Ian Millward did not flap around like a fish out of water while working as a lifeguard that can't swim, he simply thrived in the shallow end. Fast forward to today and the incoming Head of Channel Sales at Node4 is doing swimmingly, sending ripples through the channel as he presses ahead with a refreshed growth strategy.
Millward rates his time as an unlikely lifeguard at a summer camp in the US as one of his proudest achievements, instilling the notion that nothing is impossible. His can-do attitude is already making itself felt at Node4 having wasted no time in advancing the company's growth strategy. "Node4 has seen significant growth in its channel business and my role is to build on this success and to develop our partner programme," he explained. "I want to ensure that Node4 is easy for our partners to do business with, allowing people to make informed decisions about the solutions they are purchasing, and enabling them to maximise their sales."
Following a 17 year stint as a sales leader under his belt Millward has gained experience working with partner organisations of all shapes and sizes. "This will help Node4 shape its long-term channel sales strategy as we look to attract more partners as well as larger ones," he added. "My first big job has been to get the refreshed partner programme off the ground. While Node4 has always taken care of its existing partners, our method of attracting new partners needed a slight rethink."
With a new online portal and reward scheme the enhanced programme now offers greater incentivisation and support for partners. "It simplifies our service offering and buying process," noted Millward. "Many organisations are poorly served by vendors with confusing technology offerings, complicated delivery or rigid commoditised solutions. We don't just want to be another supplier. Our new partner programme has streamlined and bolstered the process already in place and I feel this is crucial to ensuring that our partners see Node4 as the point of least effort."
Millward embodies a genuine passion for sales and it disappoints him that sometimes, particularly in the UK, sales people get a bad name. "I see sales as an education process as much as just selling products and solutions and it's something I take great pride in," he commented. "Furthermore, sales is crucial to business growth and having a culture and process in place that partners and customers buy into, as well as good people, is half the battle won.
"The IT and channel industry also gets a bad name sometimes, and for somebody who has worked in this area for 17 years it's not difficult to see why. Enterprises often get a raw deal from vendors and partners that over promise and under deliver. There is room for an IT vendor that talks in plain English to its customers and provides genuine advice rather than simply recommending the most lucrative option for them. For somebody passionate about the impact new technologies can have on a business, you want to see IT deliver genuine value at a reasonable price."
Node4 has invested heavily and owns all of the infrastructure in its four regional data centres. The firm supports its services fully and has the in-house expertise to advise end users and partners on the most appropriate IT solution. "An added advantage is that we can be as flexible as we wish with our solutions," noted Millward. "This is attractive to partners and end users because we can customise solutions to maximise their investment. Another area Node4 can maximise its channel opportunity is by increasing the services we provide. If a partner wants to use the same team and same sites to deliver multiple services at once, we can support a whole range of integrated solutions as well as any one in isolation."
Millward's first job in telecoms was with a company called Imminus which was acquired by Telewest. "After just three months in the role I became sales manager, mainly due to the fact I built good relationships and people seemed to like me," explained Millward. "While daunting at first, managing seasoned sales professionals despite having such limited experience was a real boost for me."
Node4 has witnessed growth in the number of partners and customers requiring more cloud-based solutions. While flexibility has always been a key selling point the firm is seeing more demand for customised hybrid solutions the are easily scalable and cost-effective. "With our product portfolio covering what we term 'the four Cs' (colocation, cloud, connectivity and communication) there are a number of opportunities within our existing partner base where we can offer more services," added Millward. "Although we don't have an all-or-nothing mindset and we're happy to let the partner use as many of our services as they like, we can support integrated solutions with best-to-breed infrastructure and high quality support, so there is an opportunity for us there."
While Millward's broader channel aims and objectives are to attract more partners through a refreshed partner programme while looking to increase the services it provides, growing the business brings new challenges. "The most pertinent is maintaining the culture of high quality, proactive and flexible service we have at Node4," he said. "It's essential that we maintain this culture at the same time as driving business growth through partner relationships."
Millward explained that Node4 has instilled a friendly here-to-help culture geared towards providing customers and partners with 'genuine counsel based on real experience and knowledge'. "We don't invent problems and say we can solve them," he said. "We collaborate closely with our customers and partners to find out exactly what their IT challenges and priorities are. That way we can deliver true value to their businesses. We support our customers every step of the way and if a particular solution isn't quite the right one for them, we assess the situation and change it."
According to Millward there is a significant opportunity for good suppliers offering a high quality data services with a flexible attitude towards their customers. "Data centres are only increasing in importance," he added. "Data is becoming a more important tool for businesses every day, in almost every industry. Smaller businesses are using bigger data and the market for storage, collaboration and information management tools is on an upward curve. Companies like Node4 that have all the infrastructure and technology in place need to work with partners to educate businesses on the best ways of managing, interpreting and storing these increasing levels of data."
Recruitment is also a big part of Millward's growth plan. "We have to be scalable and ensure that while we increase the number of partners we have and the number of services that we provide for them, we maintain high levels of customer service," added Millward. "To do that you need headroom. Part of my role is to recruit more people to deal with our growth and to get the right people takes a certain level of investment. Our capacity isn't dictated by how many pairs of hands we have. Services such as the portal and defining a clear structure for how we service partners can increase our efficiency and make us an easy provider to work with. The future for Node4 in terms of working with partners is simple. Through our partner programme and by adding talent to our business development team we want to be exactly what our partners want us to be." •