Working with Channel Partners to create value

Value added distribution means being the resource that the reseller can call on at any time, it means being loyal to the reseller and its business aims and it means buying into the resellers objectives and supporting them all the way.

Mark Shane, Sales and Marketing Director of ICON says than ICON does all this for its partners every day of the week.  These are not hollow words says Mark, for example, we recently worked with Affinity Communication Systems to develop and win a major retail bid.

The retail client contacted Affinity with a requirement to upgrade its telecoms infrastructure and provide a voice mobility solution. The existing mobility solution was a legacy OEM analogue implementation of a Polycom KIRK solution that had served well but needed modernising to ensure interoperability with the proposed Splicecom Maximiser on a VoIP network.  One of the criteria that Affinity had to work with was a fixed budget set by the retailer.  Often a first reaction of many resellers is to reduce the margin on the project to meet their client’s budget target.  ICON was able to put together a system architecture and handset combination that delivered the clients requirements, met its budget aims, and maintained Affinity’s margin.  During the sales process ICON sent both sales and technical people to site to ensure the opportunity was well executed and understood by the partner and their customer.

This is how good value added distribution works to everyone’s benefit.  When practiced fully and with conviction value added distribution results in a win-win scenario for the client, the reseller partner, in this case Affinity, and ICON.

Affinity won the business because with ICON’s support it was able to address the three key requirements of any deal -

• the right commercial solution,
• the right technical solution, and
• the right equipment.  

With ICON adding value, Affinity put forward a business case for migration to VoIP showing how the client would benefit, proposed a minimum cost system architecture that provided the performance the client required, and presented a range of professional Polycom KIRK handsets to choose from. 

A look back at the 2011 telephone market for 50 users or more

Wave is Vertical Communications solution for the 50+ extension market.  There have been a slew of upgrades and new features since 2010 and this, along with a reseller price drop at the start of 2011 has shot Wave out of the starting blocks. 

Now over three quarters through the year Wave is continuing to exceed all expectations with more and more solutions being deployed.   ICON has seen double figure growth compared with last year.  In a market which is experiencing little growth overall this is quite impressive.  Once customers have experienced Wave in action they come back for more.  One government service is expected to spin out Wave in its centres across the UK.  

The feedback from the Channel is that when going head to head with the alternative solutions Wave wins on value for money and functionality.  Wins include installs in retail, hospitality, government, and manufacturing.  Mark Shane Sales and Marketing Director at ICON commented, “In the government sector especially we have seen a lot of wins for Wave as a result it pushing out the incumbent vendors solution” 

A strength of Wave IP is its free out of the box UC apps.  Now, Vertical is introducing an apps store for Wave.   Up and running in the US this will be an invaluable source of additional apps.  It will enable Channel Partners to add even more functionality to Wave IP bids.

The move by vendors to shift product strategy to that of selling a platform on which comms apps can be run is a developing trend in many markets.  Vertical already has an apps store for USA resellers of the IP-PBX Wave and Polycom is expected to move to a KIRK handset platform that runs “apps” 

A review of business in 2011 and 2012

Growth Our small business and UC related solutions are holding up well in a market which is flat and expected to remain so for some while.  TalkSwitch the small business IP-PBX is doing particularly well and we expect this to continue to be a reliable profit earner for our Channel Partners.  Wave our UC IP-PBX solution is also showing firm sales and we expect that this will continue. Sales are partly driven by the price reduction made at the start of the year but it is the core usp’s of Wave which are attracting the end users whilst Channel Partners are finding that the capability to offer a price competitive but unique solution gives them an edge.

Channel Partner opportunities Our Polycom on-site mobility solutions are the real winners for our Channel Partners.  Growth in demand for on-site voice mobility has been strong and is expected to continue out to 2015.  In the medium term, as a result of the Microsoft – Polycom partnership and the release of Lync, the forecast suggests that demand for our Polycom SpectraLink and KIRK voice mobility solutions will continue to outstrip the market and possibly reach double figures. 

Medium term growth in the on-site mobility market will be fuelled by the shift to UC but in the short term we are seeing productivity concerns driving sales.  With recruitment on hold in many companies our Polycom SpectraLink and KIRK voice mobility solutions are seen as one way to increase the productivity especially in the service and care sectors.

Key trends & market growth The increasing participation and commitment of Microsoft to telecoms and its strategic partnership with Polycom has to be one of the most influential trends the market at the moment.  Microsoft’s participation is likely to cause a paradigm shift in the licencing and pricing model as the data resellers business model become more influential in the channel and Microsoft imports its way or doing business into the industry. 

Another key influencing trend over the next few years will be the shift to hosted or cloud based solutions.  Figures suggest that the hosted solutions market will grow in double figures out to 2015.  This will not necessarily be a threat to CPE solutions but it will mean the channel will need to learn to sell against cloud based solutions especially those Channel Partners whose business focuses on the SMB market.

Big hitters shape the market The moves of the big influencers such as Polycom and Microsoft will have a major effect on the structure of the market and the shares of established players.  Long respected for its range of on-site mobility solutions for industrial type environments the planned move by Polycom to expand its handset portfolio into the high volume carpeted office environment with the introduction of new handsets will seriously disrupt market shares in this segment especially with its tie up with the other global  trend maker Microsoft. 

The "apps" business One of the major trends almost sneaking in unnoticed is the adoption of the “apps” business model so successfully developed by Apple.  Vendors such as Vertical and Polycom are already shifting their product strategy to that of selling a platform on which communications apps can be run.   Vertical Communications are creating an “App Store” for its Wave solution and Polycom will be releasing a portfolio of basic generic apps for the KIRK handset solutions. 

More business for Channel Partners The rest of 2011 and 2012 will be an interesting time for ICON and its Channel Partners.  The Microsoft -Polycom partnership is expected to expand opportunities for our Polycom on-site mobility solutions faster than the market is growing and the move by Polycom KIRK to a handset platform which runs “apps” is expected to generate new opportunities in vertical markets.

Recruiting partners In the short term ICON’s focus is on recruiting data resellers and helping its traditional channel partners to take on-board the more solutions focused and software based solutions. 

Until recently the traditional telecoms solutions were not compatible with the data reseller channel.  Now with the introduction of the UC solution Wave and the move by Polycom to build more software based apps into its solutions data resellers are becoming the channel of choice for these solutions. 

Thumbs up for Microsoft Lync and Polycom KIRK

Microsoft Lync’s strength has to be its ability to integrate with the existing platforms.  Make it  easy to integrate with existing telephony platforms and you remove one more objection to buying.  Microsoft is working with the likes of Polycom to make this happen.  There are Polycom KIRK DECT on-site mobility solutions which are already interoperable with Lync. These are the first Microsoft certified DECT solutions for Lync.

ICON, the UK’s distributor of the Polycom Lync compatible on-site mobility solutions is already planning for an uptake in sales as a result of Lync.  Microsoft’s low hanging fruit are organisations which have made large investments in OCS or are in a vertical segment such as education (where Microsoft provide attractive license offers) – ICON sees many of these organisations and a surprising number are already active around Lync as a UC telephony solution and are talking with us on how they can enjoy the benefits of onsite mobility as an expansion.

The future of the cloud

ICON does not believe, as some pundits claim, that cloud solutions are displacement technologies which will kill the CPE solutions.

Cloud solutions will co-exist with CPE solutions in the market.  In a perfect channel where resellers and vendor match the solution to the needs of the user we expect to see cloud and CPE solutions co-existing and providing the user with same telephony benefits no matter whether they choose a CPE or cloud solution.  There is no telephony reason for either one to dominate and the decision to deploy a CPE or cloud based solution will be based on differentiators not related to telephony.  The financial structure of the business, the strategic importance of the telephone system, and the fiscal status of company will be the deciding factors.

ICON distributes Wave IP a CPE solution which delivers functionality which equals that of the best enterprise CPE or cloud solution and MESSAGEmanager a Unified messaging solution which can be deployed as a CPE or cloud based solution but has not seen any wholesale move to cloud based solutions.

Mark Shane commented

“There is a lot of information around at the moment about the technology of cloud based telephony.  But I have still to see any sound presentation of the financial and fiscal benefits of these solutions for the end user and that is where the real difference lies.  For many of our clients the strategic and lifetime cost of deploying a Wave IP solution far outweigh the advantage of a cloud solution”

Small telephone solutions (or when small really means big)

It is some while since we reviewed the market for telephone solutions with 1-10 extensions.  In an earlier blog "Selling into the SMB market"  we focused on the small business market and suggested that end user market is not homogenous and could be thought of as splitting into three niches;

• basic
• value
• professional

What we said then still holds true.  Here we take another look at the market and give you an update on our experiences but now look at small telephone solutions used by big and small business.  

Small solutions:  In the 1-10 extension niche ICON distributes the TalkSwitch small business telephone solution and the Wave IP solution. 

TalkSwitch is a product for the value market niche.  Enquiries for TalkSwitch come in almost equal measure from dealers looking for a low cost solution and from end users themselves.  Many of the end users are looking for a self service solution with no dealer/reseller involvement and want an out of the box plug and play fully featured IP-PBX solutions for a start up / small business

We are of the impression that in this market there is more willingness to use VoIP – it seems that the small business with less legacy or no legacy solutions are prepared to invest in more cutting edge technology quicker than mid range sized business.

Small solutions for big business:  Nowadays, a “large” business can need only a few employees to manage it and it is important to bear in mind that few extensions does not necessarily mean a small or unsophisticated business model.  Advanced solutions such as the Wave IP offer very sophisticated out of the box UC and telephony services in the sub 10 extension market space. 

This solution is typically required by a business which, because of financial structure and/or the complexity and sophistication of its business model, requires a sophisticated UC and telephone solution. 

Examples of such businesses are healthcare surgeries and companies in the financial sector.  These businesses typically need a solution with call centre capability, remote (home) working, call recording and UC productivity features.  

A increasing key requirement of many of these small company’s with large sophisticated business models is remote working and on-site mobility and many are integrating the all in out of the box solutions such as Wave with the small business VoIP mobility solutions from Polycom – typically the KWS300 DECT solution.

Value for the Channel Partner:  With a customer base which is cost conscious and a product line such as the TalkSwitch (which is as close to out of the box as you can possible get) the value for the dealer is in providing the supporting services.

Products in this market such as TalkSwitch and more so the Wave IP are ideal value solutions for the telecoms reseller channel.  IT and data  resellers who are managing a company’s IT and LAN can quickly get up to speed with the skills required to install and set up the TalkSwitch or Wave solution and because they are already maintaining the IT the sale is 100% marginal profit.

The Cloud, SaaS, IaaS, PaaS and distribution in the channel

Much has been written and said about cloud computing and its various forms (SaaS, IaaS, & PaaS  -  See here ) but what does all this mean for the distributor and reseller trying to make a living in the marketplace. 

Threat or non-Threat: The emergence of the cloud and the SaaS model is unlikely to be a significant threat to the traditional distribution model.   Albeit there will be some realignment of the telecoms distributor’s customer base to focus more on the data IT reseller channel but it will be business as usual at the distributor level. There is more likely to be a shake up in the channel itself as traditional telecoms resellers see their market coming under attack by the data and IT solution resellers who are expanding their range of solutions to include telephony.

Why is ICON of this view?  It comes down to how you see the cloud SaaS products developing in the long term.  At ICON we do not ascribe to the view that the cloud SaaS solutions are the displacement technologies which many pundits imply they are going to be.  We do not believe that they will totally displace CPE solutions in telecoms or replace software ownership as CD’s did for vinyl.

ICON distributes a CPE and a cloud based version of the Unified Messaging solution MESSAGEmanager and there is currently no evidence of a trend for the market shifting wholeheartedly to the cloud based solution.

Cloud SaaS solutions increase the choice for the end user in the market. They are another product option with their own peculiar benefits which sit along side the CPE and on-site software solutions but do not displace them. .

Some firms may see strategic value in owning the assets whereas others may prefer to fund the service from revenue rather than have a wasting capital asset on their balance sheet.

Growth niches: In some product niches, far from being a threat to hardware distribution, the uptake of hosted telecoms solutions could be a positive spur to growth.  No matter what solution the customer chooses hosted (cloud based) or CPE they are going to need endpoints.  With the increasing focus on mobility in the workplace the demand for on-site mobility solutions such as the KIRK and SpectraLink for connection to a hosted cloud based telephone solution is expected to grow.  The nature of these solutions means that, except in the case of solutions requiring only a few handsets, there will still be requirement to get the services of a professional installation and support partner. 

The convergence of telephony and IT may mean that the focus of distribution will change from the traditional telecoms reseller channel to the data or IT solutions resellers but it will essentially remain an equipment distribution model.

Changing skills:  Channel partners selling CPE or on-site software solutions against cloud SaaS solutions will need to become more skilled at the total solutions sale if they are going to win business especially when negotiating the larger enterprise type sale where the commercial aspects of a deal will come under more scrutiny. 

There will always be organisations which conclude that they will benefit from an on-premise solution just as there will be organisations which conclude that they need a cloud SaaS solution.  Their choice of solution will be influenced by non technical and non features based issues.  The decision to opt for either will depend on

·      The business’ financial structure and/or policies,

·      Balance sheet issues – do they want to take on a financial commitment or are there advantages to capital spend.

·      What is the firms attitude to risk – is the service of such importance to its business that it cannot risk outsourcing it,

·      Its skill level – can it support a CPE or on-site software solution. 

What this means for the reseller is that the winning features of a sale move away from the feature and benefits of the solution and become more focused on the commercial benefits of renting versus buying. 

The sub 50 extension market gets a shake up

ICON is forecasting a shake up in the sub 50 extension market over the next few months as it rolls out the recently released version 2 of its Wave IP IP-PBX and re-launchs it at a price point which is hard to beat.  Mark Shane commented

“In a period of price increases and belt tightening this goes against the trend in the market.  We don’t know any other vendor who has taken the bold step of cutting dealer prices”

Wave IP competes in the sub 50 extension market and on a feature by feature comparison basis there are very few IP-PBX solutions in this market which offer an out of the box UC solution.   Vendors are offering solutions which are positioned as full UC solutions but many of the features which make the IP-PBX a useful solution for the business come at an additional cost. 

The trend to VoIP is well established and vendor’s product lines reflect this.  However, in the case of UC and collaboration these trends are still in the early stages and many vendors have not built these features into their product as standard issue.  Vertical Communications has always been a pace setter in terms of offering complete solutions and in the case of UC and collaboration it is still the market leader in terms of providing these as standard in its Wave IP IP-PBX solution. Mark commented

“The release of Wave 2.0 at the back end of 2010 was expected to boost sales for our Channel Partners in 2011.  Now with the price point revised to compete directly with the popular solutions in the sub 50 extension market we are planning for a busy time in 2011.”

Wave 2.0 packs even more UC features into the Wave IP box including synchronisation with Outlook, mobile extensions, instant messaging, integrated softphone and personal status.  These really do push the Wave IP solution to the top of the pile as far as features go and with the relaunch at the new price point ICON expects to see increasing sales of this powerful IP-PBX solution.

ICON bucks trend with Wave IP-PBX price drop

Price changes which came into effect on the 4th January this year have made the Vertical Wave IP solution one of the few solutions in the market which offers the end user true value for money, is a deal winner for the Channel Partner and, most importantly, protects the Channel Partners profit margin.   



Riding the Wave

If you are in the business of selling telephone solutions the medium  term outlook is for very little growth.  The forecast is for around 3% this year.  Vendors are responding by offering attractively featured solutions which provide a partial or full UC solution but more often than not the “attractive” features are optional and mean additional cost for the end user.  So unless the user has a pressing need for these features they are a not deal winners and are a hard sell.

ICON is going to change all this.  ICON is offering Channel Partners a very competitive Wave IP-PBX and UC package which is designed to generate sales and protect profit margin. 

Wave IP has always been a leader in terms of features but now, with the launch of the 2011 Channel Partner package, Wave IP is price competitive (and in some bids the price leader) with most of the popular business IP-PBX solutions.  Wave IP now offers Channel Partners a low cost highly featured UC solution which can blow the opposition away.



Unified Comms simplified



Because of Wave’s “all in one box” philosophy, the customer gets an easy to use CTI Viewpoint with easy access to visual voicemail, call recording, call logging and instant messaging. These features are all included as standard with no additional cost or need for any further servers or operating systems.  Add to that the optional fully functional, skills routed call centre, and it is easy to see why Wave IP is an unbeatable package.

When compared with a like-for-like PBX (e.g. with voicemail, call recording, CTI), Wave IP usually comes out on top for both price & functionality.  That said, ICON is very aware that in many cases, Channel Partners are selling to a customer whose only requirement is for “a good telephone system” and who does not need the complete package of attractive and powerful Wave features.

However, in such cases it is not unusually to find that even when the Wave is on a par price wise with the competitor’s low featured solution, it wins the deal because the customer can see the value in having a bundle of UC features included at no extra cost.

Mark Shane, sales manager at ICON commented

“We took a long hard look at the market back in late 2010 and it stood to reason that if most of our Wave Channel Partners were pitching against the usual PBX suspects, we needed to bring the pricing of the Wave IP solution into the same range whilst keeping the features that make it a deal winner…and that is exactly what we have done!.”