US-based cloud comms giant Vonage has swung its gaze onto the UK reseller channel and linked up with DMSL to drive forward a decisive partner recruitment campaign via the distributor's 300-plus reseller base.
The man at the forefront of Vonage UK's resolute channel building campaign is Managing Director Simon Burckhardt who aims to add more numbers to the company's already impressive set of financial figures and highly populated customer base. In 2015 Vonage generated revenues of $895 million and boasts more than 70,000 business clients and nearly two million residential customers, all served by its 1,700 people working in global offices. Founded in 2001, Vonage was one of the original providers of residential VoIP services but in 2013 the company pivoted its strategy towards businesses, targeting a range of organisations from single person companies to enterprises with multiple locations.
"Vonage has near iconic brand awareness in the US and has embarked on a strategy to strengthen its presence in the UK," said Burckhardt. "This includes growing our reseller channel. The partnership with DMSL gives us an opportunity to immediately extend the distribution of our cloud solutions by working with its 300-plus resellers. Our focus is on small businesses, offering them the readily accessible features they need, fast provisioning and an intuitive plug-and-play set up.
"These features include mobile and desktop apps, call recording and conference calling. Today, with the evolution of technology, businesses also require a communications system that allows an increasingly mobile and distributed workforce to maintain a business presence and to be productive any time, anywhere. Employees are no longer tied to the office, and UC enables them to work from any device with clear reliable connectivity and access to the same information and functionality as if they were in the office."
Vonage's acquisition of Nexmo was its springboard into contextual communications, bringing new CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service) capabilities that are now being leveraged to the full advantage of channel partners and end users, says Burckhardt. The Nexmo API Platform provides tools for voice, messaging and phone verification services, allowing developers to embed contextual and programmable communications into mobile apps, websites and business systems. This enables enterprises to more easily communicate relevant information to their customers in real-time, anywhere in the world via text messaging, chat, social media and voice.
"Vonage envisions the future of business communications as a fusion of UCaaS and CPaaS, enabling greater mobility, productivity and collaboration among employees while helping businesses to stay more closely connected to their customers," commented Burckhardt.
He joined Vonage in 2012, the latest move in a career that includes other leadership roles in international telecoms companies, namely Telefonica, BT and MTS, based in various locations from Qatar to Moscow and the Czech Republic. He also founded and ran a small business called Route 30 and worked as a board advisor to Cambridge-based start-up Voipex and Dutch-based Simbrella, a mobile commerce firm. Burckhardt also brings experience in the mobile marketing and CRM sectors. "I'm passionate about how technology can facilitate businesses, particularly through cloud-based services," he enthused. "By creating a complete solution that considers the business need for mobility, video and software integration with voice as a platform, we can deliver enhanced mobility and productivity for employees where location and device become irrelevant."
Burckhardt's immediate priority is to push Vonage's portfolio deep into the UK via the build-out of a reseller channel based on mutually beneficial partnerships. "Vonage chose DMSL as a partner for its ability to identify, recruit and engage with its nationwide network of resellers who understand the value of cloud communications," he explained. "Our partners in the channel will help us to not only meet the needs of small businesses but also manage customer relationships as our reach grows in the UK market.
"In turn, together with DMSL we are providing a one-stop-shop for our partners. Those selling cloud services in the past needed to work with multiple providers depending on whether they wanted to offer a quick-to-provision simple voice service with BYOD, a larger multi-location solution over a private MPLS network, or cloud services beyond voice, such as virtual desktop and virtual server offerings. Vonage is able to provide our partners, and their customers, with all of those services."•