One of Manchester's fast-growing tech businesses has boosted its expansion prospects with a new leadership team and hefty investments in the network, systems and processes. No longer the new kid on the block, Vaioni Wholesale seeks to complete the next phase of its project based on organic growth and a flourishing channel proposition.
Vaioni is knee-deep in opportunity, especially in its home region where initiatives such as Tech North are driving innovation. Not surprisingly, Manchester is already a vibrant city with many digital start-ups setting up camp there. "Our network offers extensive coverage in Manchester and we are also connected into Media City, which is great for our channel partners," commented Managing Director Sachin Vaish.
A new Juniper network gives Vaioni multiple 10Gb capacity along with significant capabilities across London, Leeds, Edinburgh and Dublin as well as Manchester. The company invested in its existing infrastructure to improve resiliency and boost capacity. "This is essential as businesses move towards the cloud, a key driver that prompted us to lay additional dark fibre," added Vaish. "The new LLU network, which connects London, Birmingham and Manchester, is also a priority for Vaioni. The focus is to continue delivering networks that support the migration to the cloud, with resiliency and speed prime considerations."
The firm has also invested considerably in its systems and processes. "We have a good solid pricing portal for channel partners to price their own solutions quickly and easily," added Vaish. "We're working through a series of upgrades that should launch by the end of the year, making the portal more intuitive with pricing for additional elements of our portfolio. This investment is based on feedback from our partners."
Vaish founded Vaioni in 2008, responding to the demand for reliable, high speed connectivity. In 2013 he established Vaioni Wholesale, a formal launch into the channel with a dedicated team of people. Funding from Mavern Capital Partners later that year enabled the firm to hire more personnel, expand the network and push forward with systems upgrades. "The new network brings bigger bandwidth and lower cost to the channel, which is essential in a market that is becoming increasingly commoditised," said Vaish.
Vaioni now employs 30 staff, has 300 customers and, in addition to the new network, it has infrastructure in eight data centres across the UK. The company has experienced annual growth of 25 per cent and is set to exceed that this year, a growth expectation that is based in no small part on people-driven factors. "Our team is technically and commercially competent and able to deliver high touch account management," said Vaish. "We have brought in a new management team with exceptional experience in the channel."
Kevin Grainger has been appointed Head of Channel Sales; Ian Goodall joined as Head of Networks and Infrastructure; Christa Norton takes the marking lead, while Alan Westcombe heads up Service Delivery. Combined, they share 60 years experience working in the channel. Grainger will be spearheading the channel strategy, focusing on growing the partner base and driving Ethernet sales. He brings 15-plus years experience from the likes of Griffin and GCI where he worked in a channel-only capacity, managing and shaping some of the biggest partners.
"It's good to share the burden and be content knowing that experts are working in each of their individual areas," commented Vaish. "The team is moving things so much faster. We have a real sense of momentum about the business."
The company aims to reach £10 million in the next two years, and £20 million by 2020, achieved through both wholesale and retail, and through organic growth rather than acquisitions. "We are honest about the fact that we do retail and wholesale, and have strict processes in place to ensure that both sides of the business are managed fairly," explained Grainger. "In a company of our size it is much easier to achieve transparency between teams."
Looking ahead, hybrid networking (fixed, wireless and 3/4G) is the expected norm, so Vaioni's future investment plans will be aligned to this hybrid world. The firm has good capabilities, especially around its security and SIP platforms, and the next move will be towards the virtual data centre market. "Entering the VDC market is the obvious next step for us," noted Vaish. "We have the initial infrastructure in place, but scalability will be key so there is still work to do before we can consider a mass rollout. We looked at third party partnerships, but I prefer to have ownership and control over our products. With that in mind, connectivity remains our lead proposition - this is our area of expertise."
Higher bandwidth - 100Mb, 1Gb - is where Grainger sees growth. "We are about servicing customers who are migrating to the cloud, so that completely changes how we talk to the market and where we invest," he said. "Resilience, reliability and the ability to manage multiple types of traffic over a single connection is essential, so we are investing in ways to ensure our customers benefit from this through, for example, network monitoring or ADSL back-up which is included as standard. These all support the reliability and security of the network which are major concerns for customers, and mean our partners can offer a proposition that answers their immediate concerns."
Refining the cloud proposition is key to the business going forward, noted Grainger. "But more importantly we will continually improve our customer and partner experience, ensuring great service across the board," he added. "We need to do more with our partners and help them get the most from us as their supplier, leveraging our expertise for their benefit."