from these investments."

Many IT resellers are evolving from generating one-off project-based income to more reliable monthly recurring revenue. This is a key focus for Timico Partners, pointed out Hilton, who is helping partners to progress towards this new model. "It's a challenge to find quality partners that are in growth and looking for the level of service that we can offer," commented Hilton. "It's also a difficult transition for some of our newer partners to shift from being wholly IT-focused to providing all of the extra services. We want to ensure that our partners receive training that's effective and memorable and it needs to be completed within the shortest timeframe possible. This helps them to build confidence in selling these new services and start creating new revenue by offering complete solutions rapidly."

Speed to market is a priority and to help partners respond fast to customer requirements they are demanding package pricing so that they can sell products speedily and efficiently, observed Hilton. "This presents a great opportunity to disrupt the market with some new Ethernet pricing and also provide a new tool which allows the partners to complete their own quotes quickly and easily," he added. "This is a real focus for Timico Partners and much time and money has been invested into developing a leased line quote tool on our PartnerEye ordering and billing platform."

The importance of having solid and in-growth relationships with channel partners has become a key focus for Timico. "Our partners already delivered a significant income to the Timico Technology Group's overall revenue which has naturally led to the business wanting a dedicated team to fuel this growth," commented Hilton. "We have a particular emphasis on developing partners in the IT industry and broadening their portfolios to offer managed services and Ethernet connectivity to their customers. We have a number of activities planned around partner generation. These include a racing day with 458 and F12 Ferraris in May and also race days at Goodwood where we can promote our offering while enjoying some downtime with our partners."•

tIPicall has mounted a credible challenge to become a main contender in the UK SIP and hosted market according to Sales Director Steve Harrington who has the bit firmly between his teeth. Here, he talks strategy and SIP education.

The comms industry's vaulted chamber continues to echo with analyst projections on demand for SIP trunks outstripping ISDN within two years, but Harrington takes a different line. He believes that such predictions should be taken with a pinch of salt, and bases his viewpoint on hard evidence gained from speaking to resellers on the ground. The market potential for SIP trunks is not in doubt, but the ability of the channel to deliver on the promise is far from secure. "Many resellers are still confused and wary about SIP," he said. "There is growth, but the take-up is less than we are led to believe."

With untapped market potential at stake this is no time for sitting on hands, noted Harrington, who has been busy developing and advancing a programme of education designed to bring resellers up to speed with all things SIP. "Education has been a big part of our strategy for years and we are driving high level SIP training through channel partners," he explained. "Resellers have to get educated. They must understand how to sell and deploy SIP or they will get left behind. It really isn't that complicated, but there is more to know compared to ISDN which is relatively straightforward."

tIPicall's channel education initiative includes two seminars this month, designed to inform senior management in telecoms on SIP, what it is, how to sell it and how it should be deployed. The company plans another event in May, and combined with its overarching long-term strategy these seminars are symbolic of tIPicall hammering a stake in the ground as a main challenger in the UK SIP and hosted market. Harrington estimates that the company is 80 per cent of the way towards realising its goal. "This is our year for being seen as the number two player in the SIP and hosted market," he added. "We know what we are capable of and what we have planned, and it's exciting."

As well as setting a strong agenda for growth tIPicall has also consolidated the structure of the organisation and bolstered its Board with key appointments, including the promotion of Guy Miller as Managing Director. Three of the four Board members have in the past been responsible for starting, running and selling their own telecoms businesses, and according to Harrington this inbuilt entrepreneurial flare will be invaluable as the company progresses over time.

"Our brand has become solid," added Harrington. "We were well known a couple of years ago for our international offering, but now we are just as renowned for our UK product set which still forms the majority of our business today. We have received strong industry feedback and built an equally strong reputation in all corners of the industry, but we will not rest on our laurels and always strive to be better and deliver better up-time, quality and products."

tIPicall's energy and verve to improve all aspects of the business is reflected in rising revenues which doubled last year, and Harrington expects a repeat performance this financial year. "We are now profitable and we have a strong financial base," he added. "We will be announcing big developments around the features for our SIP product in two months time including the launch of Super Trunk, and will confirm the completion of an 18 month project on our hosted platform - watch this space!"

Not surprisingly the company's engineering resource has grown significantly in line with developments within the business. "We have learned over the last few years that a great engineer can solve a problem much faster, so the payback on higher wages and running costs is that much quicker," commented Harrington. "Great engineers are the difference between success and failure with SIP."

tIPicall boasts 100-plus active partners split roughly 50:50 between resellers and dealers. "If a reseller is only interested in price rather than adding value and not working with us to get the deployment right, they are not for us," said Harrington. "Among the larger resellers we are 'strategically' happy to be the second choice and bide our time. Churning an incumbent, especially if they are a strategic partner, is hard, but if we can add value and variety and prove ourselves as a safe pair of hands our day will come."

Harrington pointed to a hands down statistic that underlines the robustness of tIPicall's core SIP trunk proposition, which during the last 12 months has not experienced a single minute's downtime. "It's all about reliability and added value," commented Harrington. "If we can give our partners an edge when they go up against rival SIP and hosted providers, as long as they get the pricing right they should win far more business. Our total focus is on helping our partners win more business, that is what matters."

While flying the flag for reseller partners another aspect of the company's expanding portfolio is also spreading its wings. "Hosted is soaring," added Harrington. "I sold hosted in 2005 and it was not a good experience. Now, all of the constituent parts are there. We have an ADSL to 1GB private SIP and hosted offering and a state-of-the-art platform. Now is the time to be offering a differentiated hosted solution."•

Not yet 12 months old True Telecom has already displayed a remarkable knack for driving growth having already made big strides in the small business sector, and according to CEO Stuart Griffiths the company is aiming to make an even bigger stamp on the market this year.

Griffiths had fanned his entrepreneurial flame in a number of ventures before settling on telecoms having spotted a gap in the market to offer SMEs low cost business rates with hands-on service and support. Launched in late May 2013 True Telecom left the blocks in a cloud of dust and has grown from a standing start to approximately 2,500 customers, offering a range of telecoms services to the lower echelons of the SME sector. "Small businesses need the extra care and attention that they sometimes do not receive from the bigger carriers," said Griffiths. "But our investment in skilled staff alongside our enhanced offering enables us to position True as an alternative provider."

The company has grown its headcount from 25 to 100 in just 10 months and currently retails in the region of £150,000 each month. "Our projections include building the client base by approximately 30,000 next year and gaining an additional 7,000 business customers by the end of this calendar year, achieving over £500,000 turnover per month," added Griffiths. "We plan to recruit between 150 and 200 more staff members to support this growth."

These impressive figures will be augmented by a channel push this year following investment in additional infrastructure to support the launch. "Our channel strategy is simple," explained Griffiths. "We understand that the market can be a challenging environment and it is our job to ease businesses and partners along a natural progression towards the future, helping them to make these transitions as seamlessly as possible."

The evolving dynamics of the comms market is reflected in the way True has built its offering from the base upwards. "We have reacted at the right time to future proof the success of True, its customers and partners," said Griffiths. "We have added value to our products and portfolio while still doing what we do best. We have taken huge strides to drive the business forward which is demonstrated by our expansion into a new head office as well as our operations in Kent."

Data, big data and the delivery of data is defining the way not only telecoms but the world in general is now operating. "We live in a world where smart technology and applications rule, and new ways of communication such as social media and instant chat have taken the world by storm," added Griffiths. "It is the communications industry that has to react to this evolutionary spike in technology, finding new and innovative ways to respond to the huge rise in demand for data and data management. It's imperative that VARs and SIs continue to adapt by keeping up-to-date with the latest telecoms advancements and taking an intelligent look at which elements fit best with their existing proposition."

To align its portfolio with the evolving market True Telecom has also reviewed its broadband and mobile offerings and is adding value with new hosted and SIP services. "SIP is the gateway to enable future growth and value added applications and technology," commented Griffiths. "SIP and hosted are clear growth opportunities driven by the demand for value added applications and the management of data. With traditional products such as CPS and WLR in decline - last year 11 per cent and six per cent respectively - and IP telephony growing by 20 per cent per year alongside cloud growth of 44 per cent last year, these are growth areas that we can count on for some years to come."

Also in the mix is the creation of a winning culture, pointed out Griffiths. "A company without a culture is just a group of people," he commented. "We have always had a strong ethos and if staff come in smiling and leave at the end of the day smiling, you know you're on the right track.

"It is a great achievement to have been able to create such a great team which I am privileged to be a part of every day; and the energy and positivity that drives and flows through our business is a joy to see. I enjoy every day of my job, which is testament to the fantastic group of people we have at True, and is the biggest factor in our ongoing success."•

Few industry figures deserve the label 'seasoned comms veteran' as much as Robin Hayman, SpliceCom's Director of Marketing and Product Management, whose watchwords 'no direct sales, no trade distribution' continue to pay off for the innovative vendor and its channel partners.

SpliceCom was formed in 2001 by comms veterans Sean Harding, Frank Bretherton and Jeremy Cook. Their story began in the late 90s when SDX acquired a company established by Harding and John Birbeck, called Network Alchemy. Soon afterwards SDX itself was acquired by Lucent Technologies. Lucent's telephone system arm was then spun off as Avaya in early 2000 with the third Generation Network Alchemy Argent product family rebranded and launched by the new owners as IP Office. A previous venture, Scorpion Logic, was asked by Bretherton and Cooke at SDX to build the Data Router Cassette (DRC) for the INDeX telephone system. "That was my first real exposure to business telephony," stated Hayman.

These early experiences proved pivotal in shaping the formation of SpliceCom and its direction. "We aimed to build on what we had learnt in our previous venture and create a super-scalable, pure IP-based telephone system ready to take advantage of the convergence of voice with web-based and native IT apps which we viewed, even back then, as inevitable," said Hayman.

Foresight is a wonderful thing but Hayman's past experience in the IT and comms sector ensured that his future vision was based more on science than educated guesswork. After graduating, he studied Electrical & Electronic Engineering at what is now Coventry University and started his working career at DPCE, a large third party computer maintenance company in the early 80s. "At this time PCs were just starting to be used in business," recalled Hayman. "Mainframes and Minis were the order of the day for 99 per cent of serious computing. Then I moved into data communications and got into LAN interworking during the late 80s, and then into voice in the late 90s when Sean Harding and John Birbeck started Network Alchemy.

From the outset SpliceCom's go-to-market strategy was to concentrate on the UK and sell exclusively via direct relationships through the channel. No direct sales, no trade distribution. "As a new entrant we saw reseller profitability as key to us gaining initial traction," explained Hayman. "The slide into over distribution of competitive products was already underway. A close channel relationship was also important to us because we could see that the fast evolution of voice products and services was unlikely to slow down, with ongoing education being key to identifying and closing new business opportunities as well as ensuring happy customers post-install. It's a testament to Jeremy Cooke's vision that the channel strategy he put in place on day one still underpins everything we do to this day."

Barry Edwards took over from Harding as CEO in mid-2011 and has taken SpliceCom from the entrepreneurial, technical tour-de-force it was when he joined and steered it towards the market focused operation it is today. "He's worked hard to put in place the systems and procedures needed to take the business forward to the next stage of development, as clearly demonstrated by the 30 per cent year-on-year growth we're currently enjoying across the board," said Hayman.

Over the past 12 months SpliceCom has also concentrated on developing new products to expand its portfolio, allowing it to deliver a wide choice to channel partners and customers. "We now offer a range of soft, hard and virtual IP PBXs, all running the same operating system - Maximiser OS - which can be deployed to fulfill on-premise, cloud, hosted and hybrid requirements," commented Hayman. "In particular, we have witnessed an impressive take-up of our soft/virtual IP PBX family since its introduction. With the ability of these systems to grow seamlessly in both size and capability simply through additional licences, we expect to see sales accelerate for the foreseeable future."

According to Hayman, this extended product portfolio positions SpliceCom as an independent advisor when it comes to meeting the differing needs and requirements for PBX deployment. "As with all new technology cycles, the new entrants, in this particular case cloud service providers, will decry any need for premise-based capabilities and continuity of service," he added. "The truth is that there is no one-size-fits all. Each customer's unique requirement, both technical and commercial, will inevitably dictate the best solution."

Hayman believes that a general consensus of opinion on the benefits of hybrid deployment - probably the best solution for a high percentage of SMBs, he says, is growing. "Encompassing elements of both cloud and on-premise equipment, a hybrid solution offers convenience alongside total resilience," noted Hayman.

SpliceCom's smartphone and tablet integration has also been giving customers what they want from BYOD mobility, according to Hayman. Phase one has seen smartphones and tablets running the firm's iPCS IP Softphone app, replacing traditional DECT devices and even recently installed SIP/Wi-Fi phones. "The main driver is convenience coupled with the fact that this combination delivers more system features than legacy systems, so much so that we're witnessing the emergence of a second phase where the need for any form of deskphone is totally redundant," commented Hayman.

"This requirement alone is causing companies to migrate from their existing PBX and hosted solutions. With BYOD still proving to be a major driver we will continue to build on the benefits our technology design gives us to service this demand."

The company's Flexible Licence Programme (FLP) is also driving growth. From new departmental initiatives to seasonal call centres, companies are seizing the ability to only pay for the facilities they need to use, increasing or decreasing their investment as business demands. "This pay monthly scheme, with its ability to flex numbers up and down, has always been positioned as a major USP by hosted service providers," said Hayman. "By applying a similar plan to soft/virtual PBXs, licences and apps, FLP allows CPE equipment to be treated in the same manner. This eliminates the opex versus capex argument and puts the focus back on what's operationally best for the customer."

Security is becoming evermore important in the voice space, even though, claimed Hayman, many suppliers continue to hide their heads in the sand. However, SpliceCom claims to be the only PBX vendor to offer built-in protection against freaking. "We provide protection against call hacking utilising Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology for remote, mobile and home working device connectivity," he added. "And, in an increasingly litigious society, protection of our customers through integrated call recording is fast becoming a must. It no longer matters if an organisation is required to record all calls for regulatory purposes or otherwise."

SpliceCom's go to market approach insulates partners from the 'me too' price squabbling and margin damaging approach of the over-distributed big brand manufacturers, claims Hayman. "We firmly believe that to deliver high quality solutions and services the channel requires quality product margins and a professional approach," he said. "We are constantly vetting potential resellers, identifying those best suited to promote our solutions to their customers. We look at their business goals and direction to evaluate how SpliceCom can best service their business growth.

"To help us achieve this, the launch of ProVision Services allows new channel partners to get up to speed quickly and successfully deliver their first few customer installs. Our new website features a reseller-only microsite which allows us to tailor an effective supply of information on a reseller-by-reseller basis. This means we can maximise our personal contact with each channel partner, working with them in true partnership to deliver measurable marketing initiatives."•

By Elvire Gosnold, Director, Blabbermouth Marketing: One of the first questions I am asked when meeting a prospective client for the first time is, 'How do you ensure my adverts will not look the same as the other adverts in the same publication?'. The answer is 'brand'.

Brand is one of the most fundamental elements of marketing and vital in the promotion of your company. First impressions do count and repetitive brand reinforcement softens up prospects. I see many companies in the channel start out with a quickly thrown together logo and have never invested the time to take a step back and think about how their image and character is perceived by others.

How can companies take their logo and branding to another level and define their corporate personality? Brand identity is a mixture of vision, design, focus and detail. A brand needs to be well thought through as it has the purpose of communicating your corporate personality and values and also your business focus. A flash image is no good if no one has a clue what you specialise in or what your USPs are.

Establish a corporate personality and ensure this is present in all your communications, but be realistic. Just because you like a TV advert showing a gimmick it does not mean it is right for your company or the team that represents it. Ensure that you have full buy-in of the brand with your staff - their interaction with the client needs to further reinforce your image and message.

Detail is key and constant branding really helps to push your company into the forefront of your prospects minds and reinforce existing client engagement.

Finally, make sure your revitalised brand image is present in all corporate material. I often find there are sneaky documents hidden away in hard drives that are used regularly without others knowing!

Productisation and specialisation are a blazing contradiction in terms but paradoxically their coexistence could be the key to unlocking sales in the future, according to delegates who took part in a round table debate hosted by Comms Dealer and supported by Entanet.

Nothing distances a sales person from a done deal as much as a lack of knowledge about what they are selling and no insights into the real needs of their prospects. Consultation is the one area that the ICT channel has not yet come close to conquering, but a strategic approach that prioritises productisation and/or specialisation could be the key to achieving positive results. This is perhaps one of the comms industry's biggest ironies: We talk endlessly about the widespread need for sales people to become consultants but what we really need are product kings.

According to research by consultancy firm Larato, ICT business leaders rate just seven per cent of their sales staff as competent in selling next generation products and services. Eighteen per cent are deemed 'quite effective'. This is no ringing endorsement of the ICT industry's ability to grow. But thanks to productisation we are not doomed by circumstance.

Julian Andrews, Director at Virocom, believes that non-basic sales pitches in many instances are inapposite and likely to fail. "Not all sales people can cope with complex solutions," he commented. "In the past we lost sales because we didn't have the basic product, so our approach has been to productise. By selling one product we secure the customer and work on up-selling more complex solutions."

Sales professionals today work in an environment where unstructured demand dominates. Compared to the traditional purchase, end user requirements are now far more fluid and buyers could be more than 50 per cent of the way through a sales cycle before contacting a supplier. "The traditional good quality solution sale is becoming a rare breed," said Andrew Skipsey, Managing Director, M12 Solutions. "These days, buyers do research and they know what they want, so getting close to them is harder. The old guard of comms buyers are a dying breed, superseded by Generation Y who want quick decisions on value, price and contract terms. We have to accept that this is the reality now. But our best sales come from getting close to the customer."

The majority of sales people are only able to sell products confidently, however the technology environment is moving towards greater complexity and solution selling. Furthermore, a new breed of knowledgeable buyer wants quick decisions, all of which adds weight to arguments in favour of simplification. "If you want to sell services through the channel you have to sell products," stated Campbell Williams, Group Strategy and Marketing Director at Six Degrees Group. "You have to go through a productisation exercise that makes the proposition easier to understand, easier to buy and easier to mark up, sell and make a margin. But productisation doesn't mean commoditisation."

As many modern buyers are close to a buying decision even before they talk to a sales person, they are at a point when a sincere demonstration of relevancy towards their business would count most. But this requires consultancy, making it more important than ever to close deals quickly and effectively. Yet in the main, a product push could be the only way to secure an early foothold within a customer's organisation, so the case for productisation seems unassailable.

Jon Walters, Director at Solar, noted: "We started out as a traditional PBX reseller but now we are moving into different silos like mobility and the cloud. This means sales people need to ask the right questions. It's no longer a case of price and product comparisons. It's now about what the solution runs on. This consultative element is a challenge. That's where productisation helps. If sales people have stock answers it gives them a fighting chance. Productisation on key products such as DIA is fantastic, before adding more value and growing the opportunity."

Frontier Voice and Data's Managing Director Michael Thornton believes that channel companies would be doing themselves a big favour if they pursued a revised strategy based on the notion of 'productise to specialise'. "We've productised heavily in the way we appear to the channel," stated Thornton. "We created five silos, with a sixth soon to be added, that cover all of our products. Partners simply visit the product pages and price up. Then prompt questions direct them to other pages for relevant options such as connectivity. By using this managed piecemeal method partners are able to build solutions."

Resellers also need to productise for the customer because buyers need to understand the product silos and how they fit together at every stage of the process. "Productisation soon becomes a matter of evolution," added Thornton. "Our 60-plus channel partners are fast becoming specialists because they are able to pick the product they want to sell and then specialise in their selections. As a channel business, productisation morphing into specialisation is key."

James Byles, former Managing Director at alwaysON (which merged with DCG last month), also has a strategic vision for the delivery of solutions based on a mix of productisation and specialisation. "In the mid-market cookie cutting is everything," he said. "Seemingly complex customer requirements can be boiled down to small packets of easily understood information. Applications like ERP and CRM, along with propriety elements, when migrated to the cloud can be delivered as a productised and bespoked bundle. It's about how you take it to market."

The mechanics of selling are straightforward, agrees Campbell, who said the penny will drop when the idea of sales people being 'coin operated' is fully realised. "If products aren't selling there has to be an issue with the productisation or the commission structure," he said. "Tweak the incentive plan and watch the behaviour change."

Traditional selling techniques have become time-worn but the rise of productisation could not be more timely. As well as helping to unlock product-based deals that open up more opportunities with the customer, productisation also enables ICT resellers to align their businesses with trends towards hosting and new business models. With more customers asking for hosted solutions, a sales process founded on the principles of productisation could both encourage the move towards an opex model while also qualifying more complex deals at the same time.

Andrews added: "We pay commissions upfront according to a recurring profit model and based on the order value. But we have established stringent checks and balances that enable us to qualify the sales. Productisation allows us to carry out checks such as the workability of the solution. Our systems won't allow sales to progress unless the selections are positively checked, compatible and complete, enabling us to deal with the variables confidently. With this mechanism we are confident to pay upfront, but without these checks it's too dangerous."

With a note of caution, Elsa Chen, Entanet's CEO, pointed out that productisation could have an unwanted flip side and widen the scope for price comparisons. She said: "Breaking a solution down into its component parts makes it easier to understand, but are we putting ourselves under pressure by exposing the pricing structure to customers? Entanet prioritises protecting our partners' margin in a competitive environment. How we achieve that while delivering a simple sell is a fine balance. And if the network solution is an absolute given, the challenge is also to differentiate between good and bad connectivity."

Fraser Ferguson, Director at Kube Networks, commented: "The Generation Y gamers are now buying connectivity and they don't want to meet you for a discussion about what they see as an absolute standard component. Productisation is about allowing the channel to understand how they sell and deliver it, and how sales people get paid.

"But as we try and push our value up we meet a different type of competition from large companies that now see the value of networking, like IBM and Google. How do we meet the challenge of big American organisations wanting to come into our space? Is it through the productisation or specialisation of solutions?"

Selling in the comms channel has become an art form that many sales people are struggling to master, and the scope for doing bad business, or no business at all, is widening. But a relationship-based truism that remains constant could save the day, especially if supported by a robust 'productise to specialise' strategy. "There is always the 'people buy from people' scenario," commented Andrews. "If a customer likes and trusts the sales person, that's a big tick in the box. By placing a perceived value in front of the customer and not competing on price, they buy into us and we get over the hurdles. The whole market is built on relationships."•