Comms Dealer

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."

Coms plc has secured a significant contract to supply a provider with up to 50,000 mobile SIM cards through the company's newly built mobile network.

Under the terms of the contract the SIM cards are expected to be rolled out over a 24 month period with the first order for 10,000 cards already received and due to be delivered by early 2014.

The customer estimates the contract will generate revenue to Coms of approximately £20 per user per month. In addition, Coms will supply the customer with other products and services, including VoIP telephony, lines and broadband and other data connectivity. These, in addition to inbound numbers and related services provide a true end-to-end solution for the customer's end users.

Dave Breith, CEO of Coms, stated: "Once the full roll out over two years of the SIM cards has been achieved, we estimate that the potential revenues from the supply of SIM cards only will be significant under the contract.

"The contract also provides Coms with further opportunities to upsell its other products and services, thereby providing significant additional income.

"The company maintains that owning our own voice, data and mobile networks makes Coms' service offering highly attractive. This new contract demonstrates our ability to derive significant shareholder value from our new mobile initiative."

Exertis Micro-P has recruited two new Business Development Managers, Tracy Barrow and Jerome Slater, to its Visual Solutions division.

Barrow brings a wealth of channel and visual display experience, joining the company from projector manufacturer Optoma.

Slater joined Micro-P in early 2012 and has been promoted into the role following his success as AV Sales Manager.

Exertis Micro-P's General Manager for the Visual Division, Ian Aitken, has also taken on further responsibilities heading up the Visual Sales Channel, with direct responsibility for the AV BDMs and the Technical AV and Solutions Team.

Exertis Micro-P has seen balanced growth across its entire AV portfolio this year and this continuing investment in the team will ensure this excellent growth continues.

Barrow said: "It is an exciting time to work in AV as the convergence with traditional IT continues at a pace, and I look forward to supporting our channel to continue to grow their businesses during this time."

Slater added: "I am confident that we can continue to grow our footprint in the Professional AV channel and capture the hearts and minds of our key partners."

South West Communications Group celebrated its 30th birthday with a day out at Sandy Park for Exeter Chiefs' Premiership league game against Saracens.

As a Chiefs' main sponsor, South West Communications Group treated more than 100 of its longest serving employees and their partners to an afternoon of corporate hospitality.

Directors, staff and guests were each given a commemorative 30th year gift and enjoyed a three-course lunch in the Chiefs Suite before watching the game from the Grandstand.

South West Communications Group was set up by chairman and director Tony Rowe after the Government announced it was going to open up the telephone market in 1982. South West Telecoms opened in Exmouth in 1983 selling business telephone systems.

Since then, the business has moved to Exeter and is now located at Communications House in Moor Lane, Sowton. The business has added further products and services to its portfolio as new technologies have evolved to include contact centre functionality, unified communications, video conferencing and Internet connectivity as well as a whole host of services provided by its purpose-built data centre.

Last year, Rowe was awarded the OBE for his contribution to business and charity work.

He said: "Most of our employees are Exeter Chiefs supporters, so it was a fitting way of celebrating our 30th year to thank them for all their hard work. Unfortunately, the rugby result did not go our way, but we all thoroughly enjoyed Sandy Park's hospitality and passed a very pleasant afternoon together as colleagues and friends."

A single resource centre designed for Microsoft Lync enablement has been launched by Westcon Convergence. The distributor, which boasts Microsoft Gold Communications competency for Lync, has an ecosystem of hardware vendors and the new hub - discoverUC.com - provides partners with a single source for products and support.

A complete Lync solution requires multiple hardware products that need to work in unison," said Runa Macleod, European Marketing Director. "This can prove to be complex, presenting supply chain and logistical issues.

"Onboarding with multiple vendors and dealing with different processes and systems can be also difficult and time consuming, especially with a new product.

"The Westcon discoverUC programme simplifies the onboarding process with multiple vendors, providing access to our Lync support and value added programmes, meaning that partners can focus on accelerating their time to market and increasing margin."

The new Microsoft Lync hub includes an interactive vendor selector that shows how different vendors fit into a Lync deployment. The site also offers resources such as services and training, videos, collateral, events, blogs, newsletters, exclusive offers etc.

"With discoverUC Microsoft can now point customers to a single web portal if they require distribution, and vendors can have a focused route to market with access to the Westcon EMEA channel partner base," added Macleod.

Logicalis Group, the IT solutions and managed services specialist, has appointed ex-CEO of Logica UK Gary Bullard as its new Chief Executive Officer.

He will take over from Ian Cook who is retiring as CEO but will become non-executive Chairman of Logicalis Group.

Bullard joins from Logica, now part of Canadian global IT services company CGI, where he most recently served as UK CEO and President of Australia, Middle East and Asia. Prior to this, he held a position of Managing Director of BT corporate business unit and President, BT Global Services. He also worked at IBM where he held senior executive positions.

"With over 2300 services professionals in 24 countries, Logicalis is actively investing in expanding its services skills, capabilities, platforms and processes and Gary's experience will be valuable in continuing to build on this strategy, and I am very pleased to welcome him on board," says Ian Cook, Logicalis CEO.

Bullard will replace Cook in March, 2014.