NGN UPDATE A year that will be remembered for consistent connectivity


2010 was a challenging year for businesses across every industry, but there is renewed optimism that the New Year will bring slow and steady green shoots of recovery to many sectors, according to Andy Hollingworth, Director of Wholesale at Opal, who highlights some of this year’s big connectivity opportunities.


F


luctuating voice rates and consistency of connectivity are two of the hot issues for the


channel this year, according to research conducted by Opal. Other areas of focus ascending the channel agenda include educating end users to capitalise on connectivity opportunities, and the ongoing campaign for accessible, dedicated business grade services for all sizes of enterprise. “We commissioned the study, which questioned 1,000 resellers, VARS and system integrators, to investigate the channel’s key concerns and establish the most important factors for commercial success in 2011,” commented Hollingworth. “During the last 12 months, more than half of respondents felt that the combination of offering value added services and price were the most critical elements to winning business.


“Looking ahead, 30 per cent of the channel members surveyed predicted that product capabilities will be the most important factor for success in 2011 (five per cent more than in 2010), a sign of the channel’s increasing awareness of the key role that opportunities such as the cloud will present.”


Education is key, with 25 per cent of those questioned wanting to increase the expertise in their teams. The lack of customer knowledge combined with a


reticence to change providers is the biggest barrier to purchase, as highlighted by 60 per cent of the survey. “Bridging this sizable gap between end user understanding of the latest solutions and their tangible benefits is a long-standing issue,” added Hollingworth. “The importance of demonstrating added value to customers must be a focus for 2011.”


Another key challenge facing the channel last year was the fluctuating voice rates issued by mobile carriers. “Working closely with partners we have taken measures to shield them from the impact of the varying margins, however, this issue looks set to continue into the New Year,” stated Hollingworth. “A positive aspect of the economic climate has been the take-up of capex light hosted services, which favours end users who remain cautious of capex. This represents a great opportunity for partners to push higher bandwidth products that offer stable, secure, future proofed technologies.”


Despite the turbulent economy, business in the channel has been building momentum for Opal, bucking the trend with 120 new partners joining in the past 12 months and month-on- month revenue growth. But the real success story in 2010, says Hollingworth, is the continued increase in connectivity. “Unified communications and hosted cloud services have become a reality


The importance of


demonstrating added value to customers must be a focus for 2011


www.comms-dealer.com


Andy Hollingworth


for end users due to the robust connectivity that some players have deployed in the market.”


Development in the Ethernet product set has been a particular focus for Opal. “We first launched our Ethernet services with 1,000 exchanges at the beginning of 2010 and have now extended to over 1,350 exchanges,” Hollingworth commented. “Complete take-up of multi- products also includes business


Mark the date for 2011 28 COMMS DEALER JANUARY 2011


grade broadband, which has gone from strength to strength, with partners making multiple net additions month-on-month. For 2011, we are looking ahead to ensure all types of connectivity are business grade and resilient, enabling a greater choice opportunity for partners to build value added services and applications. Ultimately, this is where the greatest opportunities will present themselves for the channel going forward.”


n Gleneagles Hotel


9th, 10th & 11th November 2011 www.commsvision.com


www.comms-dealer.com


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