Comms Dealer

O2's top performing partners were recognised at the operator's annual Partner of the Year Awards staged at The Pullman Hotel, St Pancras.

The event marked the achievements of O2's partner network across three core channels - Direct, Distribution and Wholesale.

Wholesale Partner of the Year - Plan.com
Distribution Partner of the Year - Carphone Warehouse Business
Direct (small) Partner of the Year - The One Point
Direct (large) Partner of the Year - Vivio

Jason Phillips, Head of Partners for O2 Business, said: "2016 has been a fantastic year across all of O2's partner channels."

M&A activity in the technology sector 2016 has posed a significant risk to business continuity among UK organisations, claims Peter Groucutt, MD at Databarracks, who warns that specialist continuity providers are slowly being swallowed up into wider service offerings.

He said: "The ongoing acquisitions we're seeing are causing long-term problems for the market. Specialist disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity (BC) companies are being swallowed up by larger cloud providers, and their services packaged as part of a wider offering, leaving many customers with a provider who is a jack-of-all-trades but master of none.

"A specialist disaster recovery provider has the core task of getting a business back up and running as quickly as possible, and has the advantage of experience. Specialist DR providers will have performed thousands of recoveries and have highly skilled teams of experienced experts that can confidently and competently tackle the complex task of a restore, with minimum disruption to your business."

Investment firm Platinum Equity has acquired Emerson Network Power in a $4bn-plus deal that sees the appointment of Rob Johnson as CEO and the start of a campaign to rebrand as Vertiv.
 
The Ohio-based company has more than 20,000 employees and over 25 manufacturing and assembly facilities worldwide.
 
Johnson moves from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers where he was an operating partner. He also spent 10 years at American Power Conversion (APC) and was President and CEO when the company sold to Schneider Electric for $6.1n in 2007.

Bryan Kelln, Partner and President of Portfolio Operations at Platinum Equity, said: "Rob has a blend of industry knowledge, operational acumen and entrepreneurial spirit.

"This is a transformational opportunity for the company and we believe Rob is the right leader to grow the business as we establish a culture focused on speed, innovation and customer service."

In 1989 Johnson founded Systems Enhancement Corporation (SEC), a company that created software and hardware solutions for the UPS industry. He sold the company to APC in 1997.
 
Commenting on the transition to new ownership Johnson said: "It's a fresh start for a business that already has much going for it. "As an independent company, Vertiv will operate with great freedom to make business strategy and investment decisions, move more quickly like a start-up and focus on innovative solutions for our customers, including those in the growing cloud computing, mobile and IoT networks."

In November 2013 Platinum Equity acquired a controlling stake in Emerson's embedded computing and power business, which was later rebranded Artesyn Embedded Technologies.

Exponential-e has added two senior consultants to its public sector team.

Sangeeta Dewan has been appointed Senior Public Sector Director with responsibility for the health sector, having risen through the ranks managing healthcare IT contracts at Atos and RPS Group.

Ed Renwick has also been appointed Senior Public Sector Director and will specialise in the education and local government sectors. Before joining Exponential-e he worked on developing cloud, networking and data propositions for Oracle, Virgin Media and 2e2.

David Lozdan, Head of Public Sector at Exponential-e, said: "Public sector organisations are facing a challenging future with Brexit fears and spending cuts looming. As a result, many are looking to make savings whilst boosting efficiency.

"There is an increasing need for high capacity, agile services that won't break the bank. Our investment in our public sector team will enable us to provide services and counsel to a growing roster of public sector clients."

Nycomm has added £14m annual revenues to its top line following the comms supplier's multi-million acquisition of the Pennine Group, taking its run rate to circa £100m and putting it on track to reach its next growth target of £150m.

Nycomm Group, which includes distributor Nimans, will integrate Pennine's portfolio of solutions in two-way radio, telecoms, UC, hosted, IT services, hire, video, consumer and peripheral products, including analogue and IP handsets from Interquartz UK and Yealink UK.   

Pennine Group MD Andy Roberts has been appointed to the Nycomm board.  

Pictured: Andy Roberts with Julian Niman

Datafox has ratcheted up its campaign to ensure that telecoms companies receive the tax relief they are owed under the Government's R&D scheme.

"Telecoms companies and resellers are missing out on significant amounts of available tax relief and tax credits owed to them by HMRC for work carried out that qualifies as R&D," said Jonathan Leefield, Director of Datafox.

The R&D scheme is the single largest support for UK business and was developed to encourage UK businesses that carry out R&D as part of their strategy to remain innovative and competitive.

"We are increasingly discovering new opportunities for businesses within the telecoms industry to claim R&D tax relief they simply aren't aware they can claim on," added Leefield.

"The perception seems to remain that R&D must involve a form of lab research. However, the reality is very different. For example, many companies have pursued successful claims for software development such as developing an internal CRM system, even where this development is not their core business."

Datafox's team has successfully claimed between £35k and £950k for clients with average claims this year totalling approximately £100k.

"Companies can only claim on their previous two years filed accounts, so delays in claiming means businesses could potentially miss out on tens, if not, hundreds of thousands of pounds," added Leefield.

Many telecoms firms fall under HMRC's small business scheme (less than 500 employees) and will see a return of 26% of relevant costs if their accounts show a profit (33.35% if loss-making). Large companies can claim 8.8% tax relief.

Leefield noted that Datafox's team has handled many claims within the telecoms industry in areas such as software development and bespoke software adjustments, billing platforms, customer dashboard and client interfaces, cloud technologies, next generation networks, cyber security, data trafficking and data centre management, along with technology updates for compliance.

To help comms companies make successful R&D claims Datafox has also launched a new partner programme for dealers and resellers including referral opportunities.

Leefield added: "We offer telecoms dealers an opportunity to refer business for R&D claims and add important revenue streams to their existing suite of services, with Datafox taking care of all the work preparing and submitting the claims."

"So far, our team has managed over 300 successful claims in across range of industries and sectors."

www.data-fox.com 

The indirect channel units at BT and EE have been integrated to create a 100-strong business operation led by a new executive leadership team with Director Steve Rathborne at the helm.

The integrated sales, commercial and service division will deliver fixed and mobile network propositions to SMEs, corporates and the public sector via its growing network of 40-plus reseller partners.

Prior to heading up the BT Business Partner Channel Rathborne held international and UK leadership roles across sales, product and service management, most recently Sales Director for Small and Medium Enterprises at BT, leading a 1,200 person sales team across direct and indirect channels.

Joining Rathborne is George Sebastian as GM Partner Sales. He was formerly EE's Head of Channel and will be focused on building an integrated sales team to collaborate with BT's channel partners.

Also joining from EE is Nigel Dean, previously the Head of Indirect Business Sales. As GM Business Development, he will lead several initiatives to build new business across the channel.

Liz King becomes GM of Partner Experience and will focus on leading the end-to-end lifecycle experience for BT's indirect partners and customers.

Lastly, Andy Kelly becomes Head of Transformation and will lead on the development of future strategy and the execution of the transformation plan.

BT will announce more details about its channel strategy and specific partner benefits in due course.

Pressure applied by Ofcom on BT to bring more independence to its Openreach division has prompted the telco to appoint Mike McTighe (pictured) as the first Chairman of its local fixed network business.

He brings substantial regulatory experience having been an Ofcom board member for eight years between 2007 to 2015.

BT has pledged to appoint additional independent members to the new Openreach board which will operate from early 2017 and be accountable for setting the strategy and overseeing and managing the performance of Openreach, working with CEO Clive Selley and his management team.

BT Chairman Sir Michael Rake said: "I remain hopeful that this significant move by BT can help to underpin a sustainable, proportionate and fair regulatory settlement that is in the interests of the whole country."

McTighe added: "It is clear that Openreach needs to up its game on service and regain the trust of the people we serve in the industry and across the UK. Clive is making great progress on both fronts and I look forward to working with him to ensure the UK has the best possible digital infrastructure.

"I also look forward to meeting with the many service providers who rely on Openreach services or who are keen to use its ducts and poles to build their own networks."

Hats off to Gamma for scooping the Business of the Year Award at this year's Thames Valley Business Magazine Awards, held on 17th November at the Madjeski Stadium in Reading and hosted by Gyles Brandreth.

Pam Williams, HR Director at Gamma, said: "We are fully committed to the Best Companies' model of employee engagement and everyone works hard to continuously improve employee engagement. We especially focus on factors such as personal growth and giving back to the community.

"Gamma has a wonderful, positive culture where 'anything is possible'. Our managers, with support from the HR team, do a great job in recruiting people who believe in Gamma's culture and values."

Chess's employment policies and people management ethos has been recognised in the Employer of the Year category at the 2016/17 European Business Awards.

The company has been awarded the National Champion Certificate for its ability to inspire and motivate its 500-strong workforce, while supporting their professional and personal growth.

Chess Chief Exec' David Pollock said: "The European Business Awards are recognised as the showcase for Europe's most dynamic companies, and we're proud to be recognised at this level."

Pollock credits much of Chess's success in this area to the firm's Engage App which provides information on company news, benefits, 1-2-1 forms, the Gimme 5 chip reward scheme, surveys and notifications etc.