Comms Dealer

Like many comms entrepreneurs ANS Group Chairman Scott Fletcher started trading out of a back bedroom, but not so common among his peers was his decision to pursue a livelihood in IT rather than develop an already successful TV career.

As a child actor Fletcher appeared in TV programmes such as Jossy's Giants and Casualty and the experience proved to be 'character building' in more ways than one. "I enjoyed being an actor because it got me out of the education system and helped me to see the world and all the opportunities it offers at an early age," noted Fletcher. "But I had to make a decision between acting or work and I chose IT."

Fletcher joined a Youth Training Scheme, now more commonly known as an apprenticeship, and in 1996 at the age of 22 he found himself, briefly, at a loose end when the company he worked for went out of business. "I saw this as an opportunity rather than a setback and started ANS Group from my back bedroom," he explained. "I had been working in the industry for five years at that point and the hard work I'd put in meant I was able to leverage my experience and relationships with customers. At that time, there were 20 or 30 customers with solutions that only I knew how to support, so it was a perfect opportunity. That sense of innovation and being able to identify opportunities and go after them is still a huge part of ANS today."

ANS currently employs close to 200 staff between two office locations in Manchester and London. The company has witnessed impressive year-on-year growth and boasts an annual turnover of £47 million. Year-end results for 2012 showed a 60 per cent increase in turnover and a 61 per cent hike in gross profit, with a cash increase of 128 per cent while total contracted revenues were up 138 per cent. "Our goal is to hit our target of £15 million profit by 2014/2015," added Fletcher. "When you consider what we've accomplished there's no reason why this can't be achieved. When I look back at the first step that started ANS and think about everything that has happened since, it makes me proud to see the team I have around me and what we have created."

ANS Group works with customers of all sizes in various sectors and its circa 600 client base come from areas such as education, local government and healthcare, with a number of clients in the private sector. The overall retention rate sits at 98 per cent. "Our current objective is to build up our managed services and cloud offerings so that those deals account for the majority of our business," commented Fletcher. "And we're already seeing success in doing this. We have doubled the size of our contracted revenue in the last 12 months and we plan to double it again over the next year. We'll meet this objective because we listen to our customers and respond accordingly."

ANS Group's partners include Cisco, NetApp and VMware, and over the years the company has developed strong relationships with them, forging staunch bonds by frequently attending industry events and summits and adopting partner initiatives. "The word 'partner' isn't just a label for the vendors, it really describes the nature of the relationship that we have," Fletcher said. "As we grow the business, our relationships with partners just get stronger. It's a win-win situation."

Four years ago Fletcher made the decision to back Cisco UCS and the FlexPod solution. This also proved to be a winning formula and a major turning point for the business. "The Cisco platform is now in second place in the Intel data centre space from zero market share just four years ago, and it continues to take market share from the likes of IBM and HP," he said. "Adding our fully managed offering to this platform and building our cloud services on the same technology gives us a real focus and has built trust with our vendors."

Doing particularly well, noted Fletcher, is the FlexPod i3 solution. He says ANS has delivered the largest number of FlexPod projects in EMEA, and while that's humming along nicely he's focusing sharply on the managed services opportunity. "We're confident that our managed services offering will continue to see a high degree of adoption," he stated. "It's necessary to keep an eye on long-term opportunities but the industry is so fluid. As long as you have the right team who can evolve and stay innovative, that's what matters."

Fletcher is constantly on the look out for top talent to build on all areas of the business and foster the adaptability he relies on to move the business forward in a fast changing operational environment. "We have some incredibly skilled staff on board and we're a fast-paced, high performing company with high expectations, but we also know how to let our hair down. I think this type of environment is really the best of both worlds.

"It's easy to keep standards high when you hire the best. We do recruit for a lot of highly skilled roles, but we also 'recruit for attitude, train for skill', which means that our company is made up of the type of people who naturally have the drive to be high performing and motivated. The industry moves far too quickly nowadays and you need to be prepared to evolve according to what customers want. We will continue to grow the top and bottom lines of the business at least 30 per cent as I know we'll be able to adapt to whatever changes happen over the next five years."

The company's culture is based on a policy of 'work hard, play hard' and Fletcher is a big fan of staff away days and team building opportunities. "Since our staff numbers have grown considerably we hold quarterly all-staff meetings," Fletcher added. "These provide a chance for everyone to get together and hear about developments in the business. In keeping with our culture we go out as a team to socialise afterwards. It's also about the little things like emailing staff when one of the team gets recognised by a customer for exemplary service, doing charity work together and getting everyone involved in our CSR programme."

Regular staff meetings also provide an opportunity for new starters to be properly welcomed, such as the two or three apprentices Fletcher takes on every month. "Because of my own experience and the path it started me on, I'm passionate about apprenticeships. It's something that all businesses should offer. Young people bring a real energy to a business. Of course, as an employer we want to offer training opportunities and help the apprentices learn skills, but some people forget that they teach you new skills as well, such as social media and Internet technologies. It's important for me to give back to the community and I can't think of a better way than being able to play a part in helping young kids get started in their careers."•

By Elvire Gosnold, Director, Blabbermouth Marketing: E-marketing, e-shotting, e-casts, call it what you want, this form of marketing activity is one of the most widely used methods for pushing brand and promotional messaging.

It is pivotal to integrated marketing campaigns and serves as a method to not only promote product but also enrich customer communication and improve sales. There are huge advantages to using e-marketing as it is comparatively low cost, your reach can be as targeted or as broad as is appropriate and analysis is instant. The downsides are that all of us are bombarded by e-shots on a daily basis and therefore bin many of them without a second glance.

The key to successful e-marketing is to entice the recipient to open the mail, read it and then act upon it. This may seem obvious but with so many other distractions competing for our attention, these three actions need to be backed by powerful messages. Research shows 144 billion emails were sent every day last year and 69 per cent were treated as spam so the first lesson here is have a compelling subject line that does not use words that automatically get flagged as spam such as 'free' and 'win'.

A clear call to action, positioned correctly, is vital so make sure you are yourself clear on what you are hoping to achieve as a result of your e-shot activity and check that you have plainly conveyed this in your message. Landing pages are especially important if your call to action is targeted or product specific so make sure you have not overlooked this extra element of your campaign before you press the send button.

And lastly don't forget the boring bits. It is vital that you have a clear unsubscribe process that is correctly managed. Failure to do so could not only cost you money but your team will receive annoying phone calls from Mr Angry demanding to speak to you.

Understanding and consulting on the 'bigger picture' and the business significance of call management is where channel partners can gain a real competitive edge, claims Simon Whatley (pictured), Sales Director at Tollring.

In the last 18 months Tollring has doubled in size, doubled profits and boosted its headcount by 25%, and has been recognised in the European arena for IT and software excellence.

The company attributes its success to a policy of leading with the business solution, which is a proven way to increase margins and double system sales volume, according to Whatley.

Tollring estimates that historically a 14% attachment rate would have been an average figure. Whatley explains: "Today, among our most successful channel partners, 100% of systems are now sold integrated with call management, CTI and call recording products.

"All our fully integrated products - call logging, call recording, contact centre analysis, CTI and automated dialling - share the same common business reporting too. The real value of our icall suite lies in the central 'holistic' view of the individual elements working together, providing the insight required to increase productivity and ultimately profitability."

The MD of one of Tollring's larger resellers testified: "Over the last two years our new system sales have doubled and our software sales to existing customers have too. With a customer base that is already recording and statistically aware, there is a real demand for better functionality and reliability." 

But Tollring estimates that at least 50% of their resellers opt to sell phone systems rather than solutions. Reasons may include fear of over-complicating the sale or the risk of increasing the price in the quotation and losing to a competitor on price.

The question is whether such products should be considered as options or necessities, says Whatley, who strongly believes that as managers become increasingly accountable for company expenditure, selling the cost-justification model gives solution partners the advantage, differentiating them from those strictly meeting a list of telecoms requirements within a specific budget.

He said: "Every company is looking to win new and retain existing business by using business intelligence, which is exactly what call management delivers. Call management provides relevant and valuable business knowledge to managers across the business, tailored to their role and specific requirements."

Whatley also noted that where call management gets 'really interesting' is when external data widgets are used to pull data from other sources, to blend relevant telecoms and non-telecoms data.

"Tollring recently installed icall suite for an estate agency, which demonstrates the value of call management working alongside their business systems," said Whatley.

"An industry such as this relies on the phone for day-to-day business to operate. It is critical that information on the database is up to date at all times and integrating call management with their CRM delivers significant business efficiencies. Calls are matched against the database, calls are routed to the right people and agents are able to view, monitor and report on their sales and lettings calls."

Internet telephony firm Telappliant has published a whitepaper explaining the advantages and disadvantages of both hosted and on-site VoIP telephony systems.

The paper explores the long-term impact on how each system is run and maintained and includes a flowchart to help decision-makers determine the most appropriate solution for their business.

Tan Aksoy, Chief Executive Officer at Telappliant, commented: "The decision to move to VoIP telephony is an easy one. With lower costs and improved functionality, switching makes sound business sense.

"But deciding which IP-PBX to opt for is much harder and the answer will vary depending on the situation. Our new whitepaper will enable business owners to understand the fundamental differences between hosted and on-site systems, and help them choose the option that is right for their organisation."

To download the free whitepaper visit http://www.telappliant.com/white-papers.

NextiraOne has achieved 21% year-on-year growth in its orders for data centre business during the first six months of 2013.

Success has come from a number of Virtualisation and data centre transformation projects across Europe, with particularly high growth rates achieved in the UK, Germany, France, Belux, Poland, Hungary, Portugal, and Spain.

NextiraOne has also continued enhancing its Data Centre offering with new solutions and partnerships that add significantly to the company's portfolio and expertise.

Earlier this year NextiraOne launched its Cloud Management Solution based on Cisco's Cloupia platform. In addition, the company's new Storage Backup and Recovery solutions, focused on mid-sized companies, are currently being rolled out across Europe.

Aman Khan, Managing Director Europe, Data Centre and Cloud Solutions, said: "We are pleased to have achieved such remarkable sales success in the first half of the year against a backdrop of continuing economic uncertainties in some European countries. We are also proud of the innovative projects we have won from our customers."

The just launched ShoreTel 400 series IP phones include four new models that expand the vendor's portfolio to deliver new functionality including visual voicemail, an advanced user interface and built-in diagnostics.

"Whether a customer communicates with desk phones, smartphones, tablets, laptops or PCs, ShoreTel enables them to choose the device best suited to their needs," said Pej Roshan, vice president of product management at ShoreTel.

"The ShoreTel 400 series IP phones incorporate the latest user feedback resulting in new functionality and optimal usability."

Visual voicemail simplifies message management and increases productivity by allowing users to scroll through messages to access, listen, respond, delete and save them in any order. With this feature, users can pick the messages they want to listen to and erase or archive them right from the phone screen.

Built-in diagnostic tools on the 400 series IP phones also enable help desk staff to quickly identify issues and provide faster problem resolution, which means less downtime and higher user satisfaction, said the firm.

Micro-P's Daniel Lenan has been promoted to Head of Commercial following the announcement that Phil Brown has moved into the position of B2B Director.

Lenan will predominantly focus on continuing to grow and develop Micro-P's vendor strategies and relationships across the company's eight business units - Components, Computing, Consumer, Networks, Print, Server-Storage and Visual.

He said: "The commercial teams within Micro-P play a key role in building the propositions that the market requires today, while playing an equally vital role in delivering new technologies and opportunities for tomorrow.

"Micro-P has delivered significant growth in recent years and I look forward to helping push the boundaries even further."

Paul Bryan, Managing Director, added: "Dan's appointment to the role comes at a time when Micro-P sees many opportunities for driving success for our vendors through our reseller partners.

"Dan has demonstrated his skills and expertise during his time at Micro-P and we are confident he will successfully maximise every one of these opportunities moving forward."

Sennheiser UK set up its first formalised office with just six staff in 1990 and six years later moved to Century Point in High Wycombe, having grown to 26 employees and a turnover of £7.5 million.

Now at 72 staff and grossing £45 million, Century Point's 6,000 square feet of office space more than reached capacity and therefore the move to Sennheiser's new 15,000 square feet home in Marlow has provided space for the team as well as the new service facility, explained the firm.

"We have come a long way since our first foray into the UK market," says Sennheiser UK General Manager, Phil Massey. "We are very proud of our achievements and that we have grown year on year in every aspect of our business.

"This is, of course, down to the dedication, hard work and expertise of the team we have at Sennheiser. The move to Marlow has not only given us the capacity we need now, but will also allow for the future growth we are aiming for in the coming years."

Entanet has unveiled a redeveloped portfolio of bonded broadband services available in a choice of four inclusive monthly allowance options ranging from 45GB to 360GB.

Channel partners can choose to bond two, three or four fixed rate ADSL (512Kbps, 1Mbps or 2Mbps) or rate adaptive ADSL (up to 8Mbps) or ADSL2+ (up to 24Mbps) connections to provide their customers with greater resiliency than a single broadband connection and increased speeds, said the firm.

Additionally, all bonded broadband services are available as either a managed or unmanaged service. All managed services come with a Cisco router and are subject to a 12 month contract.

All bonded broadband connections include Elevated Best Efforts (EBE) as standard, where available, and use a MAX Premium-based connection where EBE is not available. The inclusive monthly allowance is only consumed between the hours of 8am and 8pm, Monday to Friday, which is also when these services receive priority across the Entanet network. Outside of these times usage is uncharged.

Entanet's Product Manager, Paul Heritage-Redpath said: "We believe our new portfolio of flexible bonded broadband services will enable channel partners to take advantage of more market opportunities, arming them with a cost-effective solution for customers whose requirements sit between standard broadband and Ethernet.

"When we announced to partners that we were developing the new products we received immediate positive feedback that illustrated there's strong demand."

Softcat closed its financial year on July 31st with revenues leaping to approximately £400m, well above expectations.

This represents over 30% growth on the revenue of £307m reported for the same period last year. All aspects of the business performed strongly but the growth rates in public sector, managed services, security and networking were well above company average.

In just the last three financial years, the company has grown from £146m to £400m. This has been achieved entirely organically. 

Two hundred new employees joined the organisation in the financial year, well over half of whom joined the company on the graduate programme.

Total staff numbers reached approximately 600 at year-end. In the Best Workplaces league table, Softcat achieved 4th place in the UK and 10th in Europe. The company was also named as the Thames Valley Business of the Year and Management Team of the Year.

Retention of existing customers and growth of business from existing customers remained high with the company recording a 99.2% customer satisfaction rating for the second year in succession. In addition, the company traded with nearly 2,000 new customers in the last year, a new record for the company. 

During the course of the last financial year, Colin Brown became Softcat MD and Martin Hellawell, former MD, became Chairman.  ??Hellawell commented: "This has probably been our best year yet. Colin and his team have done an outstanding job sticking to our core principles of aiming to be a great place to work for our employees and striving to be a consistently great company to do business with for our customers. I am delighted with the results delivered by the entire Softcat team." 

Brown added: "To deliver these kind of results in a flat market, entirely organically, is quite something. This gives us great encouragement to invest further in the business to continue the journey onwards and upwards."