It can be difficult to read the channel's mood, but a clear swing towards Plusnet's relaunched partner programme is on the cards, according to Nick Silverwood, Head of Business, who discusses the Yorks-based provider's reinvigorated channel proposition.
Nowadays the Plusnet brand is well known across the nation as a residential provider, thanks to a clever marketing effort that has paid off handsomely. Not so widely known is its play in the business market, but all that is changing, fast. Plusnet, originally known as Force9 Internet, was established in 1997 on the simple premise that it would 'think and act differently' to rival providers and save customers money. Despite many transformational changes to the business that ethos still holds firm. That's not changed since the day it launched.
Contrary to popular belief Plusnet has been delivering business connectivity products for over 14 years. Silverwood joined the company in 1999 selling dial and ISDN services to small businesses. Last year the company relaunched its business brand to offer fibre broadband. A priority now is to raise awareness of its push into business and build on its channel. "Having refreshed our business services last year, including the launch of up to 80Mb fibre services, it's the perfect time to work with channel partners and widen our reach to the SMB sector," said Silverwood.
"The launch of fibre creates a new opportunity for Plusnet and the channel to service the increasing demand and use of cloud services such as data storage and hosted voice. While copper broadband services can be used to offer these services to a small extent, the increased upstream capacity of FTTC opens up new opportunities for many small businesses."
The benefits of fibre are undisputed. Research by Plusnet has quantified the value fibre can bring to a small business. Companies taking part in Plusnet's pre-launch trial reported that the fibre solution increased speeds, boosted efficiency and productivity, and 87 per cent said they would recommend the package to other businesses. Such a ringing endorsement is good news for the channel as well as end users, noted Silverwood.
"Our main priority is to increase awareness of our channel programmes and to start building a network of dealers and resellers who specialise in servicing the SMB sector," he explained. "We recognise that many small businesses don't have the knowledge and expertise to make the right technology decisions so they work with partners to ensure they have a strategy that underpins their objectives and growth plans. We want to help these dealers or resellers to service their customers with quality broadband, fibre and telephony products."
Plusnet launched its partner programme in 2009. Today it comes in two flavours - Plusnet Dealer and Plusnet Partner. Plusnet Dealer enables dealers to resell or recommend business broadband to small business (and consumer) customers, in turn earning commission. This programme allows business to expand their portfolio but without the cost and overhead of actually providing the service. Meanwhile, Plusnet Partner caters for businesses wanting to deliver quality broadband to its customers or employees, without cost of dealing directly with a wholesaler or building their own physical infrastructure.
The strength of Plusnet's proposition and brand is underlined by the firm's evolution since BT acquired it in 2007. "The buyout has given us the financial backing, resilience and network capabilities to stay ahead in a changing market," said Silverwood. "However, we've not lost touch with our roots, staying independent with our own offices, staff and culture. Many early and established ISPs were also acquired but Plusnet is still here and standing strong whereas most of the others have disappeared or consumed into the bigger brand. This in is testament to what Plusnet has achieved and what we stand for."
The firm's founding principles still apply, and their pillar-like structure will ensure that Plusnet's ethos is maintained amid the forces of remarkable growth. "We started as a small home grown company, so we know the technology demands and challenges that a growing business faces," added Silverwood. "From the outset we recognised that customers wanted more than just access even in the days of dial-up services. We've always provided email, web and domain services which initially made us stand out from the competitors as a progressive and forward thinking provider. We still live by this ethos.
"What also makes us different to many other business providers is our focus and specialism in all things broadband and fibre. We're not trying to be all things to all men with a plethora of complicated connectivity, telephony and other services. We remain focused on what we do best and that is providing high quality broadband and fibre services, backed by a dedicated and passionate service team. We train partners and will support at customer meetings should this be requested. We also provide marketing funds or to help drive growth or bespoke pricing to help secure large opportunities."
Stand-out factors have become part and parcel of Plusnet's development. It was one of the first providers to build a customer self-serve portal which made it easier for customers to communicate with the firm. This evolved into the Community site where customers can interact with Plusnet in a transparent and open forum. The company also claims 'pioneer' status in the area of traffic management during the early days of broadband.
"We saw that in order to deliver a sustainable and high quality user experience we had to proactively manage traffic to protect the real-time sensitive traffic such as VoIP," said Silverwood. "We continue to invest heavily and evolve our network management solutions, which is even more important in today's world with the increase in video streaming for consumers and hosted voice and cloud services for businesses."
Silverwood describes Plusnet as a 'down to earth organisation' which, despite significant growth over the past 17 years, has retained its heritage as a small and friendly business. "We are very proud of the fact that despite our many changes over the years we manage to retain our staff," added Silverwood. "We still have members of the team who have been here for the full 17 years. The average tenure in our business support team is well over five years. Our main investment comes in the form of our people. We've virtually quadrupled our team in the last four years, but to do that while continuing to win awards for our customer services is a great achievement and testifies that we continue to put the customer at the heart of everything we do."
To accommodate growth Plusnet opened a new £2 million city centre office in Leeds last year, extending its Yorkshire roots beyond Sheffield. A key aspect of the company's expansion is its dedication to a graduate scheme and taking on young people. "We're currently looking for graduates for our third year of the programme and firmly believe that small, high growth companies like Plusnet provide great opportunities, giving graduates more responsibility and involvement than they would receive within a bigger or multi-national organisation. We have also introduced 30 apprentices into our business in the last six months."
Not surprisingly, Silverwood is enthused by the prospects for Plusnet Business and partners as its channel strategy shifts up a gear along with accelerating demand for its services. "We've seen considerable growth in the last year and are set to continue this growth," he commented. "Working with channel providers will be key to that continued success."•
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