BUSINESS INTERVIEW Falconer’s magic sauce
The phrase ‘on top of his game’ applies perfectly to Gamma Telecom’s CEO Bob Falconer. If he wasn’t guiding his business through its latest growth plan you could imagine the amiable Scot inspiring the dark blues to success in the Six Nations rugby tournament.
audience of channel players are compelling, but it’s the way he demonstrates a real empathy and understanding of the channel and what resellers want that is the real key to Gamma’s continued success. “It’s all about having the right portfolio of products and giving resellers an edge in the marketplace, some magic sauce. We want customers to be sticky to you and with us,” said Falconer, after delivering his final rallying call to the partner audience that attended Gamma’s final Castle roadshow at The Tower of London. This was an extra show added due to demand, which speaks volumes for Gamma’s channel popularity.
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With the current wave of acquisitions one could expect channel cynics to expect Gamma and its base of customers to be absorbed into a major player soon, but Falconer is adamant that the business he runs is not looking to sell. “We made around £4 million profit last year, not a massive sum, but we are debt free and cash generative with supportive shareholders with a long-term view. We are not about puff, hype and acquisitions with a view to a quick exit. And we still see a lot of future value and exciting things we can do. The strength and depth of our customer relationships is absolutely key to this.”
Falconer indicated that the purchase of a data business focused on cloud services was a possibility if the right opportunity can be found, and stressed Gamma’s commitment to helping resellers build more customer services ‘behind the firewall’. Over the course of the two week nationwide tour, Falconer and his team presented to over 700 current and potential reseller partners adding a new spin on convergence by introducing the term ‘Glued Together Solutions’ to summarise the company’s expanded portfolio. “People want solutions now and tenders are being bundled as a
service,” said Falconer. “If you come across a customer that needs a solutions package you do not want to be left in the middle of the road. You have to be in a position to solve complexity build trust and be innovative.”
Fibre future
Falconer urged partners to be aware that FTTP is on its way and that the ‘cutting out of the middle man’ is happening. “Up to £15 billion will be invested in bringing fibre to the cabinet and before you know it, it will be on the premises,” he said. “The Government is 100 per cent committed to losing the old bottleneck.”
he enthusiasm and motivational skills Falconer employs in front of an
It’s all about
having the right portfolio of products and giving resellers an edge in the marketplace
Bob Falconer
Gamma is planning its future around its growing inbound business, hosted services, SIP and, vitally, its new mobile capabilities following a partnership agreement with Vodafone. The latter enriches a reseller’s portfolio by enabling solutions providers to become Mobile Virtual Network Operators within the SME sector. Key to the deal is that mobile customer ownership stays with the partner.
Meanwhile the business has taken a step forward towards its ultimate dream of bringing drag-and-drop on screen services to the channel with the launch
of the first Gamma ‘App’. Gamma’s Marketing Director Richard Bligh noted: “This effectively manages the flow of inbound calls to a number in real-time from a mobile device and is perfect for disaster recovery and business continuity applications.”
One roadshow delegate affirmed Gamma’s strategy, saying: “Bob Falconer and Gamma have listened to what we want and are delivering.”
• See next month’s Comms Dealer for an exclusive interview with Gamma Sales Director John Haw on channel apps.
Increase your revenues and grow your business. Become a Kcom channel partner. Visit
www.kcom.com/partners or call 0800 915 5298
24 COMMS DEALER MARCH 2011
www.comms-dealer.com
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