Comms Dealer

A record number of entries have been received for the UK's most popular event for sales and marketing teams in the ICT channel. The Comms Dealer Sales & Marketing Awards, sponsored by KCOM, attracted over 120 entries and the countdown is underway to the finalist's awards luncheon (Sheraton Park Lane Hotel, London, May 4th).

"The entries we have received this year have been of exceptional quality and we have been delighted by the enthusiasm across the industry for rewarding the efforts and sales and marketing teams working in reseller and supplier organisations all over the UK," said Comms Dealer Editorial Director Nigel Sergent.

"Response to the extra awards we have added this year such as Best Company to Work For, Best Company Portal and Best Apprentice Scheme have been exceptional which demonstrates the progress so many companies are making in our amazing industry.

"I would like to congratulate all of our finalists and hopefully look forward to welcoming them, their clients and partners to our spectacular awards presentation luncheon on May 4th." 

To book your table or place please go to: http://www.cdsalesawards.com/#tablebooking
The shortlist for the 2017 Comms Dealer Sales & Marketing Awards is as follows:

COMMS DEALER SALES & MARKETING AWARDS 2017 SHORTLIST
 
Reseller Sales Team of the Year up to £2.5m (small)
GHM Communications
City Talk Communications
Cloudsource Technologies
Loop Voice and Data
Nexus IP
Pure Telecom
Solution IP
TWL Voice and Data

Reseller Sales Team of the Year £2.5m-£5m (medium)
Exsel Group
Frontier Voice and Data
Glamorgan Telecom
Infinity Group

Reseller Sales Team of the Year £5m plus (large)
Berry Telecom
Focus Group
netConsult
STL
swcomms

Reseller Best Marketing Campaign
Cisilion
IP Solutions
Lily Comms
Nexus IP
Peach Technologies

Service Provider Channel Sales Team of the Year
Agilitas
Channel Telecom
Daisy Wholesale
New Star Networks
Pangea

Service Provider Channel Marketing Team of the Year

Agilitas
Channel Telecom
Fidelity Group

Service Provider Channel Marketing Campaign of the Year
Agilitas
Assembly Channel Services
Channel Telecom
Fidelity Group
Pangea  
Plan.com
Text Local
Voiceflex

Distributor Channel Sales Team of the Year
Nimans
Pragma
ProVu
Siphon
Zycko 

Distributor Channel Marketing Team of the Year
Pragma
ProVu
Nimans

Distributor Channel Marketing Campaign of the Year
Pragma
ProVu
DMSL

Vendor Best Partner Programme
Gamma
Pangea
Splicecom
TelcoSwitch
Teleware
Tollring
Unify

Vendor Channel Sales Team of the Year
BT Wholesale
Entanet
Sennheiser
TelcoSwitch
Union Street
Virtual1

Vendor Channel Marketing Team of the Year
BT Wholesale
Entanet
Gamma
Inform Billing

Vendor Channel Marketing Campaign of the Year
Entanet
TelcoSwitch
Union Street
Xarios Technologies

Best Partner/Customer Event
BT Wholesale
Channel Telecom
Cisilion
Fidelity Group
Gamma
NGC Networks
Pragma

Best Partner/Customer Portal
Daisy Wholesale
Entanet
Fidelity Energy
Gamma
ICUK
Plan.com
ProVu
Virtual1

Best Company to Work For
Berry Telecom
Complete IT
Channel Telecom
Chess
Cisilion
Entanet
Exertis
Lily Comms
Peach Technologies
Virtual1

Best Apprentice Scheme
Boxx Communications
BT Wholesale
Databarracks
Entanet
Frontier Voice and Data
Lily Comms
ProVu
Union Street

Bamboo Technology and Tech OP have partnered with Gloucestershire College to stage a one day event on 28th April (at the Gloucester Campus) to raise awareness of the cyber security threat.

The Seven Cyber Sins event will give local business leaders and a small group of Gloucestershire College students a non-technical look at the growing threats faced by businesses.

Derek Hassack, Head of School at Gloucestershire College, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for some of our students to gain a better understanding of the cyber security threat and to spend the day working alongside senior leaders at major employers across the county."

Simon Leonard, Commercial Director at Tech OP, added: "The sad truth is that many businesses do not have the correct protection in place when it comes to cyber security. They are unaware of the nature of modern day security threats and do not understand how they may be compromised, and how significant the impact can be.

"This event will demonstrate - with real-world examples and using non-technical language - the range and breadth of cyber threats and how they are targeting staff and businesses every day."

Lorrin White, MD of Bamboo Technology, said: "Business leaders are overwhelmed by almost daily media reports highlighting the latest breaches, attacks and threats. But most don't understand the solutions or processes their businesses must have in place to protect both their own data, and that of their customers.

"It is not unreasonable today to think of cyber security planning in terms of when your business will be attacked, not if. With a lack of understanding or awareness and complacency being the biggest risks to any business, this event is set to be invaluable."

Gamma's strong performance last year has been underscored by its audited results for year ended 31st December 2016, reporting revenues of £213.5m (2015: £191.8m), up 11.3%, with gross profits of £98.8m (2015: £82.3m), up 20.0%.

Gamma witnessed strong growth in its indirect business with gross profit increasing from £64.1m to £78.2m (+22%). The number of channel partners grew from 834 to 970 (+16%).

Wins in the direct business drove gross profit up from £18.2m to £20.6m (+13%). New customers include a large financial institution, Reed, OCS, City Electrical Factors, Nandos and St John Ambulance.

Cloud PBX and SIP trunking connections continue to grow with the number of installed SIP Trunks up from 360,000 at 31st December 2015 to 511,000 one year later (a gain of +42%). The number of Cloud PBX users increased from 142,000 to 230,000 (+62%).

Gamma CEO Bob Falconer said: "We have seen no let up in the demand for our strategic products of SIP trunking and Cloud PBX, and we are particularly encouraged by the growing contribution from our data services following the investments we made to extend our network reach.

"Bringing a full MVNO into service in 2016 was a major engineering achievement. While it is still early days for our new mobile service it positions the business well for the future as we develop more converged fixed and mobile services.

"We are pleased with the growth in the number of channel partners choosing to use our services and we continue to make significant marketing and other investments.

"The Gamma direct business remains focused on the larger, more complex opportunities, and we were successful in agreeing a significant SIP Trunking contract with a large financial institution and to provide full voice, data and mobile services to companies such as Strutt & Parker and CEF.

"The public sector has also grown significantly, with particular success with NHS Trusts, educational establishments and Government departments such as the Department of Communities and Local Government for whom we are providing mobile services."

M2M connectivity and solutions provider Pangea is set to strengthen its growth ambitions following the appointment of former Telefonica IoT head honcho Bernie McPhillips as Sales Director.

During his 11 year stint at Telefonica McPhillips worked as Head of Wholesale Partners and more recently spearheaded the operator's IoT Wholesale Partner Channel.

Pangea MD Dan Cunliffe said: "Bernie's understanding of the IoT market and his experience of working with partners will be a key driver in creating new opportunities for Pangea and our partner channel."

According to Cunliffe Pangea has evolved into a 'global IoT ecosystem provider' generating a near six-fold increase in revenue having recruited upwards of 80 partners.

"In an ever-expanding world of data we believe that everything should be connected, whether it's devices, appliances, vehicles - and perhaps most importantly, people," said Cunliffe.

McPhillips added: "Pangea's revenue growth and partner acquisition have exceeded the expectations for a start-up, underpinned by core channel-only brand values. I am excited by the opportunity to help drive the business to the next level."

Westcon-Comstor's UC and Collaboration Practice hosted its 25th annual ski trip for its top 20 channel partners in Cervinia, Italy. The group included representatives from Capita IT Services, Maintel and Sabio.

"The incentive continues to be Westcon's most popular partner activity," said John Richardson, Marketing Director UK&I.

"Our partners strive all year to secure a place so we put a great deal of effort into making the trip a sensational experience for our winners."

Core Telecom CEO Mahmood Mazhar has agreed a new sponsorship with Olympic GB Boxer Qais Ashfaq.

The 23-year-old Leeds-based boxer competed at Rio 2016 and has high hopes for the future.

Core Telecom's sponsorship deal includes both financial support and the use of a Mercedes GLA.

Qais previously competed at 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow where he won a silver medal in the men's bantamweight division. He took bronze at the 2015 European Games and also won Gold at the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games.

Core Telecom has supported and other aspirational sports people including GB weightlifter Sonny Webster and former British Light Heavyweight Champion Boxer Bob Ajisafe.

Mazhar said: "I fully respect how difficult it can be for many professional sports people to support themselves and my hope for Qais is to take this burden away and allow his talent to thrive."

Colt Technology Services has expanded its On Demand portfolio with the launch of a Voice On Demand Portal that supports real-time ordering.

The digital ordering process removes the need for human interaction to create, modify and cease orders.

Regulatory information is also made available via the portal so customers can make sure they are compliant with local regulations in every country of operation.

The portal extends Colt's overall On Demand proposition as part of the Colt IQ Network which includes flexible access bandwidth, convergent SIP trunking, Unified Communications as a Service and contact centre solutions provided with a pay-per-use model.

Rajiv Datta, CTO, Colt, said: "Customer service is increasingly seen as a key differentiator in business performance, putting companies of every size and in every sector under pressure.

"Colt's On Demand services portfolio enables customers to set up, scale up and scale down their voice network, minimising time-to-market by ordering Service Access Numbers in a few clicks and reducing administration overheads by avoiding paperwork."

NIX Communications Group secured 29th place in the Sunday Times 100 Best Small Companies to Work For 2017, a ranking that reflects the firm's staff incentive policy which includes trips to Las Vegas and tech gifts such as iPads.

Nick Zammit, who started the company in 2009, said the team of 55 staff working at the firm's Winchester Hill headquarters, and its subsidiary offices in Newport on the Isle of Wight and in Manchester, were the key to success.

"Hard work and dedication of our staff are greatly rewarded," he said. "Top performers in all departments can win a free four night trip to Las Vegas.

"The office is equipped with a massage chair, music system, snooker table, televisions and arcade games, and to keep activity levels up we have exercise sessions from a personal trainer on the staff."

The once yawning gap between the criminal activities of telephony fraudsters and the comms industry's ability to combat them is narrowing fast. Among those rising up against the criminals that have plagued the sector for years is BT Wholesale which has taken steps to provide resellers with real-time fraud detection and protection on its hosted platform.

On toll fraud, the industry is getting real. But talking more openly about the issue is one thing, how to deal with it is another. Enter BT Wholesale which has followed an analytical strategy and mounted a campaign to combat and contain telephony fraud with the deployment of Tollring's new real-time Credit and Fraud Management System (CFMS) on its Wholesale Hosted Centrex (WHC) platform. The move shows that BT is focusing on the analytical capabilities within the network, customer data and trends, and taking a proactive stance by anticipating what might happen.

"With greater intelligence and analytics we can bring our resellers and their customers into the conversation earlier," said Dave Axam (pictured), Director of Hosted Communications at BT Wholesale. "Everyone can be made aware of threshold alerts, they can react faster and be proactive in communicating with the customer. This is a differentiator and a confidence boost for end users. On education, we will be working with resellers to ensure they are comfortable about taking this message out to their customers. We also have a demo of the portal to show how easy and flexible it is to use."

The CFMS monitors call trends, implements rules and triggers alerts to protect resellers and their customers from illegal usage and bill shock. The credit management part of the solution constrains legitimate spend in order to manage risky customers. "Fraud and credit management is a powerful combination," added Axam. "Each call must pass through four rigorous gates including a risk register of continents, countries and regions, a blacklisted destinations register, followed by rule profiling before adhering to spend limits."

Education is also key, noted Axam, who advocates an open and honest discussion with customers based on the remedies available to prevent and address potential attacks by fraudsters. "We can help resellers to show customers how to stop this kind of fraud," he explained. "Resellers need to have a good understanding of their customers' PABX estate and then help to undertake proper security procedures, otherwise they are leaving the door wide open. As a first line of defence, resellers and end customers need to look at what they can do to combat fraud. The most common occurrence of fraud is on the PABX. Equipment is either left vulnerable to a penetration attack due to passwords being left to admin, or they are accessed physically."

Axam believes that SIP credential fraud is less of an issue and the responsibility of service providers to ensure that fit for purpose security controls are in place. Having embedded Tollring's intelligence and analytics tools into the network for hosted communications, BT Wholesale, for its part, is focused on eradicating fraud. "The intelligence gives our partners and their customers visibility of when fraud is occurring so they can stop it," added Axam. "By encouraging more education and applying intelligent analytics, providers can play a greater role in preventing fraud. But we need to ensure our new analytic tools are easy to use so more people use them and we all get better at preventing fraud."

Toll fraud remains a painful and emotive subject for customers, resellers and the industry, and Axam emphasised that the comms sector has a collective responsibility to do everything possible to wipe out this crime. Another weapon in the armoury is spend caps, a blunt and far from perfect tool. "From a reseller's perspective, the spend cap means there's never a big bill to be paid," said Axam. "But for the customer it means they might come in on a Monday morning and find that no phones are working. A great deal of activity is then required to get everything working again. Putting caps on spend also means that the provider and customer acknowledge that fraud is likely to occur."

In response to industry efforts to fight back, the fraudsters are always looking for new opportunities. A recent issue with spend caps is that smart fraudsters have realised that they can get away with taking smaller amounts that don't hit the spend caps and set off alarms, pointed out Axam. "They can just keep repeating the small 'pick pocketing' calls and no one will notice," he added. "We have seen this pattern of traffic with an organisation in the hospitality trade. This is potentially the next wave of fraud and the hotel trade represents a big opportunity for fraudsters. This is where intelligent analysis is vital to spot such changes in patterns."

According to Axam, intelligent analytics is the only way to stop the next type of fraud, but the problem is that routes, destinations and numbers change - it's a dynamic and ever moving challenge. "Premium rates are a simple number set that can easily (and should) be blocked," he said. "You can keep blacklists but you are always looking for the next thing. You can also block known destinations but customers don't like to be limited. This is where analytics wins. It's dynamic enough to learn and adapt. If the volumes are beyond normal calling patterns you can give the customer the option to cut the traffic. The system is fluid and covers all the different elements and factors that will ultimately protect the end customer."•

UCcert's Managing Director Darren O'Connor is as open and honest as he is fiercely competitive and pragmatic, which along with his customer-first approach is the guarantor of long-term success.

O'Connor first got to grips with the fundamentals of networking during a five year stint in the Royal Signals. Soon after leaving the military he became a Cisco accredited engineer and set off on a path that would lead him to establish Calne-based UCcert in 2008. Prior to the company beginning its commercial life O'Connor had left full-time employment to become a contractor, picking up his own client base along the way. Most notably, O'Connor's first customer was Balfour Beatty, which, unsurprisingly, he rates as a major win, deploying an IP telephony solution and LAN across its key UK sites. "Things have grown leaps and bounds following my first customer," he said. "I haven't looked back since."

O'Connor sticks to what he knows and nailed his flag to Cisco, firstly as a registered partner then moving on to Select. UCcert serves customers in a range of sectors including education, public sector, gaming, financial, construction, retail and manufacturing. "We deliver converged network solutions to businesses but this year we'll be focusing solely on our hosted propositions," he explained. "On-premise still has its place in the market but our clients are seeing the advantages of moving to the cloud. I've closely followed the tech trends from IP telephony to collaboration to virtualisation and now into hosted, it's a constant journey. Cloud networking is an ever changing landscape. On a daily basis new ideas and new ways of working come about and if you don't keep up you are left behind, so I am always researching and looking into what's coming next and how I can advise my clients."

This strategic thought process led to the formation of another important partnership, this time with Channel Telecom. "This came about two years ago," recalled O'Connor. "I was looking for a channel partner that could supply a hosted telephony solution plus data connectivity and Channel Telecom ticked the right boxes. There are many partners on the scene that claim to do the same, but for me it was also about the people."

UCcert capped last year with an award scoop that reflects its ambitions. The company picked up Channel Telecom's 'Fastest Growing Partner of the Year Award', and O'Connor attributed this success in large part to his laser focus on giving customers what they want. "My priority is always my clients," he added. "It's vitally important to ensure that a client is happy and feels that they got what they asked for, so I listen to them and make sure that I develop my offerings to ensure I deliver what they expect and need. For example, we're seeing a big shift to the cloud so we will be focusing on our hosted propositions for the foreseeable future. I strongly believe in not diversifying too much otherwise you risk becoming a jack of all trades. We're proficient in networking and telephony so we'll always lead with these."

Although located in the south west of England UCcert works all over the UK and Europe, and its growth has delivered a dilemma that O'Connor hasn't yet fully resolved. "I'm getting to a point in the business now when I have to hand off some of the work to other people I trust and that I know will do a good job," he added. "However, it's still hard to let go. I need to work on relinquishing control and trusting that others can deliver on my promises. I built UCcert from scratch so I'm conscious of the way that I expect this business to perform, that means every single aspect of it."

As a man of impeccable principles and standards, O'Connor's promise to his customers and family is to 'do the best that I can in the most open and honest way'. "What more can anyone ask of me?", he added. "I'm a family man, so running my own business also gives me the drive to better myself and grow the company."•