Comms Dealer June 2011

INDUSTRY NEWS COMMENT: PLAYING TO WIN Richard Carter

“It’s not the taking part that counts, but the winning.”

SATURDAY May 14th was a historic day for football fans in Manchester as both United and City picked up major silverware. United’s record 19th league title was quickly followed by City’s first trophy triumph in 35 years. For City’s billionaire owners it was all about starting to get a return on their massive investment, while United demonstrated that they still remain one step ahead of their neighbours, and the rest of the chasing pack. Football clubs are just like any other business, dependent on

investment, results and skilled staff to maintain a winning performance. As a business based in Manchester we can share in the feel good factor with plenty of smiling faces returning to work on the Monday morning. United is still the benchmark for sustained success, but with a seemingly endless supply of wealth at its disposal, City will feel it has no reason to fail in its pursuit of the Red Devils. It will hope that winning the FA Cup and securing a place in the Champions League will act as a catalyst, similar to an ambitious business securing a major new contract. Confidence and optimism will be running sky high. Football shares the same goals and objectives as corporate institutions. It’s much more than just a game, with millions of pounds riding on success or failure. As an award-winning company ourselves we understand how earning trophies can breed more success by enhancing staff morale and belief. The bigger you become, the greater the expectations. As Roberto Mancini and Sir Alex Ferguson will tell you, it’s not the taking part that counts but the winning.

Richard Carter, Group Sales & Business Development Director, Nimans

PSU celebrates lead generation scheme

PSU Technology Group is celebrating a successful first anniversary of its online lead generation network, www.tele- phonesystems.co.uk.

Michael Lounton, MD, noted that over the last 12 months the portfolio of geographically spe- cific sites has generated over 100,000 unique hits and 1,000 leads for PSU’s dealer partners throughout the country. The main website for the ser- vice was launched in April 2010 along with similar URLs for the 50 most densely populated areas in the UK. These use the format www.telephone-systems- portsmouth.co.uk etc.

By using Search Engine Optimisation the sites appear in the top five results for a simple Google search for every town where PSU has a partner. Lounton believes that the prom- inence of the sites on Google can only improve.

He commented: “The more mature the websites become and the more content that’s put into them, the higher Google ranks us.”

The original idea came from a similar project PSU managed on behalf of a network of car dealerships. Partners in the scheme are exclusive to each

Roy McKnight

area served and are not charged a membership fee. Instead, PSU is expected to gain a preferred supplier status for its lines and calls to the dealers’ customers on a profit share basis.

The firm will follow up the success of www.telephonesys- tems.co.uk by launching similar initiatives in other areas. “Our intention is to create a UK-wide directory for every type of telephone service there is,” commented Roy McKnight, Director of the business unit that manages the network. “Whether that’s Blackberry, telephone systems, data, we’ll be using the technology we’ve developed over the last five years.” McKnight is still seeking new partners across the country, particularly in the London bor- oughs and Home Counties.

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TalkTalk boosted by strong channel sales

TALKTALK Telecom Group has announced its first year end results since being demerged from the Carphone Warehouse Group in March 2010, with a strong performance from its channel sales unit helping it to achieve overall growth. MD of TalkTalk Business, Paul Lawton, said that new technologies for the B2B mar- ket such as fibre-based Ethernet and copper-based Ethernet in the first mile (EFM) will make the channel increasingly impor- tant to the group’s bottom line.

Paul Lawton

“I do get jealous of the con- sumer guys talking in terms of hundreds of thousands of subscribers,” Lawton said. “But to put it into proportion, 60 Ethernet products is worth

£500k of annualised revenue. Over the coming years it will be worth tens of millions to us.” According to the annual report released on May 19th TalkTalk Business has seen 1,000 customers sign up for Ethernet, with a further 120 orders for EFM via channel partners since its launch. “These technologies are per- haps the biggest shifts that have taken place in the B2B arm in the last 10 years,” said Lawton. “It has given the channel a set of products to go out and sell

2011

Marriot St. Pierre, Chepstow,Gwent. 16th June 2011

4 COMMS DEALER JUNE 2011

data confidently, to make good margins for their business and to differentiate.” TalkTalk Group recorded an annual profit after tax of £35m based on revenues of £1,765m, which compares to a £3m loss in the year 2009-2010. Part of the increase in profits has been a result of £25m efficiency sav- ings, with a further £15-£25m left to implement this year. Lawton assured partners that the business arm will remain a target for investment rather than cuts. “Our wholesale business is

more fundamental to the busi- ness as a whole,” he said. “We have a commitment to sell chan- nel first in a lot of the products we’re going to develop over the next 12 months.”

One goal for reducing costs over the next year will be to increase the number of subscrib- ers using its own network rather than rented lines for access. Chief Exec’ Dido Harding said the company plans to unbundle another 700 exchang- es, bringing the total number of LLU exchanges to over 2,700.

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