SPECIAL NEWS REPORT Smith affi rms key goals
Tony Smith, the newly instated man in charge of advancing Siemens Enterprise Communications’ channel business division, has already left the blocks in the race to drive adoption of UC and extend the vendor’s reach deeper into key markets.
of Siemens Enterprise Communications’ two tier indirect channel business following the departure last month of Leon Mangan. Smith has worked in almost all areas of the channel over the last 13 years, including distribution, with resellers selling to end users and with vendors managing partners. During his career he has consistently outperformed his sales targets and developed a good in-depth understanding of both the challenges partners and distributors face, but more importantly what delivers success. “A big part of success in the channel is to develop strong, productive partnerships,” Smith commented. “I’d say the key factor in developing these relationships is the ability not just to listen, but to understand and take the necessary actions.”
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Smith formerly managed the firm’s distribution partners in the UK and Ireland and says that there will be no immediate changes to the product portfolio or Go Forward! partner program, which have performed well for the company over the last year. His main aim, he says, is to support resellers and continue to expand the channel with new partners. A top priority is to drive the adoption of UC to the mass market and enable
n October 1st Smith became responsible for the management
more attractive, and my team and I will be focused on driving increased business development through the channel,” emphasised Smith.
“Our OpenScape Office portfolio continues to collect plaudits and commendations from the market and we are making great strides in the mid-market segment. My goal is to drive market share growth with our partners on the back of our SMB and mid-market portfolio, giving partners the tools they need to successfully sell in a difficult economic climate.”
Tony Smith
partners to deliver the value proposition surrounding UC. Smith commented: “We’ll be focusing a lot of activity on our existing resellers and driving opportunities for them with our products, and looking for quality new resellers to come onboard. A sign of the quality of our current portfolio is that we do have people coming forward and wanting to become Siemens partners for the first time in a while.”
Strategic aims
Smith says that he hopes to build on the success of the vendor’s SMB OpenScape Office LX unified
communications range, which was launched in April, by attracting more mid-market resellers to the fold. He also says he’s committed to ongoing channel education programs to help traditional resellers transition to a virtualised, cloud-based technology, which he describes as the ‘biggest challenge’ of the next 12 months. Top of his job list is the task of enabling partners to migrate from the existing end user customer base to the latest technology at a faster rate. “There is no doubt that the opportunity for existing and new partners has never been
Strong proposition His plans centre around giving partners the right solutions at the right price with the right support to deliver growth. “From a new partner perspective our integration with Microsoft and our ability to operate in a fully virtualised environment means that we have a strong proposition for partners who specialise in these areas,” added Smith. “This, coupled with our Go Forward! Partner accreditation program means we have a compelling package at Siemens Enterprise Communications. Our strong brand and loyal partner and customer base is something we must build on.”
Smith ranks being able to lead the channel at Siemens Enterprise Communications as his greatest work- related achievement. “I am passionate about the
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people, our products and our partners. I couldn’t ask for a better combination,” he said.
Graham Walker, Managing Director, Siemens Enterprise Communications, noted: “Our aspiration is to grow market share in the SME and mid-market segment. This requires strong, highly active partner relationships. We have an exciting portfolio aligned to the requirements of partners and customers, and this strength is backed up further by our committed channel team under the leadership of Tony.”
Just a minute with Tony Smith...
What talent do you wish you had? To be fluent in another language.
Name three ideal dinner guests. John Cleese, Peter Sellers, Jonny Wilkinson.
How would you like to be remembered? As a trustworthy, genuine and happy person who enjoyed life.
Name one thing you couldn’t do without in your job. My team.
What possession could you not live without? Sadly, my iPhone.
Who was the last person to thank you and why? A new partner for the support we gave them to win a 210 user deal.
What do you fear the most? Failure.
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