Communications distributor “SOS Communications” have taken steps to outline the fact that they have not been dropped by Toshiba as the vendor begins to make a phased exit from the UK market for telecoms. The company stressed that they will continue to act as an authorised distributor for Toshiba following the vendor’s decision to leave the UK market for Comms.
SOS Communications released an official statement that suggested it’s 18-year partnership with Toshiba will not be ending, and that it will continue to offer support to resellers through the current end-of-life process, and in the after-market sales and distribution levels. The brand noted that it was glad to have the opportunity to squash the rumours for good, and put the minds of its customers at rest.
A Huge Change for Toshiba
The rumours began after a significant change of pace took place for Toshiba in March 2016, when the company confirmed it would be moving its IP Edge and Strata CIX products into the phase of technical support on the first of June 2016 for the Irish and UK markets. According to the sales manager for Toshiba products at SOS, Edd Kelsey, confusion over SOS’s relationship with Toshiba began when Toshiba appointed the South West Communication Group as their sole outsource partner for all UC solutions products. This handover took place in October, 2016.
Kelsey commented that Toshiba chose to bring in a second distributor for their end-of-life-phase. However, unfortunately for the reseller channel, this was another reseller and not a specialist distributor meaning that there was a lot of communication from the company that suggested they would be distributing solely on the behalf of Toshiba, with SOS completely out of the picture. However, this is simply not the case, SOS remain to be an authorised Toshiba distributor going forward.
South West Communications Group
When South West Communications Group were asked about the rumours circulating regarding SOS and their involvement with Toshiba, Jon Whiley, the commercial director for the company issued a statement. During that statement, he commented that he believed his firm had never tried to place itself as the sole distributor of Toshiba products. He noted that the business is the outsourced partner for Toshiba UC, so they are responsible for managing the administration, stock, and sales to resellers and distributors throughout the United Kingdom.
Whiley noted that the company will continue to supply SOS, other distributors, and any other resellers that might be authorised throughout the United Kingdom. He also commented that if resellers were unhappy going to the South West Communications group for any reason, they were still free to go to the distribution network available.
Toshiba officially chose to exit the UK Comms market after a significant accounting scandal in the industry that had a major impact on the Japanese vendor during the last year – forcing it to restructure. During his statement, Kelsey of SOS noted that it’s no longer possible to sell a new Toshiba system, but equipment can still be sold to maintain and grow the systems that already exist.
