NEWS INTERVIEW
Moulton joins Capstan N
eil Moulton is known as an independent consultant specialising in reseller, manufacturer and distributor channels. Prior to building a client base of 30 customers as an independent he worked in strategic roles for household names such as Westcon, Cisco and Siemens. Now he’s back in distribution, tempted by an opportunity that proved too good to pass over. “I’ve been contracting for Capstan for the last quarter and the opportunities we uncovered clearly warranted a full-time role,” he stated.
Neil Moulton
The appointment of Neil Moulton as Channel Director at Capstan
Communications signals the distributor’s growth ambitions across the voice and data channels.
Moulton joined Horsham-based Capstan as Channel Development Director last month and once his feet were under the desk he wasted no time in reviewing the company’s channels. “My remit covers channel development across the LG-Ericsson, Toshiba and LANCOM ranges,” he explained. “The LANCOM, LAN/ WAN infrastructure portfolio is a particularly interesting proposition with a broad market reach covering voice, data and security resellers. Our managed Wi-Fi hotspot service, Yo Wireless, which is currently in beta trial represents another channel opportunity. Toshiba’s IPedge has moved this vendor up a notch in terms of solutions and reseller appeal. Meanwhile, LG- Ericsson has an established and cost-effective IP PBX offering that continues to attract new partners.”
Moulton, who rates his biggest working achievement to date as taking over the Siemens channel with no previous sales experience (he was Commercial Manager at the time), also noted that Capstan has maintained its strong performance on LG-Ericsson and with the new LANCOM business it has seen a number of large project-based solutions implemented. “We now need to work with a network of partners to help us with the demand we are generating in conjunction with our manufacturer partners,” he stated. “We have products and support services that chime with the growth markets in IP, Wi-Fi and
BYOD, and we see significant growth in these areas, compounding our growth in traditional markets.”
BYOD is an increasing challenge and opportunity for resellers, and according to Moulton, LANCOM and Yo Wireless meet the needs of customers looking to implement solutions that enable corporate flexibility. “Toshiba’s FMC application, uMobility, has also stamped its presence on this market, and LG- Ericsson is about to launch Android and iOS clients for the iPECS system,” he noted. “With the breadth of our portfolio we will be extending our reach to address new channels in the data and security sectors.”
Cloud launch Last month Toshiba launched a cloud- based business telephone solution called VIPedge to its American partners, allowing companies to pay a monthly service fee scalable to meet system size and usage needs. Based on the Toshiba IPedge on-premises business telephone system, VIPedge manages the telephone system in the cloud, and according to Moulton this development should catch the channel’s eye. “The time is right for resellers to take a fresh look at Toshiba,” he commented. “We are excited by the forthcoming launch of VIPedge and the direction this takes Toshiba. With the product roadmap including a virtualised version of the solution, this is a further indication of the significant steps Toshiba is making to increase its UK market presence.”
Armed with a full portfolio of products, Moulton’s remit is to grow the business across the board for Capstan. He believes that the distributor has the skills and experience to support resellers in the voice and data arenas. “Capstan will be of particular interest to the several thousand Toshiba non-voice partners, many of whom have seen an opportunity in moving into voice as a LAN application,” he stated.
According to Moulton, Capstan ‘gets’ how best to work with resellers. And with a high measure of optimism
seasoned by his experience from working as a consultant and in previous corporate roles, he says flexibility is key to channel success. “My work at Siemens, Cisco and Westcon, as well as the 30-plus clients I’ve worked with through my Chaucer consultancy, has enabled me to adapt to the varying demands of a range of channel customers,” explained Moulton. “My time as a consultant has provided a stream of new challenges. And in my corporate life I’m famously non-technical but have stepped up my game to better understand the technology beyond the buzzwords. The technical guys at Capstan are dragging me kicking and screaming into the 21st Century!”
In previous corporate roles, Moulton spent time dragging reluctant company figureheads into a better understanding of how to work with resellers. Capstan, he said, offered a breath of fresh air with its sharper focus on the reseller community. “I’ve been in lots of corporate environments where there’s a body of opinion that doesn’t understand the reseller mind set,” he commented. “It’s boring to have to educate your own company before you can go about running your channel. None of that is necessary at Capstan. We believe in making it easy for people to sell our products. That means providing resellers with rock-solid sales and technical support, including tender and site demonstrations, and not charging for training and other benefits such as free delivery and marketing assistance.”
Just a minute with Neil Moulton...
What talent do you wish you had? To consistently hole putts from 10 feet.
What do you fear the most: Bunkers!
Give an example of something you have overcome: A dependency on corporate life.
Name one thing you could not do without in your job: Enthusiasm and a thick skin.
Test Drive
ebillz.Lite 0800 996 1090 |
sales@ebillz.com |
www.ebillz.com At the Convergence Summit North @ stand 8
www.comms-dealer.com COMMS DEALER AUGUST 2012 37
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