Virtual1 is upgrading its portal to enable reseller partners to intelligently upsell its data network solutions to customers and give them a clear idea of implementation timescales.
Speaking at the company’s inaugural Future-Connect partner event, CEO Tom O’Hagan said that by October his 450 reseller partners will be able to win more business and improve customer service, at the touch of a button.
“We want our customers to win more business and be able to upsell to their own customers," he stated.
"All the maps are already in our portal, but we're changing the categorising of orders. Now, the market says it will be between 45 and 60 days, but we're not going to put up with that anymore.
"Flowing on from that we will be able to show excess construction charges. So, if it's a remote area we’ll be able to give customers an idea of the cost at the quote stage. It's all about adding value.
“Also, our resellers will be able to slide over what bandwidth the customer needs and configure the quote immediately to exactly what they are asking for.
"If it’s for 100Mb on a 100Mb they’ll be able to say, have you thought about 100Mb or 200Mb on a gig? And we'll put that up immediately.
"We’ll then put the resilient options up, then the capex option up if it’s for the DCMS voucher scheme.
"It’s all about generating a conversation with the end customer that’s intelligent enough to upsell them.”
O’Hagan believes the upgraded portal will also help partners to address the rapidly growing SD-WAN market.
"With Virtual1’s own Managed SD-WAN proposition expected to hit the market before the end of this year, this represents a clear opportunity for the channel, he said.
“The size of the prize for SD-WAN is £200m in the UK, and it’s set to be £2bn inthree years time. So there is a huge opportunity for margins."