Comms Dealer

Watford-based Freedom Communications has augmented its UC portfolio with the addition of DXI's cloud-based EasyContactNow solution.

The agreement signals DXI's push to recruit more UK partners to its channel programme, a campaign led by Glenn Warrington who aims to extend DXI's reach into new markets.
The move comes hot on the heels of DXI's acquisition by 8x8 for £16.5m late last month, extending US-based 8x8's European expansion strategy.

Freedom MD Pat Botting said: "DXI's products are quick to install and deliver a fast impact with minimal disruption to our business.

"The scalable solution is well suited for a small internal department supporting colleagues as well as a large customer-facing contact centre managing thousands of calls a day."

Warrington stated; "I have worked with many organisations, helping them to build their go-to-market strategies, and DXI stood out with its innovative approach and determination to deliver for the customer."

Sharon Maslyn, DXI Sales Director, added: "As more and more organisations are looking to harness the power of the cloud to drive superior customer communications, DXI is positioned to deliver both cloud and hybrid solutions that slot into existing infrastructures."

8x8 has acquired privately-held DXI for £16.5m and plans to bring DXI's EasyContactNow contact centre product to the US market by the end of 2015.

"The acquisition of DXI enables 8x8 to continue to boost its European expansion efforts," said Vik Verma, Chief Executive Officer of 8x8.

"With DXI's strong UK contact center market presence and technical team, 8x8 can broaden its European footprint, offer a frictionless, online sales approach for agile contact centres and line-of-business buyers, and add a stellar team passionate about bringing next-generation contact centre innovations to market."

Luca Pepere, DXI CEO, added: "Over the last couple years, we have seen an inflection point for cloud communications, and the contact centre continues to evolve from a stand-alone cost centre to a critical organisation-wide business asset.

"This market shift will propel the next phase of our business, and together we will drive a new level of disruption in business communications."

The upcoming release of Union Street's version 2.6 of its aBILLity billing platform features out-of-the-box integration with Creditsafe, a supplier of company credit reports.

Union Street claims that by integrating aBILLity with Creditsafe its channel partners will be able to access company credit reports and continually monitor the credit status of both existing and prospective customers.

According to Union Street, aBILLity presents data drawn from Creditsafe's database in a familiar traffic light structure, allowing users to assess clients' credit worthiness at a glance when browsing customer lists in aBILLity.

Credit score information for the entire customer base can be automatically monitored for changes on a daily basis, and email notifications can be configured to alert users in the event that a change in score is identified.

Other company data held by Creditsafe, including registered company address, full credit history, and director contact information can be viewed and automatically populated into aBILLity.

For resellers that use Microsoft Dynamics CRM, this functionality has also been made available in Union Street's CRM solution and is available as part of the aBILLity integration or as a stand-alone CRM solution.

Vincent Disneur, Head of Sales for Union Street, said: "By integrating with Creditsafe, aBILLity is able to offer business information in a low-maintenance, easy to use package which our clients and channel partners will already be familiar with.

"In addition to managing existing customers, this integration is particularly beneficial when bringing on new business.

"Giving Billing Platform users access to credit checking facilities ensures that new prospects can be vetted as they are added to the system.

"The simple to use interface opens this facility up to any member of staff with access to aBILLity or Microsoft Dynamics, and no longer just your financial department."

UK companies are wasting millions of pounds every year sending workers around the world to meetings, many of which are deemed unnecessary, according to the results of research by Sennheiser Communications.

The survey of 2,000 employees found that almost two thirds of respondents have to travel considerable distances to meetings even though 65% admit that they've had a wasted trip.

The furthest distance on average that respondents had to travel was 218 miles, 53% travel over 100 miles for a meeting, and a further 10% have jetted over 500 miles.

Nearly half think their company wastes money on train tickets and flights, with 54% saying that a Skype call would suffice.

Yet the average UK worker makes less than three conference calls or video calls per week, with 61% making two or less, a precedent that's costing unnecessary amounts of money, not to mention the environmental impact of travelling, says Sennheiser.

"We're living in a time when video conferencing and Skype calls are as simple as picking up a mobile and putting on a headset, yet many companies still seem reluctant to take full advantage of the benefits this technology can offer," said Charlotte Waterworth, Marketing Manager, Sennheiser Communications.

"Effectively managing meetings is no easy task, but modern advances in communication mean that there are high quality, cost-effective alternatives available that can make an immediate impact."

It would seem that keeping a sharper eye on meeting management would be a step forwards, noted Waterworth. An honest 53% admit to sneakily arranging meetings to spend longer out of the office, and over half say that the most common reason for attending a meeting is simply because it's scheduled even though there's nothing important to discuss.

And on their return to the office 37% admit to having 'fiddled' expenses as a way to squeeze a bit more value from a trip, with 10% justifying their actions by saying 'everyone does it'.

"Coupled with the fact that just 7% say that all of the face to face meetings they attend are necessary, and 60% say they believe their boss often holds meetings just for the sake of it, it seems as though there are a number of opportunities for improving workplace efficiency," added Waterworth.

"When you factor in unnecessary expenses and time out of the office, effective meeting management is an adjustment many struggling businesses can look into quite easily to help improve their bottom line."

Mark Quartermaine has been appointed CEO of Alternative Networks effective 1st October 2015 following the departure of current CEO Edward Spurrier on 30th September. 

Quartermaine is currently Chief Operating Officer, a position he has held for over 12 months having previously been a non-executive director of the company.

Spurrier commented: "I have achieved everything I set out to achieve when I started my career here at Alternative Networks, and more recently when I took over as Chief Executive."

He joined as Finance Director in 1999, having previously advised the board as a consultant since its first year, 1995, and was appointed as CFO in 2003 before listing on AIM in 2005.

"I've been part of every stage of Alternative Network's development to date," he added.  "The company is in great shape, with a dynamic proposition and a strong management team and is well positioned for future growth."
 
James Murray, Chairman and co-founder of Alternative Networks, commented:  "Edward has been a driving force behind the development, growth and success of Alternative Networks. 

"As a director, he has led our strategy of organic and acquisitive expansion which has transformed the business from a telecommunications reseller into a thriving business technology managed service provider. 

"He has helped build a strong business with a great future and we are incredibly grateful for the contribution he has made."
 
Quartermaine has 30 years experience in the ICT industry in a variety of roles at IBM and BT Global Services, including MD of Public Sector as well as its UK President.  

Before joining Alternative he was Vice President of UK & Ireland for Juniper Networks. He also served as a non-executive director on Alternative Networks' board from 10 December 2012 until January 2014.

In May 2014 he was appointed as COO of Alternative Networks.  Since then, Quartermaine has overseen the successful integration of ControlCircle and Intercept IT into the company, an extensive project which included the restructure of all sales and operations functions and the development of new offices in London.
 
Quartermaine said: "Having been involved with Alternative Networks for a number of years, I have seen the company grow into a business with so much to offer - passionate people and a diverse product and managed service offering, which is wholly in tune with the B2B space and customers' specific needs."

Comms Dealer is sad to report the death of comms industry stalwart John Massey.

Perhaps best known as the founder and MD of Essex-based Actimax, Massey's channel roots reach back 30-plus years and his experience enabled Actimax to deliver impressive results ahead of the acquisitions of Universal Office Automation and Network Resource Group, and the relaunch of Actimax under the Cloud XL brand name in 2011.

Latterly Massey was Director of Acquisition at Arrow Business Communications.

Rainbow Telecom MD Dave Corgat commented: "John was a great man, a captain of our industry and a true flag bearer of the dealer community. For many decades he led the cause for the dealer community to have a greater voice. John will be sadly missed."

Ongoing budget cuts and greater competition for donations have given rise to new forms of collaboration in the back-offices of charities, according to Annodata.

This observation follows Annodata's 400th customer win in the Scottish charity sector, largely down to its collaboration with the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO).
 
PwC conducted a review of charities following the economic downturn in 2008 and has charted progress each year since.

The latest 2015 research report shows that 34% of charities collaborate in some way on service delivery, while 5% report sharing back office functions.

"For Annodata, this growing trend towards greater collaboration between not-for-profit organisations and the sharing of back-office functions holds the key towards creating a more efficient and sustainable Third Sector, and should therefore be encouraged," said Joe Doyle, Marketing Director.

"Our partnership with the SCVO means that we have seen first hand some of the challenges that the Third Sector has had to adapt to in recent years.

"Reductions in public sector funding, squeezed income from donors, and an increased demand for their services have radically changed the landscape in which they operate and necessitated the development of new operational structures.

"Many charity leaders have prioritised raising money and getting the best value in service delivery, so, to-date, collaboration has mostly occurred in these two areas.

"But, encouragingly, we are starting to see more charities sharing back-office services and infrastructure and, with levels of funding unlikely to improve any time soon, we expect this trend to continue.
 
"Back office services tend to have a uniformity between organisations - they all need print services, IT and other similar support - so it makes sense to combine these functions where possible.

"Working with managed service providers can make it easier for organisations to collaborate and secure better economies of scale. Without these additional and largely unnecessary overheads, not-for-profits can spend money where it's needed most."
 
SCVO has played a critical role supporting Scottish charities by providing services ranging from litigation, payroll services, procurement, HR to consulting on improving charity performance.

John Ferguson, Director of Development at the SCVO, added: "Establishing preferred suppliers is an important part of our work to support organisational change in the charity sector, so that they can focus on what they do best - whether that's supporting the most vulnerable people in communities across the country or conducting cutting-edge research.

"Increasing the use of shared services in the charity sector in Scotland is an important objective for us."

According to Technology Business Research's 2H14 Carrier Cloud Benchmark, total Cloud as a Service revenue among benchmarked companies continued to grow rapidly in 4Q14, up 25% year-to-year.

Cloud services growth shifted from the Americas and Europe to APAC, led by China Telecom, KT and NTT. Carrier Cloud as a Service revenue grew slower in North America due to strong competition from AWS and Google cloud offerings.

"Carriers are going through a priority shift as they emphasise a network 'on-ramp' to cloud, competing against their own cloud services by partnering with major cloud service providers," said Michael Sullivan-Trainor, a TBR telecom executive analyst.

"The slow scaling of cloud services combined with the need to grow the network business causes carriers to partner with cloud rivals such as Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft. The strategy adds value to the network services business, which is often paired with the cloud unit, but diminishes the carrier's own cloud revenue."

Carriers are still focusing on cloud revenue growth by increasing their presence with customers, while some continue to grow through acquisitions. CenturyLink in the US continued to grow by acquiring and adding PaaS capabilities and scale, while carriers in Europe, Asia and Latin America grew revenue by transitioning their customers from legacy systems to cloud.

NTT's global expansion and investments in data centres led the carrier to the highest Cloud as a Service revenue among carrier cloud providers. NTT bolstered its leading market position through the e-shelter data centre footprint in Germany to become the third-largest data centre player in Europe. It also expanded its services in other regions.

Remote monitoring and automated management reduces the time to troubleshoot faulty networking devices by up to 75%, according to Dimension Data.

Consequently, says the firm, it takes 32% less time to repair such devices than those not managed in this way.

So finds its research which reaffirms a strong correlation between the failures caused by devices and their lifecycle stage.

According to the report, networks have continued to age for the fifth consecutive year, making 53% of the over 70,000 technology devices that were analysed either ageing or obsolete - up by two percentage points since last year.

There's also been a slight drop in the percentage of obsolete devices - down to 9% from last year's 11%, while the percentage of ageing devices has increased by four points.

The percentage of the current devices analysed is at its lowest in three years. The research looked at corporate networks in organisations of all sizes and all industry sectors across 28 countries.

Andre van Schalkwyk, consulting practice manager for Dimension Data's Networking Business Unit, said: "During the seven-year history of the Network Barometer Report, the average tolerance level for organisation's obsolete devices in their networks has been around 10%.

"Rarely do organisations allow this to increase beyond 11% before they refresh the relevant devices.

"The conventional assumption was that an overall technology refresh was imminent, but our data shows that organisations are refreshing mostly obsolete devices, and are clearly willing to sweat their aging devices for longer than expected.

"Organisations therefore focus their refresh initiatives mostly on technology that has reached critical lifecycle stages when vendor support is no longer available."

Stephen Dale has joined Volta Data Centres as Business Development Manager with a remit to drive its channel service offerings.

He will be responsible for introducing new businesses by targeting value added resellers and system integrators.

Dale, a former naval communicator, has been in the telecoms industry for 15 years and has experience in the managed networks and connectivity fields.

Prior to his appointment with Volta, Dale ran his own business, Modus Telecoms in the telecoms channel market, growing the company from a founding start to a £4.5 million turnover over three and a half years before selling it.

His previous work also includes account director at GTT and channel account manager for bandwidth infrastructure and network-neutral colocation firm, Zayo Group. He was involved in recruiting systems integrators, meeting the commercial teams and developing channel partnerships with the likes of Equinox and Fujitsu.

Other previous positions include business development consultant at National Voice and Data, global account manager at Masergy Communications and business development at Virgin Media Business.

In these positions, he helped National Voice and Data achieve 200% and Masergy Communications 125% growth in the telecoms channel market.

Dale said: "Data centres are becoming even more critical for businesses to be able to run and provide their services. I believe change is good, so decided to move into the data centre environment to be part of the growing cloud industry.

"With many services providers making their first venture into the cloud, it is extremely tough to predict business growth - and data centres that offer great business scalability are becoming even more critical."

Jonathan Arnold, MD at Volta, added: "Stephen's accomplishments in developing businesses and his channel expertise makes him a real asset to our company."