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EDITOR’S COMMENT Bamboo forges ties The Ofcom-Openreach merry dance continues, and the sequence of announcements on November 29th seem more than a coincidence. with Vodafone UK Ofcom pressed the button for legal separation, and as Bamboo Technology Group tions to increase mobility and has joined forces with Vodafone customer responsiveness. Stuart Gilroy fate would have it, BT then announced plans to move UK in a move that sees the com- “As organisations evolve Openreach further towards fulfilling Ofcom’s call for greater pany incorporate the operator’s new ways of working the need independence, transparency and service improvements, fixed and mobile converged net- to keep staff connected regard- blasting the wind out of the watchdog’s bluster. work into its enterprise portfolio less of their location has never BT announced the appointment of its first Chairman alongside international roaming been greater. for the local fixed network business, Mike McTighe, a services and the ability to self- “We are working closely former Ofcom exec of some eight years who will help to provision Vodafone services with customers and our part- create an Openreach board. The appointment invokes the directly, as well as manage the ners to support the delivery of tenet, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. billing of those services. agile infrastructure, expanded November’s announcements raise more questions: There Bamboo MD Lorrin White network connectivity and total is a lack of communication between Ofcom and BT. The said: “In recent years our focus communications solutions.” regulator appears to have been in the dark about BT’s has been on expanding and In summing up the enter- plans to make Openreach more ‘independent’. Had normal improving our supply chain to Lorrin White prise demand for agile connec- channels of communication been engaged, there would offer strength, choice and flex- tivity, Nick McQuire, VP for have been no requirement to hijack a headline or two. ibility, and our partnership with require to support and transform Enterprise at industry analyst Despite its bluster, Ofcom did not act from a position Vodafone allows us to signifi- their operations.” CCS Insight, said: “The oppor- of strength. The official statement reveals its push for cantly boost our offering. Gary Hill, Head of Vodafone tunity for enterprise mobility legal separation as a half-hearted act. Inviting BT to make “Having these capabili- UK’s Independent Service services is sky rocketing, grow- friends, the Ofcom announcement said, ‘We remain open ties will support both our own Provider Channel, added: “We ing 40% annually according to to BT bridging the gap between its proposal and what is growth plans and those of our are seeing a wave of transfor- our estimate, driven by new dig- required to address our strong competition concerns’. And customers as we provide the mation in the enterprise mar- ital service models and the pres- again, ‘We remain open to further voluntary proposals bandwidth and communications ket as businesses absorb digital sure to innovate across areas from BT that address these outstanding concerns’. infrastructure services they technologies into their opera- such as workforce management Coincidentally, BT then announced a new Openreach and customer engagement. board to ‘ensure that Openreach treats all customers Continued from page 1 around service for wireless IGb “Mobile network data equally while investing in better service, broader coverage Included among those channel wireless Ethernet in association demands are also accelerat- and faster speed broadband’. And BT’s Chairman Sir services will be: hosted VoIP with Metronet; traditional calls ing as employees continue to Michael Rake confirmed that move should help to bring in partnership with Vanilla IP and lines alongside connectivity demand mobile working and about a ‘fair regulatory settlement’. Is this all a case of (giving resellers the chance to and provisioning management more and more organisations coordinated media hoo-ha? Rather than take a Churchillian rebrand the Uboss management specialist Imperatives; 100mg look to digitise workflows as stance in forcing legal separation, Ofcom merely prompted platform); 500Mbps and 1Gbps Ethernet in London covering part of their digital transforma- BT to show its hand, and gain the upper hand. Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC); 20,000 postcodes (which Zen tion strategies.” G.fast (ultra-fast broadband over claims will be 35% cheaper than Got a news story? email: Stuart Gilroy, Editor copper from the cabinet) from alternatives); and a 3G mobile [email protected] January 17th; a 25-day turn- broadband back up service.

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COMMENT: TRICKY TIMES AHEAD AdEPT pounces on THE next 12 months are likely to be more challenging for resellers, with higher import prices due to a plunging pound already biting UC specialist CAT and creating a potential market slow down. ADEPT TELECOM has 2015 reported turnover, operat- Brexit is of course being acquired CAT Communications, ing profit and profit before tax of blamed for all of the the Wiltshire based provider of £1.3m, £0.3m and £0.3m respec- uncertainty, but the very unified comms, Avaya IP tele- tively. prospect of the UK leaving phony, hosted IP solutions and AdEPT Chief Executive Ian the EU seems up in the air managed services. Fishwick commented: “We are- itself due to legal challenges Evolution Capital (UK) delighted to have acquired CAT and political posturing. Over Limited acted as exclusive corpo- which is a business with a strong the other side of the Atlantic rate finance advisors for the deal. customer base and recurring Richard Carter is just as unpredictable with AdEPT paid £1.05m less the revenues. The additional tech- Ian Fishwick a new President preparing to enter the White House. net debt of CAT at completion nical skills that CAT provides Despite all this there’s still plenty to be positive about in and will pay between £200 and product set, particularly in rela- will strengthen the Avaya Aura the comms channel so there’s no reason to panic too much. £950K more based on perfor- tion to Avaya Aura, will com- proposition that AdEPT offers SIP and Skype For Business end points will grow mance going forward. plement and enhance AdEPT’s and will complement the team strongly next year with more focus around functionality CAT was established by existing services already being in Fleet. My thanks to Evolution rather than just being a simple device. Skype for Penny Lawrence and Craig provided from the Fleet office. Capital for all their hard work in Business will continue to accelerate particularly in the Land in 2004. Based in Pewsey, The last filed accounts of CAT finding and closing this oppor- enterprise space where functionality and integration Wiltshire, CAT is a well-estab- for the year ended 31 March tunity” will be important factors. Here at Nimans we’ve lished UK-based specialist pro- invested heavily in a new auto provisioning service vider of complex unified com- A BPL Business to help resellers maximise market opportunities. munications, managed service Publication Hosted will also gain further traction but traditional solutions and specialist inbound BPL Limited 3rd Floor, Armstrong House, 38 Market Square system sales will remain in very good shape too. In terms call centre management to its Editor Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 1LH, UK. of Brexit and exchange rates the recent falling pound will customer base across the UK, Stuart Gilroy T: 01895 454542 F: 01895 454413 [email protected] 07712 781102 result in some higher prices which won’t make things Subscriptions and further supporting customers Publisher Subscription rates for 12 issues: any easier for the majority of consumers and businesses with global deployment planning Nigel Sergent UK, £65; Overseas:£80 (incl p&p) [email protected] 07712 781106 Back issues can be obtained: alike. But exports and home produced products will and solutions in Europe. UK £6 (incl p&p), Overseas £10 each (incl p&p) Managing Director For subscriptions please call 01635 588 869 benefit as a result, even if foreign holidays won’t. The support function of the Michael O’Brien John Timpson, owner of Timpson the shoe repair [email protected] 01895 454 444 Views expressed in this magazine are not CAT customer base is to be necessarily those of the publishers. No part of retailer, said on BBC Question Time last month, transferred and integrated into Business Development Manager this publication may be reproduced without the Simon Turton express written permission of the publishers. “whatever happens in the months ahead you will AdEPT’s existing site in Fleet. [email protected] 01895 454 603 All trademarks acknowledged. Photographs and still be successful if you continue to give a great CAT has a high level of recur- Production artwork submitted for publication accepted only service”. Wise words indeed. Merry Christmas! ring revenue and offers a well- Frank Voeten on the understanding that the Editor is not liable [email protected] for their safekeeping. developed customer base with Circulation 01635 588 869 © 2016 BPL Business Media Limited. Richard Carter, Group Sales and Business which it enjoys long term rela- ISSN 1366-5243 Printed by Pensord Limited Development Director, Nimans tionships. The board believes Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations ABC total average circulation 16,118 (Jan-Dec 15, 12,577 print, 3,541 digital) that the CAT technical skills and

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Our Route 66 road trip, from the Windy City to LA, was the inspiration for Clarify, our latest call recording and quality measurement solution. With flexible on-premise, hosted and virtualised deployment options, you’ll have everything you need to: – Enhance customer service Chess CEO Dave Pollock cuts the ribbon – Optimise staff performance – Manage all calls and communications Chess has consolidated its business community in Burnley, ICT division and instated a new with the latest official figures – Maximise CRM and other business systems management team. The move showing our private sector job – Take growth in your stride builds on its acquisition of IT growth rate is double that of the solutions provider Lanway north west and national average. which has offices in Burnley We’ve also just been named the GAIN FROM OUR INSPIRATION. that have been refurbished and friendliest place in Britain.” reopened to house new-look The restructure was led by Chess ICT. newly appointed COO Steve Other acquired IT service Cox who joined Chess from providers including Pinnacle, the Technology Service Group Parachute IT and PowerC IT where he was a main board join Lanway as part of the sin- Director. His first job was to gle structure. assess the individual businesses Former Lanway MD Andrew and their systems prior to creat- Henderson leads Chess ICT’s ing a consolidation strategy. sales operation while Tamar Under the new set up, a team Waite, who also came to Chess of 50 Chess people based in through the acquisition of Burnley, Borehamwood and Lanway, has been appointed Queenslie will service over Head of Technical Operations. 1,500 current customers with Councillor Mark Townsend, ICT solutions. leader of the Burnley Council, Cox said: “My vision was to attended the ribbon cutting cer- build a single national IT ser- emony alongside Chess CEO vice provider with a local pres- David Pollock. ence built on the foundations “We are passionate about of passionate people delivering delivering technological advan- quality service. tage to our customers,” said “My number one goal is to ® Pollock. “Together we have the achieve our shared vision and See what Clarify can do for you. talent and technology needed strive to make Chess a great to deliver truly integrated solu- place to be a customer. To do www.oak.co.uk/route66 tions across enterprise, mobile that we have to get our structure, Talk to us on: 0800 9889 625 and cloud environments.” the interaction with our custom- Townsend added: “Chess ers and our systems right.” ICT has exciting growth plans Got a news story? email: and we are keen to support them. [email protected] Chess is joining a successful

The UK’s No.1 magazine for voice and data solution providers www.comms-dealer.com COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 5 INDUSTRY NEWS

COMMENT: OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS Thirkill hails cyber THE end of the year is always a great time to dig out the crystal ball and indulge in a bit of future gazing. While predic- tions don’t always come true, crime ‘strike back’ some of the biggest trends for the channel in 2017 are already NEW Government moves starting to become clear. to ‘strike back’ against cyber This will be the year when criminals are welcome but long Next Generation Voice services overdue, according to Adrian move to the front of the mind Thirkill, CEO of Derby based for most UK businesses. Many service provider GCI. are increasingly aware of the “Cybercrime is a huge and 2025 switch-off, but are also rapidly-growing threat to busi- seeking out SIP and Hosted nesses of all sizes, which makes Voice for their many other ben- increasing awareness of cyber Alexandra Tempest efits. According to Illume, the security and its importance to SIP market has been growing by 25% each year, and it’s likely local businesses an urgent pri- GCI Chief Executive Officer Adrian Thirkill talks to Chancellor Philip Hammond about the Government’s renewed focus 2017 will exceed this. ority. It’s good to see that the on cyber security at Microsoft’s Future Decoded event. In 2017, the networks that have seen investment will Government stands ready to flourish, while those that have been left untouched will begin strike back against the hackers als in their living rooms”. He The Chancellor made to struggle under the weight of increasingly bandwidth-heavy with a £1.9bn package of mea- said that even though Britain is the announcement at the technology. We’ve seen traffic increase on our network by sures to boost our cyber defenc- already an acknowledged global recent Future Decoded event, over 500% over the last seven years, and are expecting new es.” leader in cyber security thanks Microsoft’s annual two-day digi- record figures in the years ahead. Thirkill believes that while to the Government’s investment tal business expo, where GCI Meanwhile, 2017 will see a quiet ultrafast revolution take the £1.9bn package of measures of more than £860m over the was a headline sponsor. place with higher capacity Ethernet and new technology announced by Chancellor Philip course of the last Parliament, it “Old legacy IT systems used being pioneered including G.fast and Dark Fibre. Hammond will bolster the UK’s must now keep up with the scale by many businesses across the Finally, the supply chain between Openreach, carrier, resell- cyber defences, criminals are and pace of emerging threats. UK are becoming increasingly er and customer will improve with a greater use of robotics still streets ahead in terms of Cybercrime currently costs susceptible to cyber criminals, and automation to streamline operation and communication the technology and methods they the global economy about who find them easier to crack processes. As a result, the benchmark for customer expecta- use to carry out cyber-attacks. £365bn a year and rising, due to than newer networks which have tion will be raised. “Businesses need to take society becoming more vulner- the latest security technologies Of course the channel can expect to see many other excit- more responsibility for securing able because of the way in which built in,” continued Thirkhill. ing developments in the year ahead – some of which we their own IT systems and data, devices connect. “Whilst the UK Government can’t guess at yet; the significance of others may not be felt rather than burying their heads in The new money, which more and the fledgling National Cyber for some time. No matter what happens, 2017 will give the the sand and leaving themselves than doubles the amount set out Security Centre are working channel the opportunity to offer more to their customers than vulnerable to attack,” he said. for a similar strategy in 2011, towards a cure, the number of ever before. Hammond warned that out- will be used to improve auto- symptoms to be addressed seems dated computer systems are mated defences to safeguard to be multiplying. GCI’s exper- Alexandra Tempest, Director of Partners, allowing malicious hackers to individuals and businesses, sup- tise can help businesses to secure TalkTalk Business target everyone from “compa- port the cyber security industry their IT perimeters, help mitigate nies at board level to individu- and deter attacks from hackers. the risk and ensure protection.”

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COMMENT: CONSOLIDATE NOW Sweet move Top MSP WHEN working with commu- nication providers to optimise summit in their billing operations, we sometimes find CPs that are invoicing fixed recurring service for Simetric September charges externally from their telecoms billing platform. SIMETRIC Telecom has come THE sixth annual Managed These include services such as to the rescue of UK custom- Services & Hosting Summit- lease lines, maintenance and IT ers of MVNO Limitless Mobile UK will take place at 155 management. Because these service charges are not variable Limited, which has gone into Bishopsgate, London, on 20 based on consumption of net- administration leaving many September 2017. work services, it’s possible to businesses without EU wide Jointly organised by IT raise invoices using accounts, roaming services. Europa and Angel Business CRM, or other software pack- Simetric can provide a very Communications, the event Gavin Sweet ages. similar set of MVNO and mobile will bring leading hardware The reasons why a CP convergence services and are Limitless customers an improved and software vendors, hosting Vincent Disneur might bill in this way are var- offering a rapid migration pack- feature set. We really hope we providers, telecommunications ied, although rapid growth, age to former Limitless custom- can help service providers and companies, mobile operators mergers and acquisitions are common culprits. Billing using multiple systems is time consuming, results in multiple invoic- ers to keep their customer’s calls MVNO’s out of this hole.” and web services providers es for the customer and limits operational scalability. moving. Simetric’s unified telecoms involved in managed services Additionally, it’s impossible to gain complete visibility of Gavin Sweet, Managing service Mobile-X offers world- and hosting together with your customers’ profitability without first extracting data Director at Simetric said “It’s wide roaming to all its users Managed Service Providers and from the various applications and collating it externally. awful when a great business like as well as advanced functional- resellers, integrators and service Occasionally we’ve found CPs selling services at a loss simply Limitless Mobile goes under. ity on call recording, PBX and providers migrating to, or because they haven’t had sufficient resources to collate and While we can’t help their UK Broadsoft integration, along developing their own managed analyse data from their various billing applications. business stay afloat we would with a host of other enterprise services portfolio and sales of In the case of some network services (e.g. lease lines), it love to help their customers features. Simetric are offer- hosted solutions. also becomes very hard to conduct reconciliation of supplier costs without using a telecoms billing platform to automate switch to a viable alternative ing a rapid migration package “The Managed Services the process. Carrier reconciliation allows you to align out- which is why we are offer- to Limitless Mobile users if & Hosting Summit provides ward billing to that which is being billed to you by your carri- ing a rapid migration package. they agree a move over before a unique opportunity for er, ensuring nothing is missed. Trying to conduct reconcilia- Switching over can even offer Christmas. vendors, VARs, integrators tion manually is possible but it’s an extremely labour inten- and service providers to come sive process. together to address the issues If you’re not already doing so, taking the time to consoli- and opportunities arising from date service charges into your telecoms billing platform is Glacier incentive deal the surge in customer demand well worth doing. It can deliver massive improvements to ICT distributor Exertis has Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone. for managed services and operational efficiency and, best of all, you can achieve com- plete continuous visibility of your customers’ profitability, announced the Samsung Glacier The Samsung incentive is hosted delivery models,” said maximising your margins without need for intensive manual Getaway channel incentive. open to all registered partners Jason Holloway, Director of IT intervention. For a limited period, Exertis’ selling Samsung smartphones Publishing at Angel Business customers can obtain a free and tablets with the opportunity Communications. Vincent Disneur, Head of Sales MicroSD EVO+ 32GB memory to win a trip to Iceland based For more information on Union Street Technologies card with every purchase of a on performance. The incentive attending or sponsoring visit Samsung Galaxy S7 or Samsung runs until January 27th. www.mshsummit.com

8 COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 www.comms-dealer.com W��h��g��o��a��r��t��e��i�� ��a��n��n��a�� ��e��e�� ��r��0�� f��m��v��y��e��t��i��o�� INDUSTRY NEWS

COMMENT: ARTIFICIAL REALITY Virtual1 puts AV firm in “Artificially Intelligent beings will rule us all”. limelight Not just a Science Fiction author’s prediction, but a 10Gb in front for service one-time concern of Steven Hawking. A future the VIRTUAL1 partners can now Audio Visual and Video famed physicist is looking to order 10Gb data lines on the Conferencing specialist avoid, with the first step company’s 1Portal to cope with Videonations is celebrating a being the recent opening of growing demand from data hun- new industry accolade for an Artificial Intelligent (AI) gry customers. exceptional levels of customer research centre funded by The London based data net- service. the Leverhulme Trust, at work provider has also fully The fast-growing company Cambridge University. The automated the ordering process has won the EMEA Services Neil Wilson Government, conversely, is for resellers to provide seamless Excellence Award 2016 from predicting that UK citizens and prompt installations. bandwidth, planning ahead for global innovator of video con- James Hickman do not have the skills to fully “To deliver for our partners, the explosion of data, and a ferencing technology, Lifesize. exploit advances in this area we need to anticipate the mar- further 20% have subsequently The award follows-on from – perhaps they should speak to Professor Hawking! ket and ensure that we have a increased their bandwidth post a major rebranding exercise and In reality, there is limited need for a true AI mecha- product set one step ahead of install, reacting to the growth of enhanced website, which sym- nism in what can, for the most part, be transactional trends. That is why we have their businesses.” bolises Videonations’ growing events with the occasional need to bring in an expert to made 10Gb bearer installs busi- Wilson said Virtual1 is see- diversity and expanding skills break a complex change down into simpler ones and ness as usual,” said Product ing rising demand for this super- base. then enact them in the right order. and Marketing Manager Neil sized bandwidth from a number Head of Sales and Operations, One area I do look forward to getting some AI help Wilson. of sectors namely: digital native Adam Feakins highlighted: “It’s on though is in the area of diagnostics. When a handful In June of this year, research businesses whose services often been a successful year with of alarms go red on the Network Operation Centre was published that shows rely on connectivity; education, some great client wins, culmi- (NOC) wall-board, being able to quickly identify the Global IP traffic will increase healthcare or large enterprises nating in landing this presti- source of the issue and apply any triage is the ideal out- nearly threefold over the next who are well ahead with their gious award. We’ve built-up a come for all. However, this still relies on skilled engineers 5 years. Overall, IP traffic will journey to cloud or hybrid IT powerful high calibre sales team with a working knowledge of the infrastructure and to grow at a compound annual infrastructures and have large and developed a strong platform assist them we are working on better correlation tools growth rate (CAGR) of 22% volumes of data to shift; heavily which will allow us to further that gather all the alarms and other data to make a from 2015 to 2020. seasonal ecommerce businesses, flourish in 2017.” ‘best guess’ as to the device or circuit causing the prob- “Data usage has rocketed where the Black Friday, Cyber Lifesize CEO Craig Malloy lem. This, along with some focussed diagnostic testing since we launched our disrup- Monday and the festive period commented: “Lifesize is com- tools run against the devices they know are in the path tive London Network two years in general put massive strain on mitted to its channel partners all helps improve the service we provide to our custom- ago,” continued Wilson. “This is existing infrastructures. and this award exemplifies the ers, but we still need a human to review the outputs huge growth in data consump- “We believe no other UK strength of our long-term rela- and use their years of experience to work out what is tion, and we see the reflection network provider is making tionship and the mutual success wrong! of that when looking at our own large bandwidth as easy to pro- our teams. We look forward to customer’s base. Of our Partners vide or as cost effective we treat continuing to exceed customer James Hickman, Chief Technical Officer, Virtual 1 that have installed 1Gb bearer, 10Gb like 1Gb – it’s just busi- expectations in partnership with 30% of them livened the full ness as usual,” added Wilson. Videonations.”

10 COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 www.comms-dealer.com Comms dealer flex ad amended.pdf 1 23/11/2016 10:32:42

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COMMENT: ADDING MORE VALUE Bullish Riley grabs WE all know price and value can be very different things; so how can we ensure our customers keep on getting better value, even if the price channel foe AltNet goes up? MATTHEW RILEY’s aim to This debate brought in to head up the UK’s most powerful focus for me by Microsoft’s independent provider of tele- recent announcement that communications services took they’ll be increasing prices a major step forward last month across a broad range of ser- when his Daisy Group busi- vices from the New Year. ness cemented a deal to acquire These will increase by as London based rival Alternative much as 13% for traditional Networks for £165m in cash. SPLA licensing and 22% for The acquisition follows hot Pete Tomlinson some of their newer cloud on the heels of Daisy’s absorp- based services, such as Office tion of Damovo and Phoenix 365 and Azure. IT in the managed services On the face of it, this should mean these products no space and is reported to be the longer represent quite such good value; I disagree. The first 50th acquisition made by Riley. reason is a straightforward argument that, at least for the Analysts reckon it will increase Microsoft cloud portfolio, these have evolved significantly the company’s size by about a over recent years. Office 365 has moved from being little quarter in terms of revenue. more than a subscription based version of the desktop soft- At this stage it is unlikely ware into a real business productivity tool. that any of Alternative’s 600 Now comes the counter argument that this only adds staff will be relocated from value if customers want and use these new capabilities. their southern stronghold but That is very true. It is also true that the majority of custom- whether the company’s well- Matthew Riley ers are already only scratching the surface of the full capa- known brand will disappear reported a turnover increase of early 2014, which opened the bility these tools offer. However, isn’t that the challenge for is unclear. Daisy has a stron- 9 per cent to £146.8m for the door for Daisy. the Channel? ger image and many observ- full-year 2015. Daisy CEO Neil Muller said: It’s so frustrating to see businesses invest in technology ers believes the days of the According to analyst Philip “Having respected Alternative only to see them barely scratch the surface of the opportu- Alternative Networks brand are Carse, analyst at Megabuyte, Networks for many years, we nity they represent to transform lives of their customers and numbered. 2016 has been ‘less rosy for look forward to further enhanc- colleagues. So, the question I’d like to challenge everyone AIM listed Alternative has the company’, with the firm ing our capability and scale to consider is this – how can we help customers be truly been a shining light in the inde- issuing three profit warnings in across our chosen markets successful in maximising the value achieved from every bit pendent telecoms sector since it the last 12 months. The com- and we believe the combined of technology we provide to them? That is surely more was founded by James Murray pany suffered from a collapse group will be well positioned to important than worrying about a small pricing change. in 1994 and the fact that this in revenues from roaming as the increase its market share further was a distressed sale will sad- European Commission slashed and to continue to be the pro- Pete Tomlinson, Director KCOM den many in the channel, espe- rates. Its stock halved in value vider of choice for its customers cially after the company had since peaking at almost 600p in and partners.”

SHORT CALL Control needed GAMMA CEO Bob Falconer CABLE management Starters on rise believes Openreach should be specialist Chatsworth NewVoiceMedia, the UK seven percent across all sectors. In more strictly controlled when it Products has released based provider of inside sales and London alone that growth stands eventually splits from BT which Motive Vertical Cable contact centre technology, has been at 77 percent. Ofcom has now demanded. Manager,an integral track selected to join ‘Silicon Valley SVC2UK is a not-for-profit “Legally separating an ineffective monopoly from system that provides Comes to the UK’ (SVC2UK), volunteer-led series of events that the mothership still leaves you a tech group of the country’s 50 bring together investors, success- unlimited adjustability with an ineffective monopoly,” fastest growing businesses. ful serial entrepreneurs, students and direct-support for he said. “Stricter targets on The announcement comes as and alumni to support the ecosys- cable bundles. The design performance with material new figures from London pro- tem for entrepreneurs in the UK. allows for direct support of penalties for systemic failure motion company London and NVM has also has been named cables with optimal airflow will need to follow. And the sooner the BT branding is removed Partners show the extent of tech a winner of Softech International’s from Openreach the better, as this is a silent but significant through the cable manager, startups’ contribution to the econ- Leading Experts in Tech Awards advantage BT has enjoyed over its competitors. preparing networks for omy over the last decade. Since for 2016 which showcases the “We look forward to working with Ofcom, BT and other industry higher wattage in Power 2006, there has been a 17 percent industry’s most dynamic firms participants to bridge the gulf between the performance of over Ethernet (PoE). rise in the number of jobs cre- offering unique and versatile solu- Openreach and the needs of the business market, regardless of its ated in the sector, compared with tions. ownership.”

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Zen brings in TeleWare hails SHORT CALLS Pennine has scooped the Solution of the Year award from distie Scansource. The Bury-based business won VanillaIP UC big migration the title after it created a multi-site solution for an Zen Internet is introducing a At midnight on 1st Nov- international client. This new BroadSoft-based UC solu- ember 2016 TeleWare success- saw Avaya’s IP Office tion to its UK channel following fully migrated its TeleWare platform being installed at a link-up with cloud services Hosted Service fixed line call six main UK hubs and a provider VanillaIP. recording functions completely further 20 satellite locations Zen Channel Partners MD onto Microsoft’s Azure cloud to serve circa 1,000 users. Stephen Warburton said: “The platform and data centres. market is moving beyond hosted This was made possible after ITS Technology Group PBX where you are essentially TeleWare made the world’s first has won a contract with replicating PBX service from call completely routed, recorded Herefordshire Council to Rob Corrigill the cloud, to a solution that is and analysed through Azure on provide a fibre network at more apps-based than device- 13th September 2016. Steve Haworth, CEO, added: Skylon Park, Rotherwas, based. VanillaIP demonstrated Calls will now be routed “TeleWare was built on fixed the region’s first high the innovation we need.” through the TeleWare London line recording products and it’s technology-enabled business Zen Internet’s customer data centre and directed onto fitting that this is the first prod- park. Services will be profile, from SME to corpo- Stephen Warburton the Microsoft Azure cloud for uct that is completely migrated delivered using FTTP rate mid-market and enterprise, recording. All fixed line call onto the cloud. We won’t be along duct infrastructure required a solution with scal- Underlying the new partner- recordings will then be passed resting on our laurels and will already in place. ability and automation. ship is Zen’s connectivity with back into the TeleWare data seek out the next innovations. “A key element in enabling an Assured service that supports centres for storage. this, and in combining Zen’s IP voice traffic only, along with Rob Corrigill, CTO, said: Adept Telecom CEO Ian Fishwick connectivity and other services, a converged service which sup- “We’ve gone from an idea (pictured) has been appointed to was VanillaIP’s Uboss portal,” ports prioritised IP voice traffic to reality and are proud to be represent the comms industry as part added Warburton. and data. driving the industry one more of the Cabinet Office SME Panel, “One of the challenges for “The channel needs to move step forward. Migrating onto a group of business leaders from us all is how do we package beyond a one bundle fits all the cloud will enable TeleWare different industries drawn together complex technology solutions approach,” stated Warburton. to offer a service to customers to advise the Government on how to in a way that our customers “Customers are embracing which is scalable and will flex make it easier for SMEs to win Public will understand. Uboss lets us cloud in all elements of their with their demands on a minute- Sector business. do this.” business. They are aware of by-minute basis. “Over 99% of the UK’s 2.5 million businesses are SMEs, defined The offering combines the possibilities and we need to “As well as flexibility and as businesses with up to 250 employees or £40m sales,” stated BroadSoft cloud PBX, apps and present them solutions that are other cloud benefits, TeleWare Fishwick. “Historically it has been difficult for SMEs to deal with the Government, but it hopes that 33% of all Public Sector spend call centre with third party apps more tightly aligned with their and our customers will be able will be with SMEs by 2020. I cannot promise success, but I can such as the Unity suite. Uboss own requirements.” to take advantage of tools such guarantee a voice at the top table.” will unify these within a single as machine learning, Power BI, Got a news story? email: If you have any ideas that you would like to explore with Ian, please portal, and provide reporting Streaming Analytics and cus- [email protected] email: [email protected] and self-service for end users. tomer experience analytics.” SHORT CALL Suped-up training Key Exertis buy G3 Comms has secured Diamond accreditation Technology services dis- model and VARs with ambi- Exertis has added more tech- Medium employs 40 staff, as part of Avaya’s new tributor Intelisys Global is tions to further develop their nical knowhow and broadened has a turnover of £32m and channel programme, Avaya already gearing for the UK roll cloud business. its AV solution portfolio with transacts with over 800 AV Edge. G3 was also named out of its Super9 cloud training Intelisys said the course is the acquisition of fellow dis- resellers in the UK. a Partner in Customer programme next June. followed by a monthly peer tributor Medium which spe- The company also provides Excellence and is the only Two three-day courses will group component and close col- cialises in providing projectors, training and education pro- Diamond partner in the focus on enabling Global Sales laboration with Intelisys’ Global flat panel displays, interactive grammes for both its employees UK with this designation. Partners to move from consulta- Cloud & Complex Bids team. systems and digital signage. and customers, and is a member G3 Comms has been the tive selling towards what the “With quarterly global Exertis MD Gerry O’Keeffe of InfoComm International. first company to deploy firm claims is a ‘new cloud cloud revenues fast approach- commented: “Medium has built Ian Sempers, MD, Medium, many of Avaya’s solutions sales methodology’. ing £5.5bn, getting cloud sales strong customer and vendor commented: “The continued including Avaya Definity, Delivered as part of the strategies right has clearly never relationships and its technical convergence of the IT and AV Aura Contact Centre, G3R Intelisys Cloud Services Uni- been more important for the expertise will strengthen our market means we will be in a and the first UK converged versity, the programme is tar- channel,” commented Stephen ability to implement a full suite great position to service a sector management platform. geted at telecoms agents who Hackett, Intelisys Global’s lead of professional AV solutions that extends beyond traditional operate a recurring revenue in the UK. into the B2B market.” AV solutions.”

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BT hails new Aurora’s new SHORT CALLS Virtual1’s CTO James Hickman has been re-elected as Chairman of the London Central Branch of the channel unit mobile model British Computer Society. He’s been a member of the The indirect channel units at Aurora has bolstered its Society, which represents BT and EE have been fully mobile billing credentials with the IT profession to other integrated to create a 100-strong the launch of Virtual Service professional bodies, the business operation spearhead- Provider (VSP), an exclusive Government, industry and ed by a new executive leader- mobile service that gives cus- academia, since 1995 and ship team with Director Steve tomers direct access to the was first elected in 2015. Rathborne at the helm. Vodafone and O2 networks The integrated sales, com- (subject to approval) using their Derek Watson 24 Seven Communications mercial and service division Affinity billing platform. is set to broaden its service will deliver fixed and mobile Aurora MD Derek Watson use the Affinity billing platform offering with a new software network propositions to SMEs, said: “The advantage of VSP and there are pre-requisites that upgrade in partnership with corporates and the public sec- is that you don’t need to be a must be met before agreement HTC. Its national roaming tor via its growing network of mobile billing expert, Affinity from the network. SIM card, Jump, will reseller partners. does all the work.” “However, customers using become compatible with Prior to heading up the The system enables users this service do benefit from HTC’s premium device BT Business Partner Channel to proactively manage custom- genuine mobile margins that range with plans to roll out Rathborne held international ers, highlight usage issues, rec- they wouldn’t have been able to the software to more of the and UK leadership roles across ommend tariffs and provides make without the buying power manufacturer’s products. sales, product and service man- straightforward customer man- of the VSP channel.” agement, most recently Sales agement tools. Director for Small and Medium “The benefits of becoming Hats off to Gamma for Enterprises at BT, leading a a VSP also include establish- scooping the Business 1,200 person sales team across Steve Rathborne ing a new service proposition,” of Year Award at this direct and indirect channels. added Watson. “Offering flex- year’s Thames Valley Joining Rathborne is George Liz King becomes GM of ible contract agreements and 30 Business Magazine Sebastian as GM Partner Sales. Partner Experience and will day terms that allow the best fit Awards, held on 17th He was formerly EE’s Head of focus on leading the end-to-end between the network tariff and a November at the Channel and will be focused lifecycle experience for BT’s customer’s profile. Madjeski Stadium in on building an integrated sales indirect partners and customers. “Customer churn is also an Reading and hosted by team to collaborate with BT’s Lastly, Andy Kelly becomes issue when selling mobile, but Gyles Brandreth. Pam Williams, HR Director at Gamma, commented: channel partners. Head of Transformation and VSP can reduce this by shifting “We are fully committed to the Best Companies’ model of employee Also joining from EE is Nigel will lead on the development of the emphasis to mobile man- engagement and everyone works hard to continuously improve this. We especially focus on factors such as personal growth and Dean, previously the Head of future strategy and the execu- agement rather than competing giving back to the community. Gamma has a wonderful, positive Indirect Business Sales. As GM tion of the transformation plan. on price. culture where ‘anything is possible’. Our managers, with support Business Development he will BT will announce more “It is also important to stress from the HR team, do a great job in recruiting people who believe in lead several initiatives to build details about its channel strat- that in order for any customer to Gamma’s culture and values.” new business in the channel. egy in due course. become a VSP partner they must SHORT CALL Lily scoops award StarLink eyes UK TeleWare has acted to reduce the impact of mobile Yorkshire-based Lily Comms and its Strategy for Middle East and Turkey- The company sells through a notspots with Business Comms is celebrating an Success (S4S), a blueprint to based distie StarLink has opened network of over 250 IT security Anywhere, a UK multi- Ericsson-LG first as the only guide Lily’s growth journey. a central London office in a VARs and systems integrators. network SIM that allows company in the world to win “It was a great honour to bid to expand across EMEA. It Avinash Advani, who is customers to switch between the vendor’s Best Partner of the firstly present to the Ericsson- is looking to recruit specialist StarLink’s SVP Strategic All- networks. It combines Year award four times on the LG GPC delegates and second- security resellers. iances & International Markets, a number of TeleWare’s trot. The award was presented to ly to win Best Partner for the StarLink’s entry into Europe commented: “Our plan is to products including cloud MD Chris Morrisey and founder fourth year in a row,” he said. coincides with greater invest- drive European expansion by call recording and instant Adrian Jackson at the Ericsson- “Being the only company to ments in building stronger replicating our ‘True VAD’ conferencing. Steve LG Global Partner Conference ever do this is a real achieve- defences against cyber attacks. business model into the UK, Haworth, CEO, said: “We’re in Bangkok, Thailand. ment for everyone involved Founded in 2005, StarLink and then progressively cover doing our part to make sure Lily Comms was also the with Lily Comms. says it is rapidly growing with a the rest of Europe over the com- that businesses can stay only company invited to present “Our core company values presence in 11 countries, and has ing months.” to conference delegates. of performance, passion and grown organically at an average connected and continue Got a news story? email: Morrisey spoke about the integrity, as outlined in our S4S, rate of 60% year-on-year, and working wherever they are.” [email protected] success and growth of Lily guide our thinking and doing.” now has a $145m turnover.

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Union Street_advert_340x245+3mmBleed.indd 1 24/11/2016 10:20:34 INDUSTRY NEWS 8x8 kicks off next Jola activates gen global scheme mobile portal

8x8 has lifted the lid on the nel, which represents a 150%- Jola’s just launched Mobile next generation of its interna- plus increase from fiscal 2015. Manager portal enables part- tional channel programme, In line with growth the 8x8 ners to order and manage estates Channel 2.0. global channel team has doubled of mobile data SIMs, commu- The move builds on the sup- over the past year with employ- nicating in real-time with the port and partner programme ees now in North America, Vodafone 4G network. launched in the UK earlier this Europe and Australia. “Mobile Manager enables year and is designed to enable “Legacy systems are unable Jola partners to create custom- 8x8 partners to accelerate to keep pace with the evolv- ers, manage activations and growth by taking advantage of Vik Verma ing needs of today’s global and instantly control SIM swaps, Lee Broxson the industry shift from product- mobile workforce,” said Vik bars, ceases, tariff changes and based on-premises solutions to As well as new global rela- Verma, CEO. “Retrofitting tra- bolt-ons, said Lee Broxson, tomer. They can then automati- cloud communications. tionships 8x8 has expanded ditional on-premises systems to Sales Director. “It gives part- cally pause the SIM or use our 8x8 outlined other develop- strategic partnerships into new meet these customer require- ners complete control over their overage protection facility. ments including new partners regions including Avant, CDW ments is a near impossible task. mobile data assets. “We are seeing orders accel- and customers; the Partner- and Intelisys into the UK, and “8x8, with our international “In most cases end users erate as partners understand the Connect portal that offers Exsel Group into Scotland. partners, is driving the transfor- don’t want their mobile data need for real-time control over self-service and automation; 8x8 has experienced steady mation from a product-centric to SIMs to switch off when they their growing estates of mobile enhanced sales and technical growth from the channel with 16 services cloud model, enabling reach capacity, but they also data SIMs.” training and new partner certi- of the company’s top 25 deals in partners and their customers don’t want to pay much higher Mobile Manager is a white fications; along with expanded fiscal 2016 (ended March 31st, to migrate to a more flexible, out-of-bundle charges. label portal with parent-child channel enablement offerings. 2016) coming through the chan- cloud services environment.” “With Mobile Manager, Jola functionality, meaning that part- partners can set up alerts to ners can extend functionality to Mobileum pocketed by Audax PE monitor usage limits per cus- their own customers. PRS Telecom has snapped up Bucks-based voice Mobileum has been acquired sational engagement solutions to optimise revenue and acceler- and data company DS Chiltern. “This acquisition by Audax Private Equity, a PE will be key catalysts in helping ate digital transformation.” is an important step in our strategy,” stated Paddy firm focused on building middle CSPs to compete and reposition Previously known as Gill (pictured), CEO of PRS Telecom. “DS Chiltern market companies. themselves in the new digital Roamware, Mobileum was has a well earned reputation for customer retention “The partnership places us economy. Those that can best founded in 2001 and has since and PRS will build on this. We will continue to securely at the centre of an excit- combine these solutions will be sold its roaming and analytics achieve sustainable growth supported by targeted acquisitions and ing time in the telecom indus- the ones who thrive. solutions to over 600 mobile expand our national network. This expansion will be supported by try,” stated Bobby Srinivasan, “Working with Audax, we operator customers worldwide. ongoing investment in people, resources and infrastructure.” CEO of Mobileum. expect to be able to significantly Mark Wilson, founder of DS Chiltern, added: “It was vital that Got a news story? email: “Analytics enabled back-end increase our M&A activities and we found a company that could enhance our services and allow our [email protected] clients to benefit from additional product and solutions suites.” systems coupled with conver- continue to help our customers SHORT CALL Marston’s seals TTB Ethernet deal BroadSoft has surpassed 15 million cloud UC lines TalkTalk Business has nel, all delivered over its own deployed globally and in the sealed a new three-year Ethernet carrier-grade MPLS network. cloud PBX/UCaaS space deal with Marston’s Telecoms Rob Derbyshire, Head claims 41% global market (a division of Marston’s PLC, of Telecoms at Marston’s share, according to Frost the pub operator and brewer) Telecoms, said: “Since signing & Sullivan. “BroadSoft to place a significant number of with TalkTalk Business we have believes that the cloud Ethernet circuits in its pubs. grown our business, taking on market for new cloud PBX/ Marston’s Telecoms first board new products and oppor- signed with TalkTalk Business tunities for our 2,000 pubs.” unified communications Rob Derbyshire Alexandra Tempest will surpass on-premise as a managed partner in 2009. Alexandra Tempest, Director PBX/unified communication Its main requirement was to TalkTalk Business won Marston’s Telecoms evolved of Partners at TalkTalk Business: equipment shipments improve communications Marston’s Telecoms entire base its technology offering of broad- added: “TalkTalk Business is by 2020,” said Taher between 2,000 pubs and the in September 2015 and soon band, Ethernet, hosted VoIP, pri- always looking at different ways Behbehani, Chief Digital head office, and provide servic- afterwards successfully con- vate WANs, carrier services and to support its Partners with new and Marketing Officer. es such as customer Wi-Fi and verted its managed estate and managed Wi-Fi to business cus- products and technology, offer- Internet-connected gaming. telephone infrastructure. tomers and the wholesale chan- ing solutions for businesses.”

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INDUSTRY NEWS Tollring joins Launch of Cook serves Sonar 2.0 fight against by Juniper ISO standard

Juniper Bridge has launched Union Street Technologies Sonar 2.0, configured connec- has been certified by BSI tivity monitoring software that for the ISO/IEC 27001 stan- phone fraud manages and monitors any IP dard in Information Security device, on any network, any- Management. MD Tony Cook where in the world. said: “Over the past few years Sonar works by utilising an there have been a number of operational dashboard that dis- high profile data breaches all plays geo locations of client UK over the world. and global sites. “These led us to completely Central administrators have re-evaluate our approach to data visibility and the connectivity security. Protecting our partners’ status of all live sites in real data is of critical importance to time, if any of these sites go us and we have an absolute down, proactive email and SMS desire to adopt best practice in alerts are automatically distrib- this area. uted to key personnel, to get “Qualifying for ISO has Tony Cook Tony Martino these sites up and running as required us to make some big soon as possible. investments into our security of all was in training our 90 staff Tollring is tackling tele- technologies and approaches to Sonar can be used for both and hardware infrastructure. on our ISMS processes. Getting com fraud head-on having combat call fraud, to ensure voice data monitoring and fully This included the deployment all staff involved and training joined forces with the Internet company policies are enforced scalable allowing for additional of new firewalls, multi factor them effectively is absolutely Telephony Services Providers’ and to agree service levels.” sites and employees for moni- authentication and building a the key to success in this area. Association (ITSPA), the Tele- He also noted that service toring purposes. completely new cloud environ- “It won’t matter how robust comunications UK Fraud Forum providers and resellers can miti- Founder Steve Larkin com- ment to host our solutions. your security processes are if (TUFF) and the Association of gate fraud using iCall Suite’s mented: “Sonar is the first piece “We have also appointed your team are not adhering to Fraud Examiners (AFE). in-built proprietary rules engine of software within our new a dedicated Standards and them properly.” Fraud and Credit Manage- which validates the authenticity product portfolio. It is a versatile Security Officer to continually Got a news story? email: ment are the latest additions to of each call made. platform that proactively man- assess our security processes. [email protected] Tollring’s iCall Suite analytics The real-time Detect Dash- ages the network and customer Perhaps the biggest investment platform, delivering an intelli- board monitors any fraud rule sites using simple protocols. It gent ‘spot and block’ capability or credit limit breaches and live not only provides an overview in real-time on hosted voice and notification alerts can be deliv- of what’s happening but also SIP trunking platforms. ered to a mobile via text, email helps businesses improve per- The system protects against or the dashboard. formance by analysing data.” significant financial losses from fraud attempts and includes credit and spend limit manage- ment which prevents customer KCOM showcases the bill shock, reduce bad debt and decrease customer churn. full set on G-Cloud 8 Tony Martino, MD of Tollring, stated: “Telecoms Enterprise cloud and IT a great opportunity to demon- fraud costs the industry billions services company KCOM has strate what can be achieved with Just weeks after bagging the Best Convergence Distributor of pounds each year, with the added its complete spectrum of access to cloud systems,” said accolade at the Comms National Awards Pragma has, for the average fraud attack costing the cloud-based capabilities to the Bill Halbert, CEO of KCOM. second time in its four year history, been named Global Partner end customer many thousands Government’s G-Cloud 8 frame- “By listing all cloud prod- of the Year by Ericsson-LG at its Partner Conference staged in of pounds, enough sometimes work, significantly increasing ucts on G-Cloud 8, we are Bangkok, Thailand. Pragma Marketing Director Will Morey said: to bankrupt organisations. It’s a its offering from 36 services making it possible for a wide “It’s a fantastic recognition for Pragma but more so for our partners massive challenge in cloud tele- to 141. range of organisations to access who have achieved remarkable growth again this year. Five of our phony and these industry organ- The move makes a much advanced technologies that partners were also recognised for their achievements at this event.” isations are playing a major role wider selection of private and improve day-to-day tasks. With Pragma MD Tim Brooks enthused: “During 2016 we saw 30% in raising awareness. public cloud capabilities avail- managed services and consult- growth in our business and have continued to work with and “We are also helping our able as managed services for ing accompanying all products, recruit some outstanding reseller partners. With a cloud proposition tailored to the needs of resellers we expect 2017 to be an even service provider partners and all public sector organisations public sector organisations will better year.” their resellers to take a more in the UK. have greater control over their Pictured: Tim Brooks (left) and Will Morey celebrate their award win proactive role so that their end “Showcasing our full offering cloud platforms to ensure they despite being narrowly beaten in the Best Dressed competition. customers are equipped with the to public sector organisations is are being used effectively.”

NEW 0344 884 0800 10Gb instant pricing now available on 1Portal [email protected] 20 COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 www.comms-dealer.com INDUSTRY NEWS ENERGY UPDATE in association with SSE signs big Virtual1 JDnetworks taps opts for into profitable deal to share Acronis energy goldmine Virtual1 has selected Acr- onis Backup Cloud to power its AS a privately owned, offering this service to, we have infrastructure cloud-based back-up solution independent company, Leeds a telesales team who push both called 1Backup. based telecoms broker telecoms and energy and on The deal gives Virtual1’s JDnetworks prides itself on most occasions we try sell both SSE Enterprise Telecoms has customers access to a set of data offering completely impartial products together. signed a large scale fixed line protection solutions and local advice and tailoring the best network sharing deal with Capita support via established channels available package for its “We certainly find energy easy and Updata Infrastructure. and relationships. customer’s individual require- to sell, especially to existing The three-way partnership Acronis Backup Cloud ments. customers who we already have allows each company to share supports physical Windows a relationship with. We find that the physical network assets of and Linux, virtual VMware, The ‘trusted relationships’ it has the customer just wants a good built with customers means that saving and proactive account the other over the term of the Hyper-V, Xen, RHEV, KVM, adding Energy to its portfolio of management. We find that the seven year agreement. and Oracle VMs, as well as services alongside Fidelity Energy majority of customers are happy For the 300-plus IT and Microsoft Exchange, SQL, Colin Sempill was a ‘no brainer’ according to to change, Unlike telecoms there comms service provider cus- SharePoint, Active Directory Associate Director James is only one type of gas and tomers who use SSE Enterprise ed: “Network and infrastructure and mobile devices. Sweaton. electricity so if they are happy Telecoms’ national Ethernet sharing models are common- According to estimations with us then they will switch.” connectivity services, the deal place in mobile telephony mar- by Technavio, the global cloud When we read about Fidelity will double their SSE service kets, but unusual on this scale in back-up and recovery software Energy in Comms Dealer, we Since becoming a Fidelity Energy coverage from 250,000 business fixed line telecoms. market is predicted to increase made a call and within a couple partner just under a year ago JD postcodes to over 500,000. “Doubling our service foot- at a CAGR of 13% from 2016- of days we were signed up. It Energy has provided quotes for The agreement shaves two print in a relatively short period 2020, making it a $5.2bn global was attractive to us because around 150 businesses and in years off SSE’s network expan- of time will make us one of opportunity by 2020. they offered us an attractive the past year alone has netted sion programme (Project Edge), the largest fixed line telecoms “There’s huge potential in commission structure and set up over 20 new customers reduces the cost of network providers in the UK at a stroke.” the UK for cloud back-up ser- assistance and on-going generating £93k in profit. support, which was perfect for But this is just the tip of the expansion by at least 50%, add- Updata MD Béatrice But- vices,” said Jeff Hart, Senior JD Networks who have never iceberg according to Sweaton. ing 350 BT Exchanges to the sana-sita added: “Connecting Sales Director for Northern tried the energy market.” SSE network footprint. our assets together in a way that Europe at Acronis. “There is “I think the opportunity is Updata and Capita will see allows each to share the benefits already good awareness of the Within days the JD directors had massive; it goes hand in hand each of their eight regional data of the other just made sense. benefits of the cloud among set up a separate company with our telecoms model as centres connected directly and “Specifically, this will allow businesses in this market, so JDenergy Ltd (www.jdenergy.uk) JDnetworks is about reviewing diversely to SSE’s national fibre us to provide dedicated net- plenty of opportunities.” and their sales staff now have billing and offering reducing optic network. working services to enterprise two discussion points with both costs. Most of the time we ask Got a news story? email: Colin Sempill, MD at SSE sized clients who need connec- old and new customers and for energy bills as part of credit [email protected] Enterprise Telecoms, comment- tivity in all corners of the UK.” Sweaton explained: “We have a checks so offering reduced good balance of both new and energy costs is a great way to existing customers who we are increase revenue.” SHORT CALL

Exertis has sealed a distribution agreement with SY Electronics, a manufacturer of control systems, video switching and video extension products. Chris Godsalve, Exertis’ AV and Collaboration Business Manager, said: “This Chess’s employment policies and people management ethos partnership strengthens have been recognised in the Employer of the Year category at our solutions in digital the 2016/17 European Business Awards. The company has been awarded the National Champion Certificate for its ability to signage, video wall and inspire and motivate its 500-strong workforce, while supporting I think the opportunity is massive; collaborative technologies, their professional and personal growth. Chess Chief Exec’ David providing a one stop Pollock said: “The European Business Awards are recognised as the it goes hand in hand with our telecoms proposition for our resellers showcase for Europe’s most dynamic companies, and we’re proud and systems integrators.” to be recognised at this level.” model as JDnetworks is about reviewing billing and offering reducing costs. Maximise your call margins with Daisy Wholesale. James Sweaton, Associate Director, JDnetworks www.comms-dealer.com COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 21 INDUSTRY NEWS NG Bailey’s IT arm GreenCity’s in flexes sales muscle buying mode

NG Bailey’s IT Services nering with suppliers like NG GreenCity Solutions, based division witnessed sales growth Bailey that can deliver tailored in Peterborough, has acquired of 7.8% for the first half of and cost-effective solutions. Total Solutions, a move that 2016 (March to October), hav- “The emergence of new tech- enables the combined entity to ing secured more than £23m nologies has enormous potential offer businesses a broader set worth of new contracts for its to change the way buildings are of solutions including telecoms, structured cabling, electronic designed, managed and used. managed print and software security and DAS (Distributed “We’ve already seen exam- development along with stron- Antenna Systems) services. ples of this in IP security and ger technical support. The company has won more smart buildings and expect to Rob Baldacci, Group MD, than 30 new IT contracts since see further disruption to compa- commented on the deal: “Hot on February and experienced nies as the IoT and smart cities the heels of our £1.5m invest- organic growth through con- shake up the market.” ment into Peterborough’s con- Rob Baldacci tract extensions, bringing sales NG Bailey IT Services is a nectivity infrastructure, this in the 2016-2017 financial year subsidiary of NG Bailey group, coming together of two com- makes sense for us and our cus- to £38.8m so far, up nearly 8% the independent engineering, IT panies opens the local business tomers, creating a larger team of Bob Dunnett on the same period last year. and facilities services business. community up to far greater technical staff and on-site engi- Bob Dunnett, MD, NG to increasingly complex and Group-wide results in 2015- options when considering their neers that enables us to react Bailey’s IT Services division, demanding project briefs is pay- 2016 showed it tripled operat- IT and comms solutions.” quicker to customers’ needs.” commented: “Our focus on ing great dividends. ing profit over the previous year Jon Hunt, Director of Got a news story? email: positioning ourselves to deliver “Clients are increasingly to £6m, and increased sales by Operations, added: “Merging [email protected] technical solutions in response realising the benefits of part- 12% to £408m. Total Solutions and GreenCity Digitalisation – More haste, less DrayTek-Juniper set speed, says Annodata tech chief to Advance further Adopting new technologies skilled ICT providers. Doing so Juniper Bridge has been “We have been working with too fast and without a strat- will deliver true value to busi- awarded DrayTek Advanced Juniper Bridge for several years egy will disrupt the everyday nesses, allowing them to react Network Partner status for its and this higher accreditation working functions of a business, to the requirements of today’s expertise and investment in strengthens our relationship .” causing more harm than good, digital world.Organisations can remote router management. Stephen Larkin, founder of according to Andrew Smith, reduce the burden of their digi- The company has focused Juniper Bridge, commented: Technical Director at Annodata. tal transformation by working on R&D in DrayTek equipment “We look forward to harness- Andrew Smith “There’s a lot of pressure with trusted partners. to optimise the use of SMTP ing DrayTek’s technology for for organisations to keep up features within Sonar, the con- Sonar 2.0.” with the rapid pace of the digi- figured connectivity software tal economy,” he said. “Digital Qualitel has rebranded that manages and monitors IP transformation is often held up as elitetele.com mobile and devices (see p20). SHORT CALL confirmed that it’s ‘business as a nirvana as we hear stories This investment enabled as usual’ for customers as all of new digital challengers dis- Juniper Bridge to launch Sonar current account teams and Nimans has extended its placing traditional incumbents. 2.0, the new version of the plat- contacts remain in place along Radius headset range with a “However, it can often be with Mike Ridgway at the helm form that provides the ability to new two-in-one device that difficult for organisations to of the division. Elitetele.com set specific policies by technol- switches from monaural to know where to start on their acquired Qualitel in April 2014 ogy or customer type through an binaural versions in a few path to digital transformation. and the move catalysed Qualitel’s active alerting dashboard. seconds. The Radius Aero Organisations must not feel fastest growth period which was The software also gives vis- adapts to an individual’s pressured to overhaul every- recognised this summer when it ibility of the connectivity status work environment and is thing in their business at once was crowned Platinum Partner of of all client sites in real-time, wideband enabled with a on the path to digital trans- the Year by Vodafone. including bandwidth use and two year warranty. Nimans formation. Care must be taken Russell Horton (pictured), COO, specific LAN user performance. has also launched the Radius Elitetele.com, said: “To give clear messaging to our customers we to ensure that the technology Sonar can be used for both any 2400 professional office have rebranded the division so that all telecoms services and contact follows the strategy and not the data connections with any pro- headset that has a ratchet points across the group are elitetele.com branded. As a team other way around. vider and is scalable. with great depth of experience in Vodafone, O2 and EE, Qualitel style boom arm with noise “There are great gains to Julian Hubble, Sales Dir- complements our UC and managed IT offering.” cancelling microphone. be had by working with multi- ector, DrayTek, commented:

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Enter now at WWW.CDSALESAWARDS.COM 22 COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 www.comms-dealer.com INDUSTRY NEWS Demand for Busy time Zest4 drives in systems On-premise system sales conferences at distributor Nimans continue M2M market to gain momentum, up 10% The UC team at Exertis has year-on-year against an industry notched up record conferencing decline of 3% in the sub-100 sales over the past year follow- extension segment. ing a programme of partner edu- “Everyone is aware that cation designed to help resellers the impact of the cloud and an attach more conferencing solu- uncertain economic outlook is tions to existing and new UC biting into the traditional comms system installations. space – but not at Nimans,” Demand for all kinds of commented Paul Burn, Head of conferencing solutions, from Michael Thompson Category Sales. traditional audio conferencing “As an industry we shouldn’t to high end video conferencing including education, where get too obsessed by the cloud and collaboration, reflects the distance or web based learn- verses on-premise scenario. estimations of industry analysts ing adopt video as part of the “The mindset around deploy- who forecast the global video delivery mechanism; healthcare ment rather than functionality Mandy Fazelynia conferencing market to grow to for remote patient monitoring and solution sales needs rebal- over $6bn by 2020. and consultation and media ancing. Hence we have a PBX Zest4’s M2M channel expan- “This real-time data and Michael Thompson, Head of industries where the streaming portfolio, our own hosted offer- sion strategy is set to enter a clearer vehicle visibility offers UC Devices, said: “Conferenc- of interactive events is in ever ing and also hybrid solutions.” new phase when the firm rolls customers the opportunity to ing is at the heart of modern increasing demand. out a range of end-of-end solu- maximise maintenance and UC&C solutions. It has to be Exertis has also witnessed tions, kicking off with a vehicle servicing schedules, ensure the centrepiece of any enterprise increasing demand for a new SHORT CALLS telematics offering that, accord- driver comfort and safety strategy and there is a grow- breed of products for remote ing to the company, is not cur- and vastly reduce operating ing need to integrate audio and meetings, the personal speaker Exponential-e has unveiled rently available to partners via costs,” said Mandy Fazelynia, video conferencing devices into phone, a portable unit designed its new SD-WAN offering any other UK provider. Zest4’s Operations & Business the overall comms solution.” for mobile workers who need to help firms stay in control Zest4, a long established Development Director. Key growth areas include to attend online meetings ‘on of their IT operations O2 Joined Up Communications “The Zest4 team has worked a number of vertical markets the go’. and drive performance. wholesale provider, is working hard over the last 12 months on Offered through Cloudnet, with a number of suppliers to developing our M2M proposi- Exponential-e’s self- offer resellers straightforward tion to give partners something service platform connects smart vehicle solutions includ- tangible to offer end customers, enterprises to business ing plug and play devices. supported by sales and market- applications from They give fleet management ing initiatives.” wherever they are enabling teams and leasing companies Anton Le Saux, Zest4’s organisations to utilise full visibility of their vehicles Head of M2M, commented: SD-WAN to separate the at all times, as well as providing “Since joining Zest4 back in data and control layer into them with real-time data. September I have been speaking two parts. This allows Two versions of the solution to many of our reseller partners businesses to centrally will be offered – an entry level and their hunger for M2M solu- assign and manage one that clips onto a car’s diag- tions is clear to see. application-aware policies nostics port and can be moved “Our new range of solutions across sites to secure and between vehicles, offering real- will give them the confidence to time vehicle location, trip visu- take a leap into this complex but NTA’s fourth annual karting event staged at Lakeside Karting Centre control all network traffic. in Essex on November 16th also put partners on track for two new alisation, unlimited geofencing, lucrative marketplace.” initiatives launched by the company – a partner incentive scheme Nimans has taken its alerts and reports. and new bundled £4.75 per seat licence fee including 5,000 free Reseller Training Academy Secondly, a more advanced minutes to 01, 02 and 03 numbers and UK mobile networks. on the road for the first time solution gives fleet managers Justin Blaine, Channel Sales Manager, said: “We have successfully enabling resellers in the data on mileage, engine diag- sold against the per seat license fee for many years and pushed our midlands and north west to nostics, driver behaviour, vehi- flexible simultaneous calls model to the industry. However, we have undertake the company’s cle location, fuel and oil levels, listened to our partners who asked us for a bundled option. Adding one day Introduction To tyre condition, battery status the new per seat licence model to our existing portfolio, running the Telephony course. Learning and seat belt engagement. two models in parallel, is our response.” and Development Officer, These developments come Blaine also lifted the lid on NTA’s latest incentive scheme and Matthew Broadbent, said: just six months after the official explained that ‘easily achievable’ targets will ensure that a number launch of Zest4’s M2M Partner of winning resellers will fly to Cyprus in May 2017 and stay in a “We are looking to expand Programme and a year since 5-star hotel with activities such as spa days, golf and sailing all into other areas such as sales included. The incentive runs from 1st December until 30th April. and management training.” the formation of its partnership with M2M specialist Arkessa. Anton Le Saux

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Enter now at WWW.CDSALESAWARDS.COM www.comms-dealer.com COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 23 BUSINESS PROFILE Avaya banks on Boyer

Boyer is carefully planning Avaya’s revised go-to-market to double the size of the strategy for Aura Communications business and recruit more engineering resources in Manager could have potentially specialist areas. He has already deployed a full silenced the vendor’s voice in the management structure including the addition of very market where it wants to make subject matter experts. IP Netix is also gearing up to most noise, providing an opportunity move to larger premises for IP Netix to turn up the volume that will house a state of the art Avaya portfolio as a staunch Avaya services partner, demonstration suite exclusively for the use of says Managing Director Kevin Boyer. partners. “I started IP Netix in the middle of the UK’s largest recession,” stated Boyer. “At the time people told me I he impact of IP our enterprise delivery skills was mad, but it was the best Netix’s role in Avaya’s into that space which has decision I ever made.” n mid-market campaign been a great success.” Boyer clutches his Comms National Award is considerable and Just a minute with Tdraws on Boyer’s in-depth While Avaya’s channel Kevin Boyer... knowledge of Avaya systems revamp went against the Avaya solutions with over started his first successful and the channel, all qualities grain of its mid-market 20,000 endpoints. “For us to business, Phase Telecom. As that secured him a Comms ambitions it paved the way be successful we need our a specialist in consultancy Role model: My Grandad: I was brought up by him, National Award in the Best for IP Netix to become channel business partners to for the Symbian mobile he taught me values, Installer/Maintainer category a highly valued partner be successful,” added Boyer. operating system, Boyer always with a sense of this year. “I identified closely aligned to the “Our channel approach is worked in particular on the humour, yet he saw a life a gap in the marketing vendor’s roadmap. Boyer has based on partnership and VoIP integration for Symbian. that I hope I never will strategy for the Avaya Aura expanded the company’s strategic engagement. What talent do you wish Communications Manager,” portfolio to mirror Avaya’s Through partnership and With IP Netix he has built a you had? Musicality, he commented. “Even kit bag, and he is currently early engagement we can multi-million pound company I’d love to be able major resellers find it hard embarking – with much bring additional value by without venture capital or to sing in tune to justify the costs of having determination – on a helping to qualify, shape, other external investments. Your strengths and what mission to address the Since conception, IP Netix staff and accreditations to develop and ultimately could you work on? I install and maintain Aura. fast growing mid-market close opportunities.” has adopted a 100 per cent have strength of vision sector with Avaya’s IP channel only sales strategy, and tenacity, but I could “At the same time Avaya Office and ACCS products. Strong pedigree an approach that has been work on my patience adopted a channel only sales Boyer has also added data Boyer hasn’t always been endorsed by Avaya UK which Tell us something about and maintenance policy for networking (Fabric) skills, working in the comms recommends the company yourself we don’t know: the UK, downsizing and video conferencing and sector. He undertook a to the business reseller I’m a mean cocktail maker making engineering staff workforce optimisation career change from materials community as a ‘preferred’ What do you fear redundant. Consequently to the IP Netix portfolio, handling equipment for services partner. “Feedback the most? I have no there was a gap between enabling the company to Rollertruck with a first suggests that our approach fears, I don’t consider Avaya’s sales drive for Aura deliver specialist services foray into the telecoms is increasingly important fear an option through partners and the across the entire Avaya sector as a sales consultant to business partners,” said One example of something channel’s ability to offer range for business partners. with Telephone Rentals Boyer. “Many have suffered you have overcome: consultancy, installation and in 1997. He then joined negative experiences having The embarrassment of service contracts for such IP Netix now manages over Shipton Communications introduced a services partner being thrown off my a sophisticated system. I 300,000 endpoints across selling SDX systems when to the end customer only jetski for the first time established IP Netix to fill multiple platforms in six ISDN2 to the desk was first to lose secondary business Name three ideal dinner this gap and the business continents. The business has introduced. And moved (support contracts, upgrades guests: My Grandad, has been a year-on-year grown to currently employ to Pink Telecom where he etc) to the partner who Leonardo Da Vinci success. As the mid-market 22 people, with engineering spent over ten years, latterly contracted the end user and Sigmund Freud is evolving into the bottom teams working on projects operating as Commercial directly. Therefore, we remain Top tip: Customer service end of the enterprise that range from single site Development Manager. In diligent and unwavering in should always be the focus market, we have brought deployments to fully hosted 2006 Boyer left Pink and our indirect approach.”

24 COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 www.comms-dealer.com 2017

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CommsDealer_fullpgad_2017.indd 1 16/11/2016 17:29:18 BUSINESS PROFILE Harris bullish post-SIPHON acquisition

The autumn acquisition of UK-based UC distributor SIPHON Networks by pan-EMEA distribution firm Nuvias Group promised to extend SIPHON’s influence in the UK and across the continent. We spoke to SIPHON Managing Director Steve Harris to find out how.

arris’s intention is also now an increasing has always been interest too from the more to try and take traditional voice resellers the SIPHON to have some form of SfB Hproduct portfolio and offering in their portfolio.” value proposition into new geographical markets, Resellers can leverage and he had been looking either their own internal at executing on this plan engineering skills, SIPHON’s throughout 2016 after skills as a white labelled successfully expanding the service or a combination business into the Benelux of the two. “We aim to region. “The acquisition fill in the gaps and enable by Nuvias enables us to resellers to sell SfB solutions accelerate this and the group effectively,” added Harris. provides us access to over “We have been deploying 20 potential countries across cloud UC platforms for EMEA where we can look to seven years and developed replicate our success in the some cloud-based software UK and Benelux regions,” ourselves which help he said. “Nuvias shares the Steve Harris resellers to deploy SfB same philosophy, in terms solutions and handle the of the focus on how we explore further new revenue “Through a combination of the E5 SfB license pack on ongoing management of SfB add value to our channel opportunities from being of growth in our existing O365. “The availability of the hardware and end points.” partners and provides part of this wider group. markets and entering new E5 license and a PSTN calling significant scale, expertise regions we expect to double plan from Microsoft in the Microsoft is not new and financial backing in “SIPHON has always our revenues over the next UK has resulted in a new and to this space and Live enabling us to transfer this had a strong focus on three years. We will be fully significant peak of interest Communications Server value into new areas.” innovation and we have integrated into Nuvias by from end users which is now (LCS) was first introduced a dedicated team in place this time but the ethos of translating to a business about 10 years ago. SfB Nuvias has adopted a whose job is solely about the Unified Communications opportunity for a new type of is just the latest release in ‘practice’ approach within researching and launching practice within Nuvias will reseller looking to enter the the journey of Microsoft its evolving organisation new technology areas,” be SIPHON and built on UC market, and who have becoming a credible Unified structure and is looking for added Harris. “We are now the DNA and success we come from predominantly an Communications supplier as these practices to be thought also working on our own have achieved to date.” IT background,” noted Harris. well as being dominant in IT. leaders and experts in the key software development to Traditional resellers should technology focus areas for provide operational support Gaining SfB traction “These resellers are mostly look to have some form of the Group. SIPHON will be systems for our partners Much of this success derives proficient in delivering the Microsoft offering alongside the Unified Communications to simplify the deployment from SIPHON’S role as a collaboration and messaging their traditional offerings practice but its partners also and management of cloud cloud technology enabler (Sharepoint/IM/Exchange) as ultimately their end user have access to the other services. We have made for partners, and a growing features of SfB and O365 and customers are likely to be six practices being built significant investments area is Microsoft’s Skype when you add the growing using some form of Microsoft within Nuvias. The Advanced in the automation of our for Business (SfB) which popularity of MS Dynamics product and the chances Networking (former Zycko) internal systems and 70 per continues to gain traction as a CRM and the continuing are that usage will continue and Cyber Security (former cent of our orders today are from large enterprises and closer alignment between to expand, believes Harris. Wick Hill) practices are also via our API or web store. public sector organisations. Dynamics and SfB they are in place and the SIPHON We will look to continue This traction is now being well placed to also deliver the “Certainly at the Microsoft resellers and partners will this approach to enable replicated all the way down full SfB E5 Communications World Partner Conference in now gain the opportunity to us to scale effectively. to the SME with the launch solution. Certainly there Toronto this year there was Enter emerging markets with GCI Channel Solutions 0845 0030 655 | gcichannelsolutions.com | [email protected]

COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 26Final Footer advert.indd 1 www.comms-dealer.com12/03/2015 10:44:46 BUSINESS PROFILE Harris bullish post-SIPHON acquisition Life on the

a very clear commitment to these items is what powers an application and people working through channel how we enable our channel now expect to have the Isle of Man partners, and with its size partners to sell, deploy and same experience in the and scale plus commitment support full packages of workplace and want to to innovation and R&D end point hardware and connect with colleagues ary Lamb, Chief Microsoft is bound to peripherals together with who are in rooms and/or on Executive Officer at exert even more influence a white labelled cloud their PCs and mobiles in a Manx Telecom, is in the communications based VaaS proposition.” seamless and single video also an accountant space moving forward.” call or conference. “This G(CIMA) and moved to the It is becoming increasingly consumerisation of video is company in October 2011 Video and collaboration clear that users do not driving the emergence of as Finance Director. He was Another priority area is see video as a separate new and innovative video promoted to CEO in July the growth of video and application to voice and IT vendors and service providers 2015. Prior to joining he collaboration. “Broadly now, and it’s important that who are looking to make was a founder Director of speaking, we provide resellers any room system deployed the technology universally Bladon Jets, a manufacturer and service providers with works well and seamlessly adopted by new cloud-based of innovative gas turbine the same value proposition into PC clients for remote services and consumption engines. “I moved to Manx in video and collaboration and mobile users. “When end models, and the previous Telecom when it was under that we’ve been delivering users then start to consider barrier of video services being private equity ownership,” in voice and UC services, applications like desktop capital intensive and complex he stated. “I have many which is centred on sharing and collaboration is quickly eroding,” observed years experience working technology enablement too, it’s clear that video Harris. “We would expect for PE owned businesses so for our channel partners,” services can no longer be to see this trend continuing I was well positioned to help explained Harris. “Firstly, we deployed and supported with lower cost hardware Manx Telecom grow and Gary Lamb have invested in engineering in isolation from other emerging and the continued list on the stock market.” skills and internal systems IT and voice platforms,” launch of new disruptive life cycle challenges of a to ensure we have a strong commented Harris. cloud video offerings that Originally part of BT, Manx small telecoms operator on engineering and technical make video more mainstream Telecom was acquired by an island with a population support capability in video Repeatable service and accessible for all types Telefonica in 2006. In June of 85,000,” Lamb added. platforms as this is at the “A further key trend driving and sizes of end users.” 2010 the company was sold “We are investing heavily in centre of everything we do adoption is the significant to private equity investor digital transformation and in supporting our partners. reduction in costs in room Resellers and SIs will continue HgCapital, and on 10th the development of our system and MCU hardware to play a major role in the February 2014 it started people to deliver an improved “Secondly we want to make and the availability of cost delivery of advanced services trading on the AIM market of customer experience. With a the delivery and support effective software based like video and collaboration the London Stock Exchange. shared vision we can achieve of video and collaboration VMRs. Our partnering and their value is determined The company currently has so much more. Our biggest solutions easy and repeatable strategy is based upon ultimately by how readily 300 staff and generated opportunity is harnessing the as historically deploying room making video a ubiquitous they can make complex revenues of £79.6 million capability of our people.” based systems and MCUs and repeatable service that technology usable within for the year ended 31st has been both cumbersome can be deployed in volume the end user environment, December 2015. It provides Regulation is an ongoing and expensive. We have and at a price that delivers according to Harris. “Video fixed line voice, broadband challenge for a small island developed packages of this to down to the SME as has always been a specialist and connectivity services incumbent operator, observed hardware bundles for various well as the large corporates area, with niche players for customers, connecting Lamb. “Island specific room types from huddle who have traditionally carving out successful approximately 37,000 regulation should ensure rooms to large meeting invested in large scale and businesses through deploying homes and 4,000 businesses the incumbent can continue rooms that are simple for our complex video deployments. very complex video ‘islands’ on the Isle of Man. to invest in the Isle of Man partners to sell and package Those companies who make for end users,” commented infrastructure,” he said. to end users. We also then video simple to deploy and Harris. “The approach of the Despite increasing “Another challenge is the fast provide field installation consume commercially will SI and reseller today needs competition and regulation pace of technology change. services plus extended see significant success and to evolve and become more on the island, Lamb aims to A good example is 5G. We warranty and technical we are working with our focused, not on integrating ensure that Manx Telecom have recently invested £10 support to our partners vendor partners to bring video components but on remains the incumbent million on 4G and will need and we are launching some new VaaS and associated driving video adoption and telecoms operator while to invest in 5G within the new cloud-based Video as hardware bundles to usage by integrating the growing the company via next five years. This means a Service (VaaS) offerings in market to address this.” video service into existing its global solutions business, we have to constantly strive the new year to complement business processes and Vannin Ventures and to find the most efficient way our video hardware and The popularity of Skype and making it accessible to all Acquisitions. “Our biggest of using our cash when we engineering services portfolio. Facetime demonstrates the staff and across rooms, challenge is dealing with invest in infrastructure and be “The combination of all of potential usage of video as desktop and mobile.” n the scale and technology more creative than most.” n

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Enter now at WWW.CDSALESAWARDS.COM www.comms-dealer.com COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 27 BUSINESS PROFILE Equinix set to expand EMEA footprint

Equinix’s multi-million UK data centre investment builds on its blockbuster acquisition of Telecity Group early this year and marks a step change in the firm’s growth strategy, according to Equinix UK Managing Director Russell Poole.

quinix’s late carriers to connect together seeing and will continue to summer £26 – almost a Switzerland of grow over the coming years.” million investment the Internet. With this idea in the second in mind, Equinix was born. Equinix enables businesses to Ephase expansion of its Since Equinix was founded it be part of an ecosystem in LD6 International Business has invested over $13 billion which they can strategically Exchange (IBX) data centre in its data centre platform connect with their partners in Slough upped its capacity and grown from a single US and customers. For example, to serve interconnection to location to having a global Equinix claims to be the connect companies. And in footprint of 146 data centres only data centre company January the company closed in 21 different countries. that houses all of the main the acquisition of European cloud service providers data centre services giant “Having established a critical – Amazon Web Services, Telecity, delivering fresh mass of network service Microsoft Azure and Office challenges to Poole’s desk. providers we were able to 365, Google Cloud Platform, “Following the acquisition secure customers such as IBM Softlayer and Oracle. the big priority for me has Sony, Sprint and AT&T,” been around welcoming stated Poole. “Creating a “Equinix can help businesses many new members to our global footprint of data solve their critical data team and integrating the centres has been the management needs by combined business, as well company’s goal since the creating a multi-cloud as managing the ongoing beginning, and acquiring solution that can be tailored growth of our company Interconnect Exchange to the requirements of the which continues apace,” he Europe in 2007 enabled business, and which uses said. “It’s about making sure Equinix to make a big leap the most appropriate service we have the right capacity, into the European market.” for any task,” added Poole. in the right place, at the “So an enterprise may right time, with the right This was followed by come into our facilities to profile of service providers the acquisition of Switch Russell Poole run multiple applications to allow our customers to and Data in 2010, which in the cloud – connecting execute their IT strategies. provided the firm with 34 worldwide (including over Equinix currently employs directly to the Google Cloud Doubling the size of our data additional new data centre 140 of the Fortune 500) over 5,600 staff and its Platform to run Google Apps centre in Slough helped us locations. “Two years later and approximately 188,000 financial numbers are at Work and to Microsoft to keep up with customer we moved into Jakarta cross-connects. “The impressive, with revenues of for Office 365 for email.” demand in the UK.” and Dubai, with Amazon combination of a global $2.73 billion in 2015. Last Web Services becoming a footprint combined with month the company delivered Equinix is busy identifying US-based Equinix was customer the same year direct connectivity means its 55th consecutive quarter ways to expand its global established in 1998 by co- – a major milestone for organisations can have of revenue growth. “We have footprint, building on its founders Jay Adelson and us,” added Poole. “This their data where they need a great deal of momentum in 20 International Business Al Avery, who were both year we have doubled the it, when they need it,” the major locations in which Exchanges (IBX) data centre facilities managers at Digital size of our business in the commented Poole. “Building we operate,” added Poole. expansions last year. “In Equipment Corporation. They EMEA region thanks to on this we are continuing “What’s exciting is that the 2016 Equinix continues to predicted that data centres as the acquisition of Telecity to establish Equinix as the market is now really getting expand the scale and reach they existed then would not Group. We now have a home of the interconnected to grips with the concept of its global platform with have the capacity to handle network of 146 data centres cloud, which in turn is of interconnection and the 18 announced expansion all the data created and across five continents.” attracting enterprises that transformation it will bring projects underway,” demanded by technological want to adopt hybrid and to the world of business. I said Poole. “We’ve also advancements. They wanted Equinix currently has more multi-cloud as their IT have no doubt we will keep announced new expansions to build a neutral location for than 8,000 customers architecture of choice.” pace with the demand we’re in Dallas, Dublin, Frankfurt,

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Helsinki and Zurich, totalling biggest game-changer on the more than $100 million horizon. “Moving towards a Just a minute with of capital expenditure. highly connected society will Russell Poole... significantly drive up demand “To meet the demands of for ample data storage,” Role model: Clive the rapidly evolving business he added. “That’s where Woodward, an environment organisations Equinix comes in. Driverless inspirational leader with Ignore the the courage of his non- must re-architect their IT cars, for example, will require conformist convictions infrastructures out to the synergy between the cars network edge. We help our own systems and real-time Tell us something about Elephant in the customers do this through information about the road yourself we don’t know: I spend a lot of time riding a proven blueprint we and its surroundings. The a motorbike around a call the Interconnection volume of data this will Room at your peril! racetrack as fast as I can Oriented Architecture (IOA) create will be astonishing, which allows businesses to and will require a reliable What talents do you wish you had? To sing, securely connect to whoever and high-capacity data be as good at rugby as management solution.” they want, whenever and Jonny Wilkinson, and wherever they need it.” to ride a motorbike For VARs to succeed in like Valentino Rossi today’s channel industry Key focus area Industry bugbear: From A particular area of focus for it’s important they deliver a global perspective I Equinix is the growth of the enterprise solutions that would deregulate every cloud. In order to meet the are secure, reliable, cost- telecoms market increasing adoption of cloud effective and easy to What do you fear by enterprise customers, it implement for customers. the most? Regret developed the Equinix Cloud More specifically, as the Name three ideal Exchange. “Through Equinix’s hybrid cloud fast becomes dinner guests: Winston Cloud Exchange, customers the default enterprise IT Churchill, Eddie Izzard have access to software- deployment model, it will be and Henry Blofeld defined connections to essential for VARs to think One example of something multiple cloud services from a about how to best utilise you have overcome: single physical port, allowing the cloud for customers, Surviving the dot-com bust them to access whatever believes Poole. “We recently Your greatest strength and service they need,” added announced a partnership what could you improve Poole. “It really makes us the with Arrow Electronics to on? I have the courage home of the cloud as it’s the offer preconfigured hybrid and compassion required only neutral ground where all cloud packages,” he said. to be a good leader and the major cloud providers can “This will enable resellers and I’m a good listener. But collaborate under one roof. managed service providers to not very organised rapidly deploy and implement What possession could “Building a large and diverse hybrid cloud solutions for you not live without? customer base has had enterprise customers from My grandfather’s watch and medals. He was in a snowball effect on our markets around the globe. the Welsh Guards and We live and breathe business, as the ability for served in the Second our customers to digitally “For us the biggest change World War and he left his Skype for Business! interact and interconnect has been in the conversations watch and medals to me. with other companies and we’re having with customers. I treasure them greatly partners has been a very They’re no longer coming If you weren’t in your compelling selling point. The to talk to us about data current role what fact that Equinix is continually centres, they’re talking about would you be doing? expanding into new interconnection and what Running a charity or markets makes this offering the latest IT trends mean for something similar appealing to companies their business. From hybrid Name one thing you with a global presence.” clouds to BYOD models, IT couldn’t do without in We are trends are now firmly on the your job: Not a thing but According to Poole, the rise C-suite agenda, and we find a person – my PA, Jade. GCI Channel Solutions Her tireless hard work of the Internet of Things ourselves at the intersection (and patience) enables of these trends. It’s a very and its potential to change me to do my job well everyday life is probably the exciting time.” n Call us Now E: [email protected] To advertise in T: 0845 003 0655 | W: gcichannelsolutions.com contact The Sales Team on 01895 454411 www.comms-dealer.com COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 29

GCI_CommsD_VertAD_Oct16.indd 1 18/10/2016 10:57:09 COMPANY FOCUS Craven drives out ‘Rolls Royce’ headset

Headsets can be a lucrative added value sale for comms and IT providers, especially in the contact centre space, but is there customer demand for the ‘Rolls Royce’, business grade, over ear solution Sennheiser has recently launched? Comms Dealer visited the company’s R&D facility in Copenhagen to find out more.

he world of work is Own-Voice-Detector and changing as unified WindSafe). Also included is comms environments high-quality, stereo audio mature and open with CD-quality steaming Tplan offices become the (aptX technology). To control norm, but can customers be functions one of the ear persuaded to part with large cups has a touch pad for sums of money to give their ease-of-use. Users simply ‘knowledge workers’ the swipe and tap for call and peace and quiet they need to media control or double tap conduct business and tasks to activate ‘Talk Through’ more effectively? Sennheiser, and listen to colleagues or aside from its reputation announcements, without in the business headset removing their headset. sector, is globally renowned for producing high quality Practically speaking, headphones for the music this all means specially industry and the German selected workers can work manufacture is convinced undisturbed in the noisiest its latest high end MB660 of environments, walk hybrid solution will meet the around the office if they demand from managers for so wish or even exercise more productivity and from (switching seamlessly from users for a more comfortable a PBX softphone to mobile) working environment. and, as there’s no boom microphone, absolutely For the technically minded, nothing impedes their the MB660 fully wireless conversations. Furthermore, headset is a highly if they want to listen to engineered ‘pillow soft’ music to concentrate, they over ear solution that have the best possible sound offers a range of impressive quality at their disposal features including NoiseGard and Sennheiser’s CapTune adaptive ANC (Active App allows customisation Noise Cancelling). This of their audio profile Jane Craven means that unlike standard for a more personalised ANC headsets, the device sound experience. out and can be comfortable resources have been invested puts many employees out constantly monitors the worn smoothly around the in the product’s development of their comfort zone. Most background environment The unit has an impressive neck and shoulders. It also mostly based around fast offices – closed or open for ambient noises and 30-hour battery life and folds neatly away into a expanding ‘Open Office’ – are not designed to face adjusts the level of noise the package includes zipper case meaning the cultures which are profoundly these challenges, leading to reduction in each headset. Sennheiser’s BTD 800 USB unit can be taken home affecting work environments, unproductive workspaces and dongle, supporting audio or locked away securely as Jeffrey Saunders, disengaged workers, which Built into the headset is a only for business security, at night – an important Director at the Copenhagen costs companies money in three-part digital microphone plus an audio cable which factor given the cost! Institute for Futures Studies terms of lost productivity.” array that works seamlessly ensures the headset can be explained: “The accelerating with a suite of Sennheiser’s used when the battery runs As you would expect from pace of employees’ work According to Sennheiser’s advanced microphone out. When not in use the Sennheiser, exhaustive tempo and the need for own global research, 33 technologies (SpeakFocus headset cups cleverly flatten research and engineering collaboration and flexibility per cent of all offices are

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Enter now at WWW.CDSALESAWARDS.COM 30 COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 www.comms-dealer.com Craven drives out ‘Rolls Royce’ headset NEW

already using open floor quite like it in the market. In to 1Portal plans. And some companies The world particular, we’ve had great are going one step further feedback about the audio with so called ‘activity of work is quality and the effectiveness based working’ that uses changing as of the adaptive ANC (active hot desking and other noise cancellation).” arrangements. Consequently, unified comms employees don’t have a As part of Sennheiser UK’s fixed desk at their office environments reseller programme the location at all, instead the company offers detailed office workspace is designed mature training to partners at its according to daily needs – Marlow HQ site. “Resellers with areas for concentration, and open are also welcome to visit us communication and plan offices at any time,” said Craven. collaboration – enabled “We will also visit their 10Gb by mobile, flexible devices become the premises where we can or cloud services. demonstrate our products, norm talk more about their benefits Unfortunately, open plan and address technical queries offices have gained a bad and we are the only company to help increase business. We Instant pricing now reputation. They have been with that solution now.” provide full demonstration cited as the cause for stress, and training, and can also available on 1Portal illness, conflicts among the Here in the UK, the do demonstrations for end staff and most significantly MB660 can be acquired users on reseller’s behalf. a lack of concentration via distributors Corporate – with 69 per cent of all Telecom, Duplex, Nimans, “Resellers can apply for employees dissatisfied with Tech Data, Westcoast and special price agreements IP traffic is set to grow the level of noise at their Westcon, and Sennheiser UK via thebluespace.co.uk or current workplace. With a Director of Sales & Marketing their Sennheiser distributor. at a compound annual rate per unit retail price tag of Jane Craven reports a positive If they introduce us to an £385 the MB660 is pricey, reaction to the solution. opportunity there is an of 22% from 2015 to 2020* but it has a unique place “People have commented additional Deal Registration within these modern business that there’s nothing else margin available to them.” n environments according to Sennheiser’s Brian Are your customers ready? Brorsbol, Director of Product Management: “It’s not the lowest price point, but when you look at what you get in your hand and the needs you address, I think it is a good We enable our Partners to deliver high price. If you can increase the bandwidths at the click of a button. productivity and well being of your employees, it’s a small Ordering 10Gb can be business as usual amount compared to the big with: picture,” he commented. • Automated quoting “This product is not for everybody in an organisation • Market leading commercials it addresses a specific user • No feasibility survey required profile and their needs in a really good way. It’s a highly professional communications product that looks like any other headphone but you don’t see what’s under the helmet. The business solution is under there and that The MB660 headset 0344 884 0800 combination is very unique [email protected] www.virtual1.com

Maximise your call margins with Daisy Wholesale. * Cisco - http://bit.ly/295hnsl

www.comms-dealer.com COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 31 SPECIALCOMMS VISIONREPORT CONVENTION 2016 Gleneagles 9-11 November www.commsvision.com A Vision of leadership

The revolution in comms has begun and the quest to achieve excellence in business is even more challenging, so we kick off this year’s Comms Vision Convention event review by focusing on keynote speaker Dave Alred MBE, EVENT REVIEW the maker of world beaters and driver of performance improvement...

bliged by some development. “Why do kids is to follow process and primal urge to learn quicker than adults?” stay focused,” said Alred. think negatively, he asked. “It’s attitude. They we default into are excited when successful, Above all, he gave an Oa cocoon of ‘comfort and simply try again when intelligent indication of zone’ security and our they fail. But adults are how to bring discipline into very own behaviour hard wired to the idea of play and fashion a better fosters the outcomes we failure when not matching performing business, rather hope to avoid. So says their intentions. The human than default at every turn Comms Vision speaker brain goes straight to the into a sterile world of self- and leading performance consequences of failure limiting conventions and coach Dave Alred MBE, before celebrating success. assumptions. “Fear of failure who would reform the keeps people in the comfort entire concept of failure and “We need the enthusiasm zone,” commented Alred. even proposes that human of a child. It’s never too “But the Ugly Zone is where potential has barely been late to change and grow. If it all happens. How can we tapped, and is ultimately enthused correctly people get into that area? We need an unknown quantity. will do anything. We are to inject more enthusiasm, not even scratching the vibe and excitement into Alred displays a rare surface of human potential. what we do, and create a enthusiasm for what is What stops us from wow factor that enables us possible and, if it was within succeeding? Convention to improve and succeed.” his power, he would ban becomes our sanctuary and the word ‘failure’ as it is attitude protects the status Key points not in the human interest. quo. It takes courage to Dave Alred • Effort is success, there is “People can perform,” he change. So fully consider no such thing as failure said. “They will always get conventions and assumptions • Any marginal there in the end. If not there and how they can block Convention doesn’t challenge improvement is winning yet, it’s not the end.” the road to progress.” people, nor does fear of • Injecting enthusiasm, vibe and excitement into what Alred’s approach to Conventional pitfalls failure. As managers and we do creates a wow factor performance improvement Nurturing people to defy • Building self esteem was clear from the off and convention and perform coaches we can change that creates commitment he wanted no ‘playing better also challenges • Start assuming you will safe’ from the audience. business leaders to enable vulnerability because change improve their performance is succeed and progress “Convention does not improvement. They should introduces new processes, to encourage people to do • Defy convention. You’ll be challenge people, nor does be mindful of the pitfalls of and when under pressure we a seven foot standing long in the race, but never win fear of failure. As managers conventional assessment, may doubt what we can do jump. During the process • Always praise the and coaches we can change such as marks out of ten and unpick procedures that they tip towards a point of commitment and attitude that,” he commented. which stifle development. should be second nature. But, no return. This process needs before the outcome “Such methods create a believes Alred, harbouring to be ingrained through Sticking to conventional mental ceiling and even enthusiasm and assumptions ongoing practice which About Dave Alred MBE ways will only reinforce the slow down the journey of success creates a new enables the act to be done Dave Alred MBE is a leading status quo that is a grim to the top,” added Alred. level of activity and a positive more deliberately. But when performance coach whose legacy of growing up, noted “There should be no limits vibe, which in turn supports the consequence of failure achievements include Alred. And the effects of to what we can do.” learning and development. is higher (for example, the nurturing rugby world cup all this will only be curbed same jump but between two winner Jonny Wilkinson and by overturning long held Going for success may One of Alred’s tactics when buildings), the fear interferes helping Luke Donald become assumptions about personal perforce introduce a state of helping companies to with the process. “The key the world’s top golfer. n

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32 COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 www.comms-dealer.com www.commsvision.com Gleneagles 9-11 November COMMS VISION CONVENTIONSPECIAL REPORT 2016 Passing the true Segments of one override test of strategy spray & pray o business plan goes unchallenged usinesses must an extent disempowered and the true test offer far more than businesses by taking control of any strategy traditional marketing of ‘knowledge’. And Nlies in its formation which techniques if they customers are intolerable is a matter of clear adaptive Bare serious about growth to sub-standard service. leadership, according to 8x8 and strategy, according commissioned speaker Kevin to Comms Vision speaker “This all means that Uphill, Chairman of business Allister Frost, founder and businesses must improve,” strategist Avondale. He urged Managing Consultant at added Frost. “Organisations delegates to move from Wild Orange Media. must learn to play the management to leadership, long game, create new map the line of probability, If marketing messages are marketing messages and explore parallel sectors, make to remain relevant to their build relationships that decisions more collaboratively, target audiences they must can be nurtured. Prospects and watch and listen with extend their influence to must not be rushed, they eyes and ears wide open. the ‘segment of one’, he should be given information told delegates, and this on their terms - helping Why? Because too many can only be achieved by is the new selling.” businesses are stripped of alleviating historic divisions proper long-term planning Kevin Uphill between marketing and The language of marketing according to Uphill who IT departments. “IT needs is no longer a language prescribed a remedy to From this space will emanate a product perspective. They to understand marketing of action and hoped-for bring strategy back to the building blocks needed must become idea businesses and see it as an enabler for reaction. It’s interactions that the boardroom table. In a to construct a viable long- as opposed to product growth,” he stated. “The count most and this dynamic keynote address to Comms term strategy that delivers focused operations, believes marketing versus IT divide has driven an evolution in Vision delegates he praised a competitive advantage in Uphill. And with no clear cannot continue. Data is content marketing. And those leaders who are a fast changing market. strategy they may struggle to key to making marketing there is a clear danger in determined to transform communicate why they are messages hyper-relevant. This hyping blanket messages their business and defy Space to think better than the alternatives. is your big opportunity.” that should sensibly be more ‘default’ behaviours. “Get into the strategy targeted and individualised. space,” urged Uphill. “Many “Look at consultancy Frost, who has spent 25 years “The market is accelerating leaders avoid this move models,” he added. “What working in big organisations “Marketing is no longer and we need to deal with because it’s uncomfortable, does the customer really such as Microsoft, now gives a case of ‘spray and pray’ that pace of change through less certain, hands-off and want? How are they a helping hand to companies to see what sticks,” noted strategy, so leadership is doesn’t feel like work. To operating collaboratively? wanting to evolve in line with Frost. “It should be laser important,” he stated. “As take practical leadership What silos need to be how technology is fuelling targeted to reach specific leaders, bring the team with steps we must put ourselves removed to create an overall the customer experience. people in a short space you, give staff ‘permission’ aside, listen and watch technology roadmap?” “It’s commonly said that we of time. Marketing is with clear roles and more carefully, and dedicate live in a Digital World where now about talking to an responsibilities. Take time out more time to competitor Uphill also urged delegates to screens are cheap and offer a increasingly smaller group on business design, always analysis. By researching our consider whether they need window into wider realities,” of people, and saying the ask why you’re better than environment we can overlay to pursue acquisitions as part he added. But it’s not a right things to the right competitors and articulate the macro and micro picture of their strategy. “The M&A Digital World, it’s Our World people at the right time.” that succinctly to customers.” which helps us to identify sector is alive with activity and there’s no reverse gear. the line of probability which because of general slow We are irreversibly changed This tech-fuelled reaction to Uphill presented plenty of in turn determines how growth,” he commented. and hyper-informed with customers should encourage evidence to show that one we can take advantage.” “There are too many more access to information all channel marketers to think form of leadership does businesses offering the same sources than ever before. differently. “As technology better than others - mainly by The market is converging, services with diminishing We become welded to the and automation moves us inserting clear space between getting faster and smarter, margins. Therefore, acquire technology we trust.” forward, the ‘segment of day-to-day management software is nibbling at companies that together one’ has emerged,” added activities to create conditions margins, and resellers will will create disruption, which Hyper-connected consumers Frost. “Personally tailored that meet the requirements struggle to bring value if in turn generates greater are no longer the messages will be key.” n of true leadership. they talk to customers from shareholder value.” n underdog. They have to Continued on page 34

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www.comms-dealer.com COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 33 SPECIALCOMMS VISIONREPORT CONVENTION 2016 Gleneagles 9-11 November www.commsvision.com Why ignoring change is the biggest destabiliser

or resellers the lesson is stark yet positive: Neglecting the need to change could Fbe the biggest destabiliser of their business, but embracing new models and unconventional approaches will yield massive benefits and be far more transformative in the long-term. “The greatest issue with digitalisation is redefining traditional business models,” stated Comms Vision panel debate host John Chapman. “We need to think outside the square, especially with new competitors emerging from left of field.”

Resellers should take the lead in two modern-day tech Comms Vision panelists debate the big industry opportunities and challenges revolutions, in software and computing, noted panelist Alex Tempest, Director of The greatest issue with digitalisation is redefining traditional Partners, TalkTalk Business. “Software apps is a huge business models. We need to think outside the square, market,” she said. “Some are commoditised, but they are especially with new entrants emerging from left of field exploding out of innovation and our market is a natural industry better,” she added. forgotten outpost of a hype and working out how ‘agility’ and it’s not going place for software to reside “One example is the crumbling ‘old world’ of we can be smarter with APIs away. Partners need to “For example, SDN provides future role of robotics. So communications. But DRD for example. The industry manage this change.” platform innovation and the channel needs to do CEO Dave Dadds offered is exciting, but we need intelligent networks. It some housekeeping and some golden nuggets of to get the basics right by Debate soundbites enables us to go into ask whether it trusts the strategic direction. “The reversing our thinking.” “The more people networks and bespoke innovation and disruption market we are moving into communicate, the more flexible solutions. Key brought in by new entrants. is far bigger than the one The future success of reseller relevant we are as an considerations for the we’re leaving behind,” he business will also be indicated industry, which underlines channel are partner “The consumer space is commented. “It’s an exciting by their capacity to create the viability of the channel. choice and whether their also innovative, and that future, not in telephony, but market potency based on Our role is to support, skill sets allow them innovation flows into the software and technology agility and simplified go-to- educate and train.” to be competitive.” B2B market where customers such as analytics. market models. “Voice is an David Axam, Head of have more to consider. So application unshackled from Hosted, BT Wholesale Those resellers still working we take the best of what the “We spend time looking at telephony,” stated David under the shadow of archaic consumer market offers. This where we are. It used to be a Axam, Head of Hosted, BT “This is the most exciting and time-limited modes of stretches us as an industry case of focusing on the end Wholesale. “But it’s about time to be alive. We have all operation will lose out to – disruption and innovation product, but we need to go making that app easy to the tools we need and a wide more nimble forward looking are two areas of growth.” back and assess how we are use and consume. This is choice of who we can go to. rivals, believes Tempest. delivering and supporting key. It’s where the value The big question is where “New players challenge The danger for resellers services. This means being lies. Furthermore, platforms to keep all the money.” conventional thinking, and without a whisper of lateral more introspective, stepping constantly evolving with Clayton Nash, Head of they tell us how to make our thinking is to become a back, ignoring much of the software updates. That’s Products, CityFibre n

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34 COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 www.comms-dealer.com www.commsvision.com Gleneagles 9-11 November COMMS VISION CONVENTIONSPECIAL REPORT 2016 Rediscovering Reasons to join creative talent left in the past the culture club or all the challenges usiness leaders and that the industry staff alike have a regularly heaps vested interest in on channel closing the gap Fcompanies, they have Bbetween their near non- one particular strength, existent capacity as adults their capacity to respond to think outside the box to new circumstances by and their more creative developing a strong and past selves. On the decline embedded culture that can of creative genius, Jamie Jamie Anderson be leveraged as a competitive Anderson, academic, author advantage. Lending force to and Comms Vision speaker, we do? Education and deeply these arguments, Gamma Bob Falconer states the case for culture noted that our capacity to ingrained habits condition CEO Bob Falconer spoke of think creatively plummets our minds to think in a institutionalising culture to wire it to the less grandiose people affect the whole from 98 per cent in the certain way. Our experience make it self-maintaining. realm of cunning plans. team and drags them up-to-six year age group would be valuable in a “You don’t shout culture to down, so hire well and fire to next to nothing in fully linear environment, but the staff, you do it by example,” “The term ‘strategy’ is well (in the nicest way). fledged grown ups. “Just world is divergent therefore he stated in a Comms Vision misunderstood,” he added. Culture must be protected 2 per cent of adults think life experience can create panel debate. “Some big “It means ‘plan’, and once and institutionalised.” divergently,” he said. “They barriers when trying to organisations plaster culture you have a plan it needs stand to gain a bigger slice deliver results. We must be posters all over their walls. to be continually reviewed. Debate soundbites of more complex markets open to lifelong education They think they can create a In our business we have to “Strategy and culture go that require new thinking.” and create an environment in culture by printing one. Every change and adapt. Culture hand in hand. We set out which creativity is fostered. CEO has a duty to make helps us to achieve that.” a moral compass and take The innocence of new borns the workplace great, and a people on the journey has been iconised since time “There is a difference duty to eliminate negativity. Protection with us. Without culture immemorial. Less widely between intelligence and People hate tension and The Comms Vision debate on it’s a long hard slog.” lauded is a child’s innate creative thinking. The politics in the office.” culture and strategy became Roy Shelton, CEO, ITS capacity to think divergently, brilliantly intelligent can an encounter with the day a powerful attribute that also be too focused and Since prescribing a company to day realities of managing “When culture is is all-but quashed by the harbour a narrow field of culture is impossible, the people. While it is clear done properly the passage of time and life view. We need liquidity in scale of leadership in its that culture does not beat RoI is incredible.” experiences. According to thinking processes to find development is easy to strategy, recruitment glitches Henry Warren, Innovation Anderson, rediscovering our many different perspectives, measure, and without will certainly defeat culture. and Product Development latent fount of creativity is redefine the problem and culture, strategy is immaterial “The danger is making Consultant the catch-all salve to today’s build it into strategies. and growth inconceivable. recruitment mistakes,” said key strategic challenges. It’s about sensibility, And according to Falconer, Falconer. “These must be “It’s critical to have a originality and flexibility. we’d be wise to separate addressed quickly. If the strong culture. It beats And his keynote address was the notion of strategy from culture is infiltrated it will strategy all day long.” a piece of pure inspiration as “In a complex market we majestic visions and hard be destroyed. Disruptive David Pollock, CEO, Chess n he examined the audience’s must develop business capacity for creative thinking models that are different. with a display of revealing It takes time to understand Comms resellers already providing value added tactics, some interactive, market dynamics and solve services are in a prime position to attack the some slightly unnerving complexity, and we need the world’s fastest growing and most profitable (such as sketching a portrait motivation to learn new skills, industry – software – according to Comms Vision of the person sat next to be curious about developing speaker Hans Peter Bech, author and economist. you), all designed to put markets. Without curiosity “Software is creeping into everything and the some creative oomph back we cannot learn. We must industry has low barriers to entry,” he stated. into delegates’ businesses. question our environments “But software is situational, its value lies in its and cultures, take time context and the volume of services resellers “What drives linear to reflect, identify our can deliver such as consultancy and operational thinking?” stated Anderson. inspirations and boost our excellence, creating customer intimacy.” >p36 “Why do we think the way creative thinking.” n

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www.comms-dealer.com COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 35 SPECIALCOMMS VISIONREPORT CONVENTION 2016 Gleneagles 9-11 November www.commsvision.com Gamma flexes Top ten ways to remodel as mobile muscle an innovator amma’s flexing of mobile muscle reflects a new oo many CEOs are campaign to give held hostage by Gpartners the clout they need their emotional and to disrupt an outdated mobile financial investment industry, according to CEO Tin the status quo, claimed Bob Falconer who delivered Henry Warren, Innovation a lively presentation on day and Product Development one of Comms Vision 2016. Consultant, who knows There is one sure way to his stuff and worked on take on the mobile market, the 2008 Barack Obama Henry Warren believes Falconer – give campaign. In an address to channel partners the power Comms Vision delegates 7) Listen: Listen to of customer ownership Bob Falconer he urged CEOs to bring customers and those around – and in partnership with more innovation into their them. The most valuable Three he has done just that. for the channel and more challengers have been held companies based on his investment is to listen. “Over the past 20 years control for the networks.” back, but with Gamma we 10 point game plan. choice has been reduced,” are shifting the market.” 8) Communication: The bigger he stated. “We’ve broken Richard Woodward, Chief 1) The story: Before the company the harder it the model with credible Financial Officer, Three, As Gamma marches deeper innovation can be introduced is to communicate. Creating differentiated services.” told delegates that the into mobile territory with a business must start with a communities is an art form business sector was an Three by its side Falconer’s narrative told by the CEO. All and may require outside help. Gamma is now a full MVNO untapped market for Three message to the channel businesses will be disrupted having acquired a mobile and that it entered this is strong and clear. “We at some point and will require 9) Little guys: You will never core and invested millions space with a challenger give control to partners the ability to innovate out of employ the majority of smart to provide a converged mentality offering ‘sensible in real-time,” he said. disruption based on a ‘story’. people so partnering is services proposition. “The wholesale terms’. “Gamma “Gamma enables partners recommended. Be generous reality is that we need is a vital part of Three’s go to be thin MVNOs. We’re 2) Leadership: Consider with your time, network control of fixed and mobile to market and has access to also developing our own where you prioritise, and resources and the networks,” added Falconer. our data network,” stated converged Horizon, SIP and invest and support. results could be incredible. “The mobile industry is Woodward. “We see the mobile product to provide now vertically integrated business market as ripe for partners with differentiated 3) Focus: Put a spotlight on 10) Teamwork: Identify the which means less choice change. Smaller, innovative integrated services.” n the shape of your innovation entrepreneurs, people who portfolio and consider how make things happen and to allocate resources. It’s all bring them together. n A fresh wave of technological innovation and a strong push about the right balance. for closer partner relationships has unleashed a new phase of Visionary viewpoints intense activity within BT Wholesale, revealed James Hennah, 4) Inconceivable: People may not understand innovation, Managing Director of Fixed and VP of Media and Broadcast. “Decision making now and top of the list here are In a keynote address to Comms Vision delegates Hennah sits more with marketing CFOs. You need to educate provided insights into the strategies behind BT Wholesale and digital directors. them, so always work and Ventures, including a drive to broaden and deepen This changes how collaboratively with Finance. partner relationships, bring together fixed and mobile assets organisations buy.” following the EE acquisition, while investing in portals Andy Roberts, CEO, Sabio and B2B gateways to integrate closer with the channel 5) Organ rejection: The “At the user level the – all happening apace against a backdrop of technological immune system may attack industry needs to make advancements in areas such as G.fast+, 5G, optical services and M2M. “Portal development a foreign body. It’s the same things simple to create within businesses. Share in hosted comms has driven 200 per cent growth this year,” stated Hennah. value. From the channel ownership and get people Another hot topic, ‘killing’ telecoms fraud, is also in growth mode following the launch perspective, new portals invested in the project. of an intelligent call analysis solution. “And we’re seeing growth from the economics of make services easy to use owning and managing platforms, which is a difficult and relentless task,” commented and far more accessible.” Agile methods Hennah. “BT Wholesale has witnessed significant uptake of hosted Centrex and SIP lines, 6) Agility: Charles Aylwin, Channel along with BT’s integrated field services proposition.” are good at teasing out the Director, 8x8 next growth opportunity.

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36 COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 www.comms-dealer.com www.commsvision.com Gleneagles 9-11 November COMMS VISION CONVENTIONSPECIAL REPORT 2016

The spectacular setting for Comms Vision The Scottish theme was a highlight of the event Delegates voted the content the best ever

Gamma CEO Bob Falconer was as insightful as ever Renowned sports coach Dave Alred MBE was inspirational Allister Frost gave a marketing masterclass

The panel debates presented a plethora of views Professor Jamie Anderson demonstrated incredible creative Intensive channel business was conducted in the sponsor thinking boardrooms

Time to relax after a hard day’s work! The Comms Dealer TV Studio provided a platform for wider The black tie after event ball was a Gleneagles masterpiece thought leadership www.comms-dealer.com COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2016 37 HEADLINE SPONSOR

“We were thrilled to be named double winners “We use the award in all of our collateral and it in the 2016 awards. Bringing the whole channel has helped to elevate us in the minds of clients, community together, our award success gave the potential clients and prospective stakeholders. ProVu team the recognition they deserve in front of It has also given our employees a real morale the whole industry and we look forward to being boost, increased confidence in our own abilities part of them again in 2017.” and has helped to push our marketing to the next level.” Darren Garland, ProVu Communications, Best Distributor Account Team and Best James Waplington, Lily, Best Reseller Distributor Marketing Team 2016 Marketing Team 2016

“The CDS&M Awards is a great opportunity to “The awards help build a sense of pride. These celebrate fantastic success and recognise the awards remind us to stop and pat ourselves on the channel’s sales and marketing team. For Entanet, back. Our win did stir local PR and increase web winning both the Channel Marketing Team of the traffic. I was stopped by people in shops, even by Year and Channel Account Team of the Year this my son’s headmaster, congratulating us on our year was the icing on the cake. It was an amazing success. Awards work!” day!” Shahram Bagherzadeh, Best Small Reseller Darren Farnden, Entanet, Best Vendor Sales Team 2016 Sales Team and Best Vendor Marketing Team 2016

“Winning Reseller Sales Team of the Year again “NSN has enjoyed a fantastic boost to morale was a proud moment and being presented with and to our marketing programme with partners the Overall Large Sales Team of the Year for the and customers alike. Our partners have been second time felt incredible. The affirmation of energised by this and incorporating the award Focus’ market positioning and being an attractive logo in all of our partner marketing confirms our company to work for was a great morale boost” commitment to supporting their sales process every step of the way.” Chris Goodman, Focus, Best Reseller Sales Team and Best Overall Sales Team 2016 Ryan Kersey, NSN, Best Medium Reseller Sales Team 2016

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KCOM_CommsDealer_PartnerAd6_2016.indd 1 10/11/2016 12:40:32 COMPANY PROFILE Dadds picks up baton

adds was named whatever comes your way. FCS chairman in Or you can throw a few bob the summer, taking into the hat with the rest of Dover from Spitfire us, and pay for FCS to stand founder Jason Orde who had up for the channel.” held the role for five years. As well as overseeing the In terms of his FCS leadership organisation’s funding, Dadds role, it looks like chairman is committed to making sure Dadds and CEO Chris member telecoms and IT Pateman will have their hands business are well represented full in the months ahead. when legal or regulatory issues arise and leading the “The key issues we see for Dave Dadds charge when Ofcom needs the sector going forward are reminding of the channel’s fibre roll out for all, Fixed Line influence and importance. It’s As well as running his highly successful hosted platform Number Porting, Toll Fraud a role he enjoys, and he has and UK National Mobile the experience to fulfil the business Vanilla IP, Dave Dadds is now chairman of Roaming along with better tasks it demands, having wholesale agreements for the been active in the telecoms industry watchdog the Federation of Communications channel. industry for three decades. Services and in these turbulent times hopes for a “And of course we want Apart from his time as a Openreach to be better. We toolmaking apprentice and a membership surge in 2017. want proper, open wholesale short two-year stint at BT, access to mobile. We want Dadds has always been his demand’ sector, which Dadds you just can’t afford the and saved the industry about customers to understand that own boss. DRD puts down to the team he overhead of a regulatory, £1m on that issue alone. responsibility for securing Communications, the has built since taking his leap compliance and legal team. their businesses against fraud business he set up in the late of faith into the Cloud a FCS makes these elements “Coming more up to date, doesn’t just rest with their eighties is now the trading decade ago. available to its members. we now have Ofcom talking suppliers. We want to make company behind the UK about separating Openreach sure government doesn’t distribution and reseller “I have an amazing team “FCS has always been about from BT and the DCMS overlook resellers in its rush business VanillaIP and the both here in the UK and in providing a resource and a (Department for Culture, to give us 5G everywhere and international brand Uboss. India. Although we are voice to ensure members’ Media and Sport), calling for fibre to all premises. And we com. He also ran a serviced known in the Industry for needs are clearly explained universal (FTTP) Fibre To The want a fair and level playing office business under the providing HPX services via our and fully understood by Premises and competition at field where the channel can DRD umbrella which was sold Broadsoft relationship, the Ofcom and policy-makers. At the wholesale level. The FCS really compete for public in 2005, creating the financial biggest factor in our UK and its simplest, it provides a championed these causes sector contracts. boost he needed to fulfil his International success is Uboss means of pooling the early.” ambitions in the cloud space. our application and service channel’s resources and best- “People see threats from delivery platform. Without practice. And it ensures that Dadds argues that the Brexit, threats from 5G, “We could see the promise of this it would be much more we spend the money only unheard, smaller businesses threats from IoT and threats the changes in connectivity difficult to add real value for once, between us, rather in the industry that do not from hosted. FCS sees a and the options that might our partners .” than individually re-inventing have the resources to fight hugely dynamic market, full open up. Our organisation the wheel.” wrongdoing or unwarranted of opportunity for resellers has totally transitioned from So how and why did Dadds legal claims or push for who are fleet of foot and not the PBX sales and installation decide to get heavily involved In answer to the Monty change, are FCS’s key wedded to a single company we started in 1986. with FCS? Pythonesque ‘what has the constituents. technology or a single Today, with the emergence of FCS ever done for us’ business model. In fact, the cloud, and the API-driven “For me the industry needs a question Dadds is forthright. “FCS is there for anyone because FCS’s membership environment we are in, all central voice that can who’s in comms. How else do already embraces everything our businesses are in the communicate with the “Well, to go from the you get heard? You can from radio spectrum policy software development regulator Ofcom, government sublime to the ‘cor blimey’, employ your own corporate and telematics to mobile business at some level.” departments and diverse remember when Openreach affairs people, like BT and phone recycling, we already groups associated with the started retrospectively billing Virgin and Sky. Or you can have access to the finest The DRD group is expected to communications industry in comms providers for five spend hours of executive time minds in the converging hit a £6million plus turnover one way or another. Unless years of ‘special phone book getting your opinions heard market. So FCS will be an this year with all revenues you are one of the very big entries’? FCS went in to bat in the ears that matter. Or ever more useful resource for coming from the Cloud ‘on telcos or mobile operators on behalf of the members, you can just grin and bear the channel in the future.” n

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0808 280 0000 | [email protected] | www.marstonstelecoms.com www.comms-dealer.com comms dealer DECEMBER 2016 41 CHRISTMAS Kaleidoscope It’s beginning to look a lot like a Christmas party

The Fidelity Group Christmas party is a highlight of the festive season! We all look forward to the opportunity to celebrate the successes of the year gone, show our staff gratitude for their hard work and to strengthen our team dynamic for the year ahead. Our company culture is team-focused and contributes to job satisfaction, higher productivity and more sustained motivation and success in the long term. The team look forward to the fun they will have together unwinding at the end of the year Ah, the annual conundrum. Should but this can be dangerous as bash, and the stories that will come after! In you organise a Christmas bash or you must really know your staff the end, we work hard, but we play hard too. use the money to give employees and what’s going on in their At Fidelity, we love a party! a festive bonus? Which will be lives. Giving Joe the avid golfer a most appreciated by your staff? round at a top course would be TIM HOLWAY According to research, in order perfect, but presenting arty Lynn FIDELITY GROUP to make employees feel like in HR with two tickets for Les they have received reward and Miserables might end in tears if We have expanded our team significantly over recognition, bonuses would need nobody tells you she’s currently the past year and have had several new people to be close to 7% of salary. Costly going through a painful divorce! join the team in recent weeks. As a result, this yes, but you do get to avoid the Generally, (and no surprises year we will be hosting a Christmas party as embarrassing, end of party, alcohol here) it would seem that most an opportunity for colleagues to spend time fuelled ‘I love you mate I really channel companies still prefer together outside of the office and get to know one another better. It will be within working do’ conversation in the loo or the a ‘proper party’ to celebrate hours and more informal than previous years, visit to casualty in the early hours the year gone and set the tone to suit the mix of personality types and because because Dean the 16 stone trainee for the year ahead, maybe we feel it’s important that everyone can attend. thought it would be hilarious to combined with a charitable Rather than provide bonuses across the board, photocopy his posterior but it was enterprise which is laudable. all pay increases awarded are performance driven as we find this is more motivational in he who ended up in stitches. Whatever option you choose the long-term. We also run a programme of Some companies prefer the less have a great one. We are social events throughout the year to welcome costly strategy of buying specific, fortunate people and have a and reward colleagues. DARREN SALISBURY meaningful gifts for each employee, lot to celebrate...cheers! INFORM BILLING

Time to celebrate the season, pay thanks for This year Invosys will be holding a Christmas a successful year or deliver extra reward for party for the team. It’s party season and time a year of commitment to the company cause. for everyone to let their hair down after a Often misconceived as a given, but many year of hard work. But it’s about more than businesses are still unable to do this for their just festive cocktails and dodgy dance moves. teams. At Bamboo, we are lucky; we can follow At Invosys, our staff are the lifeblood of our the trend of saying thank you at a jolly time of business and we have an incredibly tight-knit the year, so we ask our managers to organise team where everyone is valued and plays an the Christmas dinner, dance and drinks for the important role in our success. The “Christmas whole team and their partners. We aren’t into Do” is a brilliant opportunity to build on grand gestures of holidays abroad, Christmas this, from the excitement in the build-up, the hampers or festive financial bonuses – that’s night itself, to bonding over bacon butties the simply because we know our team love a good following day. Teams who don’t usually work party that they can get to easily, dance like together have an opportunity to chat to others crazy and then collapse from in comfort, with and you can’t beat a night out to help new friends. starters feel at home. LORRIN WHITE PETER CROOKS BAMBOO TECHNOLOGY INVOSYS

42Comms COMMS Dealer (470x40mm) DEALER FA1 20160524.inddDECEMBER 1 2016 www.comms-dealer.com 24/05/2016 13:13 CHRISTMAS Kaleidoscope It’s beginning to look a lot like a Christmas party

We have two companywide social gatherings Nimans is one big family and hosts a lavish every year. One is in the summer to York Christmas party for staff and their partners each Racecourse Music Showcase, and the other is year with a free bar, traditional three course the Lily Comms Christmas party. It’s part of our meal and entertainment. It’s our Chairman company culture to celebrate our successes, Julian’s way of thanking everyone for their and the end of the year is the perfect time for efforts. Even during the tough economic times us all to come together in relaxed surroundings when many companies were cutting back Julian and reflect on what we’ve achieved. It’s an held a staff party at a top North West hotel. opportunity for everyone to bond and have It brings people and different departments conversations outside of the work environment. together, builds camaraderie and gets everyone The Christmas party is an integral part of the in the festive spirit. Lily Comms fabric. It enables us all to look back on what’s been and look forward to what’s to come, together as one big family.

CHRIS MORRISEY PHIL GEE LILY COMMS NIMANS

Coming off the back of our rebrand to Oak We will again be hosting our Christmas party Innovation and our new ‘ideas that change at the magnificent Lowry Theatre in Media everything’ strapline we’ve made 2016 a year City, Salford. As a company that supplies IT of change. After years of traditional turkey and and networking products to partners not just tinsel we asked for feedback and the feeling in the UK but globally, the festive season is a was to do something different and December great opportunity to bring all our team together is busy enough already. Therefore, we’ve under one roof and celebrate our achievements opted for our annual knees up in the New Year. in the past year. As we’ve been in business for Hopefully the feel good factor that follows will over 25 years we have developed into a close be better for Oak now it doesn’t coincide with knit family of experienced professionals who the Christmas shutdown. With respect to staff continue to support the existing core business bonuses we recognise the additional costs in and introduce new products such as the Ekahau December and hence historically this has been Wifi site survey, and leading European brands the time we have paid the largest bonuses each such as the Aethra router range and Borri UPS’s. year. There’s no need to change everything!

ADAM BARDSLEY SIMON CUMMINGS OAK INNOVATION SQUARE1

Our people are our most valuable commodity, Single venue large party with overnight stay, a teamwork and collaboration are core to the small party in town, staff only, or plus ones too? success of Virtual1. We host regular monthly So many variables, even before replacing or staff updates that are both business and social augmenting the party with an individual bonus events. These culminate in the annual Christmas is considered. Our plan is to combine a festive party and staff awards evening to reward the bonus with a large, kick-off black tie party in group for the hard work over the year. We January, held at a prestige venue with partners like to channel the seasonal goodwill into in attendance. We intend to set an upbeat fundraising activities too to support our chosen tone for the year and take the opportunity to charity partner Restless Development. So as bring all our 150+ staff together in a single well as the Christmas party, we will also be location ‘for one night only’. Guests will enjoy running a Christmas jumper day; movie night fine dining and an array of beverages, plus with mulled wine; various competitions and the dancing, prizes and maybe even some mildly opportunity to write a Christmas jingle which unseasonal fireworks to add that final gloss to will be shared on social media to raise further an undoubtedly memorable occasion. funds. TOM O’HAGAN MARK SAUNDERS VIRTUAL1 NINE WHOLESALE

Comms Dealer (470x40mm) FA1 20160524.indd 1 www.comms-dealer.com COMMS DEALER DECEMBER24/05/2016 2016 13:13 43 COMMS PEOPLE Ofcom exec joins BT Haining set

Pressure from Ofcom on BT to bring more independence to its Openreach division has prompted the telco to appoint for Pragma Mike McTighe as the first Chairman of its local fixed network business. He brings substantial regulatory experience having Neil Haining has been an Ofcom board member for eight years between 2007 joined Pragma to 2015. BT has pledged to appoint additional independent as Operations members to the new Openreach board which will operate Director from early 2017 and be accountable for setting the strategy responsible and overseeing and managing the performance of Openreach, for technical working with CEO Clive Selley and his management team. support, cloud BT Chairman Sir Michael Rake said: “I remain hopeful infrastructure, that this significant move by BT can help to underpin a warehouse, sustainable, proportionate and fair regulatory settlement inventory, billing, that is in the interests of the whole country.” provisioning McTighe added: “It is clear that Openreach and order needs to up its game on service and regain the trust management. Neil Haining Mike McTighe of the people we serve in the industry and across His previous the UK. Clive is making great progress on both experience includes senior roles at distributors fronts and I look forward to working with him to ensure the UK has the best possible digital Westcon and Crane. Pragma Managing Director infrastructure. I also look forward to meeting with the many service providers who rely on Tim Brooks commented: “The business has grown Openreach services or who are keen to use its ducts and poles to build their own networks.” rapidly over the past few years and 2016 was no exception with 30 per cent growth year on year. Recruiting Neil means we can continue to build Also on the move... and scale the business and keep delivering the Nimans hires service which our partners value and trust.” Former Head of Haining added: “Pragma has a great Professional Services team, and working closely with Ericsson- at Cobweb Chris LG in South Korea enables us to keep Hoard has joined for CMO job innovating and supporting our partners.” Westcoast as Head of Cloud Professional Stephen McIntyre Services, a newly has joined Nimans created role. Mark as Group Chief Davies, Cloud Services Payne shifts to Director, said: “Chris’ Marketing Officer. brief is to work closely He brings 32 years with our partners experience as a senior Timico position to supplement and marketer working Chris Hoard enhance their cloud- Stephen McIntyre in a number of Timico has named based capabilities strategic roles and Simon Payne as Chief and offerings.” Hoard added: “Westcoast is the first will leverage his knowhow across various disciplines Commercial Officer, a distie to hit 100,000 CSP seats and I can’t wait to such as digital and print-based communications. He newly created role. He start helping the company to grow even faster.” moved from Ultraframe, one of Europe’s leading brings over 20 years manufacturers of conservatory roofs and extension experience in the ICT Martin Classen has joined Swyx as CTO, replacing systems. “I’m looking forward to helping Nimans industry and joins Joao Gonzaga who becomes Chief Product Officer (CPO). Classen brings 15-plus years experience enhance its reputation in a variety of high profile from Capita where in the IT and ways, working with key trading partners as well he was Managing Simon Payne communications as the reseller community,” stated McIntyre. Director within the sector across a Capita IT Enterprise Services division, leading the number of industries. team that provides IT, UC and network solutions Previously he and support to local and central government and held senior roles Mansell’s move commercial clients across a variety of sectors. Prior at Innotec and TeleWare’s hire of Lee Mansell as Product to Capita he spent six years at Damovo, latterly as NetCologne and joins Manager increases the firm’s focus on developing CEO charged with leading a business turnaround, Swyx from PMCS. its Customer Experience Analytics offering taking on the role of Managing Director of Daisy helpLine Software and TeleWare Communication Manager (TCM) Group after successfully negotiating the sale of Group where he was responsible solutions. Steve Haworth, CEO, said: “Lee has more Damovo UK & Ireland to the group in 2015. than 18 years experience in product management Ben Marnham, CEO, said: “We are poised Martin Classen for group-wide software product and deploying software and we know he’s the to enter the next stage in our development. development. “Martin fits very well with Swyx both right person to help us maintain our momentum.” Simon will further drive organic and non-organic personally and professionally. Together, we will Mansell joins from Gamma where he was Product growth, bringing with him a strong track record continue to promote the digitisation of SMEs in Manager. He previously worked at Intercall as of value creation and sales performance with the future,” commented Dr. Ralf Ebbinghaus, CEO. Hosted UC Product Manager and Rocom. particular expertise in managed services.”

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ELITETELE.COM’S ACQUISITION OF NETCENTRIX AND SYSTEMHOST BRINGS EARLY BENEFITS TO CUSTOMERS

Our 13th acquisition since 2008, we Ensuring our new employees feel com- bring synergies and joined up working. acquired NetCentrix and SystemHOST in fortable talking to us is the first step to We have overcome these by ensuring June broadening our capabilities in building relationships and trust. project teams are made up of employees cloud-based technologies and helping Importantly, NetCentrix and from both businesses aiding each other cement our position as the leading uni- SystemHOST’s employees report they feel in prioritising workloads and ensuring fied communications provider. Our aim secure and happy which means our the teams have a platform for reporting for any strategic acquisition is to double employee on-boarding process which back to the business if they need assis- the size of the acquired business in 24 encourages friendly discussion and direct tance or guidance. months and ensure little or no customer access to the senior team is working or employee churn. Five months since well. This has enabled us to move ahead Most importantly the similarities in our the NetCentrix and SystemHOST acquisi- with providing the new product suite to cultures have helped us create a tion we are on track to achieve this. our customers earlier than planned. smooth transition, for example in terms of team structure, HR policies, and Communication is vital in the early stag- We are already cross-selling our new IT social networking. In many respects, the es of an acquisition for both employees product suite to our corporate and SME businesses reminded us of Elite when and customers. Elite has worked closely customers, and NetCentrix and we were of a similar size, and this has with Phil Scanlon, who was Managing SystemHOST customers are benefitting made integration much simpler. Looking Director, NetCentrix and SystemHOST from our unified communications offer- ahead, managing growth will need and is now Commercial Director of IT ing. We have also acquired a knowledge- planning and focus as departments Services at Elite, to ensure communica- able and highly skilled technical team further integrate and sales grow, but tion has been at the forefront of all activ- who are able to support the new product that is a good challenge to have. ity. He has played a crucial role in help- set into our customer base. ing disseminate the right information to For further information on employees and customers alike and gain- We have rapidly overcome some chal- Elite’s acquisition programme ing their feedback as the acquisition has Alex Cliffe lenges on the way, including some com- please contact Alex Cliffe on progressed. Commercial Director, Elitetele.com plex technical integration projects which 0844 8758880.

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