BUSINESS PROFILE


www.comms-dealer.com NEC squares up to rivals


The term sleeping giant is possibly over stated in the comms industry, but there can be no denying the size and strength of the NEC Corporation.


scale up its overseas revenues by 2013 and dominate traditional and cloud-based communications. Here in the UK, the company has just had its best ever year, so why has NEC been so quiet about it? UK Sales Director Andrew Cooper told Nigel Sergent what’s been calmly going on. “I think they call it stealth marketing and we are very good at it,” says Cooper as we tuck into a working lunch delivered to NECi’s offices in Ruddington on the outskirts of Nottingham, where the UK division relocated 18 months ago. The lush headquarters, with its state of the art demonstration suite and expansive meeting rooms is a far cry from NECi’s previous home in Loughborough, which Cooper admits maybe unwittingly reinforced the company’s image as an engineering based business.


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“We have grown up,” he commented. “The old regime that started NEC has gone now. In those days we were pigeon holed as a tekkie, small PBX system supplier but we have quietly launched innovative new products and NEC now offers resellers highly scaleable, channel supportable, sophisticated solutions that range from two extensions up to 2,000 and beyond. Our peers ignored us but we seeded the market with our XN120 SME product and took on our competitors. We literally went from zero to hero


ne of the planet’s largest electronics companies, NEC has ambitious plans to


and dented leading players’ strangleholds on the sector.”


The subsequent launch of the SV8100 Univerge enterprise system enabled resellers to migrate to corporate sales. NEC’s ability to offer channel partners a full range of solutions has more than doubled the reseller head count and has had a positive effect on Cooper’s bottom line. “We now have 50- plus loyal resellers working directly with us and over 150 buying our products through Trust, Micro-P and Nimans. In terms of revenues we have had our best ever year in tough economic conditions. In all honesty we now fear no-one,” says Cooper. “We have doubled our market share In Europe and significantly grown revenue and volume in the UK. We seem to be doing everything right.


Andrew Cooper


“We are keeping our feet on the ground and have a professional training operation. We also have kept stability of staff, we do not outsource, NEC has a great set of products and the right offers for partners, and as a business we are investing. Japan has always been good at managing money. NEC spends on average seven per cent of turnover on research which amounts to £2.7 billion dollars. This is more than many of our competitor’s turnover annually.”


Corporate speeches aside, you cannot question Cooper’s passion for the business he joined 10 years ago after winning his


We literally went from zero to hero and dented leading players’ strangleholds on the sector


sales spurs at Bob Old’s Rocom Group. He does not disguise his continued enthusiasm for traditional telephony which he believes will remain profitable for the channel community for many years to come.


He commented: “NEC is developing cloud-based infrastructures. Our enterprise colleagues are developing these solutions as we speak, but I do not believe it will take over here overnight. Nothing in life happens that quickly. The speed of change will be based on the scalability of the networks. For now, the channel should hold their thoughts on cloud telephony. I genuinely believe there has never been a better time for resellers to start thinking about their supplier partner. We are bringing in some sophisticated UC platforms but we will not lose focus on our core


business. We are happy with evolution rather than revolution.”


This includes the setting up of the Technical Services department which Cooper says will elevate channel support to a higher level, plus a commitment to breaking down barriers to entry for resellers. “I wholly disagree with expensive accreditation programmes. Why should anyone pay vast sums of money for the pleasure of selling our products? We offer comprehensive training schemes at affordable prices. Most of our resellers have made extremely good livings from selling telephone systems and minutes. What right have I got to knock on the doors of entrepreneurs like that and tell them how to run their business? Would Tesco ever say to somebody ‘you can’t shop here because you haven’t got the necessary qualifications?’ I don’t think so.” n


Recruitment & Headhunting for Communications, Networking & Software Industries t: 0113 3200 401 e: cdenquiries@sourceconnectuk.com w: www.sourceconnectuk.com


20 COMMS DEALER JANUARY 2011 www.comms-dealer.com


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