technologyreseller.co.uk 31 CONNECTIVITY We see the whole world getting far more complicated. People need, more or less, to become managed service providers. When someone comes to them requiring a solution, they’re going to have to have a range of services which necessitates a more consultancy‑led approach. You have to talk to your customers, you have to understand their business, you have to be able to build quite a complex solution for them. Lots of partners are already adapting to that new model and we see it as a great area of opportunity.” AI is clearly a case in point, with businesses needing help identifying use cases and integrating it with other systems. So too is the transition to All IP. “How do we drive that All IP transformation forward? How do we change the landscape of our industry so that it’s all based around FTTP, whether with BT or anyone else? That could be quite transformational for the industry. If, all of a sudden, anyone can have a 1 gigabit connection that’s reliable and superfast, there are going to be a lot more applications that people and businesses can use and that our partners will be expected to sell,” said Jones. “I think it’s going to create a new dawn for us with plenty of opportunity. When broadband was invented, we saw the rise of the social media companies and new businesses like Uber and a million other kind of use cases. I think it’s going to be a real turning point for the industry and allow it to do far more things and have far more applications for business, which is really exciting.” That said, Jones warns that even something as essential – and exciting – as migrating customers to All IP has challenges. “The market for UCaaS is forecast to be something like £155 billion in 2030, so there’s a massive opportunity. However, migrating people can be complex. You have to talk to them; you have to create new services; you have to do that transformation. A high percentage of channel partners are working with their customers on that, but they’ve also got to watch out for things like Trustpilot, which is important as a marketing tool. They have to plan it effectively and they have to execute it effectively, which is a complex operation. The theory is that All IP or fibre-based communication should be far more reliable than the PSTN, so it’s also a real opportunity for everyone to create that next generation of communication solutions.” Jones adds that one of the consequences of All IP-powered business transformation is that channel partners need to have a greater breadth of services and capabilities. “You can see the shape of partners changing. We’re starting to deal with partners that have Microsoft certifications, and Teams will be just one of many solutions they might be selling to customers along with Azure and M365. There’s far more of an IT slant to partners today and a greater breadth in what they have to provide to keep their customers happy.” Provider of choice BT Wholesale’s approach to this changing market is to try to be the network provider of choice for its partners. “Earlier on, I spoke about the investment we’re making and the way we’re trying to digitise. What we’re also doing is bringing out new products and services, like Complete Mobile, which is the first time that EE has been wholesaled. We’re always looking at what can we do from a wholesale perspective that allows our partners to compete better, to have a wider range of services. We’ve done quite a lot on Microsoft Teams, which we see as a great growth area; we’re investing £3.7 billion in our core network capability and have services up to 400 gig; we’ve invested in 5G, which is available to our partners; and we’re looking at things like unified comms. We’re really looking to be the powerhouse behind our customers.” Jones adds that in a competitive market like connectivity and communications being easy to do business with is just as important as having the right products. “The number one thing people talk about is reducing the cost to serve. You have to have a certain level of product, with a certain performance and a certain capability. Then, it’s about how can I interact with you digitally, how can our systems work together seamlessly so you don’t have banks of people using spreadsheets. We’re working on integrating APIs so that someone can take a customer order on a CRM, move it through their business on to ours; we can provide the solution and send them key customer updates and information seamlessly, allowing us to take people out of that process and be far more effective. The more competitive a market is, the more important this becomes because no one wants the cost and inefficiencies of people chasing things. APIs are super important for my national customers, for my local customers and for my international customers. Ultimately, it’s about being really easy to do business with.” Photo: pixabay.com/Mohamed_hassan
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