Technology Reseller - v18 2019

technolog y reseller.co.uk 23 UNIFIED COMMS Wildix didn’t pull any punches at its first UCC Summit, warning resellers that it was time to evolve or die is required are tools to increase business productivity. That is why System Integrators must evolve into Managed Service Providers and sell their skills as an integral part of the solution. This is done by proposing the right technologies together with a business model suitable for the purpose.” Osler’s analysis was backed up by Peter Hale, Senior Analyst at MZA Consultants, who highlighted the switch from on-premise solutions to the cloud. “In four years, 67% of total profits will come from cloud solutions. This is due to multiple factors, including the transition of UCs to a model of consumption, rather than ownership, to Opex instead of Capex, usage-based pricing instead of Lifetime licences,” he said. Selling value Wildix is profiting from this transition, and it wants more resellers to do the same. To this end, at UCC Summit 2019, it announced a number of initiatives to up-skill resellers and help them make the transition from reseller to MSP. One of these is a course in ValueSelling developed by Unicomm. Explaining the purpose of this sales technique, already used by some of the largest IT companies in the world, including Microsoft, Oracle and Google, Unicomm founder and Head of Channel Sales Strategy Cristiano Bellumat said: “Creating value is a pillar of the sales model for companies in the Managed Services sector. In fact, it is not about selling a product, it is about On February 18-19, Wildix hosted resellers from across Europe at its first UCC Summit 2019, held at the World Trade Center, Barcelona. Delegates from 400 companies learnt about recent developments at the fast growing provider of browser-based unified communications and learnt why evolving into a Managed Service Provider is the only option for telecoms partners. Half warning, half call to arms, this message was driven home by an army of ‘walking dead’ straight out of central casting. Representing traditional PBX vendors that have failed to adapt to the disintermediation of the market by the internet, but also representative of resellers stuck in an on-premise, CAPEX world, they marauded the corridors and exhibition spaces, scaring delegates physically and metaphorically. In his opening address, Steve Osler, co-founder and CEO of Wildix, said that the so-called Amazon effect had led to the almost total loss of people in the middle between supply and demand. “That is why it is no longer sustainable to be pure resellers of other people’s products,” he said. “Who still acts as a simple intermediary? Who still fights a price war that does not bring margins and therefore gains?” He added: “No one, nowadays, addresses a System Integrator company because he wants a new switchboard. What interviewing the client to understand with him what problems they have to solve in order to improve their performance. This sales model dedicated to the IT market is ValueSelling.” Another is Kanban, a method of visualising tasks and organising workflows originally developed for the manufacturing industry and now widely used in the IT world. Kanban has been hugely successful for Wildix and the company would like resellers, too, to benefit from the gains in efficiency, productivity and customer service that it delivers – especially when implemented in tandem with ValueSelling. “ValueSelling leads to the discovery of the value from the customer’s point of view,” explained Bellumat, “But, thanks to Kanban, this value can be delivered on time and with the WOW effect of the receiver.” New products In addition, Wildix unveiled new portfolio extensions and product enhancements. We will cover these in more detail in next Zombie warning Who still acts as a simple intermediary? Who still fights a price war that does not bring margins and therefore gains? Continued...