INTERVIEW
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Clear vision for growth
COMPANY UPDATE
In 2008 snom won the Deloitte Fast 50 Award for being one of the strongest companies in Germany, its 404 per cent sales growth ranking it among the top 30 firms. snom has continued to gain new ground based on a clear vision for expansion and a strong desire for innovation.
understate the nature of his long- term vision. “snom’s name was chosen to be memorable and easy to pronounce in all languages, reflecting the intention of the company for global growth from the very beginning,” said Nelly Monkhouse, UK Sales Manger. “Soon after the company was started we began to develop the snom 100, our first SIP phone. snom’s innovative approach has been recognised from this very first product which was awarded a ‘Best in Show’ accolade at CeBIT in 2000.”
T
snom was founded in 1996 in Berlin by Stredicke, who had little doubt in his mind about wanting to develop award winning telephony products. The company now employs 70 people and the headcount is growing year on year in all of snom’s offices, from its headquarters in Berlin, the UK, France, Italy and two US offices in Boston and Miami.
“snom’s proposition has always been to create the most innovative telephony solution,” added Monkhouse. “We are a fun company that loves to pour all of our energy and skills into creating exciting phones and supporting products that will enhance the communication capabilities of all of our end users. This basic proposition has stayed the same throughout snom’s history. We change and develop our products based on customer feedback and
hostWISE
o say that snom’s founder, Dr. Christian Stredicke, had big ambitions from the outset would be to
strive to make products that are both functional and enjoyable.”
snom’s go-to-market strategy is entirely dependent on its partner network globally. Interoperability partners, technology partners and service provider partners, as well as distributors and resellers. “Our product development is one of the biggest factors in our go-to- market strategy,” said Monkhouse. “We work closely with our channel partners during development, listening carefully to what their clients need. This means snom creates products that meet the needs of end users, and when they do arrive on the marketplace there is a substantial number of buyers already waiting.”
Another big aspect to snom’s strategy is that its phones are open source and can work with any telephony solution a potential customer is looking for, be they closed or proprietary systems. “We fit with everything too. For example, we are the fastest phone to install on an Asterisk system and can also integrate with Broadsoft,” claimed Monkhouse.
snom’s products are feature rich, future-orientated technologies that allow for five-way calling, drag-and-drop transfer, full colour display screen, well organised address books, enhanced wideband audio quality and personalisation capabilities. “This enables resellers to provide a value added solution to their end users,” said Monkhouse. “snom phones can also be mass deployed and configured, taking vital information
Nelly Monkhouse
from the server once it is in situ, to save resellers time. snom is also successfully working with big carriers like mobilcom Austria and Vodafone. They use snom phones for their new all over-IP offer which is an integration of mobile and landline VoIP telephony.”
Monkhouse noted that HD voice is a ‘great selling point’ that snom is able to bring to a marketplace that is hungry for higher quality sound. She added: “We develop our products to use all of the frequency available and provide a better voice quality for all call parties. snom has enhanced this function in the snom m9 that is due to launch shortly. This is the latest product that we have developed, and it is the next generation of DECT handheld devices that allows convenience of wireless communication along with the benefits and feature rich quality of VoIP.
“snom has also been working with our support teams more to ensure that all channel partners have access to fast and effective support and training across the snom product range. We see a big channel opportunity around strengthening our channel partners and recruiting more VARs.”
A key plank in snom’s strategy is to keep driving towards the idea of ‘true’ unified communications in its product development. Integration capabilities are therefore high on its agenda. But for Monkhouse, the question of unified communications is ‘difficult’ as it is a varied term that often lacks definition. “Its meaning depends on what the user wants it to mean,” she said. “What we see as UC is everything from integration with Microsoft, which snom is certified to do, to being able to see the status of your contacts. For example, we link our phones with Outlook and when users open their Outlook contacts they can see immediately if the person they wish to call is already on another call.
“We believe it is important for all UC companies to look at ways of running all communications, from Internet, to telephony and videoconferencing, through one server for ease of use. Many people we work with are already on board with the idea of true unified communications. One of our technology partners, Estos, has developed a new cost- effective system to link all office communications together.”
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Favourite film: La vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful)
Toughest decision: Moving
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28 COMMS DEALER MAY 2010
www.comms-dealer.com
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