Technology Reseller - v08

technolog y reseller.co.uk ENTERPRISE COMMUNICATIONS 33 If a business was solely to use the latest technology, it would risk alienating users and disrupting business, and lose value from its existing investments Businesses without borders - Bridging vs. Peer-to-Peer Calling Teams in businesses don’t just operate within their business’s borders. They are often located across multiple countries and can encompass internal employees, external team members, partners and contractors, even customers. The idea of the borderless enterprise is gaining momentum within the business world, but the tools and services to support this need to be in place. Location, device type or domain can’t get in the way. Rethinking the PBX Wainhouse Research found that, on average, 40% of enterprise voice traffic ends up in a group conference call – the percentage is even higher in larger organisations. Today, conferencing and group collaboration is becoming the de facto way much work gets done, and this requires a rethink on how a business views its PBX. Communications platforms that provide multiple functions, such as voice, video and document sharing, can become an extension of the PBX to support peer-to- peer and group collaboration, blending both individual and group collaboration features seamlessly, without the need for the immediate replacement of existing hardware. The Bell Curve reigns supreme - meeting user wants and needs Most users aren’t early adopters of technology. When asked how far along the technology curve their personal communications environments were, 34% of participants identified themselves as early adopters, 44% placed themselves in the middle of the curve, and 22% said they were happy to wait until they absolutely had to change their technology. Channel Vision John Carter, Managing Director, DMSL 1 What was your greatest challenge in 2017? Making the complex simple; bringing all the different elements of suppliers’ propositions and programmes together and making them easy for resellers to sell. The other big challenge for me personally, as a Spurs season ticket holder, has been getting to Wembley in time for kick-off. 2 What was your greatest achievement in 2017? Staying sane? There’s no single thing I’d point to, but being able to help our partners grow again is certainly one. Successfully taking suppliers who are new to channel into the market and engaging partners for them is another. And managing to not use the term ‘digital transformation’. 3 What were the key growth areas for you in 2017? Ultrafast and superfast broadband grew fast and we see more of that in 2018. Hosted voice has also been a big growth area for us in 2017 and, again, we expect more of the same next year.. 4 Any lessons learned in 2017? Yes, but it’s an old lesson really and one I had already learned, which is basically, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ – or ‘always put substance before style’. There are some great-sounding products and services out there, but delivering real benefits to the customer is all that really matters. 5 What is your main focus for 2018? The same as 2017, higher speed services and hosted VoIP. We see good potential around GDPR, making sure resellers and their customers are ready for it, and the new MiFID regulations around voice recording in financial services. (And trying to avoid labelling everything as ‘digital transformation’.) 6 Reasons to be optimistic about 2018? With GDPR and more use of cloud, communications services are going to be more important than ever. If Harry Kane stays, Spurs still might have a shot at some silverware. And if he stays fit into June, England may have a sniff at the World Cup. As organisations embrace new technologies and provide more connected workflows, they need to weigh up the advantages of new disruptive trends and technologies with the benefits of maintaining existing communications platforms. IT teams that engage their user community at every stage of the development lifecycle will find they reduce support costs and increase user adoption. Knowing end user preferences is key to delivering the right mix of services, and a platform that retains support for legacy users will ensure a smooth transition without leaving behind slow adopters. The communication continuum In today’s business world, nothing is static. A flexible communications platform that can extend its capabilities is essential to meet continually changing business requirements. A number of communication vendors provide open API access to communications features like voice, SMS and video, supporting the integration of collaboration tools for a growing mix of external team members, contractors and partners. They provide a set of cloud-based services, implemented as an overlay solution with essential collaborative capabilities. These are simple for companies to deploy and users to adopt, regardless of their existing communications systems. For enterprise communications to stay ahead, using disruptive technology without the business disruption will be key. The free whitepaper Enterprise Communications: Keys to a successful transition can be downloaded from www.al-enterprise.com