The world of Telecoms has changed. That's something we started to see more significantly in 2017, and something that we'll continue to experience as we move through 2018. Today's UC reseller needs a new kind of distributor if they want to access the versatility and scalability that unified communications can provide.
Nuvias is one of the incredible companies contributing to the evolution of UC distribution, with a solutions-led, and adaptable approach to the industry. They believe that by 2020, they will have redefined the concept of "value distribution" in the technology channel, by delivering solutions and services that truly give customers the unique business strategies they need.
To better understand how the distribution network has evolved over the recent years, I caught up with Steve Harris, EVP for the Nuvias UC Practice, and MD of SIPHON Networks.
Tell Us a Little Bit About Yourself
To start with, I asked Steve to give us a rundown of his position with Nuvias, and tell us a little more about what makes the company so unique. Currently, Steve has two combined roles, as MD of Siphon Networks, and EVP for the Nuvias UC Practice. Nuvias is the value-added distributor who purchased SIPHON in 2016, and their focus is on high-growth, highly-disruptive technology.
"Nuvias is the result of collaboration between some of the most well-known leaders in IT Distribution. For instance, SIPHON was a UC technology provider in Europe, Wick Hill was a specialist in cyber security, and Zycko specialised in advanced networking, with an international footprint."
While all the partners involved in Nuvias play a part in making it a more competitive entity in the changing distribution space, Steve has an exhaustive knowledge of UC, since he co-founded SIPHON. He told me that SIPHON didn't begin as a UC distributor.
"SIPHON began as a systems integrator. In 2009, Rob Smith and I had worked in numerous VC-backed start-up companies. We saw a market where countless UC cloud providers needed help with integration, so we set ourselves up to build platforms for those who wanted to excel in the cloud."
How Do You Think UK Telecoms (Converged Technology) Distributors Have Changed in the Last 5 Years?
Though SIPHON didn't start as a traditional UC distributor, it eventually went on a journey "down the stack", as Steve calls it, to offer distribution while maintaining its engineering background and systems integration services.
"We're a distributor that started as a systems integrator, and that's almost the inverse of what a lot of people are attempting to do these days."
I asked Steve how he thinks Telecoms distributors, now converged technology distributors, have evolved in recent years. He began by saying
"Everyone can say that they're a value-added distributor, but what's made us different over the years, is that we've really tried to get closer to our customers and find out what they need."
That approach to business is one of the reasons why SIPHON and Nuvias has managed to get ahead of the trend with Skype for Business as it began to emerge in the last five years, paving the way for UC technology.
"We were focusing on Skype for Business approximately 2 years before anyone else in the industry because we saw it as the largest newcomer in the UC space."
"Using the skills we've honed over the last five years, we've been able to deliver the best, personalised solutions for our customers. We definitely got a head start on the competitors there."
One of the other significant changes that Steve has noticed over the years, has been the genuine move towards video.
"We've seen a lot of uptake and interest around adding video to the communication portfolio and making it a part of the UC experience, whereas in the past it's been its own separate island. This has been evident in the growth of our Lifesize business."
Today, IT resellers are attracted to video because it's attached to Skype, and traditional cloud providers see it as a way of building and differentiating their cloud offering.
