Comms Dealer

Telecoms financing company Lease Telecom has launched a mobile application to over 300 partners, enabling resellers of mobile, fixed and IT equipment to quickly generate quotes and submit credit applications from the tap of a smartphone or tablet.

Simon Fabb, co-Founder of Lease Telecom, said: "Now there's nothing to stop Lease Telecom Partners from capitalising on opportunities when out in the field.

"The app complements our desktop offering and gives instant access to multi-term leasing rates and allows the user to submit deals for formal approval.

"From the point of submitting the application, the deal is treated under our usual SLAs."

The app will also be available to distributor sales teams with branding options available later in the year.

Zen Internet has again been awarded Which? Recommended Provider status for Broadband, with the consumer organisation praising the company's commitment to customer service and technical support.

Zen again achieved top marks in the survey of 3,100 broadband customers. The company's customer satisfaction score of 86% - an increase from the previous year - was five points ahead of its nearest rival and well ahead of the so-called 'big four' - BT, Virgin Media, Sky and TalkTalk.

Andrew Fryatt, Zen's MD for residential and small business, said: "Awards like this are not something we take for granted. Our aim is to be different to other providers by continuing to keep our customers at the heart of everything we do."

Distributor ProVu Communications has doubled its warehouse capacity following works to better use the available space at its Huddersfield-based offices, making the most of unused cellar space.

The development also included the installation of a lift and a new stairwell.

Sales Director Ian Godfrey said: "The expansion of the warehouse opens up more potential for ProVu. Our sales are increasing year-on-year, and with a greater capacity to hold stock we can continue to meet the growing demands of our customers.

"Not only is stock more accessible for our warehouse staff, we can also hold a greater amount of products ready for next day delivery."

ProVu offers over 900 items available to order and supplied hardware to almost 1,000 companies last year.

In response to growing demand for product bundles Voiceflex has conducted feasibility tests on its own channel offering and launched bundled SIP trunks (SIPTB) and standard SIP Trunks (SSIPT) which don't have a call bundle package.    

"Where some carriers have opted for a bundle-only option, we decided this was too restrictive," stated Sales & Marketing Paul Director Taylor.

"From the due diligence undertaken, offering only a bundled SIP trunks package meant customers were forced to seek alternative providers if the call spend was too low or too high.

"Having both options is proving to be the right decision with our channel partners as we have seen increased sales since our soft launch on 1st February this year."

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."