To date we have seen SME businesses take the lead in terms of the initial transition towards UC; however, in 2018 we’re now finding that larger organisations – with more complex legacy infrastructures – are acknowledging the value that UC can bring to their operations.
According to analyst firm Cavell Group, the European cloud communications market grew by an impressive 25.8% last year, with the UK setting the pace with a hosted VoIP market that now tops three million users. And with the number of VoIP users now overtaking traditional TDM sites, there’s clearly an acceleration in terms of the pace of IP adoption. Frost and Sullivan echoes this growth projection, suggesting that spending on managed cloud IP telephony solutions to replace aging on-premises PBX phone systems is set to triple by 2020.
This opens up a great opportunity for telecoms resellers, not just for new IP deployments to replace entrenched legacy communications deployments, but also for helping organisations transition from their early IP and UC deployments to the next generation of more collaborative /unified-communications/ucaas 2.0 implementations. Not only can initial UC deployments open up significant new engagements for channel partners, but they also provide a great way for resellers to stay engaged with their customers, offering further UCaaS-style capabilities that can unlock further value.
Once a reseller has engaged with a customer to ensure that there’s a really strong network in place with reliable, high bandwidth performance, the opportunities open up. Perhaps a next generation voice solution that can unlock significant reductions in call costs with little to no CapEX? Or investigate how the latest conferencing, collaboration, messaging and presence capabilities can help to streamline business processes. And that’s before you’ve looked at more advanced applications such as Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS).
So how does a reseller set about enabling this kind of transition?
First, it’s important to stay close and make sure that the initial network deployment goes well, particularly if there’s an IP telephony element. Keep on top of service tickets, make sure the billing is always correct, and get to know the customer’s business better. Ideally this will allow you to identify and address opportunities before your customer feels the need to look externally. Adding additional networking and IT capabilities will be comparatively simple on the back of your UCaaS model, while an integrated managed services and billing approach should make the process as painless as possible for the customer.
We’ve found that Intelisys Global Sales Partners who adopt this model find that their business grows because they’re building a steady run rate based on customers who keep coming back. One of our Supplier Partners, Evolve IP, reports that 98% of its customers now renew for successive terms, while the shift to as-a-service is enabling our channel partners to gradually capture more and more of their customers’ networking and applications spend.
One of our US Sales Partners describes the process as becoming less of a reseller and more of a ‘white glove telecoms and cloud concierge’, always there and caring about his customer’s business almost more than they do.
Unfortunately, too many channel partners still remain unsure whether they have the in-depth technical skills to deliver such an integrated UC-enabled managed service on top of more routine IP network sales. A key concern remains whether they have the skills or the bandwidth to build out their portfolio, with many questioning whether they are ready to embrace higher value service opportunities such as UCaaS, Security, SD-WAN or CCaaS.
Overcoming this uncertainty will be critical for channel sales partners in 2018, indeed for those channel sales partners that can can serve as a trusted advisor and help organisations navigate their more complex cloud choices there’s a real opportunity to build lasting business partnerships with strong repeat revenues.
Becoming a trusted UC adviser
Of course it’s harder for resellers to position themselves as trusted UC advisers if they’re tied to specific technology vendors, with aggressive sales plans. Moving to a UCaaS model introduces new levels of flexibility for organisations, and they’re going to be much less keen on transitioning to UC if they’re simply replacing one legacy infrastructure for another closed vendor-led approach. How much better for the customer to be offered a range of options to address their business challenges – all from a vendor-agnostic, non-sales targeted partner that actually knows their business and has already delivered successful projects.
That’s why working with a specialist Technology Services Distributor can equip channel sales partners with a much broader portfolio of skills, technologies and expertise, allowing them to target far more complex and and higher value UC and cloud business opportunities, safe in the knowledge that they always have access to best practice solutions from pre-vetted supplier partners.
The shift to UC-as-a-Service will also help channel partners to target and acquire more spend from their end-user customers. With more choice on offer, organisations will become involved in more constructive discussions, and get to work with a partner that can actually bring them the optimum solutions from the potentially hundreds of different UC and cloud technologies that are available.
Faster time to value
Working closely with a trusted partner is good news for customers. They can potentially avoid much of the cost and inconvenience of complex procurements, particularly as additional UC services and solutions can often be commissioned as an extension of their existing deployments.
For resellers, too, this way of engaging also leads to accelerated results. They can take advantage of the relatively short sales cycle enabled by UCaaS, and they can also leverage their in-depth knowledge of the customer’s business to only recommend solutions that are applicable to address evolving requirements.
So today’s smart resellers will be those that can transition their initial UC communications platform projects into continuous engagements that unlock multiple opportunities for repeat residual business. Looked at this way, UCaaS really is the key to long-term managed services success.
Guest Blog by Stephen Hackett, Managing Director, Intelisys Global
Intelisys Global is a Technology Services Distributor, leading the two-tier distributor, buyers advocacy model in the UK. Intelisys Global never sells directly to end users. Instead, the company reaches end users through a community of independent Telecom Brokers and Agents, VARs, MSPs, Systems Integrators and IT Solution Providers, who we refer to as our Sales Partners.
