INDUSTRY NEWS COMMENT: SETTING YOUR COURSE Richard Carter
“Holding your nerve and the importance of recovery are two big factors.”
GOLF shares many similarities with business. Both can be rewarding and frustrating, and holding your nerve under pressure is often the difference between success and failure. When watching Rory Mcllroy blow a four shot lead in the final round of the Augusta Masters, it was easy for keen amateurs such as myself to feel sympathy with one of the sport’s rising stars. The 21-year-old from Northern Ireland has a big future in the game but how he reacts to such a set-back – ending 10 shots off the pace – will be interesting. We all have bad
days at the office, and like Rory it’s how we react that is crucial. Holding your nerve and the importance of recovery are two big factors. Perseverance and self-belief also come into play to see you through the thickest of rough. Many of us perform under pressure on a daily basis. Unlike a golfer who relies solely on himself and his caddie, businesses are based on teams of people with different skills, working together to reach a common objective. Experience is another key commodity and just like a tournament golfer, it’s crucial for businesses to have a full set of clubs to see you safely around the corporate course. You need people who can drive forward as well as putt, chip and get you out of a bunker. In these challenging economic times it’s more important than ever to react to set-backs in a positive way to maintain long- term prosperity, whether you’re a high profile golfer or a tenacious businessman. Rory Mcllroy will learn from his dramatic collapse in front of a global TV audience and he’ll be stronger for his Masters meltdown. Victory will taste all the sweeter when it eventually arrives.
Richard Carter, Group Sales & Business Development Director, Nimans
Abzorb boosted by mobile proposition
MOBILE and fixed service pro- vider Abzorb has seen a major hike in turnover and profitabili- ty due to the success of its white labelled Abzorbplus+ mobile proposition, launched 16 months ago as part of the Abzorbplus+ Partner Programme.
Speaking exclusively to Comms Dealer, Abzorb MD Mike Walsh said: “We pilot- ed the programme through 23 resellers within the Concert buying group to get the frame- work right and we now have 120 partners which have helped increase our turnover by 130% and profitability by 320%.”
Licence-free hosted VoIP
MCWILLIAMS Communica- tions has launched a licence- free managed server version of its IPGENIE UCP Pure IP-PBX system. The solution means resellers can create their own hosted IP telephony service, rather than selling on someone else’s product. Sales Director Julian Phipps said: “IPGENIE MS edition is a one-box solution with everything a reseller needs to provide a hosted IP service.”
Walsh says his company’s success is based on giving tra- ditional fixed line resellers the tools and the help they need to successfully manage and bill mobile services, plus the all important autonomy they crave. “Resellers don’t want a net- work interfering with their cus- tomer. We help resellers protect their customer ownership and their brand which is crucial, and our reseller confidentiality clauses are watertight,” he said. Abzorb has introduced a tailored induction programme, and according to Walsh the firm has simplified the complex-
ity of mobile service provision. The company has also invested £500K into its Provida Customer Relationship Management pro- gramme, governed by strict Service Level Agreements to improve service levels. Most importantly says Walsh, Abzorb is committed to helping partners develop into complete service providers themselves. “We have come from a mobile background but have been a BT reseller for seven years,” he stated. “We also sell SIP and hosted solutions so we are developing a one-stop uni- fied comms product portfolio”
A BPL Business Publication
Editor Stuart Gilroy
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All trademarks acknowledged. Photographs and artwork submitted for publication accepted only on the understanding that the Editor is not liable for their safekeeping. Material maybe reproduced only by prior written agreement and with acknowledgment to Comms Dealer. © 2011 BPL Business Media Limited. Printed by Pensord Limited
Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations 13,160 January 10 - December 10
Gamma Telecom enters the data market
GAMMA Telecom has marched into the data market brandish- ing its new Assured IP Services product, a solution that enables channel partners to take to mar- ket a complete IP telephony service of up to 30 channels which includes the broadband and customer router.
The service is supplied by a single supplier, Gamma, which is 100% accountable for the service provided.
Being able to support up to 30 concurrent calls and work- ing to a specified set of SLAs,
partners can reduce their overall cost of support.
James Bushell
the offering addresses a large proportion of the IP telephony market. Also, the end-to-end design of the service means that there is one point of contact for service issues, so channel
James Bushell, Head of Data Services at Gamma, said: “We’ve been selling IP telepho- ny to SMEs since 2005 and the recurring theme when review- ing market performance has been access and the challenges that come with it. “We tried selling our ser- vices with various broadband products, but not as success- fully as we’d hope for. With BT Wholesale’s 21CN access net- work coming into its own, we
2011
Marriot St. Pierre, Chepstow,Gwent. 16th June 2011
4 COMMS DEALER MAY 2011
took the decision to build our own broadband network to sup- port our IP telephony services. “We’ve designed this net- work to specifically support IP voice and by having complete end-to-end control and visibility of all service elements we are able to provide a consistently high quality voice offering.” Wayne Cartwright, CEO of Communicate Better, a Gamma channel partner, said: “Gamma building its own broadband net- work to deliver voice services gives our sales guys a lot more
opportunities for selling con- verged solutions. “Being able to offer up 30 concurrent telephone calls opens up a whole new marketplace as we will be able to attack all of the old ISDN 30 circuits.” Gamma Assured IP Services will be available from the 10th of May and will be followed by a full range of broadband services in July. Q3/4 will see Gamma launch Ethernet servic- es, including EFM, supporting both voice and data access from a customer site.
Register now at
www.margin-in-voice-data.com
www.comms-dealer.com
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