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www.commsbusiness.co.uk IP Telephony 2020 | 1

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10:06
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FROM THE
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TELEPHONY
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2 | IP Telephony 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk

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 CONTENTS

Note from
the Editor
T
here was a time,
just mere months
ago, when the
principal driver
for VoIP centred
around the planned
cessation of ISDN trunks
in 2025. And then the
Covid-19 pandemic landed on our shores and
little remained the same thereon after.
Whether companies that had on-site
PBX systems were at a disadvantage to those
with IP solutions was always a debate in
the market. IP solutions are flexible, can be
installed fast and reconfigured to meet user
needs. When you add Coronavirus into the
mix alongside a ten week long lockdowns
where businesses were either forced to shut
down or operate from employees home
locations it was not hard to see that the
CONTENTS
laggards still using legacy PBX systems found 04
themselves in a scary place. Supplier Matrix
Those organisations that actually had a
business continuity plan – typically these 06
plans catered for a 7-14 day level of disruption, Sponsor Address: MyPhones - Paul Gibbs
suddenly had to turn on a sixpence and enable
their key workers to work from home with 08
little more than a mobile phone and a laptop What is driving cloud? Keith Jackson - 8x8
without any network access to the company
files. 10
Those laggards are now trying to run Channel Feedback - Pain points and integrations
extremely fast just to catch up with their
competitors that had the nous to plan ahead 14
and adopt flexible working technology. Interview - Alison Hastings - Avaya
Hindsight is a wonderful thing however
– who would have predicted a pandemic this 16
year that was so devasting to business? Channel Solutions - Ian Hunter
This guide will serve those resellers and
MSPs looking to arm their customers with 18
the technology to beat COVID and turn their Feature - Pushing for value
heads to an effective long-term technology
strategy. 20
Bundles are not always best - Paul Gibbs
David Dungay
Editor & Publisher 24
Leveraging the right technology - RingCentral

28
North Supply - A different approach

32
Channel Feedback - A multi-vendor strategy

www.commsbusiness.co.uk IP Telephony 2020 | 3

001-017 IP 20.indd 3 22/06/2020 15:41

 SUPPLIER MATRIX

Cheapest price per seat

3rd party connectivity

3rd party softphones

Connectivity offered

3rd party hardware

Seats deployed

Price model

White label
Platform
Founded

SLA
8X8 1987 8x8 1 Million + Per seat £7.99 None

SIP, IP, Ethernet,

BNS 2007 Grandstream 47000 Yes £20
Analogue

Centile Telecom
Centile 1998
Applications
1 Million Per seat £5-15 None

Cloud PBX – 522k Pricing Ethernet, Broadband,

Broadsoft /
Gamma 2001
Gamma
SIP Channels – Per seat determined by Voice Enabled
1,016k reseller Broadband, MPLS

My Phones 2003 Altos (Own) 76,000 Per seat £1.95 None

Nimans (Beyond) 2010 Porta One N/A Per seat £5.00 SIP

North Supply innovaphone SIP, Ethernet, PSTN,

1997 1,500,000+ Per seat £4.00
(Innovaphone AG) myApps Analogue

Sangoma
1984 Sangoma N/A Per seat £2.52 None
Technologies

Snom 1997 Hardware

SIP
Spitfire 1988 Communicator/ 10,000+ Per seat £6.00 SIP SDSLM, Ethernet
Hosted PBX 2.1

Telco Switch 2015 CallSwitch 67,000 Per seat £3.95 SIP, Ethernet

Vonage 2001 Vonage Per seat $14.99 SIP

Broadband, FTTC,
Wavenet 2000 TeamsLink 12000 Per seat £5.60 FTTP, EoFTTC, SoGEA,
Ethernet, SDWAN

Xelion 2008 Proprietary 170,000 Per User £3.25 None

4 | IP Telephony 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk

001-017 IP 20.indd 4 24/06/2020 12:49

 QoS

001-017 IP 20.indd 5
24/7
Support

24/7
24/7
24/7
24/7
24/7
24/7
24/7
24/7
24/7
24/7
24/7
24/7

www.commsbusiness.co.uk
Porting offered
Integrated billing
Fraud prevention
UC mobile app

Business analytics

Conferencing and
video calls

Call centre features

Hunt groups

Call recording

CRM integration

Auto attendant

Network analysis
tools

Diverse routing

Trial offered

All provisioned
SUPPLIER MATRIX

through portal

IP Telephony 2020 | 5

24/06/2020 12:50
 SPONSOR
ADDRESS
The Dawn
of a New
Beginning
I
have spent a lot of time
speaking with colleagues
throughout the channel
and one thing has become
very apparent and that is that
positivity and reaction to
change will get us through
this Coronavirus disruption.
It’s often said that ‘the night
is darkest just before the
dawn’ and I really feel that as
we move out one of the UK’s
darkest times we are staring
at an amazing sunrise for the
channel.
The making of us will be
in how we prepare for this
sunrise as the way we sell to
end users may have changed
forever. I think the thought of
letting a sales person through
your front door is now a
world away from what end
users want. The big question
I asked myself myself was, do
we, as a channel, ‘drink our
own Champagne’? Are we, as
a collective sales force, experts
in using tools such as MS
Teams, UCaaS applications
and intelligent proposal
generating tools? Can we
engage a customer on our first
meeting via this medium and
can we then professionally
deliver the proposal via screen
share and video? Two months
ago, I think the answer would
be no, but Coronavirus has
driven large scale adoption and
usage of collaborative apps at
end user level. This in itself
means that whereas in the past
6 | IP Telephony 2020
001-017 IP 20.indd 6
the end user may have wanted
a salesperson to drive two
hours to come and see them as
a way of showing intent, they
are now used to using video
applications and are therefore
much more accepting of
engaging via this medium.
As we slowly come out of
lockdown, I think the move to
new ways of working will be
the biggest opportunity that
we as a channel have had since
the move to ISDN. In fact this
will swallow up the ‘ISDN
switch off ‘ as an opportunity
as it will mean that end users
will have migrated away long
before the deadline. We need
to make sure that we are
the ones that help with the
deployment of these new best
of breed technologies.
I think another big
question we are all asking Paul Gibbs, Sales Director, MyPhones
ourselves is, will there be
a mass switch off from the remain live as an insurance for us in the channel.
remote working applications policy for if this ever happens With thousands of
that were deployed as a again. businesses reviewing their
reaction to Coronavirus? For As the dust settles there office space, desk space
many years we have been may be a review of those requirements and how their
preaching the benefits of being rushed deployments; have employees work, when we
able to work from home when we purchased the right come out of this we can be the
it snows and we can’t get to subscription or product, is it architects of the new normal
work but for most it fell on business grade and can we as and create stickier customers
deaf ears as at worst it only a business work with it for the than we have ever seen before.
affected us for a few days and future. There will be a rush, In summary our craving
we got through it! Now we possibly a stampede, from all to go back to ‘normal’ will be
find ourselves buried deep in those organisations that have met, as we move out of this,
an avalanche and having to on-premise PBX’s to make sure but I think normal will never
remain at home I think most they have solid working from look the same again and for
of the these deployed home home technologies. All of this the channel therein lies the
working applications will represents a huge opportunity opportunity….
www.commsbusiness.co.uk
22/06/2020 15:42
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www.commsbusiness.co.uk IP Telephony 2020 | 7

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 INTERVIEW
What is Driving Cloud Telephony
Comms Business Magazine talks to Keith Jackson, Director of Channel Sales at 8x8 about the rise of the cloud
telephony system in today’s workplace
T
he way we work is
undergoing seismic
change with flexible hours
and working from home
becoming commonplace. In
larger organisations, the office
landscape has changed to match
new practices – with breakout
spaces and multi-purpose ‘agile
areas’. But, as we prepare for life
post COVID-19, things look set
to change again.
One certainty is the
focus on remote means of
communication is likely
to increase. With so many
channels available, the need for
a simple voice call has grown.
For many businesses, providing
customers with a single point
of contact is essential while a
recognisable phone number
prefi x is more likely to be
trusted by customers, too. This
is where the cloud telephony
system, or software-based PBX
shows its strength. It combines
the convenience and simplicity
of desk-based phones with the
flexibility to pick up and make
calls from anywhere.
A cloud telephony system is
not tied to a physical network
in the office. This brings a
huge number of advantages,
not least, scalability. As your
business grows, simply add
more lines without needing
extra infrastructure. If your
business is seasonal, add extra
connections when you need to,
then simply cancel them when
you don’t.
BUNDLES ARE NOT ALWAYS BEST
MAXIMISE MARGINS WITH A SOFTWARE ONLY PRODUCT
8 | IP Telephony 2020
001-017 IP 20.indd 8
With a cloud telephony
system, it’s possible to equip
desks with physical handsets
but are connected via the
internet. You can pick up or
make a call in the usual way
or, with the click of a mouse,
listen and talk hands-free with
a headset. This is ideal for
companies where team members
work from home, or are out
on call, and gives call centre
agents the flexibility to stay
fully connected while working
remotely. Any designated team
member can pick up a customer
call from wherever they are,
using any connected device.
Cloud telephony systems
typically offer an extended
range of features. Besides Keith Jackson, Director of Channel Sales at 8x8
allowing users to make and take
calls – either from their own system with Microsoft Teams. video calling and multi-party
dedicated extension, general This service offers employees conferencing.
business number or helpline all the advantages of the 8x8 It’s easy to see why the cloud
– a software-based PBX can phone service along with the telephony system is stealing a
automatically route callers increasingly popular Teams march on fi xed-line desk phone
through to the right person. interface. As well as ensuring solutions. There’s little doubt
Cloud telephony allows call- enterprise-grade call quality, that companies with a cloud
centre operators to work from 8x8 offers native integration communications platform
home at all hours, yet still work with 35 different business already in place found it much
effectively as a team. They are applications. Call screen easier to react when large
also compatible with third party synchronisation and logging numbers of employees had to
software, including customer of call information, including switch overnight to remote
relationship management links to the call recordings, can working. Those companies are
systems, and offer the ability lead to greater productivity and very likely to be considering a
to record calls and collect and improved customer experience. software-based PBX for future
analyse call data where needed. Another benefit of cloud business continuity plans.
One barrier to the uptake communications systems is that The smart phone has already
of the cloud telephony system they include capabilities that almost completely superseded
is unfamiliarity and 8x8 has extend well beyond the bounds the fi xed-line home phone, and
recently addressed this by of voice-only communications, the rise of the cloud telephony
integrating its cloud telephony with integrated messaging, system now looks unstoppable.
M Y P H O N E S . C O M
www.commsbusiness.co.uk
22/06/2020 15:43
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www.commsbusiness.co.uk IP Telephony 2020 | 9

001-017 IP 20.indd 9 22/06/2020 15:43

 CHANNEL
FEEDBACK
Pain Points and
Integrating Solutions
What kind of integrations are available in the market now? We are seeing so many third-party applications
being used in the workplace is it possible to manage these and bring them under one roof? Do we need to;
what are end users actually asking for when it comes to the technology?
E
nd user demands fluctuate;
economic factors generally
affect pricing whilst the
current Coronavirus
pandemic would appear to
be having a greater impact on
functionality as businesses
scramble to implement home
working strategies for their
employees.
Dave Reynolds, Managing
Director for Xelion, says that the
conversations they are having
with users has totally changed
over the last four weeks.
“Today, the one stop shop
principle has disappeared as
people are using whatever is most
convenient for them, for example,
text and Whatsapp.
Going forward I believe that
solutions will be different as users
seek out applications that can
plug in to different platforms.
Businesses are already using
Whatsapp extensively in text-
based user groups and it’s likely
this service will extend to video
calling.
This will adversely affect
minutes resellers as Whatsapp
has selected six service providers
across the world to provide the
video services. There is little scope
for resellers to monetise, only
facilitate.
Resellers have adapted well
SIMPLE PRICING STRUCTURE
WITH LICENCES TO MEET INDIVIDUAL USER REQUIREMENTS
10 | IP Telephony 2020
001-017 IP 20.indd 10
Customer pain points can often be solved by third party product integrations
and quickly to home working
- prior to the Coronavirus
epidemic just a handful of reseller
staff would have been working
from home and of late a lot of our
time has been spent helping and
supporting users and resellers get
up and running.
What are we selling? It
would be fair to say that headset
sales have gone through the
roof as have web cams and a
huge number of softphones.
Surprisingly we are also selling a
large number of DECT handsets.
As I said earlier, people are
now using any devices that are
convenient.”
Myles Leach, Managing
Director at NFON UK, says
that end users never talk about
industry buzzwords like digital
transformation; they are just
interested in addressing pain
point’s and measuring positive
outputs.
“They need to have their needs
met, so feature priorities will
differ depending on the client.
The key is making sure you have
vendors with a broad product
set, all of which deliver a quality
experience.”
Peter Oosthuizen, London
Partner Sales Manager for
Spitfire, believes there are two
key points to establish when
discussing customer PBX feature
requirements with channel
partners.
“Firstly, what features does/
will the customer need and what
M Y P H O N E S . C O M
are ‘nice to haves’, and secondly,
what is the TCO (total cost of
ownership), not just the headline
figure for extension rental?
Feature sets vary, each system
will either have a feature set
aimed at a specific market/price
point or have a basic variant with
bolt-ons. You also need to look at
the varying feature requirements
within the same business. There
is not a one size fits all solution so
it is key that the channel works
with providers that can cater for
the differing needs. Our solution
has been designed as a low-cost
product with all the standard
features you would expect from a
cloud PBX.”
According to Simon
Horton – VP Sales, Europe at
Sangoma, users are generally
not particularly interested in
what’s under the hood; they want
solutions that are easy to install
and just work.
“What they are interested
in is supplier support and
responsiveness. Today VoIP is
pretty much commoditised so
the customer experience is the
differentiator.
We have a reseller only
channel with two distributors,
Provu and Nuvola, and both are
technically led to enhance the
trusted partner proposition for
www.commsbusiness.co.uk
22/06/2020 15:44

customers.
Throughout our portfolio
Sangoma is not in the market
to compete on price. We have
the same feature set on our
on-premises solutions as we have
in our cloud options. Standard
features include call recording,
IVR, call queuing based on skills
routing and wait times. A basic
contact centre is also included as
is a client softphone for desktop
and mobile calling. We also have
our own headsets and session
border controllers.
Like many suppliers today
we are seeing a huge surge in
demand for home working
solutions.”
UC Product Director for
Wavenet, Barry Ward says that
at the start of the year, when it
came to IP Telephony, they were
finding that everyone wanted to
have all the features and benefits
for the lowest possible price.
“Collaboration was just a nice
thing to have. Today however,
enabling collaboration is the
number one priority.
Users want a single interface
on the desk to enable effective
collaboration and their product
of choice to achieve this goal is
Microsoft Teams and that single
application, a transition from
desk phones to softphones, is now
driving the market.
Wavenet has a number of
solutions for our users including
Broadcloud, Teams with direct
routing and WebEx calling – you
could say we are experiencing
application creep! Organisations
want more than direct routing
with Teams, they want to know if
we can link existing PBX and add
more features.
As far as applications are
concerned our channels are
saying they want instant
messaging and external video
CHOOSE YOUR OWN
SIP & HANDSET PROVIDERS
www.commsbusiness.co.uk
001-017 IP 20.indd 11
which is proving to be a big
driver, obviously with voice.
Office 365 resellers are picking up
on this but there is a clamour for
Microsoft to release an API that
will enable call recording that can
provide regulatory compliance.”
Integrations
“We want to make sure that our
customers can access the tools
they want to build with,” says
Myles Leach, Managing Director
at NFON UK.
“If you want to put an
enterprise PBX on the back of
what you already have – that’s
fine with us. We believe the key
to success is to ensure you really
are differentiating with a better
service and product suite. A big
benefit of our cloud telephony
system is the fact that you can
sell an array of value-added
services around it. For example,
our integration with Microsoft
Teams changes the economics
for full-blown UC, unlocking its
capabilities for the SMB market.”
Justin Hamilton-Martin,
Myles Leach, MD at NFON
Director at Centile, “In the short-
term, there is a strong message
around the real cost of using
consumer-grade tools.
Rather than a business buying
a bunch of disparate tools for
staff, the channel can provide
added-value, such as integrations,
support, and extra features and
functionality. Also, a bunch of
consumer-grade tools that do
not integrate and may not have
the scalability or enterprise-
grade security of other solutions
can bring risk and reduced
productivity. Why not hand
everything over to the channel,
and let them do all the work?
Integrations are a great
gateway to differentiation, for
the channel to do things their
way, not dictated by vendors, or
locked-in to rigid solutions that
can look the same as each other.
Some channel companies just
want to resell a simple solution,
but we see more wanting to create
their own service packages and
to brand white-label solutions as
their own. From there, they can
M Y P H O N E S . C O M
CHANNEL
FEEDBACK
target verticals, which I believe
has been often overlooked but
maintains big potential. Of
course, all this depends on having
a platform that makes integration
of multiple apps possible and
simple through powerful, open
APIs.
Also, people talk about
Microsoft Teams being a possible
killer, but if you can integrate it
into your own UC solution, then
it becomes an opportunity.”
Peter Oosthuizen, London
Partner Sales Manager for
Spitfire, says application
integration with the likes of
O365 or Outlook are already
commonplace in the more
advanced systems like 3CX.
“However, the key question
is what level of integration is
required? Click to dial, contact
pop ups, report generation or
maybe integration is needed to
meet compliance? A company
must establish the level of
integration and the benefit/value
that brings to a business.
As a channel provider it is
essential we deliver flexibility
with our 3CX offering so our
partners can design bespoke
PBX solutions with the necessary
integration available to maximise
cost vs benefit for their customers.
You should also consider
process integrations i.e. can you
ensure your call recordings meet
compliance? Is your approach
to security compatible with
your phone system? Our voice
environment includes additional
integration such as Retell to offer
MiFID II & PCI compliant
call recording as well as FTP
storage to store recorded calls,
all of which are available as tools
for us to design the right PBX
with the appropriate third-
party integration to maximise
productivity for the customer.”
IP Telephony 2020 | 11
22/06/2020 15:44
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001-017 IP 20.indd 12 22/06/2020 15:44

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www.commsbusiness.co.uk IP Telephony 2020 | 13

001-017 IP 20.indd 13 22/06/2020 15:45

 INTERVIEW
People Talk to People
Comms Business Magazine talks to Ali Hastings, Regional Channel Leader at Avaya UK&I about IP Telephony and
how Avaya is approaching the market with a more rounded and more complete set of solutions for 2020
With the likes of Facebook
and Microsoft making big
waves in the industry is the
IP telephony market just on
borrowed time.
From an Avaya perspective for
our 100 million users worldwide
we have offerings in UC&C
cloud already, will be launching
our UCaaS product, Avaya
Cloud Office this July and
September will see the launch of
our CPaaS solution.
Covid-19 will accelerate
the progress of Digital
Transformation (DX) but in
an immediate reaction to the
crisis many enterprises are
using social consumer platform
media streams in their business.
Avaya has been building
enterprise grade apps that have
been through an enterprise
hardening and testing process
that results in a better product
with a feature richness of the
applications – not just the voice
element.
Is ISDN end of life still a major
driver for the march towards
hosted telephony?
The end of ISDN as a driver has
been around for a number of
years and people have moved to
IP based systems for flexibility
and cost. In the API world in
which we now live organisations
are looking for solutions; our
CPaaS offering due to launch
in September will integrate SIP
directly on to the platform, real
time comms will be embedded
CHANNEL ONLY WHITE LABEL PRODUCT
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14 | IP Telephony 2020
001-017 IP 20.indd 14
Ali Hastings, Regional Channel Leader at Avaya UK&I
into their business which will
bring further business benefits.
Our CPaaS proposition
comes as a result of our Esna
acquisition five years ago and
our current Spaces product is a
result of that move.
Has Microsoft delivered a
killer blow to the market with
its Direct Routing proposition
or is this another Channel
opportunity?
No. The advantage of the
Avaya portfolio is that we can
bundle all these applications,
in the channel community you
need to innovate. For example;
this is not entirely Microsoft
doing this on their own – they
are working through a small
number of globally based
partners – basically excluding
resellers. There’s no value here
for managed services providers
who have a wider wrap to offer
users, for example security.
Going single vendor has not
worked for customers.
What do partners really want
out of an IP proposition?
Sticky product, margin rich,
solid network uptime, or all of
the above? Can one service
provider really cover all the
bases?
Resellers have changed and
are today driven by the client
outcome. The rules UCaaS,
CPaaS and CCaaS state that
solutions do not have to be based
entirely on any single one of those
solutions – it can be a blend of
solutions. With CPaaS you pay
for what you consume – it’s a
catalyst for DX and an evolution
from IP Telephony. Today, 80%
of web traffic is API driven and
underpinned by CPaaS.
M Y P H O N E S . C O M
Have the larger providers like
Daisy and Gamma taken the
legs out of the market with
their ability to offer super
bundled propositions?
These bundles are three or four
years old and yes, we did not have
an offering at that time but there
is no margin in them anyway.
We’re moving to an approach
where solutions are consumable -
a blend of capabilities because as
we know, one size does not fit all.
How will Avaya be
differentiating their ACO from
that of RingCentral?
We are not really playing in that
space. Globally we have taken
the global leader for UCaaS and
matched it up with our huge
customer base and R&D. We
had no time to build our own
platform and compete, so this
was a sensible move.
We are developing new
features for ACO plus adding
our branch networking
capabilities. There are things we
are able to do as Avaya, that were
previously not possible, that we
can take to market - we already
have a go to market plan for
ACO ready for July launch in
the UK. We’ll have features and
functionality RingCentral don’t
have and a large customer base.
Looking ahead more people
will be working from home –
telephony is as relevant today as
it’s ever been. People want to talk
to people and it’s better served by
automation.
www.commsbusiness.co.uk
22/06/2020 15:45
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001-017 IP 20.indd 15 22/06/2020 15:45

 INSIGHT
Channel Solutions
With a quick glance back to the beginnings of VoIP, Ian Hunter says that while the market drivers and the routes
to market are changing, the remaining underlying constant is still connectivity
M
y first experience of Voice
over IP occurred at the
old Telecom Managers’
Association (TMA)
conference in Brighton around
1992 on an exhibition stand of
an Israeli company whose name I
have long forgotten.
Israel was quick out of the
blocks with business-based
VoIP applications and certainly
ahead of UK and US firms of
the time. I recall US firms were
still getting excited about PC to
PC based VoIP applications for
propeller heads sitting in their
lofts that were likewise excited
about making savings on long-
distance calls. Israel, on the
other hand, was literally talking
IP PBX applications while the
rest of the world was still trying
to get their PBX systems ISDN
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001-017 IP 20.indd 16
enabled.
Of course, much has
changed, and the days of ISDN
are finally, and thankfully,
numbered.
Today there are many routes
for organisations to get an IP
based telephony solution; SIP
trunk enabling on-premise PBX
gives them an extra lease of
life and gets around the ISDN
problem. Hosted telephony
solutions have been in our
market for around fifteen years
whilst cloud based telephony is
gaining traction.
The key to getting any
of these solutions to deliver
a satisfactory performance
– a user voice experience no
different to the rock solid
ISDN, proved difficult in the
past due to less than suitable
connectivity solutions being
sold to users – albeit a lot of
that blame lies at the feet of
network suppliers getting away
with disingenuous marketing
claims for the veracity of their
circuits. Again, much of this
has given way to appropriate
connectivity for the job as a
result of advertising standards
being raised.
As IP based telephony
progressed beyond being a PBX
replacement and becoming
a communications platform
upon which a multitude of
applications concurrently
run the voice application has
progressively become that old
chestnut of being ‘just another
application running on the
network’.
However, that connectivity
element has become even more
critical to the end user. Poor
connectivity today impacts
more than the voice telephony,
it affects user e-commerce
applications, tracking company
finance and that seemingly
ever-present commercial activity
track. If you mess with the
functionality of any of these
applications you’ll have the
CEO on the phone biting your
ears off quicker than you’d
imagine.
So, connectivity remains
the oil that lubricates the gears
turning in the commercial
engine of almost every reseller
client. Therefore, choosing your
connectivity partner has never
M Y P H O N E S . C O M
been so important as it is today.
Looking ahead, analyst
forecasts are understandably a
bit thin on the ground. Gartner,
who had been forecasting only
six months ago that worldwide
IT spending will hit $3.9T in
2020 are now shifting their
methodology to ‘range-based
forecasting’ which they describe
as a worthy alternative in light
of Covid-19.
Short term, it’s easy to
pick out the highflyers in the
communications mix. Anything
that effectively enables remote
working and collaboration
so that includes the likes
of video conferencing and
unified communications as a
service. Robust connectivity
is de-rigueur to keep the
scattered army of home workers
connected with their conference
calls and access to the company
network of applications.
As the term ‘the new normal’
enters our everyday vocabulary
channels will be learning some
form of best practice to get their
IP Telephony solutions and
other portfolio products out the
door to customers and begin
new monthly billing programs
to boost their revenues.
I’m sure we’ll be getting the
details on those best practices
over the wires pretty soon and
if there is one thing you can be
sure of it is that the channel is
both innovative and resourceful
in overcoming any problems
that can be thrown at it.
www.commsbusiness.co.uk
22/06/2020 15:45
 We’ve got what you want
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www.commsbusiness.co.uk IP Telephony 2020 | 17

001-017 IP 20.indd 17 22/06/2020 15:45

 CHANNEL
FEEDBACK
Pushing for Value
How do partners sell on feature sets and functionality when so many customers are price driven? How do you
push customers out of that ‘price-first’ mentality so they focus on the bigger picture? And after all that, do
partners still want to own the customer?
S
elling on value rather than
price presents challenges at
different stages of market
development – at some
stage there is frequently a ‘race to
the bottom’ on price which can
result in the channel scrambling
to put together their set of value
propositions. When it comes
to IP Telephony how does that
work?
Justin Hamilton-Martin,
Director of Centile, says there
is a huge opportunity here to
push the total-cost-of-ownership
message.
“Business customers who
have already moved from
legacy on-premise and ISDN
solutions to cloud-based IP
telephony are already enjoying
the lower on-going cost base.
For organisations making that
switch right now, there may be
some initial up-front investment
— for instance, headsets,
equipping staff with better
Wi-Fi routers — but they will
soon start to reap the financial
savings. Other cost savings may
come through reduced office
usage, though equally, firms may
require larger offices to support
physical distancing between
employees.
How else can customers be
pushed beyond a ‘price-first’
mentality and focus on the
bigger picture?
Dave Reynolds, Managing
Director of Xelion says that
when we think about IP
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18 | IP Telephony 2020
018-036 IP 20.indd 18
Selling on value rather than price presents challenges at
telephony and UC, it is natural
to focus on communications and
collaboration
“But they also have
the ability to transform
productivity and accountability
- particularly important when
staff are working remotely,
and to contribute to digital
transformation. Integrating
video, voice, diaries and
collaboration features into CRM
and ERP is a game-changer.
For example, here at Centile we
have our own UCaaS platform
integrated with Salesforce, and
it gives the potential for deep,
real-time insight into sales and
customer interactions.
Also, without getting too ‘Big
Brother’ about this, platforms
like ours allow businesses to see
activity across devices (including
whether the network is being
different stages of market development
used to support personal devices
and apps), so companies have
better visibility over usage and
staff activity.
Reynolds says that we’ll never
go back from this to the old ways
of working.
“There are certain parts of
the business where an office
working environment works best
– customer service for example,
but sales and management staff
will now demand home working
– it will become the norm.”
According to Reynolds
people are trying out products
more frequently.
“Because there are so many
collaboration applications that
are available for free download
that are being used by business
customers it’s apparent that any
given organisation is using as
many as they need to in order
M Y P H O N E S . C O M
to stay in touch with their
customers and using the same
apps that their customers are
using.
Maybe too, people will be
nicer to each other which is
obviously not a bad thing. For
instance, in the last four weeks
I have spoken to more of my
competitors than ever previously
and had really good constructive
discussions.”
Peter Oosthuizen, London
Partner Sales Manager for
Spitfire, says that any solution
will offer a balance of price and
features, but it is also important
to add quality into that
equation.
“A feature rich telephony
system with poor quality will
only cause headaches. However,
when the service is built properly
there should be no need to
compromise on quality when
looking for a lower cost solution.
We have developed a CLEAR
methodology to help our
customers/partners visualise
the route a voice packet takes
from ear to PSTN network and
the importance of this route
when it comes to voice quality.
This methodology clearly
demonstrates ‘the bigger picture’
and reinforces the value of well-
engineered voice solutions over
providers that do not consider
the end to end journey of the
voice packet when selling voice.
CLEAR stands for Customer,
Link, Exit, Arrival, Route.
www.commsbusiness.co.uk
22/06/2020 16:07
 Oosthuizen says that Spitfire
also understands there is no one
size fits all in the channel.
“Instead we offer a range of
products, services and methods
of delivery to ensure a bespoke
designed solution for the end
user. The different methods of
delivery also provide flexibility
to channel partners when
building these products into
their portfolio.
For those who are cost
conscious but still require a
feature rich telephony solution
without compromising on
quality we have built Hosted
PBX 2.1. Not only does this
deliver all the features you
would expect from a cloud-based
PBX, it benefits from Spitfire’s
expertise and dedicated voice
network, providing assured voice
quality at all times.
Hosted PBX 2.1 is still
however an incredibly feature
rich system, with everything
available out of the box. It
provides expected standard
PBX features, everything from
call routing/auto-attendant/
voicemail/conference calls
all the way up to soft phone
functionality and a sophisticated
web-based management console.
The bigger picture with this is
that our partners are empowered
to make a lot of the changes
to their end user’s system
themselves– leading to a more
streamlined experience.
Do partners still want to own
the customer in the UK? We
have seen the prevalence
of the dealer models work in
other markets, but will that
translate to our shores?
As solutions become more
complex do partners really
want to construct their own
offerings and take the best
of breed services? Is that
OVER A DECADE
OF DEVELOPING & DELIVERING RELIABLE TECHNOLOGY
www.commsbusiness.co.uk
018-036 IP 20.indd 19
even necessary in 2020 and
beyond?
Adam Wilson, Regional
Channel Manager (EMEA)
for Vonage considers the UK
is displaying a gradual move
towards a referral-based channel
model in some use cases.
“I believe a key driver in
the communications use case
to be the public cloud, which
is becoming more and more
trusted by businesses to fulfil
their communications needs.
As organisations move from
on-premises, to hosted, to
private cloud and then to public
cloud the value exchange in the
channel must adapt - meaning
that the value proposition
between the vendor and the
channel partner must change
(as long as the vendor is willing
to trade value!) Before it might
have been that the channel Dave Reynolds, UK Managing Director - Xelion
partner looked after the data
centre or the computing, Switching from a reseller model Director at Xelion says he has
storage and networking that allows them to extract seen the prevalence of the dealer
required to develop a solution value from the customer for models work in other markets,
for the customer, but with a delivering complex IT solutions but will that translate to our
public cloud delivered solution to a trusted advisor model that shores?
from the vendor there’s no need. provides incentives by way of “As solutions become more
If vendors feel they can deliver sales referral commissions will complex do partners really want
more of the overall solution not take place overnight!” to construct their own offerings
and at scale (thanks to public Peter Oosthuizen for Spitfire and take the best of breed
cloud technology) then the role recognises as a channel provider services? Is that even necessary
of a channel partner naturally that the key is flexibility. in 2020 and beyond?
changes and what we’re seeing is “We need to move in the This is the RingCentral
a gradual emergence of a trusted direction the market moves. We question isn’t it? My answer is
advisor model. have a spectrum of offerings that absolutely yes, the partner
This drives adoption of from full partner managed wants to own the customer
the referral model as trusted solutions to 100% resell. We in the UK. I can’t ever see a
advisors don’t have the resource need to be able to deliver cloud scenario where the partner
or interest in owning the PBX products in different ways, would not want to own the
contract with the customer. in different voice environments customer. If you want to build
Many VARs and MSPs using different support levels a business, you have to own the
have spent years developing and pricing models. We also customer – it’s where the value
their businesses; becoming continue to develop our own is which is why we only operate
specialists in their fields platform as customers/partners a reseller model.
with very well qualified staff requirements change and they I’m aware in other markets
across sales, sales engineering, tell us what they want out of the agent/dealer model is the
project management / service their telephony solution.” norm, but it will never work
delivery and support services. Dave Reynolds, Managing here in the UK.”
M Y P H O N E S . C O M
IP Telephony 2020 | 19
22/06/2020 16:07
 INTERVIEW
Bundles are Not Always Best
Paul Gibbs, Sales Director at MyPhones talks to Comms Business about some of the key issues facing resellers
Comms Business Magazine
(CBM): Is ISDN end of life still
a major driver for the march
towards hosted telephony?
Paul Gibbs (PG): The ISDN end
of life program is a driver for
VoIP and has kept momentum
in the marketplace but the
Covid-19 pandemic is making
us put our foot down and
accelerate.
Business has painfully found
out what remaining on ISDN
looks like now – we have seen
customers being charged £125 a
line for each ISDN line diverted.
But the future is now really
bright for many resellers who are
weighing up how much of their
turnover is weighted towards
recurring revenues. Not so long
ago LCR used to prop up many
resellers who believed that it
would last forever. They didn’t
COMPREHENSIVE RESELLER PORTAL
SIMPLIFIES THE MANAGEMENT OF YOUR ESTATE
20 | IP Telephony 2020
018-036 IP 20.indd 20
react to the arrival of the cloud,
say 3-5 years ago and find that
PBX sales is a scary place to be
right now. Who will buy them?
The first three weeks of
Covid-19 was crazy and whilst
that initial headlong rush for
VoIP solutions has slowed down
somewhat, if you listen carefully,
you can still hear the sound of
PBX systems being unscrewed
from office walls. The channel
can take the positives out of
this, the sales opportunities are
great and overall I believe it will
accelerate mergers, acquisitions
and consolidation – expect to see
some fire sales.
CBM: Is Direct Routing a huge
opportunity or are Microsoft
just waiting to cut out the
Channel?
PG: Direct routing for enabling
Paul Gibbs Sales Director at MyPhones
calls on Microsoft Teams is an
opportunity, but a limited one.
Resellers should buy from a
supplier that understands voice
and the voice market. Direct
routing is expensive and offers
users a basic service but no real
PBX functionality.
MyPhones is fully integrated
with Teams; this means users get
all the telephony functionality of
MyPhones plus the collaborative
functionality of Teams. We
use Teams as a UC client with
voice going through MyPhones
and gives you the best of both
worlds. Direct routing was an
interim voice solution while
the cloud telephony guys who
have integrated their products
with Teams find it beats the
functionality of Direct Routing
hands down.
CBM: What do partners really
want out of an IP proposition?
Sticky product, margin rich,
solid network uptime, or all of
the above? Can one service
really cover all your bases?
PG: Partners want solid network
up time, this has never been so
important, and we are proud to
say that we have never had an
outage.
The market is now mature
enough for users to have been on
the carousel with various VoIP
providers and had some bad
experiences, they should now be
yours for life if you do it right.
Cloud telephony is an inherently
sticky product so getting the
customer experience right is key
- your chosen product should
M Y P H O N E S . C O M
allow you to tick all of the boxes.
If it doesn’t we are seeing a lot A
of people taking this time to re-
evaluate their supply chain. e
Overall, resellers want to be
able to set themselves apart – to be
able to put a proposal on the desk
that is different from the next man
walking through the door.
CBM: Have the larger providers
taken the value out of the
market with the ability to offer
O
super bundled propositions?
PG: Covid-19 has caused users p
to re-evaluate their suppliers;
they want to see something
different. Some suppliers have
created bundles that are very
easy to consume but if everyone
is buying the same then
clearly there is a need for some
F
flexibility as the bundles are only
right for the right end users.
Users need flexibility –
should users be paying full fees m
for phones that are rarely used *
but have to be there, say for
example in schools?
We are launching a reseller
configuration tool shortly to
help resellers establish the best
configuration mix – the best
price for resellers to give to their
users. This will be located on
our portal and provide a blended
buy price for each end user.
One example where savings can
be made is on having the right
seat mix for the end user whilst
benefiting from aggregated
SIP trunks, where our research
shows that one SIP channel on
a hosted telephony solution can
typically service 28 users.
www.commsbusiness.co.uk
22/06/2020 16:07
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018-036 IP 20.indd 23 22/06/2020 16:08

 INTERVIEW
Leveraging the Right Technology
Comms Business Magazine speaks to Emily Fallon, Senior Channel Marketing Manager, EMEA & APAC at
RingCentral about what users and resellers want from suppliers and the difference between pre-built
integrations and open APIs
Has uptime become the new
battleground for providers?
I would say SLAs are becoming
increasingly crucial, as they
act as an important agreement
between a business and its
customers. In the ‘as a service’
world, customers aren’t just
buying technology, they’re
buying features and SLAs, which
means it’s important to ensure a
proper measure of performance
and service quality is agreed by
both parties before contracts are
signed. The SLA can be used as a
measurement tool as part of the
contract for the technology.
An important consideration
that is often overlooked when
signing a contract is if the service
can be extended internationally
and complies with legal
regulations—this includes
supporting a full ‘in country’
experience, as well as ensuring
that if there are any issues with
the technology, that there is 24/7
technical support available.
Are all IP features born equal?
Many companies may believe
that demands for cutting-edge
features come from end users.
But in reality, they mostly ask
for basic functionality like calls,
video meetings and instant
messaging.
But while users want the
basics to work well, it’s also
important to educate them and
show them what is possible with
technology. There’s a lot you
CUTTING EDGE HOSTED TELEPHONY
WITH OUTSTANDING SUPPORT
24 | IP Telephony 2020
018-036 IP 20.indd 24
can do with UCaaS tools, such
as access enhanced analytics
that give you insights into a
business’ communication habits
or ease tedious admin tasks with
document sharing or calendar
management. There are also
more advanced features like
integrations; businesses can
become a lot more efficient if
they integrate tools reducing
time spent accessing different
applications. Applications like
Salesforce and Google Docs can
all function within a UCaaS
tool, but not all users will know
how to optimise their platform
to best fit their individual needs.
What kind of integrations are
available in the market now?
To help businesses and
employees relieve some of
the chaos that comes from
navigating apps, it’s crucial Emily Fallon, Senior Channel Marketing
Manager, EMEA & APAC at RingCentral
to have API integrations. But
when it comes to APIs, it is even next month. Having an power to provide the basic
important to have both pre-built open API platform that allows functionality that users demand,
integrations and an open API businesses to integrate the apps plus the business benefits that
approach. Pre-built integrations they require will mean they will drive efficiencies and revenues.
will be much simpler for have a solution in place that will While it may seem like a long
businesses to implement, as continue to support them as they shopping list of needs, in today’s
it’s simply a case of ‘turning evolve. competitive market, these are
on’ that API and it’s ready to the technology fundamentals. If
go. The open API approach What do partners really want channel players leverage the right
is equally important, as this out of an IP proposition? technology solutions, pursue the
is the part that will continue Ultimately, partners want all of best business opportunities and
to support businesses in the the above—and it is certainly offer valued expertise, they’re
future. While a business may possible to have one solution in a prime position to grow.
be using one app today, who that can cover all bases. This The opportunity is there for the
knows if it will continue to use is one of the benefits of a SaaS taking—it’s up to the channel to
that application next year, or based solution—it has the make it happen.
M Y P H O N E S . C O M
www.commsbusiness.co.uk
22/06/2020 16:09
 www.commsbusiness.co.uk IP Telephony 2020 | 25

018-036 IP 20.indd 25 22/06/2020 16:09

 CHANNEL
FEEDBACK
What’s Driving IP Telephony Today?
Is the end of ISDN as a service still the major driver for business use of IP Telephony and are businesses being
driven in the direction of Microsoft in the wake of their introduction of Direct Routing?
E
ver since the
announcement that the
supply and support of
ISDN would end in 2025
the channel has been on a
mission to convert end users to
IP based trunks and solutions. If
not a gold rush of opportunity
the end of ISDN at least
provided a great talking point
for resellers to raise with their
customer to get a conversation
going about SIP trunks or hosted
and cloud-based telephony
solutions.
So how is that ISDN driver
holding up?
Myles Leach MD at NFON,
notes that the switch-off of
ISDN and the move towards
All-IP networks was announced
by incumbent carriers in Europe
and in the UK the date was set
at 2025.
“This has resulted in
additional growth in the cloud
PBX segment that has benefited
NFON. We are already seeing
industry abandonment of legacy
technology, such as large PBX
vendors withdrawing support for
on-premise hardware product
lines, and bigger organisations
are already reaping the benefits
of commencing their ISDN to
IP conversion strategies.”
“Obviously with ISDN
being phased out in the next
five years the traditional PBX
is on a gradual decline,” says
Graham Wilkinson at Beyond
Connectivity.
“I think the industry broadly
SIMPLE PLUG & PLAY
TAKES THE EFFORT OUT OF INSTALLATION
26 | IP Telephony 2020
018-036 IP 20.indd 26
accepted it would either be
hosted or going down the SIP
trunks road as a replacement.
What’s happening right now has
maybe skewed that thinking.
People are being tempted to do
something sooner rather than
later. It makes a lot of sense too
as even if we get over the current
crisis in the next three or four
months there is a danger the
virus will return again later in
the year.”
Wilkinson concludes,
“Working from home on a
mobile phone, with a bit of
luck you can pick up your
emails. What resellers should
be emphasising is all your
telephony, call recording,
compliance and the ability to
choose to be in or out of hunt
groups goes with you. It’s a more
mature, fuller and less disruptive
working from home scenario. A
complete package.
Graham Wilkinson of Beyond Connectivity
Peter Oosthuizen, London
Partner Sales Manager for
Spitfire, says, yes, but it comes
in waves, and outside of that it
is simply a factor in any strategic
business decision.
“The first wave came when
the PSTN shutdown was
announced and the early movers
adopted IP technology. The
second wave came as onsite
PBXs became end of life and
businesses took this as an
opportunity to retire the onsite
PBX and migrate to a cloud-
based PBX due to the improved
functionality and flexibility
offered. Other businesses who
are pinned to their onsite PBX
due to significant investment on
initial purchase (and could not
justify a replacement) are simply
migrating their ISDN to SIP
trunks and enabling the onsite
PBX for SIP (via PBX licensing
or a gateway).
M Y P H O N E S . C O M
This still allows them to
benefit from the improved
flexibility and cost effectiveness
of IP telephony. We will likely
see a third wave in the next few
months as businesses revaluate
their ability to work remotely
due to the Covid-19 crisis and
recognise that an onsite PBX is
not as flexible The final wave
will then come when suppliers
are no longer able to accept
ISDN orders and the final few
businesses will be forced to
migrate from legacy ISDN to IP
telephony.
These waves will assist the
sales process through the channel
giving our partners more reasons
to promote IP telephony to
customers but outside of this,
businesses will continue to
evaluate their telecoms service
and will make the decision to
move to hosted telephony as
part of their strategic business
planning.
End of Life
Tim Kimber, Product Marketing
Director at Vonage says “I think
that the reason ISDN is still
an issue is because the area of
business communications has
been slower to embrace the cloud
than others. That’s all rapidly
changing, however, especially
in light of the recent restrictions
on movement. Organisations
are quickly realising that adding
business communications to
the cloud not only delivers
significant reductions in cost,
but also reduces complexity.
www.commsbusiness.co.uk
22/06/2020 16:09
 www.commsbusiness.co.uk IP Telephony 2020 | 27

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 INTERVIEW
A Different Approach
Richard Potts, Managing Director of Leicester based North Supply, says we are already seeing Supermarket
dominance result in fewer local shops and stores and established high street retailers going into liquidation.
The question is – are we in the comms industry set to follow this trend or are we still looking to offer customers
the choice?
A
s technology becomes
ever cheaper, users
or customers tend to
become less respectful of
the costs manufacturers must
invest in their headlong rush to
continue development at pace.
It is in the interests of major
players in the market to set such
a relentless pace to add newer
features and services as they
can benefit from the economy
of scale needed to sustain the
pricing models.
There is a widely held
perception that the larger
organisations get the less
personal they become. How
many times do you get an email
from one of these organisations
that you cannot reply back to,
or where staff are protected by
complex call centre routing
where you need to weave your
way through tiers of routing
to allow you the privilege of
talking to a different person
every time?
I have enjoyed being able
to visit my local shop in these
disruptive times and selected
products a little different
from those I can get in the in
supermarkets, and in previous
times selected a shirt from
a hanger and tried it on as
opposed to having all my
excitement fizzle away when I
realise I have to send back an
online purchase because I did
not appreciate Italian XXL is
really only a UK L.
What relevance does this
have to IP Telephony I hear you
ask?
To many it means nothing
as they will take comfort in
partnering with the big players
28 | IP Telephony 2020
018-036 IP 20.indd 28
in the market and be happy
to offer the same products as
other local suppliers, often with
margins set by the giants in the
industry. To some, they may
wish to differentiate both in
terms of products and service,
and it is those we feel may be
ready to do business differently.
Products and services need to
compete, but many customers
still want reliability and useable
features and may not be ready
to pay a price premium or be
ready to embrace leading edge
technology. There is a huge shift
towards cloud deployments
as it does offer many benefits,
Richard Potts, MD at North Supply
but we are still seeing many
who still wish to ‘own’ their
communications system and
take full advantage of the cost
savings once a lease has been
finished. It therefore seems
sensible that partners are able
to offer customers a choice of
on premise, private and public
cloud solutions via both Capex
and Opex models whilst still
being able to offer a migration
path that allows them to retain
their customers when / if they
change in the future.
It is great that there are
pioneers in the industry that
consolidate in the pursuit of
larger market share, but in
their quest to achieve this
we as human beings crave
variation and differentiation
and I believe this helps smaller,
more agile and more customer
focussed suppliers offer viable
alternatives.
As a relatively new arrival
to the UK telephony market,
North Supply have looked to
do things a little differently.
Although we have been working
in the telecoms industry for
over 25 years, we have done
so by providing a high level of
customer service, using tried
and tested products with staff
that take responsibility and who
value your business.
We now partner with
vendors that have proven on
premise and cloud products
and with our expertise as a
peripherals supplier can offer a
range of value add products and
services that complement the
core offerings and help increase
the overall one stop solution to
our partners We are able to offer
solutions to meet all customer
deployments and we have our
own UK based cloud platform
- so moves and changes, trials,
demonstrations and partner
support can be actioned directly
by our own staff.
We are geared to supporting
our partners and believe we
have the expertise to provide a
high level of customer service
to those partners who value the
ethos we have ingrained in our
organisation.
The question is, do you want
to follow the trends or are you
ready to look at doing business a
little differently?
www.commsbusiness.co.uk
MK6873
22/06/2020 16:10
 Get in-touch
Tel: 0161 925 1530
Email: sales@beyondconnectivity.co.uk
www.beyondconnectivity.co.uk

More than just a PBX Replacement

The latest Hosted telephony solutions from
Beyond Connectivity covers all flexible bases.
Agile working and Rapid Deployments
Allow customers the flexibility of working from anywhere with our inclusive
mobile softphone.

Flexible Commercials
Choose from a Simplified, all-inclusive handset bundle at a fixed monthly cost,
or get the costs out of the way early with our upfront hardware and license options.

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Steamline inbound and outbound calls with CTI Integration.

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www.commsbusiness.co.uk IP Telephony 2020 | 29

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 INSIGHT
Mobile Technology Comes
back in to Focus
Comms Business Magazine talks to Panasonic about their move to the cloud and BNS Distribution regarding
how, in their view, Wi-Fi voice is changing the shape of UC mobility
B
ob Mercer, Group
Manager, Comms
Business Division,
Panasonic, says that
as a leading manufacturer in
the global telephony business,
Panasonic continues to develop
products and services for our
dedicated Channel Partners.
“With the variety of flexible
trunking options in the IP
telephony sector and the
expertise our partners have,
we believe this is still the
key route to market for our
product. In addition, our SIP
telephony options for both
wired and DECT terminals
are completely scalable to
meet the market requirements.
Our SIP terminals can all be
pre-provisioned for remote
deployment through our
redirection service.
The current global crisis
has thrown a spotlight on the
need for businesses to have
flexible IP-based solutions for
their telephony and broader
communications systems.
In addition, the need for
homeworking solutions
has become key to keeping
businesses operating at this
time. The need for collaboration
across communication services,
such as mobile, softphone,
deskphone and DECT, for
example, has also been brought
into sharp focus.
Panasonic’s NSX platform
is designed to meet these
needs by off ering a variety of
end point solutions across a
resilient IP product solution
with full redundancy and fail-
30 | IP Telephony 2020
018-036 IP 20.indd 30
over back up.
We have now taken this
technology and placed it in the
cloud, with our NSV platform
offering a fully functioning
PBX in a virtual environment.
In addition, our partners can
now sell this product with either
Annual or Perpetual licences,
providing a highly featured
product at a per user rate which
is highly competitive.
As well as meeting these
emerging market requirements,
Panasonic also remains
dedicated to supporting the
existing routes to market for
our channel partners and will
continue to develop our core
products in the analogue and
digital sectors, as well as the IP
market segments.”
Lee Sinclair, Sales Director
BNS Distribution, says that
companies are embracing a
new type of work space when
designing their offices - hybrid
and mobile friendly.
“This isn’t a surprise, as
recent studies show that
employees are spending 50-60%
of their time at the office away
from their desk. Companies
and organisations are looking
for unified communications and
Wi-Fi solutions that not only
support their workforce, but
also its mobility.
The UC market is seeing
an evolution as Wi-Fi voice
technology is improving and
becoming a more scalable
solution for VoIP. Businesses are
moving to mobile friendly floor
plans, and wireless networks are
becoming a status-quo in the
workplace. Any reseller who is to customise Wi-Fi networks to
creating a Wi-Fi solution for provide priority bandwidth to
a business’s IT solution, can Wi-Fi voice data. This means
merge their mobile UC needs more wireless devices can
right along with it. This means connect simultaneously to one
a lower deployment cost for the AP while still maintaining a
customer, an easier installation high level of call quality.
and configuration process, As time goes on, the way
and a streamlined physical we work and the technology
infrastructure.: we use changes. DECT was
Sinclair believes scaling once the standard for mobile
a cordless Wi-Fi solution is communications and it will
simple and easy as long as there most likely always be around
is a signal available within the in one way or another. Now
network. though, Wi-Fi voice is emerging
“There’s no limit on how as the notable leader within the
far a handset can roam within mobile communications space.
a Wi-Fi environment.
Grandstream GWN Access
Points integrate with our
Wi-Fi handsets to make
this process even easier by
sharing the WP810 security
credentials with other
in-network GWN APs so
they can auto-recognise the
handset while it is roaming.
There have been
substantial technological
advancements within
wireless APs in terms of
their speed and software
that helps keep traffic
smooth and voice quality
high. Most market-leading
APs support wave-2 and
MU-MIMO technology
and together, these two
features help APs push their
bandwidth levels to new
speeds and can handle more
concurrent users compared
to older AP models. On
top of that, QoS (quality
of service) standards have For m
evolved to allow installers
www.commsbusiness.co.uk
22/06/2020 16:10
 Chat
Application sharing
Video
Conferencing
Telephony
Office integration
WebRTC
Presence

Home office innovaphone are experts in the field of IP and are one of the leading European
providers of universal work and communications solutions for companies of all
sizes.

by innovaphone innovaphone offers solutions for small and medium-sized businesses with
several different branches as well as for large enterprises.
The complete innovaphone portfolio comprising all hardware and software
solutions is developed entirely in-house by highly skilled and dedicated
engineers.
The innovaphone PBX is a professional IP telephone system that can operate
independently, yet, its full performance is achieved when combined with the
Unified Communications functionalities of the innovaphone myApps platform.
The innovaphone portfolio further includes IP phones, VoIP gateways, DECT
solutions, software applications and specialist devices, as well as the universal
work and communications client innovaphone myApps with apps to
communicate, work and administrate:
Perfect integration of IP Telephony Mobility scenarios for remoteworking
and UC
Standardly included security
Device independence: same look mechanisms and security protocols
and feel for all devices (smartphone,
Simplified configuration, provisioning
tablet, computer etc.)
and management of accounts / end
All innovaphone solutions, scenarios devices
and products can be operated either
Open platform architecture for 3rd
in the cloud or on premises
party apps

The innovaphone solution is distributed in the UK by North Supply who are able
to offer an online quote tool, UK based sales, technical, and installation
assistance, training, plus a range of post installation maintenance options.
North Supply manage and provision the innovaphone cloud platform directly
using UK based datacenters and can offer partnership levels to suit most
reseller requirements.
We would welcome the opportunity to set up a trial system to allow you to use
and evaluate the innovaphone products and services first hand so you can then
make an informed decision as to whether innovaphone can add value to your
existing IT and telephony portfolio.

For more information please visit northsupply.com

NORTH
SUPPLY
or speak with our sales team on 01858 411500.

018-036 IP 20.indd 31 22/06/2020 16:10

 CHANNEL
FEEDBACK

A Multi-Vendor Strategy
Do you have the right portfolio to ensure you win more than your fair share of deals? What advice do Channel
suppliers have for partners wishing to construct an unbeatable portfolio?

N
o single platform
provides best of breed
applications across the
piste but on the other
hand single vendor solutions
are more likely to have better
interoperability. The difficulty
is knowing where to draw the
trade-off line.
Justin Hamilton-Martin,
Director of Centile says that
with many people working from
home, it can be easy to forget
about mobile.
“We’ve seen a massive
upswing in the use of our own
mobile app, so that indicates
people are using their mobiles
even more: perhaps because
sometimes it is easier to move
to another spot at home where
it’s quieter to attend a virtual Interoperability has to work for everyone and for every application
meeting, or because we have all
become so used to our mobiles need to consider accountability. of our end to end solution via Government directives have
being the centre of our lives, with When it comes to something our methodology which looks focused peoples’ minds and
the ability to initiate calls, video as sensitive as voice, when you at every component within the remote working will become
and chat from a variety of apps. start adding bits together from route of the voice packet to more of the norm in the future.
As people start to work multiple vendors it just adds ensure the appropriate LAN It will force companies to really
outside the home again, the complexity and becomes a configuration has been designed think about their pandemic
ability to have seamless access to nightmare to troubleshoot and for quality voice.” planning, disaster recovery and
— and transition across business you end up in a game of finger Graham Wilkinson at crisis management.
apps — will be an even bigger pointing. Channel suppliers are Beyond Connectivity is also In the past a building fire or
selling point for mobile users. far better off partnering with a looking to make sure resellers a flood was quite rare and only
Customers will look for a native single channel supplier who can do not miss the mobile affected a small proportion of
green button dialling with true offer an end to end voice solution opportunity. the working population. But
FMC capability (vs app dialling) and take full accountability of the “The Beyond platform this now is the biggest crisis we
and this is where we will see service. has the potential to offer a have ever faced since the war. I
FMC come into its own. So how do you choose that true mobile SIM where text don’t think any business will not
Peter Oosthuizen, London provider? Well that single messages and mobile calls take flexible working seriously,
Partner Sales Manager for provider should have a multi- can be recorded, and a mobile not just working from home but
Spitfire says his advice to those vendor network strategy, so phone also becomes a user’s doing it effectively. If you need
in the channel who are looking the channel partner is still extension number. It also offers to record calls for example and
to construct an unbeatable able to reap the benefits of a special low use, low cost meet other compliance criteria
portfolio is to look at the end to such inherent resiliency. The education package – combining can you still do that properly
end solution. Everything from additional benefit is that they internal communication with working from home?
the voice environment, the PBX, are also then able to hold a emergency outgoing calls for We are witnessing a whole
the connectivity to the support. single supplier accountable for schools and further education working evolution and a change
Each component needs to be well the service and have a single campuses. in ethos. It’s much more than
designed to provide an efficient point of contact. The current Coronavirus just swapping a PBX and
and reliable service. You then Spitfire manage the quality home working trends and moving comms into the cloud.”

32 | IP Telephony 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk

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018-036 IP 20.indd 33 22/06/2020 16:11
 CHANNEL
FEEDBACK

Differentiation – The Holy Grail

In a sea of products which appear to do the same thing how can partners differentiate themselves enough to
make themselves stand out? Is service and support the holy grail?

L
eaving aside price, how
can partners differentiate
themselves enough to
make themselves stand
out? Some say that providing
an excellent service and support
wrap is one solution and will
become the battlefield partners
need to focus on to make their
offering stand out in the crowd.
Myles Leach Managing
Director at NFON UK, says
the partners that have been
the most successful with are
the ones that understand that
NFON is a disrupter.
to getting their heads around
the agility of the new cloud
environment. However, a lot of
smaller brands and IT partners
resellers can easily integrate
this new offering into their
product portfolio. The fact
is, resellers go for the strategy
that’s easy, and NFON is trying
to give them that. We’re doing
commission sales, Wholesale,
and more, which means that we
can give partners whatever they
need. NFON is even exploring
the possibilities of the master
agent model, by taking over
as an ordinary ‘one size fits
all’ solution but the Beyond
platform encapsulates so much
more and is based on a single
pane of glass management
console and a self-serve portal.
Enhanced unlimited call
recording options ensure PCI
and MiFID II compliance
whilst an analytics wall
board generates live call stats
information.
It is always best to sell a
service rather than a price point.
Service and support is a key
differentiator but amazingly not
both the reliability of the
Spitfire Hosted PBX 2.1 and
the consistent call quality when
delivered over Spitfire’s own
voice approved broadband or
Ethernet circuits backed up
with SLAs. Because of our
expertise in IP engineering we
can always support our partners
to deliver the best SIP solution
for their customers’ needs.
As Spitfire Hosted PBX 2.1
has been developed in house,
we are able to offer the service
at the highly competitive rate
of only £6 per user license a C

“To deliver their solutions billing and other tasks that their everyone seems to care – until month, including free service M

as far and wide as possible, partners don’t want to deal with there is a problem. Often not setup on one-year contracts. Y

NFON concentrates on going on their behalf.” enough weight is given to this The minimum contract period
CM
out to partners and working Graham Wilkinson at element and it needs to be a key is three months and customers
with them to support their end Beyond Connectivity says that aspect of the solution, but it is can opt to manage their own MY

users. As a more agile business, his company covers all bases for also only one component of the setup. This builds the all- CY

NFON is in an excellent a reseller such as bureau billing full package.” important price differentiator CMY

place to be an innovative and many other services – Peter Oosthuizen, London into the package.
K
disrupter in the field of business backed by an organisation with Partner Sales Manager for The Holy Grail for channel
communication, and the a pedigree, extensive support Spitfire makes the case for price partners is a supplier with the full
company also sees opportunities and account management. and feature differentiation. package. Service and support,
to partner with organisations “Hosted can be viewed “Our partners emphasise functionality and price.”
outside of the traditional UC
space too, including IT service
providers and resellers.
NFON already gets a lot
of positive feedback from its
partners for the disruptive
experiences that they offer,
and the business wants to keep
building on this growth going
forward. We want to increase
our sales channel, but we don’t
want to oversaturate it and
give our partners too much
competition in the same areas.
NFON offers a wide variety
of businesses the opportunity
to get involved with cloud
telephony with all features
and advantages, rather than
focusing exclusively on
traditional UC providers. The
classic communications resellers
often struggle when it comes Is the service wrap the Holy Grail of differentiation?

34 | IP Telephony 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk

018-036 IP 20.indd 34 22/06/2020 16:11

 Wavenet Comms Biz Full Page Ad June 2020.pdf 1 28/05/2020 13:58

CM

MY

CY

CMY

Apps

018-036 IP 20.indd 35 22/06/2020 16:11

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OF DEVELOPING
AND DELIVERING
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36 | IP Telephony 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk

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