There are some notable shifts taking place in the comms dynamic that are intensifying demand for new world services such as hosted Lync, according to Mark Whitehead, Head of Channel Sales at GCI Channel Solutions, who aims to build his partner base tenfold in three years based on a programme of education and market enablement in these new areas.
Given that hosted Lync is the talk of the town you would expect resellers to be lining up in droves to meet end user demand. But ironically, switching resellers on to the opportunity ranks as one of Whitehead's biggest challenges. That said, the seasoned channel builder is making gains. "Building reseller confidence and knowledge to sell VDI, BaaS and hosted Lync is still a challenge, but we are making headway," he said. "Nearly every new partner I speak to has been asked about hosted Lync. Those that have customers in the education sector in particular are seeing RFIs written around hosted Lync. Most are still to choose a Lync partner."
Whitehead believes that cloud service distributors are failing to educate resellers, in particular VARs, on the benefits of Lync. But he aims to steal a march and plug that knowledge gap. "We are positioned to take our partners on this journey and have made the cloud infrastructure investment on behalf of our partners."
Founded in 2000 by CEO Wayne Martin, GCI now has a £55 million turnover and employs over 200 members of staff throughout the UK. Its indirect arm, GCI Channel Solutions, was conceived in June 2013 when Whitehead was invited into the business by Managing Director John Whitty to literally build a channel. Since its official launch in October 2013 the division now has seven heads and over 30 partners on its books. "By 2016 I believe GCI Channel Solutions will have 300 active partners and provide a £2 million EBITDA contribution to Group PA," stated Whitehead.
His sales career has spanned over 25 years, beginning with a spell at telecoms company IDC Communications selling fax machines to businesses in the '80s, followed by a long period working for Chubb Alarms selling CCTV and access control solutions. "After a two year stint at a Nottingham web design agency as Sales Director I went full circle back into telecoms, working for Pipex for five years and Griffin for eight years in channel sales," said Whitehead.
When GCI advanced the idea of building a strong channel Whitehead was the natural choice, and a neat fit. "Every member of the team is enthusiastic and professional," he added. "We are all working hard to build something that is special in the channel. The majority of the team have worked together before so there is high level of trust and confidence within this seasoned channel team."
GCI has established a good reputation for its delivery of MPLS and connectivity products but its medium to long-term goals are also focused around an investment in cloud infrastructure, which Whitehead believes will be a significant part of future sales. "We are working on a series of cloud workshops to help educate partners so they can compete in this lucrative area," added Whitehead. "VARs selling single product lines are vulnerable to buyers driving margins and costs down because it is easy for them to establish a standard to benchmark. Selling the-end-to-end solution through a company like GCI Channel Solutions ensures that margins over the total project are healthy. SIs and VARs need to be selling cloud, voice and connectivity to maintain profitably and increase shareholder value."
Whitehead is aiming to add a raft of new partners to his channel base, especially those operating in telecoms, MSPs, and VARs with £1 million to £30 million turnover. His lure is a pledge to help them compete in the sales of cloud, connectivity and voice in areas that have hitherto been the preserve of large IT and telecoms service providers. "GCI Channel Solutions is also looking at mobility and the way BYOD will affect how we work in the future," added Whitehead. "We already have VDI and UK hosted Share file solutions that can be accessed by multiple devices."
Being easy to do business with is a priority for any channel supplier and GCI is no exception to the rule. However, Whitehead believes that the company has gone the extra mile with its launch of the GCI Control Panel to partners on its Beta Programme. Already proving popular, the early feedback indicates that Whitehead's aim to increase his partner base tenfold is more realistic than overtly ambitious. "The initial design brief was to give our channel partners a simple to use tool that allows them to carry out tasks in minutes, tasks that would have otherwise required pre-sales input and time consuming work," he explained. "The full launch of the GCI Control Panel will allow partners to generate quotes, order and provision services directly."
Once launched the services will include hosted Microsoft Exchange with attractive storage and pricing, and also hosted Lync with full enterprise voice functionality. "At the same time we will be launching a new Hosted Desktop solution that will be totally self-provisioned by our channel partners," added Whitehead. "This will help accelerate the adoption of cloud services and increase the stickiness of the solution."
Nor is that all: GCI is in the advanced stages of preparations for the launch of Vipex, its enterprise grade channel-only hosted telephony platform. "I believe Vipex will encourage partners who have previously been deterred from selling voice to really embrace the technology," added Whitehead. "I expect all of these new products to be a game changer for the channel. And by empowering our partners with the ability to quote, support, and provision through self-serve tools we are giving them the key to succeed in a challenging business environment. With the support of our pre-sales and channel management teams we can help them secure high margin, long-term recurring revenue contracts while giving partners the complete end-to-end experience."
Tasks that once took days can now be completed in minutes, and that, says Whitehead, is a 'great way' to improve recurring revenue. "We haven't tried to fit our existing direct products into the channel model, instead we have created brand new products that we believe our channel partners will be eager to adopt." •