DIFFERENTIATION
Standing Out from the Rest
Standing out amidst a
In a sea of products which appear to do the same thing how can partners differentiate themselves enough to make their
stand out from the rest. What are the supplier value-adds for partners looking to select a supplier?
crowded market has never
been more di cult for
technology suppliers and
resellers. When so many products
claim to o er the same ‘cutting
edge’ functionalities, customers’
choice often still boils down to
who is the cheapest?
However, says Steve Day of
Invosys, one distinction is even
more important to customers
than nding the cheapest
solution, and that is trust.
“We believe the way to build
trust is by putting partners rst in
every aspect of business.
e rst step is providing
technology that genuinely
answers customer needs
and focuses on resolving the
challenges they face, instead of
pushing unnecessary add-ons.
Similarly, licence models must
consider the reseller’s target
market and what users really need
from products and services. is
allows partners to provide their
customers with a better service,
and secure a bigger pro t margin
for themselves.
While technology and
pricing build the foundations
for trust, it is the level of support
and customer service that
really sets Channel providers
apart. Rewarding loyalty
and commitment, o ering a
comprehensive support package,
in-depth product training, and
anything else that will make
partners’ lives easier and their
businesses more pro table go a
long way in standing out from
competitors.
Making partners’ needs the
focus of your business incentivises
them to continue to use your
services and is a sure way to set
yourself apart from the rest, with
no gimmicks needed.”
Dominic Horton at Spit re
points to o ering high quality
service and support throughout
the lifecycle of a partnership as
clearly being an area where a
service provider can o er a clear
di erence.
“Resellers all have their own
business model and often wish
to engage with the partner in
their own unique way. For the
service provider the key is
therefore not only to ensure
that the service or product
provided is what the end
customer needs and of
course is reliable and
cost e ective, but to
provide high quality
support to the partner
via multiple channels
from the initial
conception to ongoing
post installation support.
Spit re has built our channel
business thanks to our dedicated
Partner Account Managers
who are available to meet all
our partners’ requirements,
from on-site meetings, demos,
and quoting the end user
or our partners as required.
We back everything up with
documentation and we are always
available at the end of the phone
to answer questions, no matter
how simple or complex.
Spit re’s aim is to provide all
of our partners with a simple, easy
to manage service that enables
the partner’s revenue growth with
minimal partner e ort.
Myles Leach, Managing
Director at NFON, says
his company has the most
comprehensive cloud telephony
solutions currently available on
the market today.
“Our proposition makes
us unique in the market
– as it’s our platform
and technology we can
drive our own product
roadmap and react much
more quickly to partner
and customer needs.”
Dave
Reynolds,XelionUK
Managing Director,
says his company’s
hosted telephony service is
free to use by our channel
partners, allowing them to
really familiarise themselves
with the features and functions
of the service so they can better
communicate Xelion’s advantages
to customers.
“We provide full technical
training for our partners’
engineers. In Xelion 7 there
are major improvements to
our admin tools and to ensure
partners take full advantage
of these improvements, we are
providing a raft of training
modules including Tech
Introduction, Tech Advanced,
Business Intelligence and Sales
modules. Our partner portal is
packed with marketing material
including documentation and
graphics for use in proposals,
contracts, online and via social
media.
Becoming a Xelion partner
provides supplier independence
unlike rival platforms, because
Xelion supports any SIP
compliant hardware and can be
used with almost any SIP trunk
and handsets from a range of
suppliers.
Xelion is also totally focused
on the channel with a partner
only policy, so there are never any
con icts of interest.”
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