Technology Reseller - v08

technolog y reseller.co.uk COMMUNICATIONS 23 All profit up front Channel Telecom’s ISDN scrappage scheme offers big benefits for resellers and their customers does. That’s a massive benefit,” he said. “The other great thing about this scheme is that if the reseller has included their profit in the lease price, they get three years’ profit up-front. As soon as the Ethernet is installed, the leasing company pays us the full value of the Ethernet upfront. We pay the carrier what we owe for the circuit for three years, we take a little bit of profit for ourselves and we pay the partner all their profit. The customer pays the same price they would anyway, just on a three-year lease.” Importantly, that price is generally a lot less than the customer would pay for ISDN. Norton cites the example of one customer that has used the ISDN scrappage scheme to replace all their analogue and ISDN lines and maintenance contracts with a hosted system on a 50/100 Ethernet connection. By doing so they have been able to reduce their monthly telephony costs from £960 to £500, which includes the cost of the Ethernet connection, a whole new hosted solution, associated equipment and call costs. “The customer is saving £465 a month and they have a brand new system, which allows them to move to 365 and a new CRM integrated with their hosted system. They’ve got a 50/100 Ethernet, which will last them the next five years. The partner has earned £11,000 and has paid for all of the equipment upfront. We’ve paid the carrier upfront. Everybody’s happy.” Norton says the scrappage scheme has struck a chord with Channel Telecom partners and generated a huge amount of interest in the industry. “The volume of enquiries we are getting from people in the industry is fantastic. It is almost like the old days when the guys were selling phone systems: they go out; they sell a phone system; they put it on a lease that the customer pays off over 5 years; they install an ISDN 30; and they bill the calls. The thing is, the calls are now part of the package and ISDN is going in eight years. If a customer can get everything now, on an Ethernet with all the equipment paid for up front and it’s cheaper, there’s not much of an argument. Best of all, there’s no risk and the partner gets all their profit for three years up front.” www.channeltelecom.com Taking a leaf from the car industry, Channel Telecom has launched an ISDN scrappage scheme to encourage customers to make the transition from ISDN to IP over Ethernet. The scheme incentivises businesses to move from ISDN to Ethernet before BT’s 2025 deadline by giving them £1,000 cash-back when they upgrade to Ethernet, paid for on a lease contract. Channel Telecom Managing Director Clifford Norton says the beauty of this scheme is that the £1,000 cash-back is not loaded onto the lease, which would add to the customer’s costs, but comes directly from the discount carriers give to Channel Telecom for paying for a three-year Ethernet connection upfront. “It works like this,” explained Norton. “If I go to Openreach and they install a circuit, there is a standard charge of around £3,500 for the installation. If you pay Openreach for the installation upfront, they will give you a discount of about £1,000. All I am doing is taking the lease money, which I would be charging the customer anyway, and paying the carrier upfront to get the discount, which I then give to the customer.” Norton says it is up to the reseller whether they pass this on to the customer. Some might keep it for themselves, but he believes that most will use the cash-back to incentivise their customers, especially those that decide to run Ethernet alongside ISDN. “The reason we have offered the £1,000 cashback option is that there are customers that have both ISDN 30 and Ethernet and want to keep their old phone system. There’s a bit of cost involved in having a SIP bridge or upgrading current licences on your phone system – it is not cheap; it will cost at least £1,000. If I give you the £1,000, there is no reason not to do it and then you can scrap your ISDN and save yourself £100-£200 a month,” he said. Norton is quick to point out that, being based on a lease, the scheme has other benefits for channel partners. “If the reseller signs up a customer and the customer goes bust, they have to carry on paying the carrier for the next three years. But with the lease option, they no longer carry that risk, the leasing company If I go to Openreach and they install a circuit, there is a standard charge of around £3,500 for the installation. If you pay Openreach for the installation upfront, they will give you a discount of about £1,000 Clifford Norton Channel Vision Ian Kilpatrick, EVP Cyber Security for EMEA, Nuvias Group 1 What was your greatest challenge in 2017? Our greatest challenge was managing the very high rates of growth we have experienced at Nuvias, as our core practices of Unified Communications, Advanced Networking and Cyber Security continued to expand in EMEA. 2 What was your greatest achievement in 2017? As above 3 What were the key growth areas for you in 2017? We had high growth in all sectors 4 Any lessons learned in 2017? Nuvias is a young company, comprised of three very long-established companies (Wick Hill, Zycko and SIPHON Networks). We are trying to do something very different in distribution across EMEA and it has been both interesting and exciting in 2017 to see how much positive energy has been generated with the coming together of these three companies into one. 5 What is your main focus for 2018? Our main focus for 2018 is continuing our pattern of growth across EMEA. 6 Reasons to be optimistic about 2018? Nuvias has gained momentum over the last year with our channel partners and our suppliers. That momentum is growing and we are very positive about the many opportunities that lie ahead of us for 2018. 7 Reasons to be fearful about 2018? Uncertainty is always a challenge, so the lack of clarity around the Brexit process isn’t helpful.