INDUSTRY NEWS
Healthy prospect for value growth
A SURVEY designed to mea- sure the level of confidence in the channel’s ability to grow value over the coming months has presented a robust outlook. The survey, undertaken by
Knight Corporate Finance, points to a robust channel driv- en by a sound understanding of how to secure new custom- ers and look after exiting ones, according to Knight CF Director Paul Billingham.
“The channel is adept at
cross selling multiple services and embracing next generation products to assist their custom- ers in transforming to new tech- nology,” he said. “They are sufficiently sophis-
ticated to know when, and when not, to consider acquisitions ver- sus organic growth and under- stand that if they reach the point where they are standing still it may be time to consider an exit. They are seeking to recruit new staff and invest in their existing staff and infrastructure.” Over 85% of respondents
felt optimistic about the sector of which 35% felt very opti- mistic with less than 5% feeling pessimistic. This level of optimism was
backed up by 75% of respon- dents who revealed they had experienced growth of over 10% in the last year. The channel’s ability to
acquire and retain customers was shown to be a key driver of confidence, but almost two thirds of respondents cite the availability of new services as a positive influence in driving value through their business. The switch to hosted voice
and IP services was seen as one of the most positive influencers on confidence, while the mar- ket for telephone systems had a negative impact on confidence. Competition had the most negative impact on confidence with respondents as concerned about competitors from differ-
Paul Billingham
“The channel is adept at cross selling multiple services and embracing next generation products.”
ent sectors as they are about direct rivals.
Where the channel was pre- viously split into distinct silos the impact of convergence is bringing in new competition. Respondents felt that traditional fixed line resellers and mobile businesses represented the most significant competition. The threat from cloud applications providers was viewed as the next largest threat.
Over 75% respondents con-
firmed that new services were driving an increase in customer expenditure that seems to be slightly offset by competition, with over 50% saying that price changes were reducing custom- er expenditure.
Companies seem to have a widening portfolio of services available to their customers with over 70% of respondents already selling a mix of fixed line services, telephone systems, mobile services, data networks and inbound services, with 25% already offering some sort of cloud/SaaS product. IT services and datacentre services were being considered by 50% of respondents, but also had the highest number of ‘not being considered’ responses.
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COMMS DEALER MAY 2012 15 Over the next 12 months
almost 90% of respondents plan to invest in organic growth and 55% would be seeking acquisi- tions to supplement their cus- tomer base and/or skill set, with around a quarter looking to raise funds to meet their objectives. Only one party was planning to ‘stay as they are’ but over 20% think it may be preferable to consider an exit rather than stand still.
In a sign showing the robust
health and maturity of the sec- tor, almost half of respondents said that the recruitment of new staff would make their busi- ness grow in 2012, while fur- ther investment in existing staff and systems were the next most popular answers. Access to additional funds
would give a boost to around a third of respondents, while for- tunately only a couple of parties felt that a wholesale change of management was required. Billingham added: “The sur- vey demonstrates that the chan- nel is key not just in support- ing the critical communications requirements of UK businesses, but with its continuing growth and investment. It is providing a real fillip to the UK.”
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