NEWS INTERVIEW
www.comms-dealer.com snom builds UK channel
snom has secured a UK office following the acquisition of IP PBX solutions provider pbxnsip. The former CEO of pbxnsip, Jonathan Greenwood, has picked up the gauntlet as UK Managing Director and he’s wasted no time in taking the snom proposition to market.
he acquisition of pbxnsip Europe has given snom a product and ready-made go-to-market model in the UK. The move is the first stage in a renewed campaign that will be supported throughout the coming year by a range of additional activities and announcements. According to Greenwood the snom UK office represents a significant opportunity to capitalise on its presence in the region through the roll out of a channel partner programme. He notes big demand from telecoms and IT resellers for more information on how best to approach the IP market, and this requirement will form a key plank of his strategy.
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“snom UK will be plugging this knowledge gap through the snom Certified Engineer programme (SCE),” he said. “Based at snom’s dedicated UK training centre in Leeds, the course will provide telecoms and IT resellers with the training they need to understand and sell IP telephony solutions effectively. Educating and working more closely with resellers will be the main priority for snom UK.”
snom IP handsets have been on the market for the past 15 years and two core solutions complement the snom system. Recently, snom released its own IP PBX solution, the IP PBX snom ONE which incorporates and supports all snom features in a single solution. Users can continue to install and run snom VoIP phones on every SIP- based PBX, while having additional access to a series of telephony systems tailored to snom phones.
“snom is not only interoperable with all the other IP PBXs on the market, it also offers its own system which will work closely with other handsets and endpoints,” said Greenwood. “Additionally, the snom 300 is fully qualified to work with the Microsoft Office Communications Server system. It is the first open-SIP-based IP desktop phone to natively register to the OCS 2007 R2 and any other SIP-based IP PBX in parallel.”
snom UK’s target market and key growth area is to attract more IT and telecoms resellers and work closely with them via the snom Certified Engineer programme. Resellers who become a certified partner will receive a discount on all snom products as well as direct information on channel events and promotions. “snom’s channel proposition offers resellers a complete solution using snom ONE to allow telephone systems to be linked in together,” commented Greenwood. “For the reseller, this will reduce their ongoing costs as they can configure all the telephones for one location through the PBX interface.
“This also reduces the ongoing maintenance costs that resellers provide to the customer. There are margins in place for deploying the whole system and resellers can sell a complete system under one brand name. By bringing resellers closer to snom via an intensive and sustained campaign, our go-to-market strategy helps channel partners win more business, confident in the knowledge that snom UK
Jonathan Greenwood
“Educating and working more closely with resellers will be the main priority for snom UK”
will fully support them and their customers over the long-term.”
The new office also provides distributors and resellers in the UK with a direct link to snom while the acquisition of pbxnsip gives snom UK the ability to provide solutions for all stages of the IPT network. For two and half years Greenwood held the position of CEO at pbxnsip Europe. “pbxnsip is much smaller in comparison but we have always worked closely with snom. The offer to run snom’s UK operations was very attractive and was the natural next step for my career. I have created and managed a number of startups
within the telecommunications industry during the past nine years.”
Previously a software engineer at Pancredit, Greenwood worked on several major projects within the financial industry. “I transitioned from financial systems software development to telecoms while at pbxnsip Europe where I was responsible for the entire operations for EMEA,” he said. “My expertise in the provider, software and telecoms market will help elevate snom’s operations in the UK. With this renewed focus on the market we are confident that we will be able to capitalise on our previous success in the UK.”
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18 COMMS DEALER JANUARY 2011
www.comms-dealer.com
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