Colt is targeting a new set of agents and ramping up its channel activity following a period of double digit growth via partners.
The man at the centre of Colt's channel expansion bid is James Kershaw, Sales Director for the Indirect Channel. He joined the company in 2010 and manages channel development across its northern region. Previous roles include stints at Lixxus and Claranet; and he's seen a big shift in the market with customers wanting more consultancy and independent advice before signing up to a service. "This is primarily due to digitalisation which has brought with it a myriad of companies offering a variety of services, creating more information to digest than ever before. So identifying the right partner is not always a straightforward task," said Kershaw.
Colt is hoping to attract resellers with the skills to help companies move to the cloud and digitally transform their businesses, as well as manage this process with IT services. "Colt will enable partners to have a wider conversation with customers through a consultative service around their business challenges," stated Kershaw. "And help them to scope out a project based on a business outcome, not a piece of telecoms equipment or technology.
"These new agents will be able to support the business with the right storage, IT virtualisation and mobility operations alongside other solutions. Colt's high bandwidth network infrastructure will enable these information intensive businesses."
Kershaw has witnessed, in particular, greater usage of Colt's core data and voice products. "When looking at data, 1Gb and 10Gb circuits are now the norm, and we are continuously helping more of our customers connect to cloud providers," he said. "For voice, the migration to SIP/VoIP from traditional TDM has been significant year-on-year and, as well as immediate cost savings, customers have been able to utilise a wider range of features previously unavailable to them. These were the main contributors to the double digit growth Colt saw in its agent channel last year."
Colt's portfolio includes Software Defined Networks (SDN), Direct Cloud Access (DCA) and UC services. Kershaw says many agencies have won a number of complex pan-European deals and significantly grown their customer numbers by selling services such as these. "The agent model allows Colt to collaborate with customers on every level," noted Kershaw. "We must ensure that we can offer services to both our direct, larger and enterprise customers, as well as the vast number of SME accounts.
Companies want support throughout a business project and not just to be provided with a product such as mobile working or just selling phone lines. Organisations are becoming less sensitive and loyal to a technology, but instead want a combination of solutions to their business problems. The push for consultancy is also driven by large companies moving their infrastructure into the cloud, or starting new IT projects. They understand that this can't be handled in-house."
Colt's new consultancy model draws on experiences gained in the US and Germany where a fresh channel approach has already been deployed. "The agent model is well established in these two regions, and it has shown us that if executed and supported in the right way it is an invaluable route to market for us as a supplier and the end customer regardless of their size," commented Kershaw. "The 'sell with' model gets Colt closer to the end customers and allows us to better address the business need in every account, which means we can deliver a bespoke and relevant solution."
In the UK, the SME market accounts for 99 per cent of the operating businesses so companies like Colt need to adopt these types of agent models to increase their 'feet on the street' in order to grow the customer base. "Due to the vast number of companies in the UK SME market agents will help Colt to address a far wider proportion of businesses as an extended workforce," commented Kershaw. "At almost every level a customer now has far higher expectations from vendors such as Colt. Gone are the days where providers can set the expectations when it comes to initial delivery time, support hours or communication methods.
"Businesses now need services in days, or even hours, rather than months. They want to make a change in real-time without order forms or, in some cases, talking to us. Providers that aren't evolving or listening to the new fluid generation of CTOs, CIO and COOs will miss this natural evolution."
Colt's new partners enter the 'Flying Start' programme which offers a combination of learning platforms and materials. Portals keep partners and agents informed on the latest product releases, as well as educating them about related technical aspects that complement the product range. Colt has also introduced new measures to increase customer retention and minimise churn, covering the various customer touch points and the output score is reflected in an agent's development plan. "Colt agents, or trusted advisors, only need to focus on customers, everything else is covered," said Kershaw.•