BUSINESS PROFILE Griffi n spreads its wings
connection and the price of Ethernet has tumbled. Ethernet is symmetrical, offers a guaranteed uncontended throughput and usually comes with a business-grade SLA and a worthwhile compensation scheme. Griffin has hundreds of partners that are looking to sell Ethernet as a new high margin recurring revenue service but many are not sure where to start, explains Cherie Everett, Head of Marketing.
Andrew Dickinson
A series of network, product and service upgrades have prepared Griffin for the next phase of its channel-centric development.
T Cherie Everett
“Many partners are looking to suppliers for help with generating regular leads that are easy to close, provision and support.”
he latest in a string of developments at Griffin is a new online quoting tool that enables resellers to gain
instant quotes from eight major carriers in one email. According to Lee Broxson, Head of Sales, this tool matches end user requirements for quick upgrades and enables partners to sell more expensive connectivity such as superfast fibre broadband and Ethernet on longer term contracts. “It is all good news for the reseller because SMEs are demanding faster and more reliable connections,” he said. “We make it as easy as possible for resellers to win the business with automatic quoting, easy ordering processes and project delivery teams. We also offer protection against SMEs that go bust within their contract term, which is why so many of our partners have added Ethernet to their portfolios.”
SMEs are demanding better speed and reliability from their Internet
She says Griffin’s new Ethernet Sales Generator is a proven and risk-free process that comes free to partners, giving them a leg up. “Many partners do not have their own marketing department or product specific marketing budgets so are looking to suppliers for help with generating regular leads that are easy to close, provision and support,” she observed. “The ESG is a tried and tested process which allows partners to successfully sell Ethernet into their customer base, avoiding all the known pitfalls.”
Get on track
Partners who get on track with Ethernet can take advantage of Griffin’s new offer of 2Mb/s EFM with a router on a 36 month contract with zero install for £229pcm. “With BTW expected to end-of-life SDSL in the near future it is a good time for resellers to be approaching their customers with offers such as this,” added Everett. “Resellers are effectively offering a better service with a much better SLA on a longer contract, and in many cases for a better price. As part of our channel-only strategy we are working with our partners to contact their base with this offer to help reduce churn and increase satisfaction in 2012 and beyond.”
These developments within the Griffin portfolio follow the completion of its core network update which increased capacity by over 1000 per cent. This significant investment was necessary to support the current demand for Ethernet and future demand for managed applications. Griffin created a new optical backbone to increase network capacity designed to provide a flexible national infrastructure. The
deployment enables the company to take complete control over its network, improving reliability for partners. Adrian Sunderland, Griffin’s CTO, commented: “We undertook an extensive search for a supplier that would meet our planned capacity requirements over the next few years. We compared all viable architectures from a number of vendors before deciding on Transmode. We expect to see a return in our investment within 12 months and are able to use Transmode’s optical networking expertise and training as we go into our next growth phase.”
Separately, Griffin has enhanced its cloud-based VPN product with a Network Monitoring Portal which comes in three formats – Standard, Advanced and Premium. The standard product has been designed to indicate the basic health of all sites on the network using an intuitive and visual traffic light system. The Advanced and Premium products give more detail about bandwidth utilisation and applications running over the network. “The Network Monitoring Portal gives partners a real-time view of every site all through one easy-to-use portal,” added Andrew Dickinson, Managing Director. “The system is securely partitioned so if they want to give access to their end customer to see just their own network, they can.”
Systems integrators with Network Operations Centres may already have monitoring systems but Griffin’s portal adds another dimension, according to Dickinson. “Some partners take our wires-only VPN and their help desks already have tools like this,” he said. “For resellers who may just be getting into data networking setting up a system like network monitoring is difficult and expensive. This product empowers their support desk with a cloud-based network monitoring system which is free at the standard level giving partners a platform to then up-sell the Advanced and Premium levels. It is competitively priced giving partners the potential to double the original margin on some sites.”
the industry is evolving so are we. 28 COMMS DEALER JANUARY 2012
www.comms-dealer.com
n
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48