Comms Dealer

Following a recession-induced drop in 2009, the global telecom/datacom equipment and software market grew 19% in 2010, 7% in 2011, and held steady in 2012 at $172bn.

Market research firm Infonetics Research has released excerpts from its annual Telecom and Datacom Network Equipment and Software report, which provides a big picture of the health of the overall market.

"Even though there's tremendous uncertainty about the health of the global economy and prospects for economic growth in the short term, the telecom and datacom equipment and software market is on track to grow annually through 2017, driven by major network transformations," reports Jeff Wilson, principal analyst at Infonetics Research. 

Going forward, Infonetics projects the telecom and datacom equipment and software market to grow at a 4.9% CAGR from 2013 to 2017, when it is forecast to hit $218bn worldwide. During those 5 years, Infonetics expects service providers and enterprises to spend a cumulative $1 trillion on telecom and datacom equipment and software

The top four telecom/datacom equipment vendors in order by overall worldwide revenue market share are Cisco, Ericsson, Huawei and Alcatel-Lucent. Cisco maintains its commanding lead in the enterprise segment, while Ericsson is top in the larger service provider segment

Companies tracked include Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Brocade, Ciena, Cisco, Ericsson, Fujitsu, HP, Huawei, Juniper, Motorola, NEC, Nokia Siemens Networks, Samsung, Siemens, ZTE.

Vodafone UK has given resellers a taste of its channel growth plans at its first ever partner conference for mobile, fixed line and data services partners. Partner delegates at the Manchester summit were given details of the company's £900m investment in its UK network, the new Vodafone Sales Academy training programme and a channel promotion designed to attract more customers seeking fixed and mobile solutions from one source.

In the UK, the world's second largest mobile telecommunications business has traditionally focused on its large community of mobile resellers. Now, following the acquisition of fixed line giant Cable & Wireless Worldwide and the rollout of its 4G service scheduled for late summer, Vodafone is positioning itself as a total communications provider capable of helping fixed, mobile and IT services partners secure larger wallet shares from predominantly SME and mid-market business customers.

Nick Birtwistle, Sales Director for SME and Partners at Vodafone UK (pictured above), speaking exclusively to Comms Dealer before the launch of the new Vodafone Partner Programme, said all types of resellers now have the opportunity to simplify and expand their business offerings under Vodafone's broad wing. "The message is clear and simple. We are now a total communications company and resellers bringing their fixed and mobile revenues to Vodafone can expect a world class partner programme and a set of initiatives they would not be able to realise themselves."

Rob Mukherjee, Head of Vodafone Partner Services at Vodafone UK, said: "There is nobody else that can play the hand that Vodafone can now play. New partners that come and join us will be also able to play that hand and make the most of the new Vodafone post the acquisition of Cable & Wireless Worldwide."

Mukherjee confirmed that the Cable & Wireless Worldwide brand was now fully extinguished and all channel activities would be carried out under the Vodafone banner. He said partners can look forward to a revamped online partner portal to improve customer order processing, a large bank of Vodafone marketing collateral, customer case studies to support sales efforts and more face-to-face support from a partner development team numbering 30 executives operating across the UK.

"Partner enablement is all about being easy to do business. We have already invested in on-line support for order placement but what we are talking about here is enabling partners to ultimately manage their whole customer lifecycle on line. We are very passionate about the Vodafone Sales Academy which will help partners develop their people to make the most of the new total comms world. We have already received great feedback on the training programmes we have delivered to the market to date so we will be taking that a step further in the coming months."

Birtwistle said the key aim of the Vodafone Partner Programme was to help resellers differentiate their offerings and become stickier with business customers by offering a complete communications portfolio.

"Having spoken to customers we know things that are really important to them, such as better operator agility, delivering better connected employees and better engagement with their customers. The portfolio we have got now enables our partners to deliver things that really matter to businesses.

"We have said we will launch 4G services by later summer. We are incredibly excited about this because it will really enable our partners to differentiate in this area as well, so it will be worth the wait."

Hats off to Alex Taylor and Francesco Dore, the first graduates to be appointed full-time following the completion of a one year apprenticeship at Union Street Technologies.

The graduates have been recruited into the firm's customer support team and following their appointments Union Street has taken on three more apprentices as part of the government apprenticeship scheme.

Paula Wright, Operations Director, commented: "We felt that it was important to do our bit to invest in, train and mould future generations of telecoms professionals, and to provide entrants to the industry with the opportunity to prove themselves and develop their skills under our tutelage.

"By investing time into training and mentoring we are able to harness and cultivate the raw talents of some highly capable individuals, and the continued development of their skills reaps untold benefits for our business."

Pictured (l-r): Alex Taylor, Francesco Dore and Paula Wright

Jabra has released details on new cashback promotions for Q3, providing authorised partners with a new sales campaign to support growth of their headset business to new and existing customers

The promotion offers customers money back when they purchase selected Jabra devices, and the incentive can be used by all authorised partners registered to the Jabra WIN Partner Programme.

The scheme also allows partners to promote the money off incentive without having to facilitate any of the back-end administration, as this is all undertaken by Jabra.

A toolbox of marketing materials to support the Q3 Cashbacks have been created and can be utilised by partners to co-brand and promote the scheme to their customer base.

Andrew Doyle, Managing Director, UK & Ireland Business Solutions said: "Due to the popularity of the Jabra Cashback incentive launch in May we have decided to continue with this promotion to provide our partners with an easy way to gain, ensuring  that Jabra customers receive more value for money on several of our devices."

JMC IT has reinforced its reputation as a forward-thinking businesses by becoming one of the UK's first IT firms to invest in an in-house video and photography studio.

The new suite of equipment enables staff to produce content for online and marketing use. These include client testimonials, video blogs and interactive overviews of complex IT solutions, all of which are presented by the firm's own members of staff.

The studio was recently used to create a supporting video for JMC's entry in the Service Desk Institute (SDI) Awards in June, in which the company was named runner-up to Fujitsu UK and Ireland.

JMC's tongue-in-cheek video, which offered a comical insight into life in the North of England, has since been viewed more than 2,300 times on YouTube. Judges were so impressed by the quality that they presented staff with a special 'Best Video 2013' award at the SDI Experience event in Manchester.

Alistair Mackay, JMC's Digital Marketing Specialist, said: "Our colleagues gave such great performances of the script that we struggled to keep a straight face during filming and editing."

Since launching the video production suite, the entire workforce has been involved with the creative process, drafting scripts and assisting with filming and presenting an array of quality video resources.

The studio includes a HD video camera, green screen facilities, a lighting kit, teleprompter and professional sound equipment, as well as a dual-monitor editing workstation PC for post-production.

Mackay added: "Bringing this service in-house is not only more cost-effective, but also means we have complete control over these valuable resources. Instead of using actors to present rehearsed scripts, our personable staff can ensure the JMC message remains clear throughout."

Comms-care has been awarded Gold Partner status for the sixth successive year by Cisco following an independent third party audit of Comms-care's processes and people.

Mark Forster, Operations Director, Comms-care, said: "To have been commended by Cisco in areas we, as a company, pride ourselves on is a testament not just to Comms-care but also our people who make everything run smoothly day to day."

Thirty resellers and distributors descended on Mercedes-Benz World on the Brooklands site in Weybridge, Surrey, to attend a roadshow hosted by Aastra.

Guests had the chance to take part in a driving experience, as well as the opportunity to enjoy the exhibition, which showcased a variety of Formula 1 vehicles. Other highlights included a prize draw, which saw three lucky guests win a Mercedes-Benz World track experience day as well as a number of other prizes.

The attendees were provided with an insight into new releases, applications and solutions available from Aastra with a particular focus on Aastra's range of Unified Communications applications.

They were also able to take part in touch-and-see demonstrations of Aastra's technology including the BluStar collaboration eco-system, Solidus eCare multimedia contact centre, and the Aastra 400 communications platform.

Alan Reeve, Managing Director of Aastra UK & Ireland, said: "Our guests had a great opportunity to experience the benefits of our portfolio of unified communications technology through the interactive product demos and to hear more about our solutions in a relaxed and fun environment."

Plantronics UK has presented Go2 Telecom with an award to celebrate 10 years of business together during a ceremony at the Radisson Hotel, Manchester.

Paul Dunne, Head of Channels, Plantronics UK and Ireland, commented: "Plantronics have worked closely with Go2 Telecom for 10 years. It serves many large and mid-sized contact centres in the UK and is well versed in offering Plantronics end point advice to contact centres of all sizes.

"The team understands the importance of quality, comfort and acoustics in today's busy contact centre and office environments, and has developed a insight on mobile products over 10 years of selling to this market."

Comms-care has hosted a Ryder Cup experience at its annual Partner Golf Day at the Celtic Manor 2010 Golf Course.

Kelway emerged as the wining team with prizes for runner up, best individual score, longest drive and nearest the pin also handed out during the evening, as well as some joke prizes such as worst dressed, most in the water and Mr Sand man for most time spent in the bunkers.

Richard Eglon, Marketing Director, said: "This is our pinnacle partner event of the year where we get chance to say thank you to all our loyal partners. It is a competitive day where many stories are shared afterwards of how the 2010 course picks up and spits out the best of golfers. That said, our partners still feel it is the number one course to play in the UK so that is why we keep returning each year."

Avaya has been positioned in the Leaders Quadrant in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure for 2013.

This is the 13th consecutive year that Avaya has been placed in the Leaders Quadrant as the only company that has consistently appeared in this section since the inception of the Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure in 2001.

The annual report covers vendors that provide equipment, software and services to operate contact centres used for customer, employee and service support, including outbound telemarketing, helpdesks and other structured communications operations.

Mark de la Vega, vice president, Contact Center Solutions, Avaya, said: "Too many businesses are serving today's consumers using yesterday's technology out of fear that an IT disruption will negatively affect their service operations.

"The reality is that they may already be risking customer relationships through inconvenient, high effort experiences. Avaya Customer Experience Management solutions offer an end-to-end portfolio of solutions that minimise disruption while enabling mobile, multichannel interactions and providing new, actionable insights into consumer behaviour which help build loyalty, brand and revenue."