Brexit, Brexit, Brexit, it seems to have been the only topic on the news since the historic referendum result in June 2016. Today we consider another exit, not from the EU, but from the legacy world of on premise PBX systems and the migration to the world of cloud.
VanillaIP are one the UK's leading cloud communications providers and they are at the forefront of the cloud revolution. They are introducing a new programme 'PBXIT' where they focus on the benefits and commercial advantages of making the move from traditional PBX systems over to the cloud. They are so confident that you can realise the benefits of PBXIT they will back you with a special commercial support package, including free licences.
In the late 1990's there was a radical shift, in a similar vein, in the mobile communications world. Iain Sinnott, Sales Director at VanillaIP was an influential figure at that time as head of the Martin Dawes Dealer Channel and now recognises the parallels with the shift from on premise PBX systems to the new world of cloud communications.
To understand more about how the program transformed the mobile communications market back then, and its relevance now, we spoke to Wayne Skellon who is the Managing Director of Challenger Mobile Communications. Challenger Mobile are one of the UK's largest independent, business to business, telecoms specialists and Wayne understands why industries need to transform.
The VanillaIP PBXIT program has parallels with the evolution you went through with Challenger Mobile back in the 90's?
“It does, and I have to say I am not surprised to see VanillaIP deliver program like this. It was Iain Sinnott, then head of Martin Dawes dealer channel, that headed up the Connexions program which helped us move from a standard commission dealer, in a growing mobile space, to a secure revenue base owner with much more control and much more value to our name.”
How did the program work back then?
"We received commission from the networks for each connection, offset the cost of the handset, giving it free to the customer, and kept the profit. Very lucrative but only if you kept selling and customers came back to you."
“The Martin Dawes program recognised that our success was their success and decided to share the real value with us by creating a revenue only model, but this presented a challenge. We were used to a capital sale and receiving the cash to pay our bills and staff, so to switch to revenue was difficult which is why the Connexions program included a cash advance and recharge element which supported us through a 14-month curve to self-financing. Simple really but unique at the time. Here we are, 28 years later with a valuable business which includes the mobile customers and a growing number of cloud comms customers, connected through VanillaIP naturally.”
Would you recommend a radical move from PBX to Cloud using a program like PBXIT?
“Iain would be the first to tell you we took a long time to study the program, question the elements Martin Dawes delivered and ensure we understood the requirements on our business, but we knew the future was in revenue, so we went for it.”
"The PBX guys know more about their world than I do but if they believe the industry will end up dominated by cloud solutions I would suggest looking for a way to get there early and supported by a supplier that is planning for you both to win, not just themselves."
The correlation between the radical shift that occurred then in mobile communications and the undoubted shift that is occurring now in the world of cloud and PBX is obvious. As one of the most innovative providers, VanillaIP, understand better than most the scale of the transformation required by resellers to make the jump now. Their services are aimed at helping resellers make the transition as effectively as possible.
Iain Sinnott, Sales Director Vanilla IP and Uboss[/caption]
