technologyreseller.co.uk 33 into Teams. CS-R: In addition to our product development, we constantly evolve and improve our processes – how we work with partners and the services and support we offer. We constantly finesse and improve those as much as we can. TR: If an IT reseller is interested in getting into voice, what should they do? CS-R: Find out what your existing customers need. If they're not asking for voice, or they don't need it, or they don't want it, are you able to find new customers that do want it without a massive investment? There's no point spending time and money and effort and resources to adapt your business to something that none of your customers want. Thankfully, communications is something that every business needs and most of the business world uses Microsoft applications so with the transition from voice-only licences to collaboration-enabled licences, you’re unlikely not to find a need. Go with the needs of your customer base first and then start looking at how you can develop net new from there. And get in touch with us, talk to us, see how we can help. That's what we're here to do. TR: We see a lot in the press about the ISDN switch-off. Is that something that IT resellers should be looking to exploit? CS-R: Absolutely. At the end of the day, their customers are going to be affected by it if they haven't already moved from an onpremises system. And with people wanting one invoice, one price, multiple services from one supplier, they should go out and talk to their customers. There's been a stay of execution because the switch-off has been pushed back to the beginning of 2027, but our position hasn't changed. Start looking at it sooner rather than later. These processes always take much longer than you realise and it will give you time and options. There's nothing worse than having to make a last-minute decision. HG: This is going to be a big change. Having ISDN was a business need and the move to IP is a chance for IT resellers to move into a different market. And why not? If you're an IT reseller, it's something you can layer on top. And, as the switch-off date gets closer, the government may give grants as they’ve done in other sectors. CS-R: As with everything talk to your customers. Give them what they need. These are edited highlights of a video interview between James Goulding, Editor of Technology Reseller, and NFON UK. The interview can be seen in full on www.technologyreseller.uk, in the Video Interviews column on the left of the home page or scan the QR code above. challenges are and, with our very big R&D operation, can match those to our to do list. TR: Chris, could you tell me a little bit about NFON’s route to market in the UK? CS-R: We sell exclusively through the channel, and there are obvious benefits to that. From our perspective, we gain instant access to a much wider end user base and it vastly increases our skill set and helps us break into new verticals. From a reseller perspective, they've got a choice of business model. We offer wholesale partnerships, which is great if you want to control your own margins etc., and commission partnerships. We find that a lot of newer partners and smaller partners, particularly if they’re new to the market, come in as commission partners. There's no financial risk for them – we take all the risk and look after pricing and billing and provide a complete wraparound service with technical support, marketing support, sales support, pre-sales support. The partner sells our services to the customer and gets a commission on every deal they make. TR: What developments can we look forward to from NFON in the next six to 12 months? CS-R: Earlier we were talking about integrating voice with Teams, but we're also doing more on the analytics and compliance side of things. What I mean by that is having something like traditional PBX call and queue analytics or compliance recording but for all interactions going through the Teams interface. In addition, we will continue to work with our contact centre vendor to improve and upskill and up-develop that solution, particularly when it comes to AI. Those are probably the priority focus areas for us. HG: Like Chris said, AI is definitely going to be a big push. It is the big buzzword but we really want to make it work and in a way that is user-friendly so that people want to embrace it. That's going to be in our contact centre solution and it will be a game-changer. Working with Teams is going to continue – we see that getting stronger, with so many businesses moving Business Design Centre · London · 17 September 2024 ICT · MANAGED IT · MOBILE · PRINT 24 in partnership with Exhibitor Watch the full interview
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDUxNDM=