MARKET REVIEW Reasons to reach higher
replacing their existing system from the current reseller or vendor. “What they need is aspiration and the right vendor that can help them,” said Keenan. “Previously, selling and deploying multi- site solutions was a complex task that potentially only larger resellers could tackle, but now this type of solution can be deployed with ease.”
Simon Skellon
The above 100 extension market is fertile ground for resellers, and addressing the upper reaches is becoming easier.
T
he key growth areas for resellers at the top end of the market are the migration
of enterprise customers to IP telephony and the deployment of UC and collaboration solutions. Rob Keenan, Head of UK Portfolio Management at Siemens Enterprise Communications, predicts growth in the market over the next two to three years, especially in the mid- market 250-1,000 segment, driven by deployments of IP telephony and UC. “These businesses are now executing a joint IT and comms strategy and see the move to IP and UC as the right place to invest,” said Keenan. “They are not looking for like-for-like replacement of their existing solutions.”
Following the launch of OpenScape Office v3 Siemens has been explaining ways to help resellers with a typical customer base of under 100 extensions move up into the mid or enterprise space. “With the launch of OpenScape Office v3 and OpenScape Xpress Siemens is providing solutions for partners to address this market,” commented Keenan. “The important move for partners and resellers is to identify what they need to do. Having the right skills, the right products and the right sales approach to appeal to these bigger businesses is crucial.”
With the shift to IP and UC, customers are looking at all the options and are not just
Larger customers expect to work with a reseller that understands complex business needs and also their business challenges and processes. They want a full support package to deliver, support and meet their changing needs, such as those of a distributed business with multiple sites, home and mobile workers. Enterprise customers will also want integration with their existing business applications. “They are interested in a long-term relationship and a cost of ownership model stretching to five or even ten years,” added Keenan. “However, the sales cycle is longer and may involve a piloting phase, so the overall time to move from engagement to deployment may turn out to be months rather than weeks.”
Enterprise businesses are operating in a difficult economic climate with fierce competition. They want to retain existing customers and also win new business. They need to be able to react quickly and cost-effectively to changing customer needs, which in the main means they need highly productive employees. “UC and collaboration can offer businesses the tools to be much more effective,” said Keenan. “A call centre agent can handle four
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simultaneous web chats and four customers, whereas an agent can only take one call at a time. UC, with features like web collaboration and video allows instant meetings and decision making. Business meetings can be done in offices with people joining via interaction with smartphone clients. It is using all the UC functions together in one unified end user client that makes the difference.”
Key verticals
Mitel says that many of its SME channels have found success in winning enterprise sized deals. “This is predominantly due to the successful SME channels that are focusing on key vertical markets where they have experience, customers to use as references and the ability to offer unique and compelling propositions,” noted Simon Skellon, UK Enterprise Sales Director, Mitel. “A full understanding and genuine interest of a customer’s business and marketplace is invaluable.”
When addressing the enterprise space businesses in differing vertical markets face a variety of pain points. However, the utilisation of UC and collaboration solutions broadly addresses most of them, observes Skellon, as UC and collaboration enable employees to be more productive. “These tools enable the ‘in office’ experience irrespective of location and increase first time contactability dramatically,” he added.
It is important to bear in mind that in the SME market the number of people in the decision making process is much lower than the enterprise
market. For example there is usually just one person. “In the enterprise market the decision making processes are more complex and difficult to get access to as they contain more people, often between 10-15 people,” added Skellon. “UC solutions can help bring the decision makers together if they are not all based in one location.”
Another major pain point is not linking the technical solution to the business benefits. Vendors need to help channels articulate business benefits as opposed to just the features of the product. “Mitel TV is a secure video on demand website that demonstrates products and solutions in two minute videos which focus on the benefits and not the technical aspects,” commented Skellon.
Resellers that have
specialisations in particular vertical markets have much greater success in the tendering process as opposed to channels who offer a more generalised approach, Skellon noted. “Customers react positively to organisations that take the time to understand their market and in particular the challenges that they face on a day to day basis,” added Skellon.
Enterprise customers want to attract the best talent to their organisations by way of personnel and to retain their best people. IT is now seen as one of the key tools that enterprises use to retain their staff and encourage desirable and quality prospective employees to their organisation as opposed to one of their Continued on page 50
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