Comms Dealer

"This path is a reflection of our debt structure, not the strength of our operations or business model." CEO Kevin Kennedy.

Troubled Avaya has filed voluntary petitions under chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code. The company's foreign affiliates are not included in the filing and will continue normal operations.

Avaya has obtained a committed $725m debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing facility underwritten by Citibank. Subject to court approval, this DIP financing, combined with the company's cash from operations, is expected to provide sufficient liquidity during the chapter 11 cases to support its continuing business operations and minimise disruption.

"We have conducted an extensive review of alternatives to address Avaya's capital structure, and we believe pursuing a restructuring through chapter 11 is the best path forward at this time," said Kevin Kennedy, Chief Executive Officer of Avaya. 

"Reducing the company's current debt through the chapter 11 process will best position all of Avaya's businesses for future success."

As part of Avaya's assessment of options to address its capital structure, the company evaluated expressions of interest in various Avaya assets, including its contact centre business. 

After evaluation in consultation with its financial and legal advisors, the Avaya Board of Directors has decided that focusing on the company's debt structure is paramount and a sale of the Contact Centre business at this time would not maximise value for Avaya's customers and all of its stakeholders. 

Avaya said in a statement that it remains in ongoing negotiations to monetise certain other assets, as appropriate, to maximize value for all stakeholders.

"This is a critical step in our ongoing transformation to a successful software and services business," added Kennedy.

"Avaya's current capital structure is over 10 years old and was put in place to support our business model as a hardware-focused company, which has evolved significantly since that time. 

"Now, as a result of the terms of Avaya's debt obligations and the upcoming debt maturities, we need to recapitalise the company.

"Our business is performing well and we are confident that we can emerge from this process stronger than ever, as this path is a reflection of our debt structure, not the strength of our operations or business model. 

"Pursuing restructuring through chapter 11 will enable us to reduce Avaya's debt and interest expense, while providing increased financial flexibility to further invest in innovation and growth. 

"We are keenly focused on minimising disruption to our customers, partners, and employees and do not expect to experience any material disruptions during the chapter 11 cases." 

Adept Telecom CEO Ian Fishwick commented: "Avaya has been generating strong cash flow. However, until the accumulated debts of circa $6bn are paid the business will continue to struggle.

"Chapter 11 gives breathing space to businesses to sort out selling-off assets or securing more funding. US businesses that successfully entered and emerged from Chapter 11 include General Motors, American Airlines, Texaco, Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s."

"Whatever happens, Avaya will continue as a brand and as a business, but the ownership or structure of its finances will change. Chapter 11 is just one way of achieving this." 

On reports of money owed by Avaya to creditors, a spokesperson for the vendor said that for trade payables for Avaya entities outside those listed in the Chapter 11 filing, it’s business as usual (including channel). Trade payables for Avaya subsidiaries within those listed in the filing were paid before the filing, to avoid disruption. 

"Ultimately, the process is intended to help Avaya carry on as normal, especially in the UK, where the business isn’t affected by the filing," stated the spokesperson.  

Swindon-based Excalibur has gained Vodafone's topmost accreditation to become an elite Total Communications Partner.

Excalibur now has access to a wider range of Vodafone training and tech support.

James Phipps, Excalibur's CEO, said: "In such a fast-moving industry with digital technologies now so important to businesses, this recognition is a fitting testimonial to our hard working team."

Nick Birtwistle, Head of Partners and Alliances at Vodafone UK, added: "Excalibur's team has shown great commitment and vision to leading a new era in communications and connectivity."
 

Managed Services Provider Annodata has achieved a position on the Crescent Purchasing Consortium (CPC) framework for Multifunctional Devices & Associated Print Services.

The framework is designed to drive best value purchasing arrangements for the education sector and broader elements of the Public Sector.

Earning its place on the framework will enable Annodata, recently acquired by Kyocera, to act as a trusted advisor to the Public Sector in the UK.

Rod Tonna-Barthet, CEO of Annodata, commented: "The Public Sector is an incredibly important vertical market for Annodata which we understand intimately, and one in which we've enjoyed significant success.

"We've helped countless public sector organisations to get a grip of their print estate and achieve the visibility, transparency and control needed to drive down costs and improve their environmental footprint and overall efficiency."

Distributor DMSL is incentivising resellers to attend business club events with a pledge to provide resources and support staff to help open discussions with more local firms.

Pop-up stand displays and marketing material are also available.

MD John Carter said: "Small businesses prefer to have an IT and comms services provider to be local, so they can call on them for help and advice at any time.

"We've already supported partners at local business club events and generated a good number of enquires and sales."

Hosted voice services have attracted the most interest, noted Carter.

"VoIP is something most small businesses have heard about but don't completely understand. Having our team there means we can answer all the questions and explain the different options and services available on the spot.

"They are often surprised at the choice and quality of what's on offer, and we can help them select the right service."

DMSL then works with the local reseller to provide quotations, manage orders and provision services.

"DMSL will consider supporting any committed reseller at any kind of event, anywhere in the UK," pledged Carter.

"Depending on the circumstances, some funding support may able be available."

Categorising communication services as a utility is to greatly understate and dumb down the business critical nature of connectivity products and services, says Entanet's Head of Marketing Darren Farnden.

"Connectivity is increasingly perceived as a utility but it's assumptive and complacent to see it that way," he stated.

"Organisations looking to transform themselves into super-efficient, responsive and digitally dependent operations need to keep that at the front and centre of their thinking."

He also emphasised the role of reliable and available fast connectivity as a key driver of digital transformation.

"Every business's digital transformation is driven by the nuts and bolts of communication, which includes every form of connectivity imaginable, such as business grade broadband, fixed and wireless Ethernet, IP VPNs, hosted voice, virtualisation and a myriad of cloud-based services," added Farnden.

"But comms often fails to be recognised as the linchpin of digital transformation. With the move towards hybrid infrastructures and growing use of cloud services, what connects a customer's digital strategy to the real world is one of the most important decisions they need to get right first time."

Farnden also believes that the customer experience is at the heart of digital transformation. "We live in an age where the customer expects to be able to access anything, at any time, from anywhere," he stated.

"If their chosen provider is unable to fulfil all of these obligations they'll simply move on to someone else who can.

"This is where the channel still has a golden opportunity to add value and ensure that a customer's digital transformation solution is fit for purpose."

Exclusive Group has pocketed Netherlands based VAD TechAccess, growing its combined Benelux operation to over 150 staff.

The acquisition adds Fortinet distribution into the Netherlands, extending a relationship that spreads across all of EMEA and APAC.

Other shared synergies include Arista, Infoblox, Gemalto and Brocade.

Olivier Breittmayer, CEO of Exclusive Group, said: "We identified TechAccess as a strong candidate to boost our Benelux market presence and to provide the catalyst for further growth in the region."

Berry van Waayenburg, co-founder and CEO of TechAccess who now becomes Exclusive Networks Netherlands' Country Manager, commented: "Our combined strength increases our relevance to vendors and partners, providing enlarged market access and greater resources to execute services."

Fundamental billing mistakes have cost EE £2.7m following a fine levied by watchdog Ofcom which says almost 40,000 customers were overcharged a total of around £250k. The penalty is the result of an investigation into the mobile phone provider, opened on 29th January 2016, which found that the company broke a fundamental billing rule on two occasions.

EE customers who called the company's 150 customer services number while roaming within the EU were charged as if they had called the United States, £1.20 per minute instead of 19p.

Ofcom also found that EE's 'carelessness or negligence' contributed to these billing errors.

EE had decided not to reimburse the majority of affected customers until Ofcom intervened.

Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom's Consumer Group Director, said: "EE didn't take enough care to ensure that its customers were billed accurately. This ended up costing customers thousands of pounds which is completely unacceptable.

"We monitor how phone companies bill their customers and will not tolerate careless mistakes. Any company that breaks Ofcom's rules should expect similar consequences."

The fine must be paid to Ofcom within 20 working days and will be passed on to HM Treasury.

Daisy Group has ploughed £3.5m into a hardware upgrade that is being rolled out to its business continuity customers.

The investment will equip its 13 nationwide work area recovery sites with 6,000 desktop computers from Hewlett Packard (the EliteDesk 800 G2 mini Business PC and i7-6700 Skylake Chipset).

Daisy's Head of Business Continuity Operations Les Price said: "The level and quality of service that we are able to provide to our customers in their time of need is of upmost importance to us.

"It is key for us to offer our customers a standard, uniform and reliable experience, regardless of where they or their staff may be based throughout the UK.

"This is a major investment initiative which demonstrates to our customers a commitment to the continual enhancement of what we do and how we do it."

Retaining the services of top techies will be a big challenge for organisations this year, reckons research by employment standards agency Investors in People which indicates that 75% of IT professionals could switch jobs in 2017.

Figures also suggest that confidence in the tech job marketplace is already up 6% on last year, with the main prompts to jumping ship being the need for a new challenge and better pay, while 36% cited a lack of career progression within their current role as a reason for moving.
 
"To avoid losing valued employees, organisations should foster a culture of innovation that enables employees to channel their aspirations," stated Peter Groucutt, MD of disaster recovery service provider Databarrack.
 
"Some larger organisations have looked to address this through a formalised process, such as Google's Area 120, a start-up incubator that allows employees to work on personal projects full-time.

"But initiatives like this often only take place in large enterprises where there is sufficient funding and support. What we need to see is more SMEs embracing this incubator culture."
 
Groucutt explained that Databarracks encourages its staff to develop products and solutions. Successful initiatives can even be spun out into new businesses, like Kazoup, a solution for analysing unstructured file data which was founded and developed by Databarracks employees.
 
Kazoup was launched as a new business led by its heads of R&D and Business Development, with shares held in the business by senior members of the Databarracks team.

The company has applied this model to other areas of the business including its marketing operation which now operates independently and provides marketing services to other organisations as well as Databarracks.
 
"This approach provides employees with the freedom to develop new skills and ideas, giving them greater ownership over new projects," stated Groucutt.

"The purpose of an incubator culture is to ensure that you are able to retain your most skilled employees by enabling them to explore and develop new projects and ideas outside of their usual remit."

Aberdeen-based SureVoIP has pledged to pay for the primary school tuition of 50 Kenyan children in support of Gathimba Edwards Foundation (GEF), its charity of the year for 2017.

GEF helps disadvantaged children living in Kenya such as Eliud Mugoya (pictured) who received computer equipment from SureVoIP prior to starting a human resources management degree at college in Nairobi.

SureVoIP MD Gavin Henry said: "As a company we have a long-standing relationship with GEF and have seen the massive difference it has made to dozens of youngsters' lives in a relatively short period of time."

GEF was established in 2014 by Kenyan international athlete Gideon Gathimba and Scottish 1,500m champion Myles Edwards. It provides education, clothing and shelter for nearly 250 children and also helps their parents.