INTERVIEW Road to Recovery
“We see huge opportunities across a number of markets, across SME to enterprise, to vertical
sectors. In terms of products, we believe the contact centre market is one to watch.”
Myles Leach, UK MD - NFON
Huge
Opportunities
In this interview Myles Leach, UK MD of NFON spoke to
Comms Business about his view on the Road to Recovery
The Road to
Recovery
There is no doubt the
economic reports we
are seeing make pretty
grim reading. We are
starting to witness mass
unemployment, the latest
business to shed staff is
Marks and Spencer (roughly
7,000 jobs). By the time you
are reading this there will
be many more I am sure.
However, there are signs of
resilience and even recovery
in certain sectors.
Despite offi cially being
in a recession we have
seen major tech companies
(and many smaller ones)
absolutely inundated with
requests for technology to
help customers get through
this period. We launched the
Road to Recovery initiative
back in June when we were
still guessing about the
impact of the Coronavirus
on the wider economy. At the
time we had seen huge take
up of hosted services and
Unifi ed Communications, this
hasn’t slowed down.
Over the next few pages
you will read pieces from
those companies that
helped their customers and
partners stay operational
and provided a platform for
these companies to thrive
rather than survive. I believe
there is a lot of opportunity
out there for those that sell
technology right now.
David Dungay
Comms Business
Magazine(CBM): Are
customers making big
purchasing decisions right
now?
Myles Leach (ML): Customers
are making purchasing
decisions on what they feel is
important to their business
right now. Technologies that
enable and streamline remote
working are crucial, so the
market demand is high. As
we look ahead and adjust to a
new working new model, we
believe businesses will continue
to invest in technologies that
will enable them to implement
smarter working practices and
have a more agile workforce.
CBM: Are you seeing
businesses making big
U-turns in terms of their
technology estate to ensure
they are future proof?
ML: It’s too early to answer
that. However, businesses
are having to adopt new
technologies to be able to work
remotely in a much shorter
time frame than could have
been imagined. ey should
de nitely be looking at their
communication strategy to
ensure they have a plan should
this happen again and also
to optimise the Customer
Experience.
CBM: Where do you believe
the opportunities for Channel
are over the next 12 months?
ML: We see huge opportunities
across a number of markets,
across SME to enterprise,
to vertical sectors. In terms
of products, we believe the
Contact Centre market is
one to watch. Customer
Experience has never been
more important, and many
businesses don’t have the
technology to support multiple
customer contact channels.
CBM: What does the road to
recovery look like for you?
ML: For us, it’s business as
usual. Obviously, we need to
make sure that we have a plan
to ensure our employees have
a safe return to the o ce and
we will be working with every
sta member to make sure this
is done correctly. We will also
be working closely with our
partners to help them on their
road to recovery and make
sure they make the most of the
opportunities that arise.
Ultimately our products help
businesses communicate and
collaborate, wherever they are;
so, they have been fundamental
in helping businesses during
this di cult time. Our recently
launched Teams integration,
Nvoice for Microsoft Teams,
is going down a storm as it’s
providing a true enterprise
voice solution – with a host of
intelligent telephony features –
within the familiar Microsoft
environment, accessible from
any location and any device.
Its enabled better collaboration
and improved productivity.
In Austria, for example,
NFON supports the
Association of Psychotherapists
(WLP) and enables more than
160 psychotherapists from
Vienna to support people
during the pandemic via
Cloudya.
18 | Comms Business Magazine | September 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
/www.commsbusiness.co.uk