Greg Mesch: The Harris on why cloud architect of a pure UC could come to fibre future P24 dominate P26 VOL 20 ISSUE 9 FEBRUARY 2016 www.comms-dealer.com Voice & Data Recording Contact Centre Reporting ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT OAK_Comms Dealer Ear FebTHE 2016 AW.indd 15/01/2016 1 HEARTBEAT 16:09 OF THE UK ICT INDUSTRYOAK_Comms Dealer Ear Feb 2016 AW.indd 15/01/2016 2 16:09 Get up & go with QuickStart Go created by for simple cloud billing 3-23 Industry News Catch up with “making partners events in comms SUCCESSFUL” 30 Market Analysis AccelerateWhy M&A’s a big your Profits deal in 2016 with a Software PBX www.channeltelecom.com 32 Business Matters BT-EE uber merger How the top players are performing WORKING 3CX Phone System TOGETHER ‘changes the game’ WITH PARTNERS 36 ‘The game is about to change for good’ claims Gamma’s CEO Bob Falconer •Business Software based: Profile Easy to install & manage Rebrand signals big following the CMA’s go-ahead for BT’s £12.5bn takeover of EE. •growth Inexpensive ambitions to buy and expand converged fixed-mobile servic- BT’s CEO Gavin Patterson 8x8.com/uk • Virtualize with Hyper-V or VMwareSPECIAL REPORT es,” stated Falconer (pictured). commented: “The combined BT •44 Leverage on existing hardwareThe deal brings together the “From the channel’s point of and EE will be a digital cham- UK’s biggest fixed line provid- view it is hard to see how this pion for the UK. 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Consumers,April_15.indd 1 20/03/2015 11:00 Company Profile er and largest mobile telecoms is anything other than both a businesses and communities How TWL got business and the Competition reduction in the choice of sup- will benefit as we combine the fit for business and Markets Authority (CMA) pliers and a strengthened com- power of fibre broadband with gave clearance for the acquisi- petitor in the retail market. the convenience of leading edge tion based on the belief that “The channel can therefore mobile services.” 61 there will be limited overlap in expect to compete against con- Following completion of retail markets and no significant verged offerings from BT in the deal Deutsche Telekom will Comms People lessening of competition arising the business market and to have gain 12% of BT’s shares and This month’s from the acquisition. ‘incentives’ to buy both fixed Orange 4%. A representative movers and shakers “BT has clearly stated its and mobiles services from BT at of Deutsche Telekom will be ambition to leverage the acqui- a wholesale level. The game is appointed to the BT Board. CD Strip_02.16.pdf 1 20/01/2016 11:41 sition to accelerate the sale of about to change for good.” More industry reaction – p28 www.comms-dealer.com A BPL BUSINESS MEDIA PUBLICATION T SUPPOR CATCH THE MARKET OPPORTUNITY Developing sales and marketing expertise is a key task for growth but it’s especially one of the most challenging tasks for businesses racing against time. Support lies at the heart of everything we do for our partners – from white label literature and direct sales assistance right through to highly experienced UK unscripted service call centres. At Entanet, our partners pick and choose what they need from us to accelerate their speed to market. When we say we’re here for our partners – we mean it. Discover the 3 easy steps to becoming an Entanet partner See www.enta.net/3steps or call us on 0333 101 0808 support-CD-Feb.indd 1 11/01/2016 14:32:37 INDUSTRY NEWS EDITOR’S COMMENT Annodata spurred SPRING is in the air so the subject of routes to growth is an apt one this month. In this issue we highlight and explore some of the strategies by 20% profit leap that a diverse group of comms companies, large and ANNODATA’s hopes of realis- small, are pursuing to achieve ing its £100m revenue target by business expansion this year. 2017 have been spurred by a Acquisitions are the flavour 20% jump in profits. The MSP’s annual financial Stuart Gilroy of the month, with BT-EE not surprisingly grabbing results for the year ending 30th the headlines (see page 28). Also in acquisition mode June 2015 also show revenues is CityFibre which has, at a stroke, greatly advanced its of £68.9m, up from £57.4m a plan to become an alternative pure fibre infrastructure year ago. provider following its purchase of KCOM’s national Annodata has been boost- fibre assets (excluding Hull and East Yorkshire) for £90 ed by the acquisitions of IT million. We got the inside story from the company’s infrastructure provider Keltec tenaciously ambitious CEO Greg Mesch (see page 24). in November 2014 and wide- While acquisitions dominate the news, other growth format print specialist STS in factors, such as going back to business basics, are also January 2015, strengthening explored this month. For example, Cardiff-based TWL its service portfolio to include has undergone a two year business fitness programme cloud hosting and ICT capabili- and is now pushing forward with an expansion plan ties, and creating opportunities Martin St Quinton based on organic and inorganic growth (see page 44). to cross-sell between the respec- Meanwhile, fast growing SIPHON Networks is advancing tive customer bases. ment team last year. Group Sales agement team – all things that a reseller engagement strategy that aims to catalyse the Joe Kelly, Annodata’s Group Director Rod Tonna-Barthet have helped to contribute to our cloud UC market, bringing new growth to partners (see Finance Director, said: “This became CEO. The company continued success. page 26). And Oxfordshire-based VoIP.co.uk’s rebrand has been a particularly good also appointed a new Finance “Businesses across the board to Firstcom this month is the latest strategic move year for Annodata and now that Director, Group Sales Director are trying to streamline the num- by Managing Director Adam Crisp who also pins his Keltec has been fully integrated and Commercial Director.