BUSINESS INTERVIEW
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Comstor took the reigns in Cisco voice distribution a decade ago and to mark ten years of collaboration and channel building the partners have released details on new programs and a refreshed SME market focus. We got the story from Clive Hailstone, Sales Director UK and Ireland at Comstor.
LAN switches, in addition to what it claims is a more complete and better integrated voice feature set with a rich portfolio of third party applications vendors adding value to the core solution.
behind Cisco’s inaugural IP telephony foray. Back then, with a feature set that barely stood up to comparison with established PBX players, it was a daunting challenge for the Cirencester- based division of global networking distribution powerhouse Westcon Group. But with a sharp focus on the needs of the channel and its relationship with Cisco, Comstor has sustained significant growth. Its OneVoice partner engagement program was so successful that it was subsequently adopted worldwide by Westcon Group, and became a company byword for effective channel development.
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Now, with a strong partner base, a mature voice portfolio and a rapidly evolving and successful family of unified communications solutions in conferencing, video and collaboration, Cisco and Comstor are preparing for the next stage of growth. “In partnership with Cisco, we see the SME market as providing the next wave of adoption and growth in unified communications and collaboration,” commented Clive Hailstone, Sales Director UK and Ireland at Comstor. “This is an extension of our partnership
en years ago distributor Comstor UK marched into the telecoms channel as one of the prime movers
with Cisco in the last two-three years, which has been driven by a desire to work closely with well qualified and motivated partners at the business level, not just on a technology sales approach, but a fundamental transformation of their business.”
The topic of business transformation is one that Cisco has been touting as a key driver for unified communications for some time, so it’s no surprise that the theme should feature heavily in Cisco’s approach to channel partner engagement. But how does this translate and operate at the coal face? The primary delivery vehicle for Cisco’s partnering approach is the Comstor Fundamentals program, designed to help new Cisco voice resellers develop and execute a winning business model for the SME market. This selective program is focused entirely on identifying and achieving successful business outcomes for the enrolled partners.
Hailstone added: “On being accepted to the program, an initial executive briefing helps our team understand the full details of the partners’ strategy. Then an action plan will be produced that reflects their business goals, which can be monitored and adjusted ‘in flight’ and again more formally
We see the SME market as providing the next wave of adoption and growth in UC
Clive Hailstone
“The Comstor Fundamentals program has a proposition for any voice reseller who wants to leverage the power of Cisco in the SME market”
during a quarterly business review. “Initially, we focus on planning and positioning the business with key Cisco teams because for a smaller and newer partner this can be daunting. Then we look at driving engagement further with Cisco and ensuring strong execution of the plan, including cross-team training, configuration tools, and technical support on the first three installs right the way through to marketing and lead generation – all 100 per cent free to selected partners.”
The SMB business communications market sector in particular has proved challenging for Cisco in the past, with many established voice partners perceiving Cisco as being ‘for the big boys’ with a degree of complexity in its delivery and a price ticket to match. Cisco is addressing these issues directly with new and more cost-effective IP handsets and appropriately featured entry level
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For its part, Comstor is adding a design and provisioning toolset that will integrate directly with its logistics team, enabling a completely configured SMB voice solution to be picked, built and shipped for ease of deployment. With these developments, Hailstone believes the channel’s misconceptions about the risk and reward of doing business with Cisco in the SMB voice sector will be a thing of the past.
He said: “In the Comstor Fundamentals program we have a proposition for any voice reseller who wants to leverage the power of Cisco in the SME market, not just in terms of the products and services required to build a full solution, but with programs that are proven to help such partners transform their business and of course realise sustainable improvements in their margin.”
Cisco and distribution partner Comstor will unveil more details on the Comstor Fundamentals program at Comms Vision 2010, Gleneagles, November 10- 12. Platinum sponsor Cisco is emphatic in its determination to extend its enterprise market leadership into the rapidly growing commercial and SME business communications market.
Andy Brocklehurst, Regional Channel Sales Manager for Cisco’s voice team, reinforces the message: “Our engagement with Comstor in these programs is strategic to our success in this market. We see our collaboration at Comms Vision as a highly effective platform for identifying and working with those partners with the vision and drive to succeed with us.”
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