NEWS
PLUMB LINES
Social media
can help attract new customers
DAVID PLUMB, HEAD OF SME SALES, 02
Social media – what does it mean for you, for me, for business? Before I start, I want to set the scene. You’re not going to read this and suddenly have the definitive answer. Why? Because I don’t think there is one. And if there is, I don’t have it! Our social media presence has grown massively. We have 18,000- plus followers on our Twitter channel and 17,000-plus fans on our Facebook page. Social media gives us another way to get close to customers. We’re looking at it for recruitment too. And we’re not alone. Over 80 per cent of businesses use social media to recruit. We can announce launches on our blog and include ads on YouTube. But, the real benefit of social media is listening. Hearing about customers’ challenges and experiences and getting feedback.
Social media can help attract you new customers, as well as keep those you have. Almost two thirds of business leaders read reviews online before buying, because they want honest, independent advice. The opportunity for us is to create a platform where our fans can act as advocates. No company gets everything right all the time, and people often buy based on how companies react to a problem. So if we respond quickly and positively to comments on social media, we can demonstrate our passion for solving peoples’ niggles and narks.
Social media could also help your business grow, allowing you to develop new markets and propositions. We recently launched O2 Crowd. It’s based on the principle of crowdsourcing and allows them to share and comment on ideas. This is generating lots of innovation and engaging and motivating our people. Around 80 per cent of innovation comes from customers. The challenge is, how do we harness this creativity?
O2 Ireland recently launched the ‘O2 ideas room’ website, which enables business people to share their expertise. I’ll be watching with interest. What next? Social media can bring benefits to most, if not all, businesses. But a few words of caution. Think about who you’re targeting. What social media do they use today? And what do you want to get out of it? This is what we’re currently doing with our partners and sales teams. That way, whatever we do will be welcomed, rather than just being a tick in the box.
Now it’s over to you, please add your thoughts on social media to my online blog or email
askdavid@o2.com n
Exchange set to grow in US
EXCHANGE Communications has secured a strategic partnership agreement with US-based Altura Communication Solutions that will enable it to target a series of large scale contracts throughout the US and Europe.
Altura, which currently works
with over 2,500 companies drawn primarily from the financial, educa- tion, healthcare and public sectors, is based in Fullerton, California. The partnership will significant- ly bolster Exchange’s client base as it can now tender contracts in the US with the knowledge it has the service support of Altura’s network of nationwide service offices and its 300 support staff. The deal also gives Exchange
the opportunity to work with Altura’s clients who have a presence in Europe.
Established in 1990 by MD
Tom Sime, Glasgow-based Exch- ange Communications specialises in the installation of Avaya’s comms systems and currently works with companies such as Monster, Experian, Invitrogen and Allied International Credit. Sime commented: “Prior to this
deal we had a presence in the US and Canada where we currently ser- vice around 50-plus sites through- out the region, and our partnership
NeoWave in
MVNO offer
NEOWAVE has launched a non- competing MVNO offering to its resellers powered by AQL. According to NeoWave’s MD
Justin Blaine the move is a sig- nificant development in the firm’s expansion plans. He said: “The need to be more efficient in the use of telecoms, and the growing recognition by customers of a true FMC style service represents a huge opportunity for telecoms dealers.” Other features in NeoWave’s offering, Blaine noted, include FSA standard call recording ‘in the cloud’, and the ability to have mul- tiple numbers on a mobile handset including geographic and non geo- graphic numbers.
www.comms-dealer.com
O-bit adds to Surfwise proposition
Tom Sime
with Altura will strengthen our position in what is an important market for the company. “Overseas contracts account for
approximately 40% of our turn- over. Our aim is to grow this signif- icantly over the next three to four years. Aligning ourselves with one of the biggest names in the telecom industry will play a major role in helping us achieve this goal.” Bob Blazek, President and CEO of Altura Communication Solutions, added: “Our strategic partnership with Exchange rep- resents a symbiotic relationship where we will provide each other services that help strengthen our go to market strategy.” Exchange and Altura are both Avaya Platinum Business Partners.
O-BIT Telecom has added new services to Surfwise, its business ISP, widening its range of white- labelled broadband solutions. These new services can be sup- plied with Quality of Service (QoS) packages, providing end users with guaranteed connection speeds dur- ing the day. Surfwise takes advantage of Annex M network technology on some of its services, replacing tra- ditional SDSL, providing a cheaper alternative to dedicated leased lines, while offering download speeds of up to 16Mbit/s and upload speeds of 2.5Mbit/s.
The range of products also includes ADSL and ADSL2+ broadband, providing download speeds of up to 24Mbit/s with a choice of upload speeds. “High quality broadband is a vital utility for all businesses, and many resellers want to offer their customers a reliable Internet con- nection,” commented Dave Breith, CEO, O-bit Telecom. “The range of solutions avail-
able from Surfwise means that whatever the size of a business and its Internet use, resellers will be able to offer a suitable solution.”
Got a news story you want to share? email:
sgilroy@bpl-business.com
Alcatel-Lucent chief states strategic vision
ALCATEL-Lucent has outlined its strategic vision, moving from a busi- ness world based on communica- tion to one built on ‘conversation’. “The business context in which
we’re working is one that we all know has been economically chal- lenging and has experienced much sociological evolution,” commented Vice President Mark Turner. “50% of the world’s population is under 30 years old and this is driving disruptive business models. We are showing how businesses should address their customers under the term ‘conversation’.” Turner cited internal research saying that 81% of consumers have
interacted with a business across multiple channels in the past year. The ability to develop and integrate third party applications such as Skype will be vital, he believes, and pointed to the growth of mobile Internet access globally as indicative of the way customers will want to talk to companies in the future. “Customers have the right to expect a seamless experi- ence,” he stated.
The message is a complex one
for resellers to take to market, Turner admitted, but said the com- pany will be working with partners to demonstrate how they can ben- efit from the new strategy.
10 COMMS DEALER JUNE 2010
www.comms-dealer.com
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