SPECIAL NEWS REPORT Comms giant makes big c
A convincing channel strategy has for some time eluded Cable&Wireless Worldwide but now the telecoms group has finally hit on a winning formula... restructuring its wholesale components into one channel, drumming up its Boost Resale campaign and dispelling the historic spectre of strategic uncertainty with the launch of a next generation IP voice platform developed in conjunction with cloud specialists Content Guru.
C
WW’s once ailing channel business has been reinvigorated by an organisational
restructure and a substantial investment in wholesale cloud-based voice services. For the first time there is one organisation with sole responsibility for serving the channel. And a dedicated team of leaders who do not lack the courage of their convictions have an ace up their sleeve – NGWare, a £25 million platform that represents CWW’s most significant investment in indirect channels to date.
Launch events held in London and Manchester last month showed how far CWW has come in developing its strategy. Across the two sessions CWW addressed 80 delegates from 54 different companies. Among them was Chess Chief Executive David Pollock who occupied a front row seat at the northern event (staged in the Etihad Stadium, home of Premiership Champions Manchester City FC). He observed: “It’s all about the CWW back office delivering and its wholesale pricing allowing partners to compete. If that happens CWW has a compelling proposition.”
Oscar Monteagudo, Director of Partners at CWW, reaffirmed the telco’s channel commitment under a charter
Oscar Monteagudo: “Our core strategy is about boosting resale with partners retaining client sovereignty.”
of Boost Resale and outlined a new channel ecosystem. “Historically we have been like a closed shop, not wanting to bring on new partners. That’s not the case now. More is more,” he told delegates. “The cloud allows us to do this. Our core strategy is about boosting resale with partners retaining client sovereignty. The money is with next generation services like NGWare.”
Monteagudo conceded that in the past there had been too much change for CWW in the channel, with little commitment and innovation. “CWW faced challenges,” he explained. “And it became clear that we needed a new
model. Following structural developments we now have a new wholesale business which has in turn made the launch of NGWare possible. We have big ambitions, and we achieve them. The functionality, ease of use and straightforward deployment is absolutely there.”
Enterprise class NGWare offers resellers enterprise class cloud telephony with security, scalability and a rich feature set, enabling partners to provide a complete high margin service wrap, according to Edward Winfield, Director of SaaS Alliances at CWW. He believes that the SaaS model
is a game-changer that aligns with wider trends in the way people use social media and consume services. And he argues that the industry is moving away from the hierarchical value model towards a sequential subscription-based modus operandi, moving beyond traditional supply chains to an open-interface, multi-faceted value model. The worry, he says, is that if partners are not sufficiently diversified their prospects are not good. Inertia is not an option.
CWW’s strategy around Boost Resale and NGWare chimed with delegates, as did the telco’s commitment to preserve channel customer
sovereignty and support partners with an alternative to traditional channel models. “The vendor-led model of the 20th century is over,” claimed Winfield. “Successful platforms are open and breed innovation. The traditional business model has been dominated by vendors telling us what to sell. These huge players aim to displace each other from the market, but vendor wanting to replace vendor does nothing for the customer. Support becomes a paid for service and end-of-life means people are forced to buy new products. NGWare offers an alternative to this endless capex treadmill. It’s not about capital investment. Vendors should not be the ones calling the shots. It should be the customers and the resellers who understand the needs of those customers and can tailor solutions that meet them.”
NGWare is built into CWW’s switched voice and data network. It’s also inside the telco’s Internet node and data centres. The platform offers everything from simple voice services and SIP trunks all the way up to contact centre infrastructure. It has been operating in the enterprise space for five years running cloud services. “We give partners a partition on the platform with tools to configure, design and
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18 COMMS DEALER AUGUST 2012
www.comms-dealer.com
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