Find the right product offering at the right price point and, well, it’s likely you’ve got it made.
The richest feature set; the most value for money; agnostic and scalable.
What’s for sure, tick all those boxes and you’re almost certainly guaranteed a seat at the table come procurement time.
For insightful and driven tech chief Paul Harrison, it’s a simple philosophy capable of providing UC reseller partners with a booming 2022.
As EMEA Managing Director of global cloud-based computing and communications vendor Evolve IP, Harrison is on a mission to leverage a predicted doubling of mid-size enterprise UC adoption rates over the next three years.
And he is confident that he and his expanding team can provide everything a reseller needs to capitalise on that opportunity.
“The growth potential for our channel partners is massive,” says Harrison, who sold his own super-successful UK hosted telephony business Voice Factory to US-based Evolve IP in 2018 on the condition that he join the organisation and help deliver on its long-term ambitions.
Formerly UK MD of Evolve IP, he is now responsible for a recently merged UK and EMEA division and is a passionate evangelist for the white-label channel model that he believes will always be at the heart of the world’s constantly advancing communications evolution.
Indeed, it’s a career-long evolution of his own which now equips him with the knowledge and experience to support partners and customers on their transformational journeys.
And it’s one which underpins his enthusiasm for what the future holds.
“I recently looked back at 2021 and concluded that it was an exciting, interesting, and challenging year,” he says.
“Before the beginning of 2021, we estimated that the market opportunity was between 8-9 percent growth. We haven’t finalised the numbers yet, but it now looks like we achieved twice that in 2021.
“Back in March 2020, due to the pandemic, a lot of our end-user customers pivoted to a new technology and a new way of home working which didn’t involve their old style of office communications. But we now know that was more of a sticking plaster than a permanent solution.
“Now enterprises are making longer term strategic decisions; asking themselves how they can support the changing customer journey in their own business.
“As a trusted advisor, we are in the thick of that right now, ensuring organisations not only have the functionality, but also the flexibility, to continue to evolve.
“So, we need to make sure we are continually providing our partners with the technology that delivers that flexibility.
“We’ve since seen a lot of change that bodes even better for 2022. New, talented people have come in; new, dynamic partners have come on board; and our brilliant solutions are now in 53 different countries.”
Supported by recent research by respected global cloud market analysts Cavell, Harrison has looked closely at Evolve IP’s proposition.
It is estimated that around 13.5m users in the UK SME sector alone have yet to adopt hosted UC, to say nothing of the much larger EMEA market.
“It’s clear that the opportunity is ahead of us, not behind us,” says Harrison.
“The early adopters have adapted, but there is still so much business for our partners to go after. Many enterprises have been nervous to adopt a cloud communications strategy, or they haven’t been able to find a partner that can work with them to deliver a one-stop solution, not only across the UK but elsewhere in the world too.
“Those enterprises want the right solutions for their own particular workflows and processes. For them, functionality is key.
“They want better, more efficient communications and they want better, more effective collaboration.
“They want to improve their customers’ journey into their business. They want to know who’s calling, how they’re calling, and when they’re calling. And they want them to come in by different means, like chat, messaging, and audio.
“Also, they want solutions to be vendor-agnostic so, for example, we are just as able to support their leveraging of Microsoft Teams capabilities as we are their leveraging of Webex capabilities.”
But what of price point?
Harrison believes Evolve IP has that right too.
“There’s a wide range of providers out there and their solutions range from very high-end, and, therefore very high-priced, to very low,” he says.
“Enterprises want a partner with a price point that is between the lower and mid-end, whilst at the same time providing a solution that is as functionality-rich as possible.
“For partners, it should be a price point competitive enough to win the business, for a solution that comes with lots of functionality and features. That’s precisely where we fit into the market.”
Add service into the mix (Evolve IP’s other big 2022 focus is on a global, industry-leading ‘follow-the-sun’ service delivery roll-out) and it’s easy to see why there is a buzz around the brand.
“I’m excited for the future of cloud communications. I’m excited for the future of the channel. And I’m excited for the future of Evolve IP,” says Harrison.
“It’s a great place to be and we’re a great partner to be with.”
To learn more about how Evolve IP can help your business and your customers’ businesses thrive, visit https://www.evolveip.uk/
