Already a major blip on the comms industry radar screen fast growing GCI's spot of light is set to magnify, according to CEO Wayne Martin who aims to bring a new focus to the Channel's vision.
Thinking big and squaring up to the main players is one of Martin's telling influences, which in the early days was strongly felt during an 11 year stint at Mercury Communications. Martin joined BT rival Mercury Communications in 1988 when he operated in a corporate sales environment, which proved to be fertile ground to seed an idea that was to grow into GCI. "The marketplace needed a telecoms operator offering high quality and detailed phone billing," said Martin. "No one was doing this at the time and bigger companies were falling short of the mark. I ensured that GCI's billing engine would be the difference and help us stand out in the marketplace. We would collate all mobile and fixed telephony in one place."
It was in 2000 when Martin set up GCI to provide a unified phone bill that made sense. Now, the company generates £55 million turnover, employs 200-plus staff and boasts a client list of 10,000 made up of SMBs and a number of FTSE 300 organisations spending up to £1 million a year on converged ICT and data services. GCI is also listed 75th in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 and recognised by Investec as one of the UK's leading ICT suppliers ranked 19th in its HOT100.
"We have been doubling our turnover but when you reach £50 million it is much harder to make these lists because turnover has to increase by tens of millions," said Martin. "The growth required is so much higher, but my ambition for growing the business is endless. I aim to reach £100 million-plus turnover with more acquisitions bringing complementary enhancements to an already extensive portfolio. For me the recognition from competitors that we are a serious player is vital."
As you would expect, GCI has evolved significantly in recent times with a strong backer on board in the Business Growth Fund, one of the largest private equity houses globally from a cash fund perspective. The company has also matured around accreditations and the G-cloud, and this month officially launches its channel division called GCI Channel Solutions. Channel is a sharp area of focus and the combined channel team boasts more than 30 years experience which Martin says will be leveraged to the maximum. "We aim not to just do it, but to do it differently and to do it right," he stated. "By empowering our partners with the ability to quote, support, and provision through self-serve tools we are giving them the key to succeed in this business environment. With the support of our pre-sales and channel management teams we can help our partners to secure high margin, long-term recurring revenue contracts and give customers a complete end-to-end experience."
It is estimated that the Channel is securing just 25 per cent of the available cloud services revenue from their customers, as opposed to nearly 75 per cent in connectivity and voice. "Now is the time to change that by deploying a mature service through an experienced partner," Martin commented. "Our research suggests that there is a gap in the market in enabling partners to sell cloud services, and GCI Channel Solutions intends to meet that need with self-serve pricing, a provisioning tool and training from our channel and technical management teams. Connectivity and voice services are mature while still growing, but there is a clear need for channel education on how to sell and deploy cloud services. We will be offering workshops, coaching and pre-sales support to enable the channel to sell complex solutions that are normally the preserve of the larger IT service providers."
Martin intends to equip customers with network and infrastructure that allows them to become pioneers of technology and gain a competitive advantage in their markets. "Other larger businesses are already trying to imitate us in this respect," he claimed. "Our infrastructure is extensive, we own three data centres and we are of significant scale in terms of being able to negotiate competitive access deals. Furthermore, we own our own network infrastructure. We are not just another player in the market, we are pioneering and driving to become best in breed. ICT service requirements are going to push us forward in the future. The re-engineering work we have done has brought us to enterprise grade and we are also ISO and G-cloud accredited."
With acquisitions at the forefront of his mind it's no surprise to learn that Martin expects continued consolidation in the sector as smaller companies don't have the breadth of services enjoyed by their larger counterparts. "Business Process as a Service, Software as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service and other virtualised platforms are all adaptations smaller companies will need to adopt as the comms sector evolves," commented Martin. "Companies will need to re-invent themselves to compete and differentiate, especially in the Channel, and this is where GCI Channel Solutions fits in as we have the skill set to take partners on this journey of growth."
GCI's network growth, infrastructure investments, Cisco MPLS, access strategy, Smart Bunker data centre, Lync proposition and best of breed cloud platform are all acquisitions and investments Martin cites as milestones that have influenced the evolution and progress of GCI. "We believe that hosted Lync offers a huge opportunity for the Channel and we have had positive feedback from partners wanting to partner with an experienced Lync provider," he commented. "People are now working differently and adopting back-up and infrastructure services."
The success of GCI is not just dependent on technical expertise, but the ability of individuals to work together to make a one stop ICT shop happen for customers. "Our people are praised for their ability to work in partnership and as part of a team to deliver every single time, often in challenging circumstances," noted Martin. "Trust, support and transparency are crucial to making things happen at GCI. Mutual respect and integrity shape our internal and external partnerships."•