A cloud telephony reseller's greatest ally is the intransigence of their cloud-averse counterparts, according to NFON UK Managing Director Rami Houbby. Here, he issues a wake up call to diehard traditionalists who are 'sleepwalking' through an unprecedented industry transition.
A sign of the times is the level to which cloud telephony proponents have turned up the volume of their calls for comms and IT resellers to stop in their traditional tracks and take stock of what is happening around them. Another is the growing strength of newcomers such as NFON UK which have quickly flourished in what is still a fledgling but burgeoning market. The company has blossomed under the leadership of Houbby for the simple reason that his proposition and channel strategy works, and he urges non-cloud players to take on-board his clear message.
"This decade's defining challenge for resellers is the imperative for them to examine their own business models, their cloud and virtualisation skills, their portfolio of vendor suppliers, and the way they train and remunerate sales staff," stated Houbby. "There is a big shift towards the subscription economy but many in our industry are sleepwalking through this transition. They must understand the challenges they face and the opportunities at hand. My advice is to grasp that nettle now on their own terms."
The most significant aspect of NFON UK's growth has been the expansion of its partner base which is reflected in the firm's overall performance since its UK operations began in 2013. "We've always been 100 per cent committed to the channel," commented Houbby. "Our partner growth exceeded 160 per cent last year and our customer base grew by over 300 per cent. We have also increased our team threefold and moved into a larger office. NFON UK has been geared for high growth since day one and we don't intend to take our foot off the gas."
Last year also saw NFON UK expand into new markets such as Government, large enterprise and white label telecoms providers with successful signings of its first large scale distributor, wholesaler and white label partners.
"There is a window of opportunity for resellers to take advantage of cloud telephony," said Houbby. "Foresighted VARs and SIs have spotted that the wind has changed in terms of IT and comms consumption. Business people want 'as-a-service' on-demand IT, and they'd rather put technology spend on the P&L account than have truckloads of capital assets loitering around on the balance sheet. Most of all, they don't want to be made a fool of by a static one, three or five year contract for a technology need that is evolving so quickly."
A key component of NFON UK's channel strategy is its 30-day contract which has engendered long-term partner and end user loyalty. Since introducing this in September 2013, NFON UK has not lost a single partner or end user customer. But its biggest opportunity is to capitalise on the seismic market shift around IT consumption. "The supply chain simply has to keep up with the way demand is going," explained Houbby. "It's interesting to look at our partner base and see a near 50/50 split between those traditional comms resellers whose evolution we are supporting, and those other partners who seem far less encumbered by the brave new world of cloud but perhaps don't have the experience with telephony."
Aside from the broad market evolution toward cloud-based IT infrastructures and new consumer-like IT consumption models - and the knock-on effect this has on the whole IT channel and supply chain - other factors influencing NFON UK's outlook include the market acceptance of UC which is driving greater demand for integrated communications channels and media.
"Enterprise customers trust cloud services and have an appetite for them," commented Houbby. "This reached a tipping point during the last 12 months. NFON and our partners find it increasingly easy to discuss cloud opportunities with business customers who have overcome cloud inertia."
According to Houbby, NFON offers a 'true' cloud telephony solution, flying the flag for data protection, reliability and certified sound quality. "It is thanks to this, as well as our 160-plus intelligent features, simplicity, cost-effectiveness and fundamental security features, that NFON has become a successful provider of cloud telephony solutions across 14 European countries," he added. "End user customers can use over 70 device models from different manufacturers with their NFON Cloud Telephone System. These include IP and DECT phones, headsets, conference phones and fax gateways etc. They require no complex configuration, it's just connect and go. We also offer a series of separate add-ons and solutions to drive more value."
NFON was founded in 2007 in Munich and originally focused on the German region before quickly growing its international market share by successfully promoting its cloud telephony proposition across all enterprise sectors. "It's the market evolution that's capturing everyone's imagination," said Houbby.
He has witnessed a large number of newly formed post-cloud resellers and other players (such ISPs and IT-centric VARs) diversifying onto traditional comms territory. "Their lack of legacy seems refreshing to many end users who just want a simple, transparent way of procuring high quality and flexible IT services," added Houbby, who is appealing to a broad range of resellers by targeting specific activities and messages to each segment.
"The objective is to educate and turn these communities onto the opportunities of cloud telephony," explained Houbby. "For comms specialists, this means adding NFON to their portfolio first and foremost rather than supplant other non-cloud providers. For non-comms resellers, it's virgin territory. This is a rich vein of opportunity because the infrastructure-less, no-hassle install attributes of a cloud solution are biased towards resellers who don't have the technical or sales heritage of their comms-centric peers."
As well as the NFON Cloud Telephone Solution the company provides training, marketing collateral, sales and technical support. "Partners receive everything from the kit to the billing if required," said Houbby. "They don't even need to hold any handset stock, while self-install, infrastructure-less deployments means limited time on-site. Free lifelong updates to the platform keep end users and partners at the forefront of technology. It's crucial that we continue to grow our partner base in this methodical and sustainable fashion, always investing in partners rather than 'adding them to the pile'. Managing our growth with the right people and resources is critical to this objective."
Houbby noted that leading NFON UK from scratch to mover and shaker hasn't been plain sailing. At times it's involved the stresses and strains experienced by a true start-up. "Our journey is a big achievement because we've won hearts and minds," commented Houbby. "Usually, technology is all about whether the solution works and its cost, but cloud telephony is very different. People feel strongly about traditional communications versus today's technology, and they generally don't like to face the truth about our changing times." •