Comms Dealer

The new world of platform-driven communications takes centre stage at this year's gold standard Comms Vision Convention, and while the growth opportunities are significant, challenges must be overcome to realise the market potential, writes Content Director Paul Cunningham.

In May the World Economic Forum predicted the digital economy to return one hundred trillion dollars by 2025, disrupting the known industrial economy in the process. The numbers are mind-boggling, so how do they translate for comms channel businesses that could and should be at the heart of this transition? That will be the focus of our speakers and delegates at Comms Vision 2016, Gleneagles Hotel, November 9-11th.

To become and remain competitive, today's enterprises must design and equip their business to create value, and the concept of a Business Platform can play a critical part in achieving this. A Platform can usefully be thought of as an integrated and open business model, not necessarily a specific technology, that determines how an organisation engages with its stakeholders, promotes technology innovation, designs its business processes and develops an effective culture and brand.

We are currently witnessing the inexorable rise of technology-enabled platforms for businesses, and their corresponding impact on the business communications marketplace is also keenly felt. Emerging software-based platforms for business communications, integrated with common business applications and complemented by new technologies such as sensors, analytics and machine learning, are leading a drive towards contextual communication and are changing the game.

The innate ability to serve the most appropriate communications medium (and supporting information) automatically to an individual or a team according to the real-time context of their location, activity or expertise is already established. In the imminent future this will encompass factors such as our reputation, our health status, proximity to problems or opportunities, or a myriad of other external human and technology factors.

IT TAKES VISION TO BE A LEADER
Comms Vision is the leading annual leadership forum for CEO, MD and CTO delegates representing the premier league of the UK partner community. Places are limited: If you would like to join us this year, please register your interest to attend at www.commsvision.com

Last month Microsoft agreed definitive terms to acquire LinkedIn, the world's biggest professional social media platform for $26 billion, at a premium, making it the third largest acquisition in the history of the tech industry. Notwithstanding the ongoing debate about this valuation and Microsoft's motives, this is clearly a 'Platform' play intended to parlay LinkedIn's 430 million global subscribers (and significant expertise in data analysis) into a value generator across Microsoft's solutions in CRM, Unified Communications and Office Productivity.

Closer to home, Vonage recently spent $230 million on Nexmo, an established but niche communication platform business that most UK comms channel players will be unfamiliar with. Cisco's recent launch of the Spark collaboration platform brings it into this fast expanding territory, with a just-revealed but well advanced API collaboration with Apple bringing it rapidly to the attention of professional smartphone users.

What does this mean to the comms sector and its channel models? Service providers, vendors, system integrators and applications developers must quickly determine their role and opportunity in the new world of platform-driven communications, and they may be facing an existential challenge. This will be decided in the battle to make communications relevant to the customers' current and future workflows and culture, redefining business processes and disrupting markets via innovative business models.

The future will be based on building, buying or borrowing (renting) platforms that customers, partners, suppliers and employees can integrate with and develop on to collaboratively solve business problems. This is having a major impact on established ecosystems and supply chains as they are reconfigured or supplanted, with business leaders recognising the inherent and growing value of being in the platform business.

Traditional vendors such as Cisco and Microsoft are walking a difficult line between partner and competitor by pitching themselves and their more innovative collaborators against their existing service provider customers. Meanwhile, SIs and ISVs have become essential to the building of and access to scarce data management and application development resources. In the ensuing scramble for position, new providers such as Slack and Twillio have emerged, offering opportunistic and agile business solution developers a compelling platform.

How can the channel respond? The comms channel has long been recognised for its ability to sell, assure, bill and deliver business comms solutions. To this can now be added the need to either own development resources or offer access to them, while providing global or regional delivery and support for customers. Channel players must translate customer business requirements into real life solutions with the ability to integrate to multiple platforms. The fundamental service the channel can deliver is network connectivity, with a major part of the opportunity focused on simplifying the often complex and challenging nature of dealing with service providers.

Many channel players identify the provision of ICT services as a natural extension of this current core business and a way of adding new revenue streams, and as these migrate to the cloud new opportunities will emerge. The channel is well positioned to offer cloud services, the performance of which is highly dependent upon a foundation of network availability and quality. However, if they are to be more than just the plumber laying the pipe they must develop and offer relevant bundles for their customers, differentiated by understanding the impact of these on the network and sustaining end-to-end quality of experience from design through deployment and operation.

Although comms solution providers have identified a range of cloud services they can bundle - including enterprise apps, storage, analytics, CRM and billing - according to Ofcom research only 23 per cent of UK SMEs report using cloud services. This leaves considerable headroom for market growth as businesses are educated about the impact of these services on business performance, and as key enablers such as superfast broadband are deployed.

If the key to success in the Platform Age is building a focused but flexible offer based around the needs of customers, the channel has to rapidly develop infrastructure and services that in turn can be quickly adapted for their target markets.

The platform that will support this future must be applicable to a diverse spectrum from consumer to higher end enterprises. This represents a reversal of the traditional industry view where SMEs and consumers were at the foot of the pyramid that always got the attention of the incumbent product development and marketing teams. So what is needed to meet this oncoming opportunity? Three key areas of potential development come to mind:

A Converged Platform: A mix of mobile and fixed services that match the needs of the customers' business is essential. The customer will decide and the platform must be flexible enough to allow mixing and matching of services to fit the business. The channel's ability to offer an optimum blend of networks, devices and applications to improve business performance and save the customer money is a critical success factor.

Cloud: Being alert to the potential impact of cloud-based services on their business and that of their customers (and their networks) is essential to the channel. This will embrace ICT services such as storage and computing as well as UC services and informal contact centres.

Analytics: Data doesn't have to be big to be important. Analytics are not just for the very largest business clients, SMEs can and should benefit from the power of data analytics generated from the core of the network, across service bundles and directly from their existing billing, CRM and operational systems as well as those of their vendor and distribution partners.

So why a Platform again? Digital platforms provide a foundation that others can build on, providing an architecture of participation. The most successful digital businesses have recognised that intrinsic value lies in the network the platform enables, not within the platform alone. The World Economic Forum's digital economy forecast is massive, and every business, even the largest global player, is dwarfed by it. But what if you could plug the power of that network into your business? This is what the Platform concept offers by being highly scalable, applicable to diverse business models, and acting as a sustainable, cost-effective multiplier of inputs and outcomes.

Your customers will require increasingly sophisticated services as they seek to compete with larger or more established businesses, leveraging the digital economy and services available to them from many sources. Comms Vision 2016 promises to play a key part in achieving this.•

IT TAKES VISION TO BE A LEADER
Comms Vision is the leading annual leadership forum for CEO, MD and CTO delegates representing the premier league of the UK partner community. Places are limited: If you would like to join us this year, please register your interest to attend at www.commsvision.com 

Communication platforms are centre stage and undergoing constant evolution. Here, we take a behind the scenes look at the technologies that are top of mind for R&D experts.

The cross-disciplinary nature of communications platforms is a driver for multiple, disruptive or semi-disruptive changes in the market; and technological developments in areas such as radio technology, computational hardware and security will all feature prominently in the future look of comms platforms. "With the 4G evolution, and even more with soon-to-be 5G, mobile radio technology takes a big leap onto higher frequency spectrum with advanced concepts such as massive MIMO and cooperative transmission," commented Björn Ekelund (pictured), Research Director, Device Technology and Ecosystem, Ericsson.

Ekelund highlighted that computational hardware continues to beat Moore's law using new interconnect topologies and advanced parallel architectures. "With the development of new semiconductor technology, radio hardware becomes dramatically more broadband and more digital," he added. "Security technology faces the challenges of not only quantum computing but also the rapidly growing value of data and massive system complexities. On top of this, new concepts are making their entrance on the industrial scene such as block chain. And software continues to demonstrate higher and higher levels of intelligence making it possible to use it in new areas and on bigger data sets."

As an ICT company with both product and service offerings, Ericsson's focus is broad, but the advent of 5G communications technology is one of its main areas of R&D investment. "Since 5G is targeting both humans (smartphones and mobile broadband) and non-humans (the IoT) we also invest in applications for the industrial and societal use of ICT technology," added Ekelund. "But to make a world class communications platform you need to excel in all disciplines - hardware, software, interconnect, transmission, mechanics, energy, antennas and so on. And we invest accordingly."

Ericsson also places a high priority on sustainability. This drives further innovation in virtually all technical areas. Another area of interest is 'wonder material' graphene. "Being a member of the Graphene Flagship we of course have big hopes for this exciting new material," added Ekelund. "We can see applications in many diverse areas such as photonics, electronics and antennas, but we also have realistic expectations. It will still be some time before we see graphene in such products."

ShoreTel is primarily a software company, but graphene could be used in its electronics, such as switches and endpoints for thermal dissipation, according to Eugenia Corrales, Senior Vice President for Product at ShoreTel. "Of great interest is the fact graphene has a 95 per cent solar efficiency, so maybe solar applications are the most immediate priority," she said.

Graphene will surely play a critical role in future communications, just as open source is becoming an integral part of business applications today. For example, Linux and Hadoop are revolutionary, and multi-vendor solutions can ensure interoperability with key functions such as CRM and ERP, noted Corrales. "We will continue to see increased adoption of cloud-based technology to create greater flexibility and cost-effectiveness for our customers," she said. "Furthermore, mobile-first development leverages the fact that mobile devices are now the dominant vehicle for businesses, changing the way we do transactions permanently."

Corrales also noted that innovation is being seen in modular design, which allows a customer to select only the functionality they need today while having the flexibility to build new capabilities later. "Real-time improvements enable customers to get new features and capabilities faster," she commented. "Added to this, a rich community of contributors from different industries, regions and specialities will enable customers to integrate best-in-class capabilities."

There are four broad technology areas that are shaping the future of communications, according to Peter Kim, Vice President Research and Development at Ericsson-LG Enterprise. These are 5G mobile connectivity, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual or Augmented Reality and the IoT. "5G offers over 100 times faster speed than 4G and enables 4K/8K Ultra High Definition (UHD) transmission and Virtual Reality services including 3D hologram," he said.

"Artificial Intelligence can be converged with communications, and Virtual/Augmented Reality makes it possible to share richer information and enable tele-experience communications. Furthermore, the IoT widens the scope of communication from human-to-human to human-to-machine and machine-to-machine. This will have a profound change on the way we live our lives both professionally and privately."

In terms of Ericsson-LG's R&D the shift from hardware to software is mostly complete and the focus now is on virtualisation and the cloud. "We have adopted a cloud-first strategy in that everything we now do is prioritised for cloud deployment," added Kim. "From a client perspective our focus is on WebRTC which forms part of our mobile integration strategy. We are also investing in developing technologies that can help make the mobile device a seamless part of the enterprise ecosystem. Security is increasingly a concern, and another area we are investing in is of course IoT."•

We have reached a seminal moment in the comms channel's history and it's time to take your business, and SME organisations, to the next level. That's the upshot of this year's Margin in Voice and Data event that urged delegates to help UK SMEs build their future on an optimised networked foundation.

The SME connectivity opportunity is a gift to comms resellers able to give the market what it wants. And the demographics of this vibrant sector also run in the channel's favour. To understand the market you need to think of the network as the foundation where nothing pre-digital exists. And a high degree of success awaits astute resellers. Not surprisingly, the SME opportunity featured prominently at this year's Margin in Voice and Data event (9th June, Forest of Arden Hotel and Country Club), which urged the channel to help UK SMEs leverage their network to the max.

The size of the opportunity is gargantuan. Paul Cunningham, Content Director, told delegates that SMEs represent 99.9 per cent of the UK's 5.2 million businesses, and they contribute over £1.6 trillion (47 per cent) of private sector turnover to the national economy. Nor is that all: Seven per cent of UK businesses are high growth small enterprises and account for 60 per cent of new jobs being created. Not surprisingly, SMEs are now considered to be the engines of growth, and communications is critical to these organisations with even the smallest micro-business spending an average £1,000 per annum on comms. Small businesses spend circa £4,000 and medium sized companies invest around £11,500 a year, which all tolled represents a sizeable market opportunity.

Another upside, the SME network experience is improving. In 2014, 56 per cent of SME premises were connected to 30Mbps-plus, rising to 82 per cent in 2017 (Ofcom figures). But 42 per cent of SMEs report Internet connectivity problems and 29 per cent complain of service availability, which, in a growth market, is not ideal. But it's a daily scenario that must be managed.

Glitches aside, the network is the foundation of a growth orientated business model, underlined by SMEs that are categorised as high users of online services. "They grow much faster so there is a clear need for an enhanced network experience," said Cunningham. "You've got to build value to make the network effective for SMEs."

Amid these converging factors there is much opportunity to grip. More intriguing is that 83 per cent of SMEs in the UK consider communication services to be fundamental to their business (2015 figures cited by Ofcom), so there is a requirement for enhanced network experiences based on availability, service reliability, service guarantees, SLAs, monitoring and reporting.

Cloud applications also have significant value but despite the current focus of many providers only 23 per cent of SMEs report using cloud services (Ofcom 2015). "There is potential for considerable market growth with greater SME awareness and adoption," commented Cunningham. "But a recent study by BCSG found that just under half of SMEs in the UK are willing to purchase cloud services from their telecoms supplier, while 40 per cent said they were willing to buy software and other tools from operators to help grow their business."

Here's the question delegates loved - how to effectively address this shifting market? "Verticalisation into SME markets is an important way of approaching this sector," added Cunningham. "Bundling ICT products and services with price plans and offers that meet the needs of a particular industry can be effective. There is a niche opportunity for smaller channel players that are able to add specialist market knowledge."

Harnessing data is also an important aspect of building a long-term business model and understanding the opportunities at hand. There are various ways to harness data, but these methods are mostly viewed as challenging and complex. That said, smaller businesses can exploit day-to-day data that's being drawn from billing and CRM systems, for example, offering valuable insights into their own business and their customers' operations.

As a shining example Cunningham cited Union Street's Benchmarking service which is based on opted-in data from its customers. The subsequent reports compare and contrast their performance against peers. "This is an example of how business analytics can be simplified and integrated to serve the needs of customers," stated Cunningham.

But the overall picture can be complicated and a way to break down complexity into simple building blocks must be found. Enter the 'business platform', a foundation slab that underpins the building stones of a future business model. "When breaking aspects of the market down into their component parts not all of them will be relevant to a business, but there will be some elements of each of those business blocks to think about," noted Cunningham. "For instance, adapting to the cloud, and it's crucial to be analytical and think about data, as well as energising sales teams, motivating markets and building value into your business."

The strategic outcome of this year's Margin in Voice and Data event ought to be a grand initiative to elevate the network as the foundation of SME businesses. The immediate job is not to reflect on market possibilities but to get down to work, with the onus on cloud applications, analytics, marketing and sales growth, all building blocks addressed by this year's main sponsors, including keynotes from NFON UK Managing Director Rami Houbby; Mark Curtis-Wood, Nimans' Head of Network Services; and Adam Zoldan, Director, Knight CF. Other speakers included Andy Grant, Managing Director of Bowan Arrow; and John Donohoe, Partner at sales development firm Believe.•

Turning businesses into places fit for today's empowered clients is a matter of complete control over the customer experience. Anything less is a doomed exercise in outdated communications and obsolete work practices, according to Comms Vision Platinum sponsor 8x8 which aims to deliver a consistent and sublime customer experience based on the right technology.

Impeccable service has a unique potency in the customer's mind, it demands loyalty, while turning your back on clients and prospects is a recipe for strategic collapse. Fall short of the mark and you will surely be held accountable as disgruntled callers seize on opportunities at their finger tips to contact competitor companies and broadcast their dissatisfaction on various media, even in real-time as they experience poor service.

It is beyond argument that providing an immaculate customer experience is a boon to all businesses, but research by 8x8 has revealed the extent and impact of widespread customer interaction breakdown. The survey results show that just 22 per cent of callers ringing a business get through first time, and 35 per cent of the calls that went unanswered were made by new customers looking for information on products, how to open an account or make a purchase.

It goes without saying that when customers call a business they hope to quickly receive the benefit of a knowledgeable mind, trained to assess their requirements and offer helpful conclusions. A failure to deliver this basic response can result in swift retribution according to the survey that found 12 per cent of callers have searched for competitors online during a badly handled call.
This statistic rises to more than a quarter in the 25-34 age group which displays a lower tolerance of bad service. Even worse, if callers turn 'anti' where no formal safeguards are in place, fierce reactions can be let loose as bad experiences are broadcast on social media and review sites. Over 90 per cent of survey respondents cited a poor experience on the phone and they are far more likely to shout about bad service than a great experience.

8x8's study also deduced that 11 per cent of callers have, during a badly handled call, named and shamed a company live on social media (rising to 26 per cent of those aged 25-34). To contain such outbreaks of customer dissatisfaction a business communications management regime is urgently needed, and helping companies to improve their customer experience is a big market opportunity for the channel, according to Kevin Scott-Cowell, UK Managing Director for 8x8.

"A business only has one chance to make a great first impression and getting off on the wrong foot can destroy the customer relationship from the outset," he said. "It's crucial to make every interaction count, and that starts by making sure new customer calls are answered first time and directed to an appropriately skilled agent. This stops them being passed to multiple agents and becoming frustrated by the whole experience. With the right technology in place it can be easy for businesses to make sure calls are routed to a manned phone and appropriately skilled agent so new customers are never exposed to rivals."

The role of Enterprise Communications as a Service (ECaaS) in delivering an enhanced customer experience to the collective benefit of all cannot be in doubt, enabling companies to foster client loyalty and move into an unassailable lead over rivals. But too many businesses are missing a large number of inbound enquiries from potential customers.

Scott-Cowell's message is clear: "Make sure someone picks up the phone when a customer calls," he urged. "It can be tricky in a busy office or contact centre, but having the right technology in place will ease the strain. This would help route calls to the first available person who can deal with the enquiry, whether they're based in another office, another country or even another continent."

He emphasised how cloud contact centres improve the client experience. They give customers a choice of channels and callers can get in touch via most devices. This new dynamic has been labelled 'customer empowerment' and makes the customer experience a key differentiator. 8x8 argues that cloud-based contact centres enable companies to more readily advance their customer care strategies and best practices by engaging with clients in a personalised way through multiple channels and applications. Customer contact routing based on historical case resolution data also improves the customer experience. This technology makes it easy for customers to receive a service by reducing the effort required to contact a knowledgeable agent while increasing agent productivity and performance.

According to research, SME contact centres deployed in the cloud outperform on-premise solutions across a number of KPIs, including a lower cost of customer care. Cloud solutions also show stronger 'first contact' resolution rates and drive customer satisfaction more cost-efficiently while generating greater chemistry between a business and its customers and more revenue. "We all want our customers to engage with us," added Scott-Cowell. "But too many fail to get through and are lost to competitors. Customer empowerment is defined by their experience, which can be impeccable if the right technology is deployed."•

The market for hosted telephony is no longer new or emerging and early doubts about its success have become a non-argument, but large numbers of resellers are yet to go hosted. Here, we canvassed the views of some key channel suppliers who urge all resellers to join the hosted telephony rolling campaign convoy.

The principle reason to sell hosted VoIP is because it's inextricably linked to the growing influence of the cloud in general. "The chances are that a reseller's clients or prospects will already have some IT services in the cloud, or will be considering moving to the cloud," said Adam Crisp (pictured), Managing Director for Firstcom. "Resellers need to offer hosted voice to keep up and stay ahead of the curve."

As well as keeping up with tech trends a hosted VoIP solution enables resellers to address demand for mobile communications. "We have seen a huge shift in personal communications, and the younger workforce expects to communicate inside the office in the same way as they do outside," added Crisp. "Gone are the days when being away from the desk means being disconnected from voice or data."

The business case for selling hosted telephony is plain and simple, noted Crisp, citing ease of adoption, installation, management and configuration as key market drivers. Nor is that all. Seasoned comms and IT resellers already own the skills needed to enter this market. "Adding hosted to their portfolio gives them the opportunity to increase revenues by doing what they already do," added Crisp.

When pitching hosted VoIP to a prospect resellers should focus on the way modern communications can drive a business forward. "Unified communications and convergence is much more than a PBX in the cloud," noted Crisp. "It's about bringing the client's daily communications together and enhancing productivity."

One of the most obvious benefits of cloud-based VoIP is that users are not bound by geography. Many businesses have a mobile workforce and function as multi-site organisations, so it makes sense for them to adopt a cloud-based system that seamlessly connects remote and home workers. "Today's always-on culture and constantly connected world means that businesses need to be available and responsive wherever, whenever," commented Crisp. "Businesses that do not adopt technology to facilitate this will inevitably miss out to the competition. Inherent flexibility and agility is a driving factor. Today's agile workforce demands a system that adapts to their needs and eases the pain of scaling up or down."

A key point of interest noted by MyPhones.com Managing Director Dr Stuart Marsden (pictured left)is the growing number of hosted telephony providers in the market, creating more choice and an environment where resellers can more readily sell to sub-resellers. Alternative options have also emerged such as Skype for Business. Furthermore, prices for hosted are starting to come down and that trend is certain to continue given the increased competition in the market, he believes.

Against this backdrop, early adopters are now coming to the end of their first contracts. "They've gained knowledge and experience and aren't afraid to switch to different systems and new providers," commented Marsden. "While telephony features are important, price is clearly a key factor. Therefore MyPhones.com's policy has always been to be competitively priced with a simple pricing structure."

Staying true to its policy, MyPhones.com's prices have not increased since the launch of Altos and according to Marsden there are no plans to change the pricing strategy despite ongoing investment in new features to improve the customer experience. In fact, things can only get better, he says. "The improvement in connectivity and broadband speeds hasn't just improved the quality and reliability of calls via hosted telephony platforms, it is also making integration with other services easier and more successful," he added.

"Through the Altos hosted telephony platform end users can do far more than just make and receive phone calls, pick up their voicemails and twin their office and mobile phone. They can also make and receive video calls, access their internal contacts directory, personal contacts directory and corporate contacts directory wherever they have access to a computer and Internet connection, as an example."

Developments like video calling, video conferencing and presence features all provide additional ways for businesses to communicate with staff and customers. And because social media plays a role in everyone's personal communications now, it's not surprising that businesses would be interested in ways to bring these into the workplace. "Hosted telephony systems can help to make these accessible to businesses of all shapes and sizes, not just large corporations," stated Marsden.

He said that MyPhones.com's Altos product is especially popular because it is fast, easy and cheap to deploy, and it's more flexible than traditional PBX systems. Resellers can easily upgrade, downscale and even change a system completely whenever they need to. "More people are considering or using cloud-based services in their personal life," said Marsden. "Hosted telephony isn't as niche as it used to be, and with improvements in security and broadband speeds delivering better quality and reliability there's less resistance to the adoption of cloud-based business services.

"It's safe and easy to dip your toe into the pool of modern cloud-based services. Hosted telephony integrates well with other services and it's a good way to explore different communication systems and how they can be combined to improve engagement with staff, customers and stakeholders."

BT's strategy to move customers off ISDN services in 2025 is a significant hosted market opportunity. And as connectivity becomes more readily available and commercially more attractive to consumers, it is only natural that hosted telephony sales will continue to increase, observes Sean Blackmore, Hosted Sales Specialist at Gamma, who has witnessed strong uptake of Gamma's Horizon platform.

Like other hosted solutions Horizon helps resellers move from a capex to an opex-based model, removing the need for up-front costs and maintenance, and ensuring the customer only has one monthly cost for the service. "This enables resellers to shift the focus of sales conversations from price to features and benefits," added Blackmore. "We are rivalling traditional PBX manufacturers for functionality and the platform is updated on a regular basis. Features like 'one number anywhere' integrate fixed and mobile capabilities so that end users never miss a call, enabling more productive and flexible working."

Horizon is based on the Broadsoft call controller platform that provides a range of fixed and mobile telephony capabilities via a portal. Channel partners can configure Horizon through the portal in real-time. And within 24 hours the chosen handsets will be delivered, fully pre-configured and ready to go.

With this proposition Gamma targets the sub-500 seat market. "At one time the hosted product set was attractive to customers with multiple sites and a low number of users per site, but we are now seeing large single site offices taking hosted as a result of the commercials available, the appeal of an opex model and access to a rich feature set," said Blackmore.

Nimans has witnessed strong take up of its own GS-hosted proposition that allows resellers to move into hosted in a 'choice way'. They can maintain their upfront margin model or opt for a monthly income. Selling hosted is simply a de facto case of giving customers what they want, reckons Paul Burn, Head of Category Sales at Nimans. "One of the biggest reasons resellers should be selling hosted is because their customers are demanding it," he stated. "So there is a danger of being left behind if customer requirements are not met. Resellers need to grasp the nettle because hosted is no longer in the early adoption phase. Its reliable and established technology with high potential."

New conversations with customers should be about what they want and need, along with the business benefits, pointed out Burn. But he believes that such conversations are all too often digressing into discussions about delivery and how hosted solutions enter a building. "It should always be about business benefits," he emphasised. "Applications is where resellers should be focusing, particularly the mix of on-premises and off-premise products. For example, door entry and call recording can still be on-site alongside a hosted telephony platform. Hosted is not an all or nothing conversation. Businesses can have their cake and eat it."•

A razor sharp focus on the public sector has given Farnborough-based Skyscape Cloud Services an almighty boost, and that's just the start of a bigger story according to CEO Simon Hansford.

Skyscape's mature and disciplined approach to a rich seam of opportunity has paid off in spadefuls. The company is focused on one product, one market and has no distractions. Immersed in constant innovation Skyscape is prepared to disrupt current products, services and costs at the drop of a hat. Furthermore, Hansford never takes his eye off the ball and brings rare experience to the game plan. Prior to co-founding Skyscape he was the CTO and VP of Service Strategy of Attenda, one of the UK's major MSPs which he also co-founded in 1997. Previous positions include senior technical, sales, product and marketing roles at Novell and Dell Computer Corporation.

It was the Government's ICT strategy to boost efficiency and reduce costs within the public sector that caught the attention of Skyscape's founders in 2011. The G-Cloud Framework fuelled the adoption of cloud-based computing capabilities by easing the ways in which public sector bodies could buy and use ICT services from small and medium-sized businesses. After building and selling a previous business, Hansford set about connecting with a group of like-minded people to drive forward a new concept. What followed was Skyscape Cloud Services, the brainchild of Jeffrey Thomas, Jeremy Saunders, Phil Dawson and Simon Hansford.

The company's share holders invested approximately £25 million to create a cloud platform specifically to address IT procurement and security issues within the UK public sector. The firm has been on G-Cloud since its first iteration and secured early big wins with organisations such as the Home Office, HMRC and DVLA, earning it recognition from Gartner and Deloitte. "Our cloud services have been designed to be easy to adopt, use and leave, without any start-up or exit fees," said Hansford. "Skyscape charges by the hour, allowing departments to scale up or down based on their needs, and only paying for what they use."

In November last year the company announced its eighth successive price drop, made possible by growing economies of scale which have led to storage costs falling by 90 per cent this past year alone. In the years ahead, the company aims to more than double its size and accelerate growth in the public sector based on a proven formula. "Skyscape doesn't serve commercial customers but chooses to invest its expertise in understanding the digital transformation challenges affecting the public sector, and how our cloud platform can be used effectively by customers," added Hansford. "This enables the us to provide an environment that puts customers in control, delivering value and ultimately benefitting UK citizens and businesses."

Skyscape's headcount currently stands at circa 130 and revenues have increased almost nine fold in two years from £3.7 million to £32.1 million this year, a compound annual growth rate of 195.8 per cent driven by high consumption of compute hours. In its next financial year Skyscape is forecasting strong growth in both revenues and profitability as new customers, additional partners and more workloads transition to the platform. The company now has over 100 customers, 200-plus workloads and partners with a 60 per cent direct and 40 per cent partner split.

Hansford's main challenges are recruiting and retaining appropriate technical, operational, commercial and leadership talent in the face of a national skills shortage. "Despite having a recruitment and human resources management programme to identify, recruit, develop, motivate and retain talent, we have over 30 roles to fill but finding and competing for people is a challenge," he said.

Another challenge is bidding for and winning large scale contracts on a G-Cloud platform that has a vast and complex legacy estate. The solution? Enabling a robust risk management strategy with a formal bid review process, and certified service delivery with simple terms and conditions in line with G-Cloud.

"I genuinely see the market moving in our direction," stated Hansford. "Cloud adoption remains low, less than eight per cent, and is forecast to be over 30 per cent within the next four years. It's about focus, getting to scale and delivering a quality service at the right price point. We're doing something that makes a difference in terms of services delivered to citizens and saving taxpayers' money."•

Nuvola Distribution is a clear reflection of irresistible market forces, and its Managing Director's character, outlook and drive have been equally shaped by compelling influencing factors - so it's no accident that the combination of Nuvola and Michael Lloyd is a force to be reckoned with.

A conjunction of personal influences have instilled in Lloyd a strong work ethic. Role models in this respect include his father and grandfather whose work philosophy, based on diligence, honesty and knowledge, made an early impact on Lloyd. These traits were put to good use early in his career when selling Olivetti word processors to companies in London. Cold calling provided a solid foundation in sales, and Lloyd also learned how to turn a 'no' into a 'yes', and he quickly realised that you only get out of life what you put in, reinforcing his appreciation of the balance between effort and reward, and building on the strong work ethic already at play. "There is no substitute for hard work when it comes to achieving success," said Lloyd.

Nuvola Distribution was created out of Nuage Communications which was formed in 2010 by Lloyd and Operations Director, Nigel Emerson. The company operates as a dedicated services business working exclusively within the channel, delivering expertise in UC, VoIP, contact centre, WLAN, Lync and mobility. Nuage evolved into the services division of Nuvola Distribution which was created three years ago to distribute technologies and services around UC and VoIP solutions. Nuvola Distribution is now a fast growing VAD that provides both services and product, underpinned by sales, marketing and technical support.

The first brand distributed by Nuvola was the Alcatel Lucent Enterprise range, making it one of just two distributors in the UK. The company is also a ShoreTel EMEA Services partner and last year was awarded the distribution licence by ShoreTel. Nuvola then targeted the cloud market with its own hosted UC solution, Nuvem, which is now the foundation for other cloud services planned for the future. "From the very beginning we saw an opportunity in the marketplace to offer UC services, hence the business was built around this proposition," said Lloyd.

The shift from on-premise to cloud solutions is a big trend noted by Lloyd, along with the growing popularity of 'as-a-service' subscription models. "UC is the main area of differentiation," he stated. "The business change required to understand and deliver services is not an easy one for resellers, but we have been doing this for six years and are very proficient. We can add considerable value with our experience, expertise and qualifications; and our proposition enables resellers to offer a complete portfolio of UC solutions and services to their customers."

Nuvola's target markets are existing UC partners and IT related businesses, and its strategy is paying off with more than 35 per cent year-on-year growth. "Providing customers with product-only is clearly not the way forward," stated Lloyd. "The web and cloud are changing the marketplace and the way that people and businesses source products. We are seeing a high demand for 'Everything as a Service' along with consumption-based pricing. This means resellers and SIs have to, more than ever, provide solutions customised and tailored for their customers' requirements, and subsequently wrap services around those solutions.

"To do this effectively will require a sharp focus on specific market profiles and vertical markets. Resellers also need to embrace IoT technologies as these are changing everything. And most importantly, resellers will need to develop their partnering abilities and form relationships with businesses that complement their own skills and capabilities."

The profile of Nuvola's partners range from small owner run businesses up to some of the largest system integrators in Europe. As well as offering them managed services and solutions around cloud technologies the company has also launched a loyalty programme, called NuLoyalty, which offers free MAC hours based on spend. "The NuLoyalty programme helps resellers improve their knowledge, quality and standards of delivery, allowing them to differentiate in their marketplace and improve customer retention," explained Lloyd.

Everyone at Nuvola has a clear understanding of the business direction. Its culture fosters collaboration and the business has a family atmosphere. "Many of our employees are family members and have a vested interest in the success of the company," said Lloyd. "Since inception we have enjoyed a 95 per cent staff retention rate, which is an achievement in today's employment market. People are our most valuable asset. They are what makes the business really work, and I've learnt that staff members should be considered in all decisions. I now spend more time reflecting on important decisions and I try not to sweat the small stuff."•

The rebrand of Cheltenham-based Total to Bamboo Technology Group signals a new phase of 'change and growth' according to Managing Director Lorrin White whose strategy is founded on ambition, stakeholder growth, long-term partnerships and a revamped channel programme.

White has brought big plans to the table as she looks to build on the implementation of a ramped up channel proposition that retains the familiar Total brand. "While shooting for the long grass with a newly framed B2B proposition as Bamboo we intend to firmly hold on to the Total name and its brand equity in the channel," she explained. "Historically referred to as the Focus Partner Programme under the Total umbrella, the new channel proposition incorporates the values of the Bamboo brand and will now be known as the Total programme. Taking advantage of the brand equity that Total has instilled in its channel programme is pivotal to the long-term success of the group."

While the rebrand signals change across the business, for the channel it signifies bigger ambitions as the business looks to appeal to a growing audience of customers and resellers. All major company rebrands underline the critical balance between holding onto core values and expressing positive and progressive change and 'difference'. In this case, the concept fulfils this imperative as a true guide to how Total has developed and what it now represents, hard wired to both traditional values and long-term strategies. Here, brand marketers dismissed conventional thinking and planted a stand-out flag in the ground with the Bamboo banner becoming a motif of the company's strength, growth and flexibility.

"Strategic positioning over the last two years has been of utmost importance and the introduction of new supply chain partnerships, relevant accreditations and appropriate brand presence has been a core focus," explained White. "Our market positioning is now akin to that of our largest competitors."

The company launched its third party channel in 2010 and 40 per cent of revenues are now derived via partners. In 2015 partner numbers rose by 33 per cent along with a 44 per cent rise in partner mobile connections. "This trend is likely to increase as we place a greater focus on our channel proposition," noted White. "In response to this growth we have recruited more members to our support and account management teams and will be rolling out a new structure to streamline the channel, to best serve all partners, regardless of size, location or needs. This will provide transparency and clarity to connect and drive growth for all, which is what the business and the Total programme is about."

The team's added oomph signifies a new level of strength, growth and flexibility in a fast-moving marketplace, says White, which underlines the critical balance achieved by the company as it seeks to make significant channel gains in 2016 and beyond. Following two years of development, restructure and recruitment across the business, the wider channel proposition now accommodates bureau billing, exclusive bespoke partner offerings, a robust M2M model, reseller, wholesale and referral options, all gradually introduced into the marketplace since 2013 and now underpinned by best practice information security processes of the ISO27001 accreditation.

With all that done, White stated clearly what she requires of the new Total programme. "Now it's time to push hard for the partnerships that support integrity, transparency, openness and reciprocal connection benefits," she said. "Whether a member of the team, a direct client or a channel partner, stakeholder growth is our measure of success."

One of the programme's roles in the channel is to remove obstacles to the market for all partners and meet their increased need for transparency and control; and the programme's ability to unlock potential and put control into the hands of resellers will ensure continued growth, believes White.

Convinced of Bamboo's strategic potency she explained how the company will separate itself further from the competition. "Our revitalised philosophy stands for complete flexibility, strong ethics and team values based on integrity, independence, collaboration and challenge," said White. "These all form part of our promise to play the long game with our partners. We are looking ahead with a clear focus."

The team is starting its new channel campaign in promising circumstances that build on existing achievements. And despite White's laser focus on the long-term plan she has no intention of relinquishing Total's past triumphs. With its new look and feel governed by the group rebranding, White promises to leverage the firm's experience and pedigree to 'pitch to the biggest and best' with consistency, distinctiveness and a continued sleeves up approach that has become a trademark.

The company dates from the earliest era of channel development and was established in 1996 as a provider of telecoms services to its local region, often being recognised only for its mobile heritage. But today Bamboo is transitioning from a traditional telco to a fully managed ICT provider; and expanding the product and service offering also means dropping many of the company's adopted terminology and programme identifiers, such as Focus, Connect and 360.

"As many businesses do, Total has historically created names and identities for each and every addition to its proposition, which is confusing," added White. "The new look and feel also takes the business down a clear brand presence route, with the aim of fresh simplicity at the heart of the messaging. The Total triangle and wider company brand platform should in time be recognisable as being ours and ours alone, while also strengthening our presence in the market."

With a solid background in network service provision and a legacy of providing quality service, the ambitious growth plans for the business have rallied support and talent from both inside and outside of the industry. "Strong leadership, a commitment to change and a definitive five-year plan has galvanised the entire team," stated White. "We have developed a vibrant culture as well as robust expansion plans, also attracting the interest of external talent pools and partners. For channel partners it means a significant investment into supporting and resourcing their goals, and it's a completely new way of doing business. We have an ambitious target number for 2018 and all efforts now go into realising that milestone."

White pointed out that the whole team aims to work with partners of all sizes and industry, across the full spectrum of ICT products and services. "We focus on understanding partner alignment from day one and open the door to investing in strategy collaboration from the initial point of contact," noted White. "In the channel, opening discussions with partners is all too often about the additional margin, the opportunity to have short-term wins and the ability to offer more to their clients quickly, while relying on third parties to be as good as you are, or better. We will continue to have those discussions, but only after we understand the need for the partnership and a partner's long-term goals and values.

"However, this is just the beginning of a new journey and our hard work encompasses far more than a strategy revision and extended growth plan. The Total programme is a fresh and strong approach that reflects our desire to stand out and do things differently. Furthermore, we will continue to develop our product and service offering to secure our place at the forefront of the ICT marketplace."•

The launch of UC provider Zest4's M2M Partner Programme in May sparked a flurry of interest from resellers who have already been fast-tracked to market-ready status. Here, we assess the progress of Zest4's partnership with Arkessa and highlight four real world success stories.

Zest4's entrance into the M2M market followed a link-up with Arkessa in October 2015. Arkessa enables IoT device and applications developers to connect to the Internet of Things (IoT), regardless of network operator or radio technology. Its managed services span single and multi-network cellular with first time connect capabilities and secure communications. Mandy Fazelynia, Zest4's Operations Director, explained: "Our partnership allows us to develop the M2M opportunity through our channel partner programme, thereby making entry into this market a reality for all of our partners. The M2M package that we created helps partners to unlock new revenue opportunities. The prospect for growth and therefore revenue generation in this sector is huge."

Arkessa provides the technical know-how required by these solutions and its experts trained the Zest4 team to understand how M2M solutions apply to all market sectors. "We have extended the Zest4 Partner Academy to include M2M training and have built a tool kit of materials that enable partners to offer bespoke M2M solutions," added Fazelynia.

The tool kit includes a tailored on-boarding programme, sales and operational training, help with creating marketing plans around M2M, the provision of sales and marketing collateral, identifying opportunities, technical support and a one bill solution. The response to Zest4's programme has been strong with 10-plus existing partners quoting for new business following training and marketing support from the firm. Opportunities in the taxi segment and public Wi-Fi have caught resellers' attention in particular and Zest4 is now working with those partners to scope out their support requirements.

Nor is that all. Zest4's presence at the Margin in Voice and Data seminar last month resulted in a number of conversations with delegates keen to add M2M to their portfolio. "We had 12 delegates request follow up meetings on building an M2M strategy," added Fazelynia. "The programme is buzzing with activity, high levels of interest and sales are already being secured. Most partners will have opportunities in their existing base."

She noted that Zest4's mobile reseller partners are the early adopters of M2M, exploring their existing customer base to identify opportunities in what is a natural progression for them. IT resellers are also in the frame, pre-prepared with knowledge of security and firewalls and the integration of solutions into existing IT infrastructures. According to Fazelynia, partners are finding quick wins in taxi solutions, public transport and logistics. Opportunities in retail, leisure and the healthcare sectors are also opening up.

One partner has struck a rich seam of opportunity through installing M2M solutions into taxis. This sector has advanced greatly in tandem with technology, with people wanting to book online, pay by card and even track their taxi. Therefore taxi companies that resist the shift towards 'going digital' risk losing out to tech savvy rivals. Tracking devices are easy to install and the software is easy to use. Solutions such as this are truly transformational.

Zest4's M2M partners are also delivering transformational solutions to the construction sector. In one instance, a construction firm working on a brownfield site faced the problem of giving workers onsite connectivity without breaking security policies. They needed a safe and secure way to connect to the Internet and a functional office to work from, such as a pop-up office that could quickly be set up and taken down as required. Arkessa enables M2M connections wherever needed and built a fully loaded enterprise grade router in a box (configured to security requirements) that can take multiple SIMs for any carrier, meaning it can be used anywhere, unplugged from one site and replugged at a new site, meaning no more long-term contracts or patchy mobile broadband.

Another Zest4 partner secured up to seven years of revenue with its first M2M deal for a logistics firm. The connectivity costs levied by the incumbent supplier were too high, SIMs across two networks made things complicated, and the company was being over charged as well as locked in on their devices. Zest4 stepped in, providing and connecting new SIMs. Arkessa built a 'magic box of tricks' that programmed the new SIMs one device at a time with the customer's settings, before helping to install the new SIMs in devices located in warehouses across the UK. The partner was rewarded with guaranteed recurring revenue for the next three years, and because most M2M solutions don't move once in situ the deal equates to seven years revenue.

Smashing annual targets by putting free Wi-Fi into buses is the success story of another reseller who got on board with Zest4's M2M programme. Following consultations between the partner, Zest4 and Arkessa, a bespoke solution was proposed that overcame all of the challenges associated with installing routers in buses, such as location, power, transmission and other physical issues. This partner has now sold over 5,000 SIMs by replicating this model across most of the major bus companies.

"Selling M2M solutions like these doesn't need to be difficult or complicated, and they can add significant value to a resellers' business," commented Fazelynia. "Success is all about choosing the right partner." •

Enter Iain Davidson, Product Marketing Manager at Arkessa, a tech-immersed marketeer with an irrepressible passion for improving the world via the Internet of Things.

Few make the successful transition from an engineering development background to marketing, but the zeal to extol what you believe to be transformational technology can be an irresistible driving force. "I am passionate about the Internet of Things (IoT) and its potential to make the world safer and more energy efficient," stated Davidson. "Getting out of the lab into the marketplace has been a journey, but I should have made it earlier and quicker. Great technology needs great marketing and commercialisation."

Davidson joined Arkessa in June last year from the embedded processor and networking world where the 50 billion connected device forecast first emerged. Davidson's experience and insights gained during his time in the engineering sector, combined with Arkessa's growing market presence, is paying dividends. He worked primarily in the automotive, enterprise and industrial sectors, and along with his mass market experience Davidson has gained a strong understanding of best practices when it comes to working productively with a global channel partner network.

Arkessa began its commercial life in 2002 when it was established by a group of like-minded TMT industry leaders and serial entrepreneurs. The firm is part of the Telefonica M2M Global Partner Programme, and the majority of its team is based in the Bishop's Stortford office, located near Cambridge and the Silicon Fen and Cambridge Wireless communities. It also has offices in London and Germany.

Following an MBO in 2009 the company went in search of its first customers. "Our passion has always been to make it easy for organisations of all sizes to connect their devices and assets to the IoT," explained Davidson. "That means being easy to do business with and offering a technical solution that is easy to adopt, integrate and scale. We provide our M2M managed connectivity service to customers in the automotive, transport, industrial, retail, energy, health and smart city sectors. Some customers are start-ups or SMEs while others are large enterprises or multi-national corporations."

Arkessa's greatest challenge has been to dispel the hype around IoT and drive the adoption rate in line with market forecasts. "We are still in the infancy stage of IoT and large enterprise adoption has lagged behind that of the faster moving SMEs," said Davidson. "Nevertheless, we have developed some long-standing relations with leading enterprise players over the last six years and that's now paying off. In that context, we have enabled numerous successful projects that have showcased the technology and business benefits. But perhaps more importantly for larger scale enterprise adoption, they have proven the concept, created new business models and demonstrated RoI."

Educating the market is top priority and is an area that Arkessa invests in significantly. "But it is sometimes frustrating to have to battle the noise and inertia of the global organisations entering IoT," noted Davidson. "This is made easier by working with strong enterprise and industrial SIs such as Fujitsu and Siemens, as well as Zest4 which shares our passion for making M2M and IoT easy. We are achieving success with a diverse group of channel partners and we are excited by material progress with enterprise partners and customers."

Davidson also noted that Arkessa's approach to the enterprise space differs from IoT device or product companies, and its go-to-market generally is differentiated. "Our partnership with Zest4 is a great example," he explained. "Zest4 provides UC solutions to traditional dealers and reseller partners across the UK. It has a modern and refreshing approach to selling M2M services in a style that organisations across a number of sectors can relate to. For example, inroads into construction, logistics and the taxi sectors have yielded early successes. Together we make M2M more accessible to businesses that are not bamboozled by IoT hype and clearly understand the solutions and their benefits."

Looking ahead, Davidson is intrigued by modern attitudes towards purchasing and ownership and the potential impact of this on IoT. "The pay-as-you-go/use culture is nothing new, it didn't arrive with the millennials," he said. "The model came to prominence across many services and industries such as AirBNB, Netflix and Uber which are key examples. In an IoT context, this trend creates the conditions for service oriented 'as-a-service' or ad-funded business models, as well as opex-based purchasing which will all help accelerate growth."•