Gamma is extending the promise of UC to its partners at a time when end user demand seems certain to drive 'unification' towards market dominance.
For some time, organisations have been seeing an increase in demand from employees for remote working and more choice in the way they communicate. The way people work, interact and collaborate continues to undergo profound change, and in response to this 'pressure' more organisations are turning to an agile and secure UC infrastructure. UC is bridging the gap between telecoms and IT by integrating email, voice (fixed and mobile), IM, presence and video, giving users access to different modes of communication to help them stay connected with anyone, anywhere and at any time. This collaborative way of working offers great benefits to employers, from increased productivity and efficiency to improved customer service and a happier workforce.
A number of Gamma's channel partners are making good headway towards becoming UC providers. The company has witnessed a positive response to its recently launched Converged FTTC product (which combines voice and data onto one FTTC circuit) and its Convergence initiative (a commercial initiative that combines selected communications services from Gamma).
The Converged FTTC broadband service includes support for 30 uncompressed G.711 voice channels, providing access to ISDN quality voice and superfast Internet access on the same circuit with end-to-end QoS. Integrating voice and data communications on just one circuit rather than buying two separate lines means a reduction in costs, with the added benefit of providing end customers with a robust service and support SLAs.
"This is a great selling opportunity for resellers. They can benefit from stronger ongoing relationships with their customers and open up new opportunities to sell voice and Internet access," said Daryl Pile (pictured above), Head of UC Sales at Gamma. "It can also prevent competitors breaking into accounts by creating customer lock-in."
The shift in how workforces want to communicate, combined with the growing demand for a single source supplier creates a lucrative opportunity for the channel, one that's making telecoms companies sit up and take notice. "The workforce is beginning to outgrow the more traditional telecoms solutions, and resellers that haven't already embraced UC technology must do so to leverage this opportunity before they get left behind," added Pile.
Stephen Ashley-Brian (pictured left), Convergence Product Manager at Gamma, pointed out that every business has a need to buy voice, mobile and data services. "Research shows that more than 55 per cent of SMEs either have, want or are in the process of getting a single supplier for these services," he commented. "The fact that adding just one additional service can reduce churn by 25 per cent means the opportunity is obvious. By offering customers a single source for all of their communications needs, resellers can build stickier relationships, reduce churn, target prospects with a compelling solution and, ultimately, increase the value of their customers."
A full UC solution brings with it increased complexity in joining the underlying building blocks (data access, system requirements, collaboration tools and number porting) which lend themselves to communications providers who are nimble and able to respond to the bespoke needs of customers they know well. Pile added: "This epitomises the channel. Looking ahead at where UC will take the channel, I see partners playing a pivotal role in providing their own branded wrap of UC services.
"The challenge will come as end users demand more sophisticated and slicker interfaces that envelope the individual elements. To a greater and greater extent UC will need to work, look and feel like one complete product. For Gamma's part, we're putting significant investment into making it as easy as possible for channel partners to do this using our services."
The 'unified' story is also recognised by Gamma partner Dean Ison, Managing Director at Max Telecom. "Providing our customers with a complete business communications solution has been pivotal to our success," he explained. "It enables our customers to not only have a single point of contact, but to genuinely get good value for money.
"We've started taking advantage of Gamma's Convergence initiative which lets us combine a number of products, such as SIP trunking, mobile and converged access, into convergence bundles, meaning we can offer our existing customers the best possible deals and target new prospects with a commercially competitive proposition."