INDUSTRY NEWS COMMENT: WHAT RECESSION? Paul Clark


RECESSION – what recession? When the UK officially entered the recession at the end of 2008, we all feared the worst. And, to begin with, it seemed our fears were not unfounded as businesses across the globe tightened their belts, dramatically cutting spending. However, once the initial shock waves subsided one thing became clear... businesses needed to fundamentally change how they operated, and for the


more innovative ICT provider this heralded an opportunity. The recession forced businesses to reassess how they could change their working practices in order to cut costs. This was particularly true for those businesses whose sectors had been worst hit, such as the banking industry and public sector, who soon realised that minor adjustments would not enable them to reach their new budget targets. Instead, these businesses needed wholesale change that would save them money, without impacting the quality of service they offered their customers. Businesses across the world have sought to economise by rationalising real estate and using flexible working initiatives to help cut expenditure. In order to support these new initiatives they had to adopt more effective communication technologies, such as UC and enhanced conference calling, to enable their employees to work effectively in this new environment. Subsequently, over the past three years we’ve seen steady growth in headset sales. Sales in headsets with enhanced audio quality have also grown as employees demand the same audio experience they were used to in the traditional office environment. The global economy still has a long way to go until it is in the black, but if there is one long lasting benefit to come out of the recession it will be that businesses now have the tools in place to streamline costs and drive productivity.


Paul Clark, Director & General Manager, Plantronics


Social media opportunity


THE adoption of social net- work tools in the enterprise will unlock new revenue growth and could be the next wave of major collaboration, according to the observations of Paul Cunningham, Principal Consultant at Monkeybridge. Cunningham contends that business transformation can be achieved beyond UC if applied to a social enterprise, using social intelligence as a third wave of collaboration.


In a keynote address at


Comms Vision last month, Cunningham cited three forms of intelligence as fundamental to his model: Abstract intelligence (what we know), concrete intel- ligence (what we do) and social intelligence (how we act). “These components link directly into how we collabo- rate and react, creating a strong case for building a proposition beyond infrastructure into social networks,” stated Cunningham. Traditional work domains, he told delegates, constrain people who are confined to working in ‘boxes’ with boundaries to getting things done, however the rise of social networks have created a new domain, enabling people to work outside tradi- tional boundaries and become


Azlan set for next phase


AZLAN, the enterprise network- ing division of Computer 2000, has made a series of new man- agement appointments designed to prepare the company for its next phase of business develop- ment and growth.


The changes also refocus activity on key vendor part- ners and bring the structure of the UK business more closely into line with that of Azlan’s Enterprise Access Networking business across Europe. Mark Wheeler is appointed Cisco Business Unit Director


with responsibility for the Cisco Business. He was previously Cisco Business Unit Manager. Kevin Markwick becomes IBM and Services Business Unit Director and is tasked with building and developing Azlan’s Services Business.


Joel Chimoindes becomes Solution Evangelist Director with responsibility for creating and developing vendor-agnostic solutions. Initially, he will also take on the post of Competency Centre Manager. Previously, Chimoindes was UC Director.


Colin McGregor, Director of Azlan UK, commented: “This management structure will enable Azlan’s teams to focus more clearly on key targets and to drive the business forward in close alignment with our col- leagues in Europe, sharing best practice and ensuring that we deliver positive results for our customers, vendor partners and our own business.


“Azlan has made great strides in recent months and with this management team we can build on that momentum.”


TALENTED footballers from Elite Telecom (pictured) have retained their Comms Dealer Five-a-Side title at Wembley. Chorley-based Elite beat 2Circles 5-3 in a thrilling final to win the tournament for the second year running. The event, which was sponsored by Nine Telecom, raised £3,600 for the Comms Dealer children’s charity Sparks. See page 46 for all the results and photos.


Kcom’s Accelerate Channel Partner Programme now available 8 COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2011 Register now: channelpartners@kcom.com www.comms-dealer.com Paul Cunningham


more agile and responsive in the process.


“The trouble with current tools such as email is that the context is often lost, which is limiting in terms of collabora- tion,” added Cunningham. “In the social media domain content is persistent while con- text is everywhere, and it’s fully inclusive, self-generating and self-managing.”


The enabler of such an envi- ronment is massive virtualistion and new access devices with social interfaces, he says. “The fact that interfaces to the device are exclusively social makes it a critical component of the move to a social enterprise,” com- mented Cunningham.


“Devices are the driver for the democratisation of IT, empowering users to make choices and take control.” More CVC news on page 20


SHORT CALLS


TalkTalk Business has confirmed that it will launch a portfolio of hosted solutions early next year. The new hosted enterprise PBX, developed in partnership with Mitel, will be included in a larger collection of channel offerings, each of which will be integrated into TalkTalk Business’ Next Generation Network.


Jabra has rolled out a new partner programme that puts customers centre stage. “The WIN Partner Programme is designed to increase a partner’s success in helping a customer make a strategic buying decision, by offering benefits such as business and sales development, support and product training,” said Andrew Doyle, MD at Jabra UK Contact Centre & Office (CC&O).


Wick Hill has been appointed by Fiberlink to distribute the US vendor’s MaaS360 cloud-based mobile device management, security and compliance solution in the UK. MaaS360 is principally for smartphones and tablets. Wick Hill is also creating a dedicated hosted and convergence team.


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