Comms Dealer

As the year draws to a close it looks like it's going to a fabulous time for job seekers in 2014. A recent survey by the CIPD reveals that over a third of workers in the UK are not happy with their current job and want to move employer next year.

After five years of pent up frustration about working hours, little or no increase in salary and the higher cost of living,  people are running out of patience with their financial lot. Now that the general economy is doing well, the stock market is soaring and companies are posting better profits, employees are saying - 'me next!'.

The signs of this can be found right across our world of telecoms recruitment. Over the last six months we have received ever more calls from candidates getting back in touch after a five year silence. Conversely, advertising response is at an all-time low. In 2007 a good job in comms would garner thirty applications whereas today you'll be lucky to receive half a dozen, and most of them will be pretty poor.

So what is driving recruitment activity? The big change in our market has been the rise of business social networking websites, and everyone is trying to link up with everyone in a desperate attempt to generate new candidate connections like a game of career conkers. However, an accepted invitation to connect does not constitute a motivated job seeker and employers have discovered that 'having a chat' does not automatically lead to serious interest in a job offer.

The RoI on networking is dramatically lower than working with people who have already taken the decision to seek a new role.

Meanwhile, the candidates that are actively looking with us are enjoying unprecedented choice as everyone fights for their attention. We've seen telecoms people garner six offers of employment in as many days, and the average salary we have secured for candidates has risen by 18% this year alone.

My analogy is that the recession has acted like a huge dam, full right up to the brim with a five year backlog of candidates wanting career change.

Fear of redundancy and fear of making the wrong decision has held back the natural flow of our river of candidates. Hirers and recruitment agencies have gotten used to relying on the very few candidates that have brimmed over the top of this dam, but I think it's all about to change for the better.

Peak flow in recruitment is always the first half of the year as 75% of actual job moves take place before the summer holidays.

Whether my candidate dam bursts or we just open the sluice gates wider, I predict there will be a lot more people on the market after Christmas.

It will be a lot easier to hire new staff, particularly if you raise the salaries you offer to get the attention of the best candidates. Certainly our client base is issuing new job orders daily in anticipation of this rush.

So here's how to make 2014 your best year yet for hiring: • Always be on the lookout for new staff
• Talk to everyone - online, agencies, referrals
• Meet candidates quickly and make decisive offers
• And never delay start dates

Report by Stuart Gilroy: Cloud communications integrator Content Guru in conjunction with Comms Dealer has hosted a working lunch for industry leaders with an agenda to assess the state of the UK cloud market and highlight why the channel must get fully prepared for this growing force in business communications.

Cloud evangelism no longer emanates from a fanatical corner of our industry, today the preachers are setting the standard in a dynamic market. And according to Content Guru's gospel, the cloud is here to stay and can do no wrong. Sean Taylor, the company's Managing Director, is driving the cloud debate with conviction and he believes that the coming two years will be a 'make or break' period. He predicts that up to six big players will emerge to dominate the cloud space over the next ten years and his intention is for Content Guru to be part of this elite group. Taylor aims to create a £400 million company by 2020 and strategic channel partnerships are a key component of his growth strategy.

But why should comms and IT resellers build new business models when they see no need? Because without a cloud strategy they will have no control over the future of their organisations. And according to Taylor, resellers who harbour a grievance against new technologies are likely to sink without trace. His conviction was bolstered by insights gained at Gartner's Symposium event held in Barcelona last month, attended by 6,500 CIOs all driving in the cloud direction. "After years of expectation the cloud has taken off," stated Taylor.

The market for cloud communications is forecast to grow 20 per cent per year between now and 2018, meanwhile PBX sales have entered into a tailspin. True, there is a deluge of predictions about the future of cloud-based comms, all positively glowing, but these predictions risk being wrong-footed by nitty gritty issues such as selling to the end user. A tension between the push to productise cloud solutions and the equally strong requirement to take a consultative approach in order to effectively sell them appears to be a sticking point for many providers. However, Content Guru has devised a method that side-steps this issue.

"Focusing on business outcomes can be a challenge for traditional resellers," commented Taylor. "In the volume SME market we have productised and given customers what they want. Many resellers do not understand culturally how to consult. Therefore we engage with them at a commodity level and introduce a process of education that virally works through their business, enabling them to ultimately add value around our cloud propositions."

Productisation and consultancy selling are a blazing contradiction in terms, and therein lies the challenge within a SME market ripe for growth but served by resellers who are loyally wedded to product selling techniques. "The issue is how we educate sales people," said Grant Picknell, Head of Sales at Griffin. "Initially, a consultative sales person is needed. The consultation piece is critical to inform customers about the benefits to their business. But as people become more familiar with the market we can start to productise and 'box shift'. Our focus is to take people away from transactional sales, but not all sales staff are capable of this journey."

Michel Robert, Managing Director at Content Guru partner Claranet, has successfully addressed the need to transition away from traditional dealer selling methods in favour of consultation. "Pay plans have to work holistically and reflect the behaviours that you want to drive," he commented. "This process needs to be ongoing to ensure that sales staff are aligned to their markets. It isn't easy and requires continual investment. Closing deals is a team effort."

Cloud utopias are more likely to match the future requirements of business organisations than traditional comms, and the 'born in the cloud' builders of this new world order include Content Guru partner Vapour Media. Its Managing Director, Tim Mercer, noted a big push from customers who desire an end-to-end solution based on a cost-per-head format. "Our mantra is 'cloud made easy'," he commented. "We offer three product sets and control the network access so everything else that runs over it is just an app. The cloud market must be made easy to understand. Partners also want control and flexibility."

Resellers value their flexibility to pick and choose whether they adopt the cloud, but this has to be balanced against the interests of their customers who, with the boot on the other foot, can also roam at will. Here lies the road to defeat for comms providers who turn a blind eye to the 'cloudisation' of business communications sought by a growing body of end users.

If you’re not convinced yet, perhaps the following news will raise an eyebrow. Vendor giant Panasonic has seized the cloud opportunity by teaming up with Content Guru’s sister company Radius Communications to sell its storm Cloud PBX and Contact Centre services. While CPE is by no means a lost cause the coming years offer fertile ground for growth in the cloud market believes Warren Bone, Distribution Sales Manager at Panasonic. The vendor’s link-up with storm is a clear sign of the times and serves as a warning to all cloud sceptics who think cloud 'froth’ is here today but will be blown away tomorrow. The truth is far more substantive and to ignore it is a great miscalculation, noted Taylor.

Bone, however, conceded that convincing a significant PBX vendor to shift direction was no easy task. "It's been a battle but we are bullish about the need to change," he said. "Panasonic recognises this imperative and we have strong backing from Japan. The cloud initiative is being led by the UK and it represents a huge opportunity for Panasonic and our resellers. All eyes are on us because we have a very traditional channel. But the move to cloud is ultimately driven by the end user."

Diversification into the cloud as a means to growth is turning traditional business models on their head, enabling organisations to become more agile and cost-efficient because they have access to virtualised resources that are delivered as a service. Enterprise companies are at the vanguard of this change and are deep into the adoption phase. Meanwhile, in the SME market companies that have spent time contemplating the merits of hosted comms are now on the cusp of adoption. Now is a critical point for comms providers when policies must be finalised that will define and fix their forthcoming cloud campaigns, according to AlwaysON Managing Director James Byles who says now is the time to show true leadership. "If you are not doing cloud your competitors will be," he stated. "Cloud is on the verge of mass adoption because people are buying into it."

Cloud providers have two powerful weapons in their armoury - the ability to offer unprecedented levels of scalability and flexibility - and these are assets upon which campaigns should be built. At the top end of the market enterprise customers want all of the features and functionality cloud offers and in this sector there are resources to flex and bespoke solutions, observed Phil Grannum, Managing Director of Griffin. "But for SMEs it's about dumbing solutions down because they need to be pre-packaged and simple to sell," he said. "This is the biggest challenge."

The choice for traditional communications and IT providers with their back against the wall is to throw up their hands and run elsewhere or step up to the plate. And according to Steve Palmer, Product Market Director at Azzurri, a simplified view of cloud comms will demystify and unlock the potential for resellers with an ambition to survive. Cloud, after all, is no 'grand project'. "The cloud is a good levelling tool," he stated. "It's just a delivery mechanism that customers use as part of the overall solution. The blend between managed services and cloud over the coming two years will be critical. Our managed services portfolio incorporates a series of productised components that build together and provide different business outcomes."

It's puzzling how we can have a government tightly wrapped in the G-Cloud flag while at the same time debates about a SME wrap rumble on in apparent perpetuity. Clearly, the cloud is a viable option that may eventually push out traditional technology. Edward Winfield, a SaaS specialist, played what he believes to be the cloud's trump cards: "The cloud scales up and down according to demand and has created a revolution in the charging mechanism," he said. "The cloud is inherently flexible and offers the ability to mix different products seamlessly."

Despite convictions such as these some things are ultimately beyond our control, like predicting with absolute certainty how the comms landscape will look in the years to come. However, being prepared for 'come what may' is the only strategy and any form of cloud investment makes more sense than none at all. After all, there is no argument wafting in the clouds against it. "Cloud is growing and you've got to get in there," added Taylor. •

Ian Millward did not flap around like a fish out of water while working as a lifeguard that can't swim, he simply thrived in the shallow end. Fast forward to today and the incoming Head of Channel Sales at Node4 is doing swimmingly, sending ripples through the channel as he presses ahead with a refreshed growth strategy.

Millward rates his time as an unlikely lifeguard at a summer camp in the US as one of his proudest achievements, instilling the notion that nothing is impossible. His can-do attitude is already making itself felt at Node4 having wasted no time in advancing the company's growth strategy. "Node4 has seen significant growth in its channel business and my role is to build on this success and to develop our partner programme," he explained. "I want to ensure that Node4 is easy for our partners to do business with, allowing people to make informed decisions about the solutions they are purchasing, and enabling them to maximise their sales."

Following a 17 year stint as a sales leader under his belt Millward has gained experience working with partner organisations of all shapes and sizes. "This will help Node4 shape its long-term channel sales strategy as we look to attract more partners as well as larger ones," he added. "My first big job has been to get the refreshed partner programme off the ground. While Node4 has always taken care of its existing partners, our method of attracting new partners needed a slight rethink."

With a new online portal and reward scheme the enhanced programme now offers greater incentivisation and support for partners. "It simplifies our service offering and buying process," noted Millward. "Many organisations are poorly served by vendors with confusing technology offerings, complicated delivery or rigid commoditised solutions. We don't just want to be another supplier. Our new partner programme has streamlined and bolstered the process already in place and I feel this is crucial to ensuring that our partners see Node4 as the point of least effort."

Millward embodies a genuine passion for sales and it disappoints him that sometimes, particularly in the UK, sales people get a bad name. "I see sales as an education process as much as just selling products and solutions and it's something I take great pride in," he commented. "Furthermore, sales is crucial to business growth and having a culture and process in place that partners and customers buy into, as well as good people, is half the battle won.

"The IT and channel industry also gets a bad name sometimes, and for somebody who has worked in this area for 17 years it's not difficult to see why. Enterprises often get a raw deal from vendors and partners that over promise and under deliver. There is room for an IT vendor that talks in plain English to its customers and provides genuine advice rather than simply recommending the most lucrative option for them. For somebody passionate about the impact new technologies can have on a business, you want to see IT deliver genuine value at a reasonable price."

Node4 has invested heavily and owns all of the infrastructure in its four regional data centres. The firm supports its services fully and has the in-house expertise to advise end users and partners on the most appropriate IT solution. "An added advantage is that we can be as flexible as we wish with our solutions," noted Millward. "This is attractive to partners and end users because we can customise solutions to maximise their investment. Another area Node4 can maximise its channel opportunity is by increasing the services we provide. If a partner wants to use the same team and same sites to deliver multiple services at once, we can support a whole range of integrated solutions as well as any one in isolation."

Millward's first job in telecoms was with a company called Imminus which was acquired by Telewest. "After just three months in the role I became sales manager, mainly due to the fact I built good relationships and people seemed to like me," explained Millward. "While daunting at first, managing seasoned sales professionals despite having such limited experience was a real boost for me."

Node4 has witnessed growth in the number of partners and customers requiring more cloud-based solutions. While flexibility has always been a key selling point the firm is seeing more demand for customised hybrid solutions the are easily scalable and cost-effective. "With our product portfolio covering what we term 'the four Cs' (colocation, cloud, connectivity and communication) there are a number of opportunities within our existing partner base where we can offer more services," added Millward. "Although we don't have an all-or-nothing mindset and we're happy to let the partner use as many of our services as they like, we can support integrated solutions with best-to-breed infrastructure and high quality support, so there is an opportunity for us there."

While Millward's broader channel aims and objectives are to attract more partners through a refreshed partner programme while looking to increase the services it provides, growing the business brings new challenges. "The most pertinent is maintaining the culture of high quality, proactive and flexible service we have at Node4," he said. "It's essential that we maintain this culture at the same time as driving business growth through partner relationships."

Millward explained that Node4 has instilled a friendly here-to-help culture geared towards providing customers and partners with 'genuine counsel based on real experience and knowledge'. "We don't invent problems and say we can solve them," he said. "We collaborate closely with our customers and partners to find out exactly what their IT challenges and priorities are. That way we can deliver true value to their businesses. We support our customers every step of the way and if a particular solution isn't quite the right one for them, we assess the situation and change it."

According to Millward there is a significant opportunity for good suppliers offering a high quality data services with a flexible attitude towards their customers. "Data centres are only increasing in importance," he added. "Data is becoming a more important tool for businesses every day, in almost every industry. Smaller businesses are using bigger data and the market for storage, collaboration and information management tools is on an upward curve. Companies like Node4 that have all the infrastructure and technology in place need to work with partners to educate businesses on the best ways of managing, interpreting and storing these increasing levels of data."

Recruitment is also a big part of Millward's growth plan. "We have to be scalable and ensure that while we increase the number of partners we have and the number of services that we provide for them, we maintain high levels of customer service," added Millward. "To do that you need headroom. Part of my role is to recruit more people to deal with our growth and to get the right people takes a certain level of investment. Our capacity isn't dictated by how many pairs of hands we have. Services such as the portal and defining a clear structure for how we service partners can increase our efficiency and make us an easy provider to work with. The future for Node4 in terms of working with partners is simple. Through our partner programme and by adding talent to our business development team we want to be exactly what our partners want us to be." •

VCOMM Managing Director Steve Harris has got used to seeing double having fathered twin girls, but a spell of heady growth at the UC distributor has continued the theme, doubling revenues and staff numbers ahead of a significant market push.

VCOMM has doubled its 2012 annual sales revenue this year and at the same time increased staff numbers twofold, prompting the firm to move into larger office and warehousing facilities in Newbury. And with his mind fixed on driving this growth curve Harris, with clarity of vision, pointed out three focus areas for 2014. "We will continue to work closely with resellers and partners," he said. "Through SIPHON we have access to a strong customer base with specialisations in cloud telephony. We expect the recent rise in CPE sales into this sector to continue growth, and Microsoft Lync enterprise voice deployments will also be in the frame."

VCOMM has invested time and resources into developing product bundles and engineering services around the support of Lync and has started working with Microsoft partners. "This brings strong growth potential as Office365 users look to expand their service into voice and move to full Microsoft Lync," he added.

VCOMM was established in 2004 as a UC distribution company and acquired by SIPHON Networks in December 2012. Great synergy between the companies enabled the united force to help hosted providers and resellers drive UC innovation supported by technical support and engineering skills to sell, deploy and manage the technology. "SIPHON had been working with VCOMM prior to the acquisition and the similar philosophies between the two companies were evident," noted Harris. "We are solely focused on UC technology and providing extended technical support to customers rather than just reselling or distributing products.

"Our belief is that customers require more from a UC distributor than simply product stocking and shipping. They want a distributor that helps to drive innovation as a technology enabler. Several of our existing SIPHON customers asked us to provide extended support in deploying CPE based solutions and the acquisition immediately gave us these distribution capabilities."

SIPHON supports VCOMM's customers by building cloud applications in the data centre while VCOMM supplies the CPE requirements. All VCOMM technical support and engineering services have been integrated with SIPHON to create a services capability within VCOMM. This, pointed out Harris, is key to sales growth. "This sets us apart from catalogue-based distributors," added Harris. "Resellers and service providers come to VCOMM for support and technical knowledge in the UC space."

VCOMM currently has 60 cloud telephony providers and over 300 reseller customers. The company is developing its relationships to launch new services around UC technology. "We have a platform to scale the business and we're confident we will see growth in the adoption of cloud voice applications," added Harris. "Much of this year has been taken up by the integration challenges that an acquisition brings. Now we are focusing on driving operational efficiency between the two companies and also settling into our new office and warehousing facilities. We have also completed a significant new investment into our order and management and CRM system; and we aim to finalise our ISO27001 certification by the end of this year which is a strong reflection of the improvements we have made to our platform."

Harris' achievements draw on many years working in the comms industry and his long stint began while at University. "I completed a year's work experience with Nortel and following graduation worked full time at the company for eight years," said Harris. "This proved to be a great introduction to the industry and I was one of the original employees in Huawei UK, having the opportunity to be involved in launching and establishing its UK and Ireland sales team."

During this time Harris helped the company grow from three employees to over 300 and brought in over £100 million in sales revenue. Since 2006 he has been involved in a number of VoIP and UC companies including running the European sales teams in NexTone and Convergence (which was acquired by Acme Packet) before starting up SIPHON in 2009. Harris noted: "My biggest achievement is starting and establishing SIPHON with minimal outside investment during the middle of a recession, at the same time as having twin girls!"

Across both SIPHON and VCOMM, 50 per cent of the staff are hands-on engineers, skilled team members with real-world experience and certifications across a range of vendor systems and services. "We treat the more traditional logistic requirements of distribution as a baseline and something our customers should receive as standard," noted Harris. "Our knowledge and experience in the UC market enables us to understand our customers' service offering and then deliver extended technical support."

Harris is confident that 2014 will bring cheaper and more reliable IP connectivity to the channel. "The increased delivery of applications from the cloud are already driving huge buying changes among enterprise customers, so I predict further developments in this area next year," he commented. "The IT and comms industries will continue to merge and the forecasted growth of Microsoft Lync Enterprise will be a topic to watch." •

During the past three decades Britannic Technologies has followed a policy of not standing still and has evolved into an IP communications, systems integration and managed services specialist. Managing Director Richard Dendle explains how a long-term strategy has translated into continual growth and long lasting customer relationships.

Britannic Technologies now employs more than 70 staff and has witnessed ten per cent growth in its last financial year and is ahead of this year's target. Founded on a philosophy of attaining high levels of technical excellence, innovation, predictable delivery and customer service, the company has built a mature customer base which grows in size by the month. "Our customer partnerships are in the main long ones, some of which are in excess of 25 years," said Dendle. "We directly support over 800 organisations across the depth and breadth of the UK and many countries worldwide, across the public and private sector affording us a wealth of experience and best practice."

The secret to this success is to work in partnership with customers, ensuring that technology and services accurately support business requirements, customer expectations, and enable future business strategy and vision. "We focus on the medium to long-term, but recognise the need to deliver good value for money, especially in today's economic climate," added Dendle.

"This approach helps our customers to profit from integrated communication technology, supported by personalised and intelligent customer care and a clear and achievable roadmap for the future. We focus on helping customers to maximise efficiency, productivity, service experience, support new ways of working, enhance management visibility and control, support business continuity and demonstrate a clear return on investment. Importantly, we work with customers to free up their time to focus on innovation and take their business forward instead of worrying about keeping the lights on."

According to Dendle, Britannic is technology-aware and knows how best to use it. "I have always been interested in technology," he said. "In the 1980s I had an opportunity to go to the most technically advanced country at that time from a telecoms perspective, Saudi Arabia. A lack of infrastructure in the 1970s plus a great deal of buying power was a recipe for the best to be made available. I gained tremendous experience in all aspects of not only technology but every aspect of management in the four years I was there. On returning to the UK, BT liberalisation was taking place and I saw the market as an investment opportunity."

Britannic has, not surprisingly, gained a firm foothold in the fast evolving telecoms marketplace by partnering with household name manufacturers, software and infrastructure providers. "Our operation is complemented by a blend of cloud applications, services and middleware applications that enable us to provide our customers with tailor made solutions to meet their specific business requirements with appropriate and agile roadmaps for the future," added Dendle. "We invest the time in truly getting to know our customers so that we may give intelligent and considered advice."

The move into the cloud is a natural progression for the company, noted Dendle. "It is cost-effective and offers a great deal more resilience for business continuity," he added. "We see exponential growth in private cloud for the medium sized enterprises, a core focus of Britannic's, as well as public cloud for the smaller enterprises. We have presence in three data centres offering private and public cloud hosted services. Integration has always been and remains key. We are well positioned to provide this using our technologies which include netCONNECT and our netX SIP trunking business continuity for voice platform.

"We have an ongoing technology and development process that adds services to our platform. This year we have delivered netPCI - PCI DSS compliance - onto our netX SIP trunking platform. There are more modules planned for delivery this financial year. These will enhance the options and services we provide to our existing customers and those that join us. We have also added Lync as a private cloud offering as well as a hosted Wi-Fi cloud-based service."•

Avaya is marching forward with a go-to-market channel support model designed to help partners focus on key market segments. Central to its strategy is a just-launched mid-market bootcamp style training scheme which is pushing ahead under the iConnect banner, explains Michelle Jones, EMEA Channel Development and Marketing Director.

Signing up to the iConnect programme will cost partners approximately £6k. It's a new approach, but it's one Avaya claims is changing the game. "Avaya has devoted significant resource to developing the iConnect programme and by asking partners to make a small investment we can ensure everyone involved gains overall," said Jones. "We're not trying to force partners to do anything, rather this programme is about rapidly increasing support for partners who want to target this dynamic and potentially lucrative market opportunity. While markets have been flattening more generally, the mid-market continues to defy the downturn. With mid-sized businesses offering a high growth opportunity with faster time to cash, iConnect provides partners with quick and easy access to this one-stop-shop, so they can really take advantage of this lucrative market prospect."

The initial sales and design training, plus the implementation training for IP Office, is classroom-based. Avaya believes that the bootcamp-style approach works well in getting everyone together to learn and share experiences as a group. Within the iConnect bundle the vendor has included three 12-month licenses for Avaya's newly launched Virtual Campus which enables engineers to continue self-paced learning when it's convenient for them, with access to virtual instructors over the next year.

There are two key reasons Avaya integrated a full training curriculum into the programme. "Firstly, we want to ensure all partners are eligible to sell the full stack of mid-market solutions, including IP Office, networking and video," explained Jones. "Secondly, we want to encourage our partners to become self-sufficient and ensure they're all on a level playing field in terms of their knowledge and demo capabilities, and the support they receive from Avaya. iConnect brings partners into an exclusive group that, over the next year, will hook them into future product releases and provide access to specific mid-market campaigns plus a whole host of other benefits such as lead allocation and MDF support."

The a la carte approach is still an option and it's not now a case of 'all or nothing'. "What we've done with iConnect is essentially package what is already available through the Avaya University into a fast-track bootcamp training course," added Jones. "We have also added new sessions such as 'How to sell to mid-market companies'. This is a brand new session which brings in an external sales trainer and provides the sales individuals with knowledge on key elements of SPIN selling, vertical positioning and value selling to name a few."

The partners that traditionally operate in the sub-100 space know IP Office as a product, so for them a big bonus is that IP Office 9.0 is essentially the same product but with scalability and rich Unified Comms functions included. "We are helping partners now realise they can play into the larger space with the knowledge they already have," said Jones. "The engineering training also included in iConnect allows the partners to skill up on the install and support requirements, but with the solutions they already know by heritage."

Avaya is working closely with distribution to drive iConnect. Distributors such as Westcon Convergence will offer their own mid-market value propositions to the iConnect partners they work with. "Basically, every element of the programme has been built in collaboration with our distribution partners to ensure we are all aligned," added Jones.

Avaya's ROADS programme, launched last December, is an initiative to support channel partners through their lifecycle with Avaya and its distribution channel, and according to Jones the scheme has increased the number of active partners selling year-on-year, reduced time to revenue and increased average deal size per partner. "It's important to bear in mind that ROADS is about how we manage the entire lifecycle of a partner relationship," added Jones. "That's why we'll continue to invest in it, ensuring that, along with our distribution partners, we constantly develop and grow our reseller base. For FY'14, our focus is on increasing our footprint and developing partners to be able to competently and confidently sell across the stack delivering value to the customer across the complete solution."

More broadly, cloud uptake is filtering down from the top while mid-market strategies around CPE are moving up the ladder meaning the mid-market could become the battleground between hosted and CPE. Not according to Jones. "That's the wrong way to look at it," she said. "We'd rather focus on addressing customers' needs rather than on fitting them into a category. Yes, we have different go-to-market models but it's important to think about what customers need to solve business problems, improve productivity and get more for their money. There's a technology element and there's a business element for that need."

A combination of what you know and who know helps when building new channels. Likewise, a reseller product with legs is a boost to any start-up leaving the blocks. Combine these attributes with corporate backing and an ambition to expand remarkably across new territories and you have a story to tell, according to seasoned channel builder Viv Singh, Senior VP EMEA at Phybridge.

The name Phybridge is a new addition to the UK's comms lexicon but the company is well known in its homeland Canada for providing switch innovations that enable users to simply migrate to IP Telephony. Having swung its gaze onto Europe the firm wants to replicate its north American success in EMEA by building on existing alliances with UC vendors such as Mitel, Avaya, Cisco and ShoreTel. "We are aiming to bring strategic partnerships into the UK and EMEA," stated Singh, who is at the vanguard of a channel campaign that, he hopes, will generate up to £7.5 million next year from a standing start. "Our EMEA business is a start up, although we have backing from our corporate in Canada. In five years time we would like to see EMEA revenue at £30 million. This is an ambitious target but the nature of the offering and the patent we have on this technology is compelling."

A big objective in Singh's expansion plan rests on recruiting four to six strategically placed distribution partners while establishing link-ups with five global partners. "I have been in the industry for more than 20 years and have never seen such interest from various partners including distribution, carriers and system integrators," he claimed. "The solution gives channel partners repeatable, predictable, scalable business whether targeting five or 5,000 users."

One deal of importance cited by Singh involved the deployment of a Phybridge solution that saved a customer wanting 1,400 endpoints more than $1.5 million. "We are confident that by working together with our new and existing business partners in EMEA we will secure these types of project," he added. "We are able to provide a number of case studies where we have helped our business partners to secure a significant number of deals using our solution."

Singh's strategy is to build on existing partner relationships using his contacts which have built up over the last 20 years. "I would like to think most of the channel partners I know would spare an hour of their time for me," he said. "We have a key offering for any partner looking to migrate their customers from TDM to IP Telephony. In just a few weeks we have a number of interested distribution partners and Nimans for example has on-boarded our solution already."

Despite the upsides in his campaign Singh notes that a big challenge is to change the mindset of channel partners who need to think differently in order to fully understand the Phybridge proposition. To help educate partners the firm is holding weekly webinars and attending end user meetings with partners. A key point of understanding is that the Phybridge switch innovation delivers Ethernet and Power over Ethernet over a single pair of wire with four times the reach of traditional switches. "They allow businesses to leverage their existing voice infrastructure and transform it into an IP path with power ideal for IP Telephony," added Singh.

According to Singh the Phybridge switch innovation eliminates many of the local area network barriers and costs associated with IP Telephony migration. "Quality of service, voice continuity, elimination of risk and disruption, a highly secure network and a lower total cost of ownership are some of the benefits being realised by the 1,000 plus customers using the Phybridge switch offering," he stated. "Phybridge technology has successfully been deployed throughout Europe including embassies around the world for one of Europe's largest governments. The launch of the PoLRE (Power over Long Reach Ethernet) family of switches combined with the increasing interest and demand from EMEA customers and partners warrants a local presence."

These are bold claims indeed that will no doubt catch the attention of resellers, especially when you consider that the evangelist promoting the Phybridge solution has built a solid reputation over time as a trusted advisor to channel partners. Most notably, Singh became known as a channel stalwart during a 15 year stint at Aastra Telecom before taking time off to assess his next career move.

"After leaving I looked at various opportunities in the UC market space," he explained. "I knew it was going to be difficult to find another senior executive role within the current market conditions, so I spent time looking at a number of solutions in search of a company that had a stand out offering that I could bring to my contacts in UK and EMEA market space. This is exactly what happened when I met Phybridge in London. The timing was perfect as Phybridge was looking to expand its business in the UK and EMEA, and I have 20 years experience of building and reshaping channel businesses."•

Calyx CEO Steve Clark is growing his company culture with the sublime dedication of a scientist because for him, culture is everything.

Success is down to having the right people in the right roles and to say that Clark has prioritised his staffing strategy would be to greatly understate the nature of his belief in people power. "The most significant strategic work we have undertaken this year has been to rebuild our leadership team," he explained. "It's been my primary focus and, with the appointment of Terry Williamson as our Sales and Marketing Director in September, that work is now complete. 2014 is going to be a great year for us."

Having completed the leadership line-up a current pain point is recruiting the right people elsewhere in the business. "There is simply nothing more important for the company at the moment than ensuring we have people who are engaged, motivated and fully focused on our customers," stated Clark. "We want our business to be renowned for the quality of its people. We want customers and channel partners to choose to work with us because they'll have a first class experience. Not just because we have effective systems and processes that make it easy to do business with us, but because they feel that we, as a company and as individuals, are engaged with them, understand their problems and can help to solve them. Culture is everything.

"People come to work and spend on average eight hours a day at their desks, five days a week. That is a significant investment of their lives into our business, so as a business we have a real responsibility to make that investment work for them. The best way we can do that is through developing the right culture, one where people feel valued, where they feel empowered in their job and where they feel engaged with the company. This is what we are doing at Calyx and, if you can get this right, you'll have a workforce that is enthused, motivated and believe me, customers pick up on that in seconds, and they'll want to do business with you because of it."

Clark got into comms more by luck than design. After leaving the forces he worked as a consultant before joining Everlogic as a project manager. "I moved up the ranks via sales to become Technical Director before the company was sold to Azzurri in March 2004," he explained. "I stayed with Azzurri and again worked my way through the ranks, first becoming Technical Services Director where I was responsible for the integration of 16 companies into the Azzurri fold. I left in June 2012 by which time I was responsible for the whole of Operations with a team of over 500 people."

According to Clark, the real success here wasn't integrating the different systems and processes, it was integrating all the individual values of those companies into a single, cohesive culture that created a 'fantastic environment' in which to work. "We really succeeded with that," added Clark. "It was a great place to work and we had a happy, proactive workforce of which I was deeply proud to be a part."

Winding back further in time, Calyx Managed Services was established by Ian Smith and known as Matrix Communications, which was sold to Calyx , then an Irish-based organisation in 2006. The UK arm was subsequently bought by Better Capital in 2010. Since then, noted Clark, the metamorphosis of telephony into a software application has had a dramatic impact on the sector. "Traditional comms businesses and IT resellers are now in direct competition with each other and as we move into a world of software defined networks and the software defined data centre we must consider that there will be many new entrants into the marketplace," he added.

"We've seen so many mergers and acquisitions over the past 12 months as businesses scramble bring different types of expertise in house. Our approach has been to work closely with selected vendors such as Brocade and Juniper. We are able to leverage their expertise as well as our own for the benefit of our customers."

Clark does not under estimate the power of effective vendor relationships and counts obstacles to thriving partnerships, such as excessive complexity, as an industry bugbear. "Pricing models in particular can be exceedingly over complicated, it just creates barriers to doing business," he stated. "And it wastes time. Indecision from vendors can also be frustrating, especially when go-to-market strategies are inconsistent. This can reflect badly on the channel. I'd like to see better control over channel pricing and accreditations from the vendors. They really need to take ownership of this."•

By Elvire Gosnold, Director, Blabbermouth Marketing: Hands up who knows the Five Marketing Ps? No it is not Product, Price, Position, Promotion and Place. It is... Planning Prevents Pityingly Poor Performance.

Is your 2014 business strategy done and dusted and crucially is it tying in with your marketing plan? The Christmas Elves cannot commence your 2014 marketing projects if there is no integration with your company objectives as a whole. If your sales team has one set of goals that are not clearly explained to your marketing team in advance, then the lack of communication will fester between the two departments. The sales team will not receive the collateral they require to achieve their sales targets efficiently for, as an example, increasing hosted seats; and the marketing team will be at a loss as to why their product promotion for, as an example, a mobile launch was not well received by the sales team.

Planning and alignment is key, and remember your marketing plan does not have to be set in stone. It should be a fluid document but one that works in conjunction with other key plans within your company. It should not be an afterthought or even worse not exist.

Once you align your marketing and business strategies, your overall goals are clearer and in turn it is easier for you to budget for your marketing activity as you can be more precise in the areas you wish to be active in. If, for example, 2014 is going to focus on your fantastic customer service, then your marketing activity needs to reflect this by not only giving concrete examples on why your customer experience is outstanding, but to engage your client relations team so that they buy into your vision, and in turn professionally reinforce your message with genuine enthusiasm.

The adoption of unified communications (UC) is delivering measurable benefits to 83% of organisations, according to a new report from Mitel, providing a clear call for action for the IT channel to educate customers on the benefits of introducing UC applications as part of a voice and data solution.

The Mitel report, based on a survey of 355 IT managers, reveals the perceived challenges of securing investment and senior buy-in are far less of an issue in reality and it is end users who are the biggest stumbling block to success, despite being the primary focus for the investment.

The research presents a clear opportunity for the IT channel to drive the adoption of UC and guide customers through the migration process to maximise success. Key insights include:

• UC is a priority for around half of IT managers; 27% have already introduced UC applications and 21% are actively planning a roll out
• UC is delivering tangible benefits through improvements in employee productivity (31%), cost savings (30%) and enabling flexible working options (25%)
• Employee needs are driving UC investment. Almost half (49%) of IT managers want to use UC to improve employee productivity and 24% to offer staff a more flexible working environment
• The biggest concerns when planning to introduce UC are getting end users on board with new ways of working (55%) and ensuring the applications are used to their full potential (46%)

Simon Skellon, Head of Sales, Mitel, said: "Today's business environment is powered by mobility and the way that employees work, interact and communicate is changing. Our report shows that UC applications can play a significant role in transforming communication and collaboration in business and provides evidence of tangible benefits, which our channel partners can use to educate their customers and prospects.

"Unified communications has a significant part to play in evolving today's mobile and multichannel workplace and the channel is ideally placed to drive adoption in the UK. There is a clear opportunity to educate existing customers on the benefits of introducing UC to increase sales, while UC as a service models ensure ongoing revenues."