Comms Dealer

Alderley Edge-based Chess has been listed for the fifth year in a row as one of the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For in the recently published 2014 list.

Only organisations with the highest level of overall employee engagement qualify for the prestigious list.

David Pollock, Chief Executive, commented, "Over the last 21 years our team has focused on building a business that is a great place to work. We firmly believe that happy people make customers happy. We're lucky to work in a fast moving, dynamic, growth industry that creates opportunities for our people to progress their careers, develop their knowledge and skill and gain rewards and recognition for their efforts. The growth and success of our people ensures the growth and success of our business and will continue to do so for years to come."

Best Companies methodology is widely recognised as the most academically rigorous measure in present workplace engagement. As part of Chess' entry it had to provide evidence of different workplace initiatives including examples of corporate social responsibility, environmental practices, employee benefit packages along with detailed training and development programmes. After the process was complete Chess was awarded a 3 star accreditation status from best companies, the highest ranking engagement benchmark the institution can bestow on a business, to go along with a ranking in their top 100 overall companies to work for.

Chess provides its people with traditional benefits such as health and pension plans, a share-option scheme and flexible working but impressed judges with more unusual benefits such as massages, breakfast clubs, flu jabs, sponsorships for qualifications, charity work and regular holiday prize draws. A Chess employee recently won a £2,500 holiday to Dubai as the winner of their Christmas conference holiday giveaway and joins a long list of Chess holiday winners.

The passion, energy and attitude that has defined Chess as such a great place to work for their people is also emulated in the work they do in the wider community, having raised over £48,000 for UK charities in 2013 alone.

The Chess people have also continued their commitment to an environmentally friendly working ethos, having been accredited with the prestigious ISO 14001 for its environmentally sustainable working practices.

Stephen Dracup, Managing Director at Chess stated: "As one team, together, we own and nurture our vision, culture and values. We're an ambitious organisation and our people work to maximise their potential, striving to be the best of the best. Our spirit inspires and motivates, it is infectious, stimulating and must never be taken for granted."

Unify has is targeting the below-30 user segment with its just launched OpenScape Business X1 appliance, offering professional voice, UC and mobility for small offices, branches and the home.

According to Unify, X1 will better enable partners to provide customers of any size with an easy to deploy, manage and use, all-in-one UC solution, and leverages their current training and investment in the complete OpenScape Business portfolio.

The OpenScape Business X1 appliance provides embedded UC features for up to 30 users, including functions such as presence, visual voicemail, voicemail to e-mail, and ad hoc conferencing.

To support anywhere workers and the new way to work, mobility is integrated with the new myPortal To Go app for Android and Apple iOS.

It provides Unify's One Number Service and offers presence, favourites, voicemail, directories and journal functionality to users wherever they choose to work, improving collaboration among virtual teams.

It also enables users to control their office phone remotely and allows dialing from smartphone contacts or a local UC smart directory when off-line.

For non-Android smartphones, such as the Windows phone, OpenScape Business offers myPortal for mobile and myPortal for tablet as a web-based solution. 

"Over the past 12 months, we have made significant market share gains in the UK mid-market with the OpenScape Business portfolio and now we have the opportunity to increase our presence in the large below 30-user segment," said Tony Smith, sales director, indirect channel, UK and Ireland, Unify. 

"We are finding smaller companies often embrace new ways of working and mobility more than their enterprise counterparts and our UC solution will enable them to harness that trend and turn it into competitive advantage."

IT Europa has released tails on a strong line up of speakers a its seventh European ISV Convention, March 26th in London.

Among the confirmed speakers is Lauri Saft, Director of the IBM Watson Ecosystem program. In her current role she is responsible for developing a network of partnerships consisting of entrepreneurs & established companies who will build their applications on a foundation of cognitive computing.

Rob Craft, Senior Director of Enterprise Cloud, Microsoft, will talk about what business customers ask for from the cloud.

"It's a simple thing, really. They want everything!" he said. "How can we change expectations with business customers to match and exceed what they get today from a device?"

The Gartner keynote at the event is on how Big Data, mobile, business intelligence and hybrid cloud platforms introduce different buyers and cause a shift in customer buying behaviour. This is impacting all ISVs and channels; so Gartner's Mark Paine is looking at ways for ISVs to succeed in selling to these 'new' customers.

The aim of the event is to develop business partnerships and capitalise on the evolution of the IT industry within an increasingly applications and solutions-driven world.

HP, IBM, Interoute, Microsoft and Oracle are supporting the Convention as platinum sponsors. Other sponsors include Arrow ECS, AVG, Avnet, Ingram Micro, ISVWorld, Jaspersoft, SafeNet, SoftServe and SunGard.

To found out more visit http://isvconvention.com/agenda.html

Swyx has released details of a new client software solution, currently in the pilot phase, the can be distributed via multiple servers flexibly and with high scalability.

The modular range of UC features per user realise cost benefits for providers and end customers. In addition, the new solution supports Windows Azure Active Directory (WAAD), so that all Microsoft-based products automatically link with the UC application.

"We have 60 per cent growth, which is exactly the right time for us to invest in this product and bring it to the market", said Swyx Chairman Dr. Ralf Ebbinghaus.

"In the development of a capable UC solution we have integrated all our knowledge and experience gained in recent years."

The target group for this flexible cloud solution is not only service providers, but also Swyx resellers who can extend their product range when the multi-tenant solution is released in the Summer.

Windows Azure is the first platform on which Swyx places its cloud solution.

"For us it was a big plus that Swyx is not only strong in the on-premise business, but also has both feet in the cloud segment and so is ideally positioned to support the growing demand for integrated communication solutions," added Kai Göttmann, Director for Server, Tools & Cloud at Microsoft.

Commsworld has appointed Dietmar Wand as Partner Channel Manager with a remit to grow the Fluency Partner Channel.

Wand boasts a 15 year career in networks, data centres and IT.

Commsworld acquired Fluency in 2012 with its network infrastructure and associated in-house applications and Wand aims to recruit more voice and IT resellers into the Fluency Partner Channel.

The Fluency Network has been expanded and upgraded since coming under the Commsworld banner and uses carrier grade switches and optical wavelength backhauls.

SIP and Hosted Voice services are designed to carry over the Ethernet connectivity solutions inclusive of EFM, Ethernet over FTTC and Fibre Ethernet.

To support partners Commsworld has developed an online Partner portal where each company can access their own client services, check for access speeds, prices and finally directly place orders instantly with their own end client.

Ricky Nicol Commsworld CEO, said: "I have long had the ambition to grow Commsworld into a true network provider with quality solutions supported by a robust service division. For too long have the big boys had free reign leaving behind dissatisfied customers from poor bandwidth performances and client support."

Wand added: "As more suppliers and companies focus on their networks, data centre and the services they want to offer out of them, we are sticking to our core principle of offering high end proven network services, at competitive rates.

"Commsworld are well respected in the marketplace and I am looking forward to help to rapidly build a successful Partner Network."

Hats off to Westcon Group for bagging Polycom's EMEA Distributor of the Year Award, collected at TEAM Polycom 2014 staged in Vancouver, Canada.

David Grant Senior Vice President EMEA, Westcon Convergence, said: "Westcon is a robust company with a strong heritage in voice and UC, focusing on simplifying business processes for our partners and vendors through value added programmes and support to deliver result.  
"Our approach combined with a relationship with Microsoft in driving growth for Lync devices, market coverage, support on service renewals and marketing and management's commitment to Polycom has resulted in over 45 percent growth in sales year on year for Polycom."
 
Mike Conlon, Vice President of Worldwide Channels, Polycom, added: "In a rapidly evolving marketplace it's critical to have partners like Westcon Group who can help us meet our customers complete business needs with transformative solutions."
 
Westcon Group's convergence business practice is part of the Polycom Partner Network.

As part of the Network, technology providers, ISVs, solution advisors, integrators, service providers, and other companies can work with Polycom and each other to deliver tailored solutions.
 

Mitel has bolstered its contact centre play with the acquisition of OAISYS, adding integrated call recording and quality management solutions to its CC kit bag. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The OAISYS solution enables data to be converted into actionable business intelligence.

"Contact Centres have become the front line for businesses looking to harness customer insight and intelligence to deliver competitive advantage and drive growth, and the acquisition of OAISYS is a logical next step in Mitel's strategy and solution to address that market demand," said Richard McBee, President and CEO, Mitel.

"With OAISYS, Mitel partners and customers will have the critical capabilities they need to unlock, extract and leverage business data."

An existing member of the Mitel Solutions Alliance with Preferred Gold Partner status, the OAISYS portfolio integrates with Mitel's flagship MiContact Center platform, including the company's recently announced release.

Over time, the OAISYS solution will also be integrated into the Aastra contact center platform, Solidus eCare, and the MiContact Center for Lync platform, as part of routine portfolio integration.

"Mitel is a natural fit for OAISYS as we look to expand and grow our product range and reach," said Brian Spencer, CEO of OAISYS. "Full integration into the multi-platform contact centre portfolio of a major multi-national vendor like Mitel opens the doors for us to take our products to new platforms, new partners and new markets."

Effective immediately, OAISYS becomes part of the Mitel Products and Solutions Business Unit. The group will report to Chris Courneya, Mitel Vice President and General Manager, Contact Centres. Brian Spencer joins Mitel as Director of Business Development for Mitel Contact Centres reporting to Chris.

The OAISYS acquisition is the latest in a series of strategic business development activities by Mitel designed to capture and drive profitable growth in the consolidating business communications market.

This is Mitel's second contact centre related acquisition within the last year, following the integration of prairieFyre last summer.

In January, Mitel also completed its merger with Aastra Technologies.

SIP connections are expected to overtake ISDN in early 2016 and Nimans has moved to ensure resellers get a head start in selling SIP before the tipping point.

The company held two SIP Trunk workshops in London and Manchester attended by 40 resellers overall, including some with no SIP experience.

A Derby-based reseller stated: "I hadn't sold SIP before but I was obviously aware of it so I attended to get a basic understanding."

As well as sales-based courses Nimans is also hosting regular engineering workshops focusing on the technical side of implementing SIP.

The Institute of Telecommunications Professionals (ITP) welcomed Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's announcement about improving opportunities for school leavers - but are keen to hear how the Government plans to improve careers advice and access to apprenticeships.

Leading independent professional body the ITP was in attendance at Mr Clegg's event at Southfields Academy in South London, along with representatives from companies such as Fujitsu, Barclays, McDonalds and Telefonica.

ITP Chief Executive Officer Ann Potterton was joined at the event by a group of 12 young people who are currently developing their own careers through the ITP's ground-breaking telecoms apprenticeship scheme, which has created 30 high-quality training opportunities since its launch in March 2013.

Mr Clegg spoke about his belief in apprenticeships as a viable post-school option, and also announced his plans to establish better careers advice for young people, as well as a 'UCAS-style' one-stop shop resource to allow school leavers to better find courses, training and apprenticeships.

Ann Potterton said: "Many of Mr Clegg's comments were extremely welcome, especially his obvious commitment to apprenticeships - which, as he rightly pointed out, are just as valid an option as university. He also spoke about other strong European economies such as Holland and Germany and the way they value their apprentices.

"While we agreed with everything he said, we are keen to find out how the Government plans to enhance apprenticeships - at the moment still many young people do not consider them as a viable option, and some employers feel too daunted to offer them. In telecoms, we launched our own scheme in direct response to employer need - offering businesses a way to access high-quality, bespoke telecoms training at an affordable price and with the admin support that makes it a feasible option.

"There needs to be more career advice about apprenticeships, and more support for employers who would like to take on an apprentice - only then will they shake off their 'poor relation' image, and allow us as an economy to reap the benefits of good quality industry-specific training for the many talented young people that are out there."

Following Mr Clegg's his talk, there was a careers fair at the school, where the ITP and its apprentices spoke to students and other employers about their own apprenticeship scheme. Ann added: "Apart from Mr Clegg's speech, the day offered a great opportunity for us to shout about our scheme."

The Deputy Prime Minister's speech was delivered in advance of National Apprenticeship Week, which begins on March 3. To mark the occasion, the ITP will be posting regular blogs about its work with apprentices - for more information, go to www.theitp.org

More details about the event at Southfields can be found on twitter, @DPMoffice, using the hashtag # skills4success.

The UK channel is struggling to meet the fluctuating cloud demands of their clients, according to independent research commissioned by IT services expert MTI.

The survey of UK resellers and service providers found that the most commonly demanded service from UK businesses is Infrastructure-as-a-Service(IaaS), with 77% of respondents reporting it as a top request from their clients.

Despite this high demand, less than half of these companies provide IaaS directly (44%) and just 22% can provide the service through vendors. Afurther fifth of the respondents (20%) revealed they might consider selling IaaS in the next 12 months.

At the other end of the scale, nearly two thirds of respondents (64%) are seeing least demand for managed security services from their clients, yet three quarters of the resellers (75%) provide the service either directly or through a vendor.

Chris Roberts, Head of Channel Sales at MTI, said: "Our research demonstrates there is a clear contrast between what clients want and what resellers and service providers are delivering - either directly or through a vendor partner. This highlights the challenge that resellers are faced wit hwhere clients' service demands can shift on a regular basis as technology evolves

"It's very difficult for resellers to be flexible enough to provide solutions as and when they come into fashion or when demand from clients peaks. Partnering with a services expert allows these businesses to successfully provide a range of solutions indirectly, without having to worry about providing themselves."

The MTI research also found that nearly two thirds of UK resellers and service providers (62.5%) make at least 40% of their annual revenue from services, with most stating that services made up between 41% and 60% of their revenue.

MTI launched its first official Channel Partner Program in late 2013 to provide a suite of managed, cloud, professional, consulting and assessment services to VARs, systems integrators, hosting and service providers.