Comms Dealer

If ever in the history of the comms sector there was a clear case for driving business transformation it must be now, according to Derek Nutley, Global Offer Director, Devoteam UK (and group-wide Head of Network Transformation). Rather than respond to the challenge with a token answer to 'something must be done', an all out digital battle must be planned, waged and won, he argues.

French ICT consultancy Devoteam claims to be at the vanguard of the digital revolution. The company was established in 1995 by two brothers, joint CEOs Stanislas and Godefroy de Bentzmann, in response to the deregulation of the telecoms industry in France, aware that the increased complexity of IT systems would mean telcos would need IT consulting services. "People who shared our passion for technology, our vision for its impact on business, and our energy to bring about change joined us," said Nutley. "Thus, The Devoteam was created."

Nutley's whole working life has been spent in IT and telecoms, beginning as an operator in the civil service, moving to COBOL programming, then systems analysis and design, overseeing mapping systems with the Ordnance Survey, followed by responsibility for the design of comms applications at Southern Electricity during privatisation. "I progressed to Chief Designer within Government at Logica and then project management within its Government sector projects," he explained.

From there he moved to Vodafone to develop billing systems, then into Operation Support Systems with Swedish consultancy AuSystems where he created the telecoms division in the UK. AuSystems was acquired in 2006 by Devoteam. "With my telecoms experience I was asked to run Devoteam's telecoms division in the UK," noted Nutley. "Three years ago I was asked to head up the company's offer for telecoms."

Since being appointed Global Offer Director Nutley has brought together the different practices across the group, unified skill sets to better serve its markets, and built a collaborative environment to share those skills within the group. Devoteam has also broadened its service portfolio, adopted new technologies and gained experience with new industries. "We take our average of 15 per cent growth per year, and expansion into 20 markets across Europe, as proof that we understand our clients' pains and are able to support them with good business judgement," added Nutley.

Devoteam has 3,600 staff, 443 million euro turnover (2014), and caters for over 800 clients across EMEA in all market sectors. Its portfolio of services include IT Service Excellence, Digital Enabler, Cloud Transformation, IT Transformation, Network Transformation (NT, its telecoms division) and Risk & Security. With Nutley responsible for NT, the focus is on helping traditional network operators as well as large enterprises with their evolving technology to embrace cloud and unify communications. The NT practice across the Devoteam group accounts for 50 million euros of the 443 million euros total. By the end of 2018, that stream will grow to 65 million euros.

"We will replicate in the UK the expertise we have gathered in our Centres of Excellence in EMEA," said Nutley. "Not only will we continue to develop 5G technology and beyond, we will help telecom operators to enable the cloud and bring expertise to the enterprise market through a consolidated set of services which Germany is piloting. Devoteam will be helping Tier 1 operators with 5G, and by the end of 2018 we will be at the centre of the roll out of 5G in EMEA."

Devoteam's telecoms division has developed a network evolution programme for a leading Tier 1 telecoms operator through three principal activities - the logical build of networks, interconnectivity with other operators, and migration services to new networks. The NT division has a strong presence in the UK, France, Germany, Benelux and the Middle East. In the UK NT has grown from six consultants in 2007 to nearly 100, and its principal activity is the consolidation of legacy 2G and 3G installations, the roll-out of 4G programmes as well as strategic consulting on the development and roll-out of 5G and cloud for operators and equipment vendors.

Devoteam has been fiercely independent for 20 years, and as a vendor agnostic alternative to the large consulting groups - with regard to both technology (software, SaaS applications) and sourcing (outsourcing, offshoring and public cloud) - the company is able to offer the right solution for each client, especially when the best option is disruption. "We chose not to catch the ERP wave," said Nutley. "Our strong independence extends to our management style, where each consultant is empowered to take the initiative and encouraged to go one step further in each of their projects."

According to Nutley, Devoteam's consultants see IT transformation as a digital battle. "We talk about making IT the business hero through its role of enabling people to embrace the digital revolution," he said. "The IT business heroes today are the ones who work on transforming organisations with innovative IT solutions while escaping from traditional siloed models. We believe that cloud is one of the main enablers, with its infrastructure, platform and application dimensions at the heart of this revolution, bringing agility, scalability and flexibility to businesses."

Being in services Devoteam is about people, and over the years a strong culture has developed, a culture where people speak frankly, have great respect and are united by a genuine interest in technology, a desire to share their knowledge with others and a sense of purpose when they witness society-changing projects come to life. Nutley added: "Vibrant communities have developed around key topics where information and experience is exchanged, creating dynamic expert groups to ensure that we can always provide clients with teams that are up to speed on the latest developments and best practice. Today we continue to seek out, evaluate and invest in innovation to offer our clients the best technology for their business."

Devoteam uses the latest tools like Google for Work to build its capacity to work globally, but with local depth of understanding. The company is currently taking on 500 new professionals a year and will continue to encourage technical specialisation and adoption of its shared company values of respect, frankness and passion, all of which contributed towards an internal group-wide transformation programme (kicked off in 2012) over 18 months to reposition the firm in terms of its main markets.

"The next step was to change our visual identity to reflect our new position as a strategic ICT consultancy in the digital age," added Nutley. "This coincides with our 20 years in business. Since early 2014, we have concentrated on providing innovation and value around cloud and digital technologies. In this new phase we have spearheaded a number of projects to help organisations benefit from our expertise in digital collaboration, user experience, DevOps and service management. Today, the company is going even further. As a leader in digital transformation we want to ensure our new visual identity, a clear, colourful and digital-focused brand, is recognisable across our international operation."

The rebrand also recognises that customers buy differently and that Devoteam is positioned to service this need. "People work the way they live, and the way service is delivered has changed with 'everything as a device' playing a key role," said Nutley. "Change needs to be delivered as cost-effectively as possible, and this means we need to embrace the Internet of Things to help companies build more collaborative environments that will promote future innovation.

"For some time there has been a trend across EMEA towards buying a complete solution rather than the means to build that solution. The challenge is to create the right mechanisms for service delivery as well as the KPIs to measure its success. The trend throughout IT is to embrace cloud, and Devoteam has strategic partnerships with ServiceNow and Google, for example, to help companies move in this direction.

"The role of the SI is to understand what businesses are trying to achieve, then advise them on the 'art of the possible' by removing the challenges posed by technology so that businesses can improve their ROI. Devoteam decided three years ago that this is only achievable through finely honed expertise serving specific areas of business and with a sharper focus on tailored solutions."

Having built three telecoms companies alongside long-term partner Alan Shraga, Simon Payne has helped scores of resellers make personal fortunes. Now the duo have invested in a new wholesale model to help channel players cash-in on low energy prices.

Comms Dealer caught up with Fidelity Group CEO Payne at the Comms National Awards in London and questioned him on the new Fidelity Energy project he will be introducing to potential ICT reseller partners at this year's Comms Vision. "When Fidelity Group was launched I planned on it being a group of companies offering a range of services," he said. "The Energy project is the first service to sit outside of telecoms and datacoms. Selling to existing clients is easier than selling to new ones, and I am inspired by the Virgin model that facilitates lucrative cross-selling. So we rolled out the energy service though our Fidelity Group customers. In time, I was planning to launch wholesale services in water, insurance and waste etc, but I am now motivated to do that much sooner."

As with any industry there are normally only a few industry leaders who drive the pace and direction. Payne was fortunate enough to meet one of these leaders, Paul Havell, who is now Managing Director of Fidelity Energy. "Paul knew all the right people I needed to complete the foundations of the business, and his knowledge of pricing and service delivery is critical to win end user customers," added Payne.

"Timing is everything. The energy industry is intensely price-lead because there just isn't any post-connection service required. Unlike telecoms where there are always issues on the board, we don't have any with our energy clients. So, with sales relying heavily on price, the low price today plays an enormous factor in the ability to win the client.

"Everyone knows that petrol and energy prices have fallen over the past year. They are still at an all-time low. That means almost every customer we visit is paying 50 per cent more than they could be if they changed provider. For comms resellers who have been in the industry a long time, the sale is about as easy as selling a Mercury Smartbox. It is a window of opportunity and every day that passes the window closes further."

Payne also pointed out that there have been energy dealers around since deregulation, so the business of selling energy for a commission is not new. What's new is selling energy using the existing brand of wholesale partners. "Historically, to sell wholesale energy you need a licence, and that is a complicated process that takes more time than this window of opportunity will allow," added Payne.

"Fidelity Energy has created a solution that ticks the boxes for our wholesale partners. There are variants of the solution that can still incorporate the up-front cash components that Alan and I are offering to motivate partners. I suspect the reason why no-one has tried to fill the gap is because it is quite a unique model used by the telecoms industry. My conversations with the energy companies were all similar, with them expressing surprise that there was demand for the hybrid style solution."

Any reseller adding energy provision to their portfolio will generate 'a lot of cash', claims Payne, potentially some up-front, and very quickly. Also, a cross-sold service makes the customer stickier. "We have three different offerings and they are all familiar territory for telcos," commented Payne. "Dealer, wholesale and wholesale white label. We can have a partner operating under the dealer model set-up within a day.

"We use our well proven ANVIL billing platform as the backbone engine that drives the service, commissions and data flows etc. A wholesale partner takes a couple of weeks as marketing, branding and documentation needs to be organised."

Once up and running, Fidelity Energy partners will be saving their customers money on energy bills. "Beyond that simple message, they can choose green sources and benefit from remote controls and detailed monitoring that comes as part of a smart connected world," added Payne. "We are not pioneers in this field, but none of the clients who we have connected to date are using the technology."

There is no reason why a telco with a similar size client base to Fidelity (£8 million last year) can't achieve the same results in the same time frame. Fidelity Energy will top £1 million profit in its first year of trading. That can be copied immediately by everyone, says Payne. "In the same way that traditional telcos are converting clients to hosted telephony, the same is happening with the migration towards low prices in energy," he added. "Every month more customers will renew at the new low rates, and if they haven't renewed with you then you've missed the window."

By Anton Le Saux, Head of Connectivity and Partner Sales at O2 Telefónica UK: As the IoT continues to grow and expand its influence to more industry areas, questions are being raised as to how it can reach the more disparate and low cost businesses.

Is it really possible for m2m to be a ubiquitous technology? Some believe it will require its own independent WAN to generate further reach, which may seem an unfeasible solution. However, the development of Long Range Low Power (LRLP) networks could be the way to facilitate this.

WANs generally consume a large amount of power which makes them an unpopular choice. Newer LRLP networks provide a high performance network with wide area coverage, combined with ultra-low power use, which makes for a much more cost-effective solution for many businesses, particularly smaller companies with smaller budgets.

As more and more devices become connected there will be an increasing number of m2m solutions available, and connectivity demands will rise and become more complex. For example, any sort of remote monitoring such as parking or isolated utilities sites will require long-range, low power solutions to connect them efficiently.
The cost of traditional WANs would be prohibitive in these situations. The basic problem of network congestion will also be problematic as the number of connected devices rises. This is another area that LRLP networks can ease by simply providing more options that have the added bonus of being budget-friendly.

Ultimately for the IoT to continue its current rapid expansion, the evolution of LRLP networks is a necessity to make m2m more widely accessible to more businesses. This model will enable the predicted growth of m2m to continue unchecked.

(anton.lesaux@telefonica.com - partnersdigital.telefonica.com)

WebRTC is on course to becoming the top technology for anything related to real-time communication over the web, according to Maria Stoitsi, Marketing Communications Coordinator at 3CX, which collected the Best SME On-Premise System accolade at last month's Comms National Awards.

WebRTC is a game changer for the UC industry, offering simpler and cheaper real-time communications options, believes Stoitsi. "It has essentially transformed the web browser itself into a communications platform, levelling the playing field and thereby removing the dominance of any one operating system or device type," she stated. "This will also bring issues of interoperability and compatibility to an end as WebRTC is browser-based. This technology has the capacity to add new features to the range of UC functions, for example the click-to-call feature, which will have a huge impact on real-time communication for companies."

With this degree of flexibility, resellers will not face any big obstacles in trying to sell and implement WebRTC-based solutions. "Market insights show that end users are asking for more flexible solutions that are, at the same time, easy to use, manage and more cost-friendly. All are characteristics of WebRTC," commented Stoitsi.

3CX has always considered WebRTC to be one of the top emerging trends over the past few years, even from its very first introduction. In the past year alone the use of WebRTC has gained momentum and Stoitsi is beginning to see how the technology is disrupting the market. "Its ability to support multiple participant meetings at the click of a button, without the need for additional plugins or clients, is revolutionising video conferencing for enterprises," she added. "Solutions that depend on expensive software and video conferencing hardware will struggle immensely to keep up with this development. WebRTC will push expensive proprietary vendors out of the market."

To embrace WebRTC video conferencing on a corporate level, enterprises will need to assess which VC software or application best fits their needs. "There are just a few providers with business-fit products that have gone completely WebRTC, so finding a suitable provider won't be a laborious process," noted Stoitsi. "Everything else is easy because WebRTC is a browser-based technology. Companies won't need to purchase new dedicated hardware because existing webcams and headsets are fully compatible with WebRTC solutions. In terms of external communication, you won't need to send your customers a specific plugin or client to download in order to interact with them. All they need is their open standard browser, be it on their computer or mobile device."

However, there is one question: Does the replacement of a proprietary video conferencing solution make sense from a cost point of view? The answer, in Stoitsi's opinion, is a clear yes. "WebRTC solutions are much more cost-effective as they eliminate the need for expensive maintenance and additional overhead costs for dedicated IT staff," she added. "This means that there is a short return on investment, and with this in mind it won't take much to convince CEOs and CFOs to embrace solutions with the technology embedded."

Some of the sectors where Stoitsi sees increased potential for the demand and uptake of WebRTC video conferencing might come as a surprise. Firstly, and more traditionally keen to deploy WebRTC, are call centres. "For this line of business the technology offers the opportunity to provide real-time communications not only with audio, but with hassle-free video input as well," she explained. "For call centres with a supportive role in particular this is an exceptional new tool as customers can be assisted via video call and users can make use of helpful features such as screen sharing. This has the potential to increase customer satisfaction substantially and, as a result, increase profits."

Additionally, and perhaps more unconventionally, 3CX sees the healthcare sector as prime market for video conferencing. "Hospitals are already using video conferencing for consultations between doctors and patients, and even real-time surgery support could become standard in the future," she said. "Hospitals use video conferencing to collaborate with other physicians without necessarily sharing the same location. WebRTC-based solutions would fit perfectly into this scenario, increasing the adoption of video conferencing due to its uncomplicated use.

"The third sector that has positive growth potential is the educational system. Schools and universities can benefit from the cost-effective solution that WebRTC has to offer, delivering knowledge in an innovative way more inline with where we are today, technologically speaking, as a society."

WebRTC goes beyond VoIP and web conferencing, at least in its current form, and moves towards ultra-personalised customer interaction, believes Stoitsi. "WebRTC will be the top technology for anything related to real-time video communication over the web," she stated. "It will make the world as we know it shrink and the globalisation of businesses, which was an obstacle for many companies in the past, will have even less impact on the way organisations run today and in the future.

"Furthermore, WebRTC might develop in such a way that ultimately supports online sales platforms. It creates the perfect conditions for employees to assist in the making of sales, where traditionally the online sales process might stop due to a lack of communication and information. Amazon's Mayday button has already demonstrated this and we will definitely see further development in this direction."

In general, 3CX does not see many challenges associated with selling and implementing a WebRTC video conferencing solution. "It's a no brainer," added Stoitsi. "While Apple and Microsoft still lack cooperation towards WebRTC this has done nothing to stop its growth. In terms of adoption of the technology, Internet Explorer and Safari not supporting WebRTC has actually no impact on developers and end users. With Chrome and Firefox being widely used, WebRTC overcame these restrictions easily.

"While Skype and FaceTime might have strong branding, we don't see them taking over corporate communication beyond its current market shares. Even Microsoft's smart marketing-driven rebranding of its Lync product line to Skype for Business will not take over the video conferencing market. WebRTC is based on open standards and its web browser concept. WebRTC is not locked to a particular operating system. All someone needs is a browser that supports the technology."

WebRTC's success is driven through its clientless approach, which eliminates the need to download any additional software or plugins. Like no other technology before, users can interact with each other quickly and easily as they only need their web browser. "It puts an end to interoperability issues, as it is not locked into a particular hardware vendor, meaning the users are not limited to specific brands and models of peripheral hardware," said Stoitsi. "As WebRTC is clientless and open standards, it enables real-time communication without infrastructure boundaries and is incredibly easy to add or implement to existing ITC systems."

On the other hand, companies can be reluctant to adopt a new technology, often due to data privacy and data security concerns and the question of whether WebRTC is secure is one that has troubled many. "However, the technology comes with a set of security characteristics that are actually an additional reason to consider adopting WebRTC," said Stoitsi.

"As you don't need to install any plugins or clients, the fear of downloading malicious software is eliminated. Also, security and encryption is not optional with WebRTC. It has native built-in features that address security concerns. What's more it offers end-to-end encryption and a set of security protocols like DTLS and SRTP ensuring safe, private and secure real-time communication."

A combination of northern straight-talking, clarity of vision and cultural architects are at the root of Lily Comms's successful growth strategy, according to Managing Director Chris Morrisey, who collected three Comms National Awards last month including Overall Reseller of the Year.

Morrisey's introduction to the comms industry was an act of pure chance. Had he acted with purpose the chances are he would have baulked at the apparent complexity of comms, a myth perpetuated by the glut of confusing acronyms that Morrisey believes deters skilled people from entering the telecoms space. "There's some amazing talent in the UK, but when people look at the telecoms industry they are confronted by so many acronyms it looks too complicated," he said. "But it's a simple business. Too many people try to make it complex when it's not. I hate acronyms."

With a clear vision to keep life simple Morrisey has no doubts about the role Lily Comms plays on the industry stage. "We are a pure reseller and always will be," he commented. "We don't want to become a network or a hosted provider. Too many businesses are putting time, effort and money into developing a network and VoIP platform, perhaps taking on too much and likely to fail. Our policy is clear and simple - to be end user facing, to be the customer's contractor, to build value into our customer relationships, and to buy best of breed."

Bradford-based Lily Comms was established in 2009 by Adrian Jackson with support from Morrisey. For two years the company offered an outsourced engineering resource to the trade, and during this period it became clear that some of the firm's partners were falling short of the mark in terms of customer service. "We decided to go direct and build a sales business," added Morrisey. "Within two years we were completing up to 40 installs a day for a provider of MoH. We then started to sell systems, lines and calls, and haven't looked back."

The company employs 33 staff and has grown 100 per cent year-on-year during the past two years and has a £4 million run rate, up from £1.9 million. The goal for next year is to hit £6 million. "We are now targeting companies we sold systems to two-three years ago," explained Morrisey. "The upgrade campaign into our existing customer base has begun in earnest with our customer services and account management teams busy generating recurring business."

To reach this happy state of cross-company revenue generation Morrisey regularly does the housework, which he describes as 'dusting off the diamonds to help them shine'. It is people, and their polished management, that adds sparkle to a business. "Our priorities are growth, recruitment, development and training," he said. "When a business grows rapidly it is important for staff to grow with the organisation. We need everyone in the company to grow. Lily Comms has built a group of people who are like-minded in sales, back office and finance. We have established a young management team who share our vision. We still have a family atmosphere, and everyone buys into our key objectives."

Morrisey defines Lily's company culture as 'the way we do things' and this modus operandi informs not just how the day-to-day activities are executed but also the steerage of the business. "We're pragmatic, passionate and performance driven," added Morrisey. "Without a strong culture staff may look at the wrong people to find direction. In our business we support cultural architects, those leaders without authority who will follow you on your growth journey. We have many cultural architects who naturally support what we are trying to achieve."

Morrisey leads from the front and draws on his previous experience in the comms sector to help shape Lily Comms' future. "I got into telecoms by accident through a rugby contact," he recalled. "A friend was starting a comms company and he invited me to join and sell mobile phones. This was a fantastic opportunity. I've since held a variety of roles from sales person to Group Sales Director and Managing Director, and in all of those roles I've worked with some fantastic entrepreneurial people. I've learnt business skills, business etiquette and the value of strong partnerships."

Lily Comms is now recognised as a prominent LG reseller supported by distributor Pragma. The company also has staunch relationships with Nine Telecom and Gamma, and is gaining traction in the mobile sector as a virtual reseller following a link-up with Total. "Customers are now realising the benefits of mobility and the cloud," added Morrisey. "This trend will only gain momentum. We haven't reached a tipping point but ignore it at your peril."

Customers most certainly are taking note and their needs are vastly magnified after the deepest economic downturn in living memory. "Customer requirements have changed since the recession," said Morrisey. "We run a small business and in every part of the organisation I want more for less. I want people, and the business, to be more efficient. Every SME in the UK now has the same ethic, and the product portfolio we've developed addresses most of those areas in terms of communications. It is key for us to sell the right solution to the customer whether hosted or CPE."

Organic growth is the order of the day but Morrisey hinted at a dual strategy. "In the not too distant future we will look for an acquisition," he added. "You can grow your business organically to a point. There's a lot of people in comms looking to move on or move out, and Lily is a good place to come.

"We have a clear strategic plan - growth and more growth. Now is the time for a land grab, now is the time to acquire new customers from the larger providers. Telecoms companies that can support SMEs and provide the latest technology without being bleeding edge will win. And our northern approach works well in all regions - sell it as it is, do what you say you're going to do and deliver."

A technology takeover has begun in favour of SIP and channel-focused Paul Taylor, Sales and Marketing Director at Voiceflex, has the ISDN replacement target squarely in his sights.

Betting your farm on the next big thing can be an occupational hazard. Nobody knows that more than Taylor who, in hindsight, made a wrong call early in his career. But, his finger found the SIP pulse long before the newborn heartbeat of the comms sector was audible. "When mobile phones first appeared in the mid-80s I was offered a partnership in a mobile phone company," said Taylor. "I told the chap that at £1,500 each they would never catch on. Never dismiss anything."

Perhaps it is the missed mobile opportunity that opened Taylor's mind to new possibilities without boundaries, and his early stage recognition of SIP should be applauded, especially in the context of BT's intention to kibosh ISDN by 2025. "The biggest opportunity is SIP now ISDN is dead within 10 years," stated Taylor. "The ramifications are colossal, not only for the channel but for every business in the country using ISDN. Moving forward there will just be SIP or hosted. Every new system sold should have SIP."

In a move that illustrates the timeliness of plugging hosted gaps in a product portfolio Voiceflex built a solid bridge to the hosted market following a link-up with GENBAND to provide the Nuvia UC hosted telephony platform. "Since the beginning of the year we'd been looking for a UC hosted application," explained Taylor. "It's imperative to offer value added business services like WebRTC and collaboration, but we cannot sacrifice performance for features, so we took our time to evaluate the available options.

"We found that GENBAND's Nuvia application has a strong track record, and the company knows how to build mission-critical communications. The application has been built from decades of experience delivering carrier-grade exchanges worldwide. The launch of GENBAND within our channel partners and the channel is our near-term priority. There will be significant organic growth from our current partners but we aim to build on our channel base with GENBAND and SIP."

With 20-plus years experience in the comms industry Taylor has become adept at leveraging a combination of vision and knowledge. He started out in 1983 selling internal telephone systems, a job he sought following a stint at door knocking. "I sold insurance and pensions door-to-door and got fed up working evenings and weekends when my mates were out enjoying themselves," he recalled. "I went for an interview with Birmingham General Telephones and never looked back."

In 2005 Taylor operated as UK Manager for Swyx and was tasked with finding a SIP service provider. "I had never heard of SIP and neither had the carriers," he commented. "I'd been involved in the birth of ISDN, but looking at the SIP offering I knew from the outset that it would become the ISDN replacement technology. Frontier Systems offered first line support for Swyx and said, 'we can do SIP'. So off we went."

Starting a public voice network in 2005 allowed Voiceflex to design an infrastructure based on best practice within data, quickly converging voice. "The lack of legacy integration meant no compromise to our SIP network," added Taylor. "Voiceflex tested with every telephone manufacturer and became approved for SIP. Having more PBX manufacturer approvals than any other UK SIP provider has been an important foundation from the start."

Voiceflex claims a number of firsts - the first to provide an assured data connection, first to offer ASDL2 connectivity, and first to connect with BT IPX for in and outbound services. Six years ago, Voiceflex developed what Taylor says was an industry first online portal for ordering, provisioning and billing. "This was developed so we didn't have to talk to customers," he said. "But we've reverted back to the traditional way of account managers engaging with customers through human interaction, which has proved far more beneficial than a faceless portal. We have moved into field-based sales and away from desk-based operations. As SIP grows so does the applications it supports. Having field-based account managers has made us more aware of what the channel wants. This has won us more business, mainly from referrals."

Voiceflex has witnessed double digit growth for the last five years and the upward trend will continue. "Ten years ago we had no product, no customers and no revenue," said Taylor. "Voiceflex is privately owned and now generates a £6 million turnover. We started with one engineer and me, now we have 30 members of staff. Our route to market is channel-only, and we mean channel-only. This will not change. Our partners range from one man and his dog to million pound turnover companies. The complete cross section of the channel is important to us. We understand the needs and wants of the channel and are still small enough to adapt to change quickly."

The £6 million turnover is purely SIP and calls minutes, no ISDN or PSTN. "We want to double over the next four to five years," added Taylor." And we will continue to purely focus on the channel and bring new products to market. A land grab in the SIP market has begun with some traditional providers putting their cards on the table. Their current marketing seems to be around the commercials and not network topology, engagement and features. SIP service providers are not all the same, so channel partners should investigate a number of alternatives."

To show the differences between SIP service providers Taylor explained that Voiceflex is really a 'sIP A' provider. "Our trunks are application-based on just dial tone," he stated. "The more features you have the more benefits you can offer the customer. Gone are the days of just sell yourself, your company and your products, you need to include the SIP and ISP provider. They can all add additional benefits."

Also worth a mention is ABBA (Advanced Behaviour Based Analysis), Voiceflex's fraud application. The company lost a fraud case two years ago (the actual fraud occurred two years prior to the case), and as a result Voiceflex re-wrote its fraud process that, claims Taylor, is one of the 'best in the industry'. Attaining such high standards applies to all development projects. "We have a number of core values," said Taylor. "Whenever we look at new products or services, many of which may not be customer-facing, we look for stability, security, connectivity, features, and then price. These are the same virtues that we expect our customers to uphold."

Product education, as well as features and benefits, are key to success. Not surprisingly Voiceflex has embarked on an accreditation programme for all new partners, and the scheme is designed to offer full support and ensure partners are up to speed with Voiceflex's products and services. "Resellers who don't understand data cannot sell SIP or hosted," said Taylor. "Therefore, our online education seminars give partners the information they need to boost their confidence and ability to offer our solutions. If resellers are not selling SIP, someone else will be."

York-based Locasys plugs a knowledge gap in business intelligence (BI) platforms, according to Howard Bedford, Chief Commercial Officer, who puts a spotlight on how resellers can profit from the integration of location-awareness technology into BI solutions.

The convergence of BI with mobile and big data has shifted data to the core of most organisations, yet even the best BI platforms may be lacking important 'location' information. The good news is that this gap can be bridged by the integration of Real Time Location Systems (RTLS). "Location Intelligence (LI) complements a company's metrics of who, what and when with real-time knowledge of 'where'," stated Bedford.

Locasys has patented ultrasonic RTLS systems and RFID products that communicate wirelessly with its application software, providing real-time LI information. All data can be stored, retrieved, reviewed and exported as required. The company's family of smart device apps also provide real-time information, status reports and push notifications to site personnel.

On-site RTLS is designed to operate with consistent accuracy indoors as well as outdoors across offices, factories and plants. "In such environments GPS and other location technologies become unreliable," said Bedford. "On-site reliability is best achieved by using active ultrasound and RFID technologies."

In a simple example of the Locasys system in operation, a network of locator beacons are installed on-site and active tags are attached to assets, or worn on badges by personnel (employees, visitors, contractors etc). The locations of the tags are monitored in real-time by the beacons and the location information is transmitted to a database. By applying business rules, the RTLS can be configured to provide operational efficiencies and improve safety for organisations.

"For example, when an asset is moved its travel route and destination are known in real-time," said Bedford. "If the asset is moved off-site the system can issue an alert. Also, in a data centre the RTLS can be configured so that a visitor is paired with a chaperone. If the two are separated an alert is raised."

The relevance and benefits of such applications, explained Bedford, are wide ranging and include operational efficiencies, improved asset utilisation, better decision making and workflow management, and improved safety in the workplace. Not surprisingly, in certain RTLS applications LI has become mission critical.

"In prisons and casinos, for example, the management of keys is core to operational success," added Bedford. "In these organisations, if a key leaves a room without the due procedures being completed, or leaves a building the entire operation can be jeopardised. If a key is not returned the RTLS provides the locational information of its movement and whereabouts in real-time. This prevents the expense of having to change all of the locks and keys."

RTLS offers 3D positioning, orientation, line of travel and within-room accuracy. "The LI data generated by an on-site RTLS is used to great effect in standard off-the-shelf offerings as well as bespoke solutions," added Bedford.

Open APIs allow third parties to seamlessly integrate location-awareness technology into their solutions. "The increasing performance requirements and expectations of all businesses and organisations in the private and public sectors, along with the insatiable need to control infrastructure costs, and the ease of use of real-time social connectivity are playing a vital role in shaping the future of the indoor real-time location market," Bedford explained.

Bedford joined Locasys in September this year and was previously a founder of DBAM Systems, the provider of bandwidth shaping and network acceleration products that was sold to Dell in 2010. His previous commercial experience includes over five years in senior sales positions; and as a qualified Chartered Engineer with a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master's degree in Business Administration, Bedford clearly knows his stuff and readers should be attentive to his viewpoints on RTLS as a big opportunity for resellers.

According to a report from Marketsandmarkets, the global indoor location market is forecast to grow from $935.05 million in 2014 to over $4,424 million by 2019, at an estimated CAGR of 36.5 per cent during the period. The indoor location market in Europe is also expected to see traction from new industries. "The benefits of location awareness and auto-identification at the enterprise level will continue to grow as the integration of analytical and visualisation software tools, maps and navigation applications enhance the power of RTLS-based solutions and make on-site LI commonplace," stated Bedford.

The healthcare, industrial manufacturing, Government and defence, process industries, as well as transportation and logistics sectors, have an increasing appetite and need to deploy RTLS applications to solve problems around the location of staff, contractors, site visitors and other assets in everyday operations and in emergencies. Bedford commented: "The growing appetite for location intelligence is fuelling significant growth in RTLS-based solutions across these and many other sectors."

Meet Greg Zweig, Director of Solutions Marketing at US-based GENBAND, who helped to create the world's first IP PBX, who understands the application of technological innovation and how to build a thriving reseller channel, and who quickly made significant gains in the UK having linked up with Timico and Voiceflex.

Who would have thought that a former farm boy would come to show technological innovation at its best? Zweig grew up on a farm in a town of 4,000 people and one traffic light. Here, a tractor with working headlights represented the dizzy heights of hi-tech. This seems a very thin basis on which to build a pioneering career in comms, but it was fertile ground for cultivating fresh thinking, curiosity and excitement about the possibilities of new technology. So much so that Zweig ultimately helped to create the NBX 100, the world's first commercially available IP PBX product. "A group of 80 incredibly talented people, most of whom had no telephony or PBX experience, changed the way every one of us communicates today," he said.

Zweig's introduction to telecoms - successfully selling key systems and PBXs - provided enough experience and know-how to secure a position with Ethernet telephony start-up NBX (which was acquired by 3Com) in the late 1990s. "I was employee number 12 of the first company to build and ship an IP PBX," he commented. "As a Product Manager for the first IP business phone ever shipped, I learned the technology from the inside out. I learned to make systematic product quality a pillar of product development. Don't let 'good enough' thinking rule the day because nothing impedes sales and a company's long-term growth as much as inconsistent quality.

"Today, I'm intolerant of systemic quality issues. And as a start-up, I also learned what it meant to build a reseller channel from scratch. My early experiences help me every day. I understand the technology and how to make it relevant in the real world."

With UCaaS, Zweig aims to take his experience to exciting new heights and he's swung his attention onto the UK where uptake of UCaaS is occurring faster than anywhere else on earth. On the horizon he sees world domination, but the near-term goal is to become a top three provider of UCaaS in the UK. Zweig's biggest priority is to grow GENBAND's reseller channel, and he is particularly focused on enabling wholesalers including new partners Timico Partners and Voiceflex. "The UK market is already incredibly dynamic and leading the world in terms of UCaaS adoption," said Zweig. "We are entering a decade or more of UCaaS growth and our multi-tenant cloud solution can scale with market demands. That's in stark contrast to solutions that were designed for enterprise use and later bolted into the cloud.

"GENBAND is also investing more in web and mobile UC technology that will be the key part of buying criteria. It used to be enough to sell a hosted IP phone but today that is table stakes. To win share we are investing heavily in WebRTC technology. In early 2016 we are launching a whole new generation of UC clients that use WebRTC to make it less expensive for enterprises to deploy and maintain them."

In 2013 GENBAND launched its first cloud solution, Nuvia Cloud UC. Two years after launching in North America the firm introduced Nuvia to the UK (along with Asia). A year later GENBAND launched Kandy, a Platform as a Service solution designed to make it easy and cost-effective to communication-enable mobile and web applications. "These efforts reflect the changing way we all consume communications and GENBAND's commitment to be a leader in this new world," added Zweig. "We support five million-plus enterprise end users and our Kandy service has over 15 million users after just one year in the market."

While the UK is blazing a trail for UCaaS uptake, most of the offers are 'literally identical', claims Zweig. "It's the same solution," he stated. "I'm not sure how resellers preserve their margin if they only have price as a differentiator. Nuvia Cloud UC is different. More importantly, our roadmap has a different focus and direction. Today, UC is still a separate application but as we move forward we have to give our partners simple tools to embed communications in websites and business apps. That doesn't mean we can ignore the basics, but we have to give them something more. We're giving partners more to offer than just another IP phone and a cool client."

Zweig believes that the next major disruption in the market will be Microsoft's attempt to bundle voice with Office 365. "It's the first over the top player that has the ability to take significant share from traditional providers," he said. "Our offers have got to be differentiated and we need to ensure that we have channels in place that can extol that value to end users. I'm sure that many Comms Dealer readers are concerned that Office 365 will simply be purchased directly from Microsoft, essentially eliminating them from the value chain. GENBAND wants to give them a competitive alternative that preserves their value."

Rewinding the clock, GENBAND was founded in 1999 as General Bandwidth by Paul Carew, Brendon Mills, Ron Lutz and Steve Raich in Austin, Texas, and received initial venture capital funding of $12 million. In 2004, Charles Vogt joined the company as CEO and President. He changed the firm's trajectory by aggressively undertaking a series of acquisitions, the most notable being the Nortel CVAS business in 2010. Along the way General Bandwidth changed its name to GENBAND and moved its headquarters to the Dallas area. While GENBAND started as a small media gateway vendor it has ultimately become an end-to-end solution provider for real-time communications across the world.

"The Nortel acquisition was the company's biggest milestone," said Zweig. "Not only was it a huge undertaking, it also provided the foundation for our current investment structure and management team."

Today, GENBAND is wholly owned by One Equity Partners (OEP) and led by a longtime member of OEP, David Walsh. The firm has more than 1,600 employees and provides real-time communications solutions to 700-plus service providers in over 80 countries. "The rapid acceptance of cloud services is transforming our business," added Zweig. "As a vendor that has built solutions for service providers for years, you could say that GENBAND was building cloud solutions before there was a cloud - it's our wheelhouse.

We're heavily investing in solutions that make cloud communications even more compelling and further drive down the cost and complexity of UC deployments. In addition, the cloud has changed the speed of adoption as customers are no longer limited to the communication provider in their area. We see a major change in how end users and our partners buy and resell services."

Zweig also observes that the consolidation happening in the UCaaS market is good for the industry as the alternative is irrational margin erosion from a constant stream of new entrants. "It just encourages us to look for wholesalers that have staying power, that are financially healthy and willing to continue to invest," he added. "Our Nuvia Cloud UC solution is new to the market so we have to build brand awareness and build more reference accounts in each vertical. Of course, it's already a competitive market but we also know that a majority of the resellers are selling the same solution. We know that we can deliver a differentiated offer so we are excited to build upon our early success and, for example, deliver a lower cost version of our contact centre for SMBs and localise the solution for more European languages."

Zweig says Nuvia will be the obvious growth engine but he expects Kandy to be the difference maker. "VARs will need a way to differentiate, to add value and find sticky services that can't be commoditised," he commented. "Their role has evolved radically as most resellers have had to become services-focused organisations versus classic product VARs. As the cloud becomes more dominating, the services revenue is also in jeopardy. VARs will adjust by becoming more like systems integrators, able to extend cloud services with vertical specific or application specific elements.

"For example, if a medical facility wants to deploy cloud UC, a VAR can't distinguish itself by selling the same solution as five of their rivals. That's why GENBAND developed the Kandy PaaS solution, to help resellers and developers embed communication services that stand out from the herd. Once deployed, these services are sticky enough to reduce price competition. This is the future. People in the industry should not reminisce about 'the good old days'. Times change, and we should appreciate our industry's heritage but not get trapped by it. There are plenty of great opportunities ahead, people just need to accept that we have to change to stay in the game."

Glasgow-based Exsel Group's Managing Director Tom McDonald has the Midas touch. He joined the fledgling company two years ago and quickly mapped out its growth journey towards a glittering SME of the Year nomination at this year's Scottish business awards.

McDonald is a man with growth on his mind. Exsel Group, he says, is perfectly positioned to expand in a market that is not yet crowded. Nevertheless, with elbows out he aims to jostle to top spot north (and south) of the border. "Scotland has a huge business community," he said. "There are a few fantastic ICT companies operating in the country but also room for us to rise and become the leader in the field. Our biggest challenge is learning from our rapid growth and managing the transformation from a small business mindset to that of a medium sized organisation. In three to five years Exsel will be one of the leading ICT brands in the UK. Hard work, determination and an indomitable spirit will get us there."

McDonald joined Exsel two years ago, moving from the Scottish sales office of Belfast-based Rainbow Communications which he headed up. His new remit is to create a strong sales arm and explore new product opportunities and expand the Exsel business. Remarkably, in the span of 24 months the company was nominated for the SME of the Year award at the Scottish business awards. "We have been nominated for a few awards and our growth statistics have been unbelievable, but I never thought that within two years we would be shortlisted as one of the best SMEs in Scotland," commented McDonald.

When he joined Exsel the firm generated just over £100,000 in revenue from 15 IT support contracts. In 2013, McDonald and IT Director Mike Wilson (who founded the company) decided to up the headcount to three, taking on Sales Director Craig Armstrong. The firm now has 36 staff and is poised to open a second office. Last year, revenues of £1 million were achieved and the target this year is over £2.5 million. With the new office up and running Exsel plans to employ around 50 staff with annual revenues approaching £5 million.

"We threw caution to the wind and decided to grow aggressively and reinvest all profits back into growth," said McDonald. "We quickly realised there was a massive gap in the market for an all-encompassing ICT provider so we decided to build strong relationships with mobile and hosted providers to offer our customers a modernised and future proofed ICT solution. The sky is the limit and we have the belief and confidence in ourselves to achieve. We operate an open and fun culture. Everyone knows they have a job to do but they need to enjoy themselves along the way. We give our staff a lot of responsibility and in return everyone at Exsel cares like they own the business. It's an amazing environment to work in."

Exsel Group split off from the old Exsel Digital Company 18 months ago to refocus and concentrate on new products and services. The company currently provides mobile, calls and lines, hosted IP telephony, connectivity, IT services and support. "The products are great but it's all about our sales style," added McDonald. "We never try to win a price war but consult with our customers towards a better way to run their solutions. The area I am working on at the moment is our cloud IT portfolio. I don't want to give away too much but I want something brilliant to take to market in Scotland from the start of next year."

His ethos on all products, no matter how brilliant, is to make it easy for customers to buy them. "We try and simplify everything for the customer, from installation to order process and even the pricing," explained McDonald. "The main strands of our growth strategy have been in business mobile and hosted IP. I see our cloud IT portfolio coming very close in terms of revenue over the next 24 months. Everyone has to be prepared for cloud services. Anyone who hasn't begun the adoption process may be joining a little late."

Another key trend that is driving market demand for Exsel's solutions is the big improvement in connectivity. "We are finally seeing the UK have a level of connectivity that enables new products, and existing products that have been shelved, available to SMEs as well as corporates," added McDonald. "Traditional IT and telephony is by no means gone but there are fantastic solutions that are more cost-effective, more productive, but most importantly available and functional due to the better connection speeds and reliability. This is our focus."

By Andy Grant, Managing Director, Bowan Arrow: What is the point of isolated campaigns? A joined up, integrated and planned approach to marketing campaigns will of course deliver better results.

Here's what I mean by integrated: Firstly, you need to identify the need, in other words, the problem you are trying to solve for your target market. You then need to articulate a solution to the problem you have identified. If you can provide evidence of differentiation, then show how your solution should be considered above your competitors.

Targeted data can really help the success of an integrated campaign.
A truly integrated campaign can take many forms, but today I would advocate including these five communication channels: Social, digital, mobile, print and telemarketing. It may sound like a long list but every element plays a part in creating a successful campaign.

Plan the steps that you would like your prospect to follow and at each step define the action you would like them to take. This will help to ensure that every step has a purpose and that you can track and understand the behaviour of every prospect.

This is where setting up your landing pages in an application like HubSpot is a real benefit, as you can run any number of metrics reports to pinpoint the exact behaviour of each prospect and the performance of every marketing asset that form part of the campaign. I like automation but we still need to use some proven techniques such as print and telemarketing - people still do business with people.

If you are planning to attend a large trade event you should also consider this approach to extend the value of the trade show investment to maximise the programme both pre and post event. Planning your integrated campaigns means success will surely follow.