AMPLIFY - CUSTOMER ADAPT to the evolving - Gamma
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AMPLIFY
Unified communications:
What does it really mean?
Why
customer
service is
a moving
target in the
channel
Proactive
marketing
is key in the
channel
How to +
ADAPT to the evolving Profile:
CUSTOMER
Andrew Taylor
Partner case
studies
Product
updates
AMPLIFY
Foreword
from Daryl Pile, Managing Director
CONTENTS
Horizon Ask yourself the question - what is more integral to the
PRODUCTS AND UPDATES
Collaborate 5
success of your business: digitisation or customer experience?
We’ve read, listened to and watched so much around digital Horizon 12
transformation for the last few years that it’s starting to become,
The Channel’s favourite
despite its continued relevance, a tired message. The buzzwords Data 14
and hashtags that have been thrown around have distracted us
from the point of embarking on a digital transformation project SIP and Inbound 20
to begin with.
Gamma Mobile and Connect
just got better.
24
We know that digital technologies can provide us with the
means to deliver greater levels of efficiency and effectiveness Accelerate 29
within our business, but does that mean we are automatically
considered successful? It’s essential that the technology Partner Programme 31
you implement must be adopted internally and be boosting
satisfaction to your customers. At the heart of any digital
Gamma’s new Horizon Collaborate solution offers services such as instant transformation project should be the experience you offer to CASE STUDIES
your customers as this is what will drive return. Digitisation is
messaging and presence, voice, video, desktop and application sharing and in many ways an important part of keeping customers happy TSI 15
but it isn’t enough to grow or sustain relationships. Customer
document sharing. Fully integrated with the award-winning Horizon hosted PBX experience will provide you the vision and direction to steer Blackstar Solutions 32
your business.
service, Horizon Collaborate supports all the features and functionality of the swcomms 33
telephony service for a true unified communications experience. We understand that the market and requirements of end
customers are evolving and it is Gamma’s priority to help our
channel partners navigate through this change successfully,
whilst providing innovative, disruptive products that will meet
FEATURES
the needs of your customers. In this issue of Amplify you will
Unified Communications: What does
Defined by the Channel, designed for the Channel.
3
hear from Gamma CEO Andrew Taylor on how we aim to help
it really mean?
our channel partners define the digital strategy, the past and
future of Unified Communications and why you can’t afford to
Digitalisation made easy 7
not have a proactive marketing strategy.
Profile: Andrew Taylor 9
I hope you enjoy reading our latest issue of Amplify.
Contact us today to find out more. Why customer service is a moving 17
Kind regards,
target in the channel
Daryl Pile
Proactive marketing is key in the 27
channel
0333 014 0000 gamma.co.uk
GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFY 2
AMPLIFY
M uch has been
written about
Unified Communications
to outward facing, collaborative
and multifunctional teams that
understand what their customers
experience everywhere.
Unified Communications enables
(UC) over the years and want from their organisation. organisations to become closer
today we have come to their customers. Data gathered
to recognise that its As a result, organisations on customer opinion can be
application in business are looking to change both readily shared through the UC
has become a key their management ethos and based collaborative applications
component in the digital structures as well as implement then analysed to reveal trends,
journeys enterprises integrated new technologies and their likes and dislikes and what
are taking as they seek applications that can best support they want next.
to gain competitive and drive their collaborative and
A
advantage in their customer led strategies. In short, Unified Communications
markets.
nd the will greatly assist the delivery
of a digital transformation and
The drivers for this are many fold
but at the centre is the underlying
benefits… ultimately, the competitive
advantage organisations seek.
business need to ‘Survive and
Thrive’ which is continually being
As always, a central requisite
put under pressure by external Customer service excellence is
for reseller success is working
forces and innovative third party fast becoming the Holy Grail of
organisations equally keen to any business ambition and how to with a partner that understands
their challenges; a financially
UNIFIED
disrupt those markets and take achieve it is high on the agenda of
market share from established most UK boardrooms. secure partner that can provide
incumbents. innovative solutions for both
COMMUNICATIONS
Only the customer can decide SME and Enterprise users and a
Business fear of disruption is a what matters in customer service partner that has a track record
key factor in their examination and customer experience and of outstanding support for the
or organisational structures and we should note that the best channel to help resellers enter
What does it really
how they can be shifted from customer experience anywhere new markets and win incremental
insular, inward looking silos in sets the bar for customer business.
mean? In the
Unified Communications channel offerings, initially termed ‘Unified
Messaging’, began to emerge just after the Millennium. Early efforts
beginning… typically sought to provide email, voicemail and fax (remember that?)
messaging on one screen for the user. Invariably that screen was the
Microsoft Outlook inbox.
Uptake was slow. These solutions were monstrously expensive, cumbersome to implement and
required heavy lifting to manage. As a result they never grew beyond being a niche application
for big budget enterprise users with in-house IT teams.
But then, connectivity improved exponentially and became affordable, IP based networks
prevailed and suppliers shifted their solutions to the cloud as an equally affordable Unified
Communications as a Service (UCaaS) at which point applications mushroomed and uptake
soared.
Today, UCaaS has removed most of the complex IT and user skills requirements and is now highly
usable by any size of business on a per user, per month consumption cost model.
GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFY 4
AMPLIFY AMPLIFY
COLLABORATE
Introducing Horizon
Collaborate
A complete unified comms experience for your
customers
Communication
any business.
has always been essential to the success of
Today, more so than ever, businesses need to be agile to respond to customers
quickly, day or night, and employees need to be equipped to handle a constant flow
of queries across multiple channels. In this new digital age we live in, faster response
times can be a key differentiator, helping businesses stay ahead of the competition
and stand out in a crowded market. How Collaborate can help your customers
Whether internally collaborating with other employees or dealing externally with Improve the workplace Attract the next generation
customers, businesses are looking for a fully unified ICT environment. By effectively experience of candidates
connecting people, applications, clouds and networks, businesses can transform
how quickly and efficiently information is shared, thereby satisfying their customer’s With the pressure on for businesses With millennials set to be the biggest
increasing demands as well as improving employee productivity and boosting their to appear always available to their generation in the workforce, providing
bottom line. customers, the technology provided the right technology that caters for the
to employees can make all the way they work is essential. Millennials
Gamma’s new Horizon Collaborate solution offers services such as instant messaging difference. Employee engagement expect technology to be fast, accessible
and presence, voice, video, desktop and application sharing, and document sharing. and satisfaction are vital parts of the and on-demand.
Driven through a set of end user applications for Windows, MAC, Android and iOS, it employee experience and will have a
enables users to access business communications and collaboration services from knock-on effect to the customer. Horizon Reduce business costs and
their favourite devices - wherever they are. Collaborate features are available on the complexity
mobile so users will have their business
Fully integrated with the award-winning Horizon hosted PBX service, Horizon communication system available Through features such as Presence,
Collaborate supports all the features and functionality of the telephony service for a wherever they are. Video Call and Collaboration, the need
true unified communications experience. for excessive travel is reduced whilst
Streamline IT operations ensuring that conversations are on topic
and as efficient as possible. Employees
Opportunity for the channel Horizon Collaborate provides a range can work flexibly through hot-desking,
of clever features, with an emphasis home working or on the move.
Collaborate provides the channel with an integrated upsell option for your existing on control and administration through
Horizon customers and a differentiated proposition when competing for new the portal removing the burden from Boost business agility
business. It is packaged simply and delivered quickly through the Gamma Portal to
your IT team. Administrators can quickly
provide a complete service wrap that encompasses all elements of the onboarding
configure the system according to the By providing enhanced communication
and support processes in Gamma’s ‘easy to do business with’ ethos.
organisation’s changing requirements, tools that permit users to find the
whilst employees can manage their right person and work wherever they
communication environment easily are, businesses can improve decision-
through the desktop and mobile making, customer interaction and overall
softclient. efficiency.
5 GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFY GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFY 6
AMPLIFY AMPLIFY
Digitalisation made easy
F
or the channel, the opportunity to define a customer’s
digital strategy has never been greater, writes Andrew
Taylor, CEO at Gamma.
For all the pros and cons of DX one thing is abundantly The channel is essential in defining the digital strategy, and
clear – a business’s vision for the future must include a customer-centricity is key to implementing the technology
digital strategy in order to be successful. However, for many that will enable a customer’s business to improve and
businesses the concern is less about going digital and more operate more efficiently. Providing mediums like desktop
about what is the easiest and most cost effective way to sharing models, video conferencing and live chat as well
engage with their customers and suppliers – and digital is as having staff that can sit face-to-face with a customer
the best medium to achieve this. provides a well-rounded and efficient approach to customer
acquisition. Technology moves rapidly and in order to Enabling Gamma partners to
As the digital landscape evolves we have seen a major shift
within the purchasing cycle as customers are no longer
ensure the communications solutions you implement will be
relevant to the customer’s business plans for the long-term,
grow
passive participants but rather driving the conversation
it needs to be mobile, flexible and address all stages of the
while suppliers scramble to cater for their demands. The Working with innovative suppliers that have the skills to
buyer’s journey.
margin for error continues to shrink. Strategies and tactics
integrate business processes with technology is fundamental
deployed by sales and marketing teams a decade ago would
The key for partners is to add new solutions to their to realising your potential as a reseller. Without a solid
make the modern buyer run for the hills. Buyer’s today are
portfolio that offer real value to the customer while putting
savvy, diligent and much more actively involved in the sales foundation in this relationship, you could be held back by
themselves in a powerful position to cross-sell or upsell. In
process. While they do not accept being sold to, they expect the lack of experience and support. Gamma’s focus is, and
order to sell solutions and support customers successfully, a
brands to meet them where they are and prove their value
solid understanding of your customer is vital. will continue to be, on developing innovative ways to help
before earning their business.
the channel succeed. Our ‘easy to do business with’ mantra
For many businesses digitalisation is daunting. The product or technology is irrelevant at this stage, it’s underpins everything we do at Gamma and we will continue to
“
In a single generation they have had to adapt to a set of new about understanding the overall business operation and the bring to our partner base.
marketing channels, decide which technologies will help pain points that need to be relieved. This is how the channel
can differentiate themselves against businesses buying
their business grow while trying to beat their competition.
ICT services off the Internet. Partners that listen to their
Strategies and tactics
By leveraging their position as a trusted advisor resellers can
help clients develop digital and IT strategies that address customers, understand how their business operates, the deployed by sales and
emerging business needs for seamless customer experience problems they have, and can solve those problems are the marketing teams a decade
and quality of service. ones that will thrive.
ago would make the
modern buyer run for the
hills
7 GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFY GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFY 8
AMPLIFY AMPLIFY
“
Profile: Andrew Taylor, CEO,
Gamma long-term growth strategy for the next
A minute with Andrew
3-5 years.
Role model (s) and why?
3
What do you bring Francois Pienaar – he was an amazing leader, who led from the
that’s new to the role front and achieved great things when the odds were way against
and from a helicopter him and his team. He also didn’t feel pain!
view perspective what were
you appointed to ultimately What talent do you wish you had?
I wish I had a talent for speaking languages and for singing, but
achieve?
not necessarily at the same time.
I was ultimately appointed to continue
Gamma’s growth and to ensure that we What do you fear the most?
deliver strong investment returns for our Failure and letting down my friends, family and colleagues.
investors, and to ensure that we build
on our historical strength and create an Name one thing you couldn’t do without in your
environment for our staff, our channel job.
partners and our other stakeholders to Enthusiasm!
be successful.
4
Best piece of advice you have received?
If you could transform Work hard and surround yourself with smart people who have
any area of the integrity and who collaborate well – ultimately with the right
comms/IT industry, direction, this combination is a recipe for success!
what would it be?
1
What got you into In terms of background, I have spent I took the role at Gamma for several If you weren’t in IT what would you be doing?
From a UK perspective, we have sadly A professional rugby player, although I am a bit too old for this
comms/IT and how time on the service provider side (fixed, reasons, including my strong belief that
mobile, solutions, managed service, the culture and values that have been lost our way during the last 25-years, now…
does your previous from an R&D and innovation perspective
vertical industries, SME, and Enterprise) established at Gamma are very much
work/personal experience (not just in our industry), and I am
and on the vendor side (network aligned with my own beliefs and how I What’s the biggest risk you have taken and why?
come into play in your hardware & software and OSS & BSS), like to work and go about my life. As a passionate that we continue to re-
Leaving a well-paid job and paying myself through university
establish our reputation as a global
current role? working with customers and partners well-established business with a very
twice - for someone who was not very academic, this was a risky
strong brand and reputation in the UK centre for innovation, with support from
across a broad range of domestic and investment!
After leaving university, I completed a marketplace, I was also really excited both the private and public sector.
international markets. I have lived and
training program in the finance sector, about being part of the next stage in
but in 1995 decided to do a business
worked in several countries across both
Gamma’s journey, and felt that my We must also continue to drive diversity How do you relax when not working?
the mature and emerging markets, and Going to gym regularly (I am a bit of a keep fit fanatic), watching
masters which acted as a catalyst to background and experience could really within our sector and ensure that
for the last 10-years have been the CEO
change to the telecoms industry (it contribute to establishing and executing we continue to create opportunities rugby (too old to play) and spending time with my family and
of several fast-growing public and private at all levels and for all groups within
was fast moving with lots of change a long-term growth strategy. All of friends.
companies, including; Intec Telecom our society. Our industry presents so
and opportunity, and provided an this, including the fact that Gamma’s,
(OSS & BSS), Digicel (Mobile & Fixed),
opportunity to learn something new and products, people and channel partners many opportunities and we need to Top tip for resellers
travel the world), and enabled me to join and Nomad Digital (Coms & IT in the were of a high quality and focused on open the door wider to all groups both Stick with suppliers that you can trust and who you know will be
BT as a graduate entrant in 1996. Best Transportation sector). I also ran Alcatel- growing a strong market position, meant domestically and internationally (with or
Lucent in the UK&I (network hardware &
around to support you and your customers in the long-term.
investment and decision that I have ever that the decision to take the role at without Brexit).
made! software), and was General Manager of Gamma was a no-brainer…
BT Germany, BT Mobile and BT Calls &
I have spent the last 22-years Lines throughout my 8-years at BT. My first job at Gamma was to ensure that
2
working across most aspects of the Bob and myself completed a successful
communications and IT sector, which Why did you take the handover during the first 2-months,
acts as a very strong basis for my current role of CEO at Gamma, and as part of this, to ensure that we
role at Gamma, as we look to build and what was/is your maintained strong business continuity
on what is a strong platform with our with both our staff and our channel
staff and our partners, and design and
first job to fix/do? partners. Looking more broadly, I will
execute a long-term sustainable growth And your wider remit/ look to build on our strong foundations,
strategy for the future. objectives? and with the Gamma team, develop a
9 GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFY GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFY 10
AMPLIFY
HORIZON
AWARD-WINNING ANALYTICS
We’re gearing up for the gamechanger
Earlier this year the Gamma Horizon team announced the forthcoming launch of our brand
new UCaaS offering - Collaborate.
FOR TOMORROW’S LEADING Developed as an add-on to the flagship Horizon hosted telephony product, Horizon Collaborate offers customers a complete
unified communication experience with features including instant messaging, presence, voice, video, desktop and document
BUSINESSES
sharing. For more information on Collaborate go to page 5.
Horizon welcomes new hardware to the portfolio
January saw the first of a range of exciting new devices to be added to the Horizon portfolio, we’d like to welcome the all new
Over 200 sets of historic and real time statistics, VVX150 device and the Trio 8500 and 8800 conference units to
brought to life with wallboards, charts and alarms the Horizon hardware family.
Comprehensive call management and But we won’t be stopping there. The second half of 2019 will see
the addition of the VVX250, 450 and the replacements for the
analytics with scheduled reporting
VVX500 and 600 units. We also add the all new Cisco MPP devices
and top the year off with the addition of the Yealink T5 series,
Deployed in over 3,000 client sites globally and just for good measure we even have plans to add a range of
Plantronics and Sennheiser headsets shortly. Watch this space.
Highly scalable from 2 to over 10,000 users
Pay-as-you-go monthly subscription
Hey there good looking!
In February we gave the Horizon GUI a complete make over with a
Abandoned call recovery fresh livery to compliment the new Collaborate service.
Updated user guides will be available on the Academy shortly, with
Multi-site reporting video content updates following later in the year.
SIP ALG and the Desktop Client
Due to its portability the Horizon desktop client is often used
in remote access situations, at home or on public internet
connections where SIP ALG may be present and it is outside
the user’s control to disable. We are delighted to advise on our
February 2019 plans to remove the desktop clients dependency
Coming soon: on having this feature disabled on the router.
Akixi analytics for To view the detailed product notice and configuration changes in
your omnichannel full, please visit the Gamma Academy Knowledgebase and search
for the Horizon Product Notice titled “SIP ALG Bypass for the
contact centre! Horizon Desk Top Client”.
For more information please contact our team who will be happy to help:
+44 (0)1293 853060 info@akixi.com www.akixi.com
GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFY 12AMPLIFY
DATA
Putting the power in your hands
with our new Ethernet project
management
Following on from our Ethernet Layer 2 launch back in
September, we’re pleased to announce the launch of our
new Ethernet Project Management service to support you in
delivering large or complex Ethernet bids.
This service will provide you with the following key features and
benefits:
A single point of contact (Project Manager) giving you peace
We continue to offer Ethernet of mind that all queries/escalations have a dedicated owner
when dealing with challenging Ethernet deliveries.
services through a range of
Ring-fenced resource within our Ethernet Delivery Team,
trusted carriers providing more control and knowledge sharing thereby
enhancing risk analysis and management.
Gamma Openreach & CityFibre
Our own network allows us to give you the best commercials An effective communication plan, reducing effort and
overheads for you whilst decreasing the probability of
for up to 1Gb fibre services from Openreach exchanges in
chargeable missed appointments and cancelled orders.
Polycom is now a part of Plantronics strategically chosen areas with the best service available.
Upfront consultation and planning to promoting successful
TalkTalk Business project execution.
Partner of choice for the communications and collaboration ecosystem Bringing TalkTalk on board has allowed us to extend
As pioneers in audio and video technology, we uniquely understand Together, our technology will keep that connection strong and fuel a
our footprint and roll out some of the most competitive We’ve expanded our Router
the power of human connection. We’ve seen it drive innovation, solve future of collaboration and understanding, in spite of circumstances, commercials from an Openreach carrier outside of the Gamma
range
network.
problems, inspire action and power productivity. We are now bringing distance or time zones.
together our portfolio of high-quality, proven products and services to Back in November we expanded our router portfolio by
connect you to what matters most—whether it’s your colleagues, For more information, visit Plantronics.com. BT Wholesale including the OneAccess 1646 for 1Gb services. Our partners
We offer a variety of Ethernet options as well as resilience now have the ability to choose from a list of Gamma tested
customers, or partners.
models through BT Wholesale. Our long standing relationship routers for the service that suits their needs.
with BT Wholesale has allowed us to develop a robust support
model to take the pain away from ordering and managing The OneAccess 1646 gives you competitive commercials, 2Gb
PLANTRONICS AND POLYCOM STRATEGIC FOCUS: Building a smarter system for communications and collaboration total throughput (1Gb upload with 1Gb download), highlight
Ethernet services. You now have the ability to renew as well as
monitoring, lightweight and compact design and low power
regrade existing services on the Gamma Portal.
consumption.
Virgin
Business
Analytics
IT
Management Interoperability We chose to partner with Virgin as it has its own infrastructure, Promotions
separate to that of the Openreach providers. This allows you
One month free rental on Gamma Gold and Silver Exchanges
to offer an additional layer of resilience at a fraction of the cost
on a 3 year term
of a separate Openreach exchange build. Extra construction
Insights Insights Two month free rental on Gamma Gold and Silver Exchanges
charges (ECCs) are a pain point when ordering Ethernet
“
on a 5 year term
circuits; Virgin will absorb £10,000 ECCs per order.
£14.95 ADSL (unmetered) with £50 cashback on 24 month
Underlying any supplier you term
choose, you get the assurance of £21.95 FTTC (unmetered) with £100 cashback on 24 month
term
the Gamma Core Network and
£10 cashback for each self-install carried out or managed
Soundscaping Software Headsets Conference Desktop Video Services our quality support wrap. install for £20 charge
Plantronics Polycom Virgin have extended their ECC cover to £10,000 from £3,100
GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFY 14
© Plantronics, Inc. All rights reserved. 01.19 319833AMPLIFY AMPLIFY
G
amma drive key growth The solution The results
Case study: TSI and help boost profit
margins for TSI. A
TSI take pride in being a reliable and Working with one of the UKs largest
trusted port of call for their customers, retailers in 2017, TSI won a deal to
Gamma partner for eight years, TSI provide a range of business making the buying and support
processes as easy and comprehensible
supply a 20/100Mbs Ethernet circuit
with ADSL back-up into around 300
communications for businesses of all sizes. The company offer as possible in order to retain trust and stores across the UK, with the support of
to achieve core business growth within Gamma’s Ethernet team.
a portfolio of services and products across Cloud Telephony, their existing customer base.
Unified Communications and Connectivity – citing Ethernet as
“
Gamma’s services were successfully
Over the past decade, TSI have regularly delivered on time and the customer
their most successful product from Gamma. taken the time to understand the full is extremely happy with the quality of
range of Gamma products available. service and support received throughout Having different
Having knowledge of the full portfolio the rollout.
allowed them to give value-add to their
Gamma products
customers, making services more sticky Commenting on the win, TSI’s Operations in our portfolio has
and a trust in Gamma’s support services Director, Martin Coleman says: “The
meant that they had confidence in their Gamma Ethernet team were integral
allowed us to win
The challenge processes and delivery. to winning the 300-store tender, both deals that we might
from a technical point of view in helping
“Gamma’s support is very good, and to fulfill customer requirements and
not otherwise have
TSI are focused on consistency of service and trust. Noticing
that many of their customers do not want multiple suppliers,
we can easily escalate and know that assisting with answering a multi-page won.
it will be resolved without having to tender document, through to negotiating
TSI wanted to be able to fully provide all of their voice and data
chase. Quarterly Account Management the commercials.
needs under one roof, a key challenge in keeping with TSI’s
meetings are very useful, both for
goal of offering ‘complete business communications from one
ensuring all current services are running Having different Gamma products in
trusted supplier’.
smoothly, and for understanding ways our portfolio has allowed us to win deals
that Gamma can assist us to grow our such as this that we might not otherwise
Priding themselves on not being a ‘faceless’ entity meant that
business.” have won. Gamma products now make
TSI’s suppliers are key to retaining this essential, personable
up almost 50% of our annual turnover
relationship with their existing customer base.
and have driven our growth considerably
over the past decade.”
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By optimising use of digital techniques
and communications technologies,
enterprises stand to improve employee
productivity and efficiency.
Why customer service is a
For CEOs, there is the need to build on
this early success by expanding their
digital communications alternatives
moving target in the channel
for customers as well so getting
employees trained on and using these
tools internally is a great way to lay
the groundwork for providing a better
customer experience.
Irunning
t’s a wonder that any CEO gets a
decent night’s sleep these days;
a business today comes with
with each industry sector. Being ‘good’ in your
industry could be seen as ‘great’ in other sectors.
Conversely…
It’s a win-win here for both business
productivity and customers, and for
resellers this position reveals a great
many problems and high on the list set of opportunities for them to further
of potential woes is the subject of To achieve great customer service everyone in the cement their role as being a trusted
keeping customers happy. organisation has to be in. No one should be exempt advisor to clients and help users develop
from communicating with customers and gathering digital and IT strategies that address
Whilst great customer service never goes out of feedback as it is from this feedback that the business business needs for service excellence
fashion what’s not immediately obvious to businesses can gain so much. and developing new income streams.
is that you are dealing with a moving target as the
changing demands and expectations of consumers Knowing what your customers think of your products To mitigate the potential risk of their
today are causing many enterprises to re-evaluate and services and how well they feel you deal with clients being digitally disrupted in their
their own company performance.
problems is vital to delivering customer service own markets resellers can deliver
excellence, however knowing what users are looking business value by identifying new and
Expectations are always evolving. For example, people
for in new products takes that feedback to the next evolving technology capabilities which
are using new ways to connect with companies
level. in turn will provide business-outcome-
and social media is now readily used as a customer
service channel. This doesn’t mean that your company based solutions and ‘as-a-service’ models
Knowledge of what customers are looking for in to release these potentials.
needs to address customer problems via social
terms of a supplier and their products means you
media but it does mean you need to be aware of and
reply to say Tweets and other social media platform can develop new products faster and turn them in to At the same time, working with
communication from customers. income streams much earlier. innovative suppliers versed in the skills
required to integrate business processes
They key issue that needs to be recognised however CEOs will also either be leading the charge or with technology can then unlock that
is that great customer service and poor customer responding to ‘C’ level requests to get on with Digital potential for the business rather than
service are the two extremes that get talked about. Transformation (DX). just add to the business CAPEX budget.
Good customer service doesn’t - because it is
expected. In terms of business outcomes, the driving force for Gamma innovation, thought leadership,
DX has subtly shifted its priority and emphasis from longevity in the market and sound
Remember too that there are different expectations customer excellence towards improved productivity. financial stability are proven so why
not work with us to develop these
opportunities.
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SIP TRUNK AND INBOUND
8 4
7 6 5
Tune in to our webinar
Service or Inside Sales T he demise of ISDN continues to be a key
theme in the voice market and considering
the industry is all about evolution, we have
Promotions
Manager Manager developed our cloud-based services on SIP to We have been a running a promotion that provides Channel
Partners with free SIP Trunk Call Manager when ordered
support and further enhance traditional on- with voice-enabled Gamma access services. Due to customer
premise services. demand this will be extended for a further 6 months to 30th
With the ISDN overhaul now on the radar for most customers, June 2019.
Looking to... Looking to... the voice market is ripe for modernisation. We will be hosting a
Proactively advise customers on issues? Manage several accounts effectively? SIP webinar for Channel Partners How to upgrade to intelligent Why are we doing this?
Improve credibility of your service? Increase your upsell and cross sell? SIP - so please be sure to tune in.
Increase customer satisfaction? We want to help you drive more SIP Trunking sales by:
Reduce churn?
SIP Trunk Call Manager Encouraging more solution selling, combining both SIP and
Inbound
Making it easier to sell longer term contracts to customers
YES
SIP Trunk Call Manager provides your customers with all
the benefits of Gamma SIP Trunks together with enhanced Helping partners target larger estates
business continuity capabilities to ensure calls are never
Allowing partners to differentiate their offerings in the market
missed whilst providing the best service experience possible.
To find out more please contact your BDM.
Features include automated diverts and call queues, where
inbound call flows can be controlled by HTML5 GUI and mobile
Benefit from free STCM on Gamma Access - Any Gamma
Highlight enables you and your app.
Connectivity with Gamma SIP on 3 year term receives STCM
customers to do more with SIP Trunk Call Manager (STCM) just got even better. STCM
FOC up to 1,000 DDI’s.
information at your finger tips offers your customers all the features and benefits of Gamma
Channel Partners can also now benefit from out new SIP
SIP Trunks, together with feature-rich, centralised call control
Consolidator promotion which will see you pocket £50 for
and number management.
bringing SIP Channels to Gamma from another provider if they
sign up for a 3-year term on Gamma’s standard tariff of £4.50
We are now offering even more features:
per channel per month.
Aliasing - eliminates the need to create two or more identical
call plans when all that is required is a new callable Inbound
number.
Create hot leads from Shared Values - The end user can create global schedules
Get your customer SLA
your customer list with to be shared across many call plans. This saves users from
reports in seconds having to make the same date/ time or day/time change in
factual data
many places.
Partners can white label the portal to provide a real
differentiator in the market.
Have Demonstrate knowledge
more time for of how customers’
meaningful data analysis applications are
impacting their network
Support sales with Share evidence-based
clear upsell upgrade
opportunities reccomendations
GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFY 20
Become the trusted advisor with openness & transparency highlight.netAMPLIFY AMPLIFY
Sponsored Content
H ave you noticed that customers
increasingly expect things to be
available wherever they are, to use,
customers will immediately recognise. How many calls to the
organisation were not answered nor had return calls made
to the caller? If the business can’t answer then they are just
to order, to pay, to interrogate usage throwing productivity in to the wind and losing income. All
and to ultimately effect change during the effort put into marketing their products and services
provisioning or in life, whether they are to generate business is wasted. To establish how much
in the office, at home or on the move. resource and income is wasted just multiply the lost calls
by a typical conversion rate and an average order value. Do
The good news here for channel partners is, that by it daily, weekly and monthly and you get a big number.
their very nature and construct, cloud based Software
as a Service (SaaS) applications are at the very Another scenario looks more closely at that marketing effort.
foundation of supplying these customer needs. For example, which promotional sales campaigns are the
most effective for the organisation? How do they assess each?
Until very recently, digital transformations (DX) have been If a different, discrete phone number is assigned to each
almost entirely focussed on the need to develop a customer campaign, applications such as Akixi can measure the success
led business strategy that would lead to the achievement and rate each accordingly. You can see which contact channel
“
of customer service excellence. But this focus has shifted was the busiest, which channel was most productive in terms
Now is the time to Accelerate
somewhat and in mid-2018 of sales. All that before you see
analyst firm IDC, the early headline who was the most successful call
advocate of the DX mantra, The good news here for handler in converting sales.
S
announced that organisations channel partners is, that
oftware as a Service vendor Akixi, welcomes were now prioritising productivity
over service excellence – albeit by their very nature and
Lastly, imagine a wallboard that
indicated response times for
the digital transformations that organisations these two aims are now actually construct, cloud based call answering. Is that the only
pretty much neck and neck form of contact measured?
have implemented but says the benefits they on the DX shopping list. Software as a Service (SaaS) Today we are in a digital age;
can bring now need to be accelerated in terms Of course, you can have both
applications are at the very many customers, especially the
Millennial generation, like to do
of increased productivity and customer service – the two objectives are both foundation of supplying everything on their phone and
excellence. Akixi Managing Director Bart Delgado highly valid and certainly not these customer needs. that means not just call you. They
mutually exclusive. Neither need like messaging and they like chat.
explains how this can be done. their achievement be intolerably So does your customer know how
complex, expensive nor restricted to large enterprises. The many emailed sales enquiries they get every day and what
technologies sitting behind business transformations are the response times and success rates are for each of these?
today affordable and available to everyone; they provide
the tools to be able to differentiate both product and Multi-channel experiences such as these have become the
service offerings and improve productivity – a fact we can norm for a generation of customers which leads us on to
immediately example through our own Akixi call management another question – is the business open at the right times of
and analytics application which has deployments across the the day?
full spectrum of business sectors and organisation sizes. Unless a business can see the frequency of contact and time
patterns for each, how do they know what further business
Cloud based applications such as ours contribute greatly productivity and income is being flushed down the toilet?
to that affordability factor and at the same time provide
scalability and flexibility in terms of deployment provision. For Customer service excellence can only be assessed by
users that ask how our product can accelerate their digital customers, and customers want their calls, emails, chats and
transformation by improving their productivity and customer other contact methods answered and dealt with in a timely
service levels we can quickly point to feature illustrations to manner. Business productivity can always be improved and
assure them our channel partners are really in this game. these three illustrative scenarios should be givens for any
organisation. Get them right and the investments made
Just put these features in to business scenarios your in digital transformation journeys will be realised faster.
21 GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFY GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFY 22AMPLIFY
Improve communication productivity MOBILE
for on-the-move business users
MyWifiCaller
Back in November we be launched MyWiFiCaller; an OTT (Over The Top) WiFi calling app
exclusively for Gamma subscribers.
As we all know, geographically-based coverage issues are inevitable with any radio network and poor in-building coverage is
a particular problem for sales and customer retention in the business to business market. MyWiFiCaller is an unbranded app
specifically designed to address this issue as we build the UK’s best and most reliable business mobile network.
DECT IP Phone-W52P MyWiFiCaller is fully integrated with the Gamma Mobile core network, which means that once the app is downloaded to the device
and registration has occurred, it will work seamlessly. Where Wi-Fi is available, calls will be routed to and from the device via the
Wi-Fi network. Where there is no accessible Wi-Fi network, but there is normal mobile coverage, then calls will be routed to and
from the device via the regular mobile network. The app is free of charge and the service can be used on a wide range of Android
and Apple devices and it works with the customer’s usual Gamma Mobile number - so it couldn’t be easier.
Device Supply Global Daily Business Device Leasing
Traveller
Gamma is always looking to make it The ability for customers to lease
Warehousing simple for you to win more business We recently extended the reach of our devices is increasingly important. With
and provide a complete service for Global Daily Business Traveller service smartphones costing four figures in
your customers. We now offer a wide so that all countries are now included some cases, spreading the cost of
selection of smartphones and connected under the single provision and Usage
hardware over a 2 or 3 year period at
tablets to be ordered via the Gamma Management controls.
highly competitive rates is a great way to
Portal.
We have developed two new Global balance the customers’ desire with their
Here’s why we think using Gamma for Business Traveller Zones, making a total budget.
your device supply when connecting to of three zones, each zone has its own
our network is the smart choice: daily allowance and charge. Gamma will provide a simple click
SOHO / SMB through from the Portal into the leasing
Brands include Apple, Samsung,
Migration from Non-EU 7 day Business partner’s online application service,
Motorola and Sony
Traveller to Global Business Daily where you will be able to take advantage
Stock will be UK open market variants Traveller tariff, means that your of the low interest rates we have
and have full manufacturer warranty customers will be protected from bill
negotiated and improved end customer
and support shock due to your ability to cap on this
“
terms. Leases can be offered to your
tariff. Alerts and caps can be set up
Ordering is quick and easy with free Limited Company customers only.
on the Usage Control screens on the
next working day delivery
Gamma Mobile Portal. Migrating these
Advanced replacement services customers gives the added benefit of For more information
. Exceptional HD sound with wideband technology
. Up to 4 simultaneous calls
. Up to 5 cordless DECT handsets
. Up to 5 SIP accounts Retail
being able to access Zone B and it's daily and to sign up for any
allowances, which was excluded when
provisioning the Non-EU 7 day Business of these new services
Traveller. talk to your BDM or
About Yealink: Sales Specialist.
Yealink is a global leading unified communication (UC) terminal solution provider that primarily offers video conferencing systems and voice
communication solutions. Founded in 2001, Yealink’s high-quality UC terminal solutions enhance the work efficiency and competitive
advantages of its customers in over 100 countries. Yealink is now the global TOP 1 in Open SIP Phone Shipments 2017.
(source: Frost & Sullivan 2018 report)
Yealink offers a broad selection of highly reliable, easy-to-use IP phone endpoint portfolio to effectively address the needs of productive and
easy workspace communication and collaboration. Yealink one-stop solution includes conference IP phone, desktop IP phone, DECT IP phone
and Yealink Management Cloud Service.
Contact: Jason Sun | UK sales Director | E-mail: jason.sun@yealink.com www.yealink.com
GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFY 24AMPLIFY
Sponsored Content
Proving value shouldn’t
Why is supplying a prove difficult
managed service
better than selling Working together with your customers, with this
single shared view, you can use application usage
connectivity? and performance data to deliver improved user
experience. Here is how one customer, Antony Pugh
M
(Head of Service Delivery, Elis) describes Highlight:
argin. You can charge more for “It’s a great addition and it gives us a massive amount
a managed service than simple of visibility. It has all been perfectly set up and we
connectivity. can truly see how much use we’re making of all our
It’s a straightforward reason, but we can’t say that to
lines, what might need upgrading, where misuse is
customers. Instead we might describe the managed
happening and where there are issues that need to
service features as ‘customer service’, ‘SLAs’,
be fixed. Things are faster, more stable and we can
‘monitoring’ and ‘24x7 support’. We offer a vision of a
see which lines are approaching 90% or 100% usage.
team of people proactively looking after a customer’s
It’s great to able to see detail like that.”
network and services, to improve performance and
ensure the best user experience.
These are great deliverables to tell a potential
customer of what they can expect, but how do we
prove it?
Shining a light
To be successful in the Managed Service Provider
marketplace, you need to clearly demonstrate
what makes you different. For many years we have
worked with MSPs who have used Highlight to help
differentiate their service offerings during sales Using Highlight with your
and to give a transparent view to customers during
contract.
customers
The good news is that you can now use Highlight in
Gamma and Highlight's strategic partnership, the same way with your customers. The information
offers you the option to provide your customers currently in Highlight can be rearranged to display
excellent connectivity and support through a single folders for each of your customers and their
tool. Demonstrating that you and your customer locations, and presented as a single view that you
share the same view, whilst building trust that you can give your customers access to.
understand their ICT needs.
Let us show you how
Come and try Highlight at the Gamma
Roadshow events and see how you can
“
prove what a great managed service you
deliver.
Come and try Highlight
at the Gamma Roadshow
events and see how you
can prove what a great
managed service you
deliver.
25 GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFYAMPLIFY AMPLIFY
Proactive marketing is
key in the channel
T
oday’s Digital Transformation will be tomorrow’s old news. not broken why fix it’ can be a damaging one in an industry where constant change is
inherent.
Last year over 90% of Gamma channel partners declared
they’d benefit from marketing support or guidance from Many of our partners have found a quick spring clean of their strategy, taking the
time to create a more holistic and streamlined plan of attack can generate incredible
Gamma. success. For example, when was the last time you took a step back and identified
new cross-sell and upsell opportunities, thought about email marketing, awards and
branding visibility or press and sponsorship opportunities?
W ith a lack of resource and lack of time
cited as key hurdles for channel partners
in terms of formulating their year-on-year
We’ve come up with a few ideas to help you make the first steps
to mapping out a flawless marketing plan:
marketing plans, the channel is a prime
example of a business environment that is Engage your audience
sales rich and marketing poor. The increased Simply identifying the questions your audience asks on a
adoption of UC in the working environment,
“
regular basis, can be an essential step in developing your
will have a detrimental impact in our market best marketing plans. In the age of Google, end-users are
endeavours in 2019, and we’re encouraging increasingly self-educating, meaning channel partners can
channel partners to prepare for increasing use this as the perfect opportunity for creating gated content.
demand into next year. Remaining flexible A focus on generating sales Answering customers most frequently asked questions with an
and proactive, while also ensuring we have and profit margin is great, e-guide, webinar or white paper which customers can access
a hardwired marketing plan at the centre of after a simple form-fill is a strategy that has proven incredibly
any business strategy, means we keep ahead until the day you run out of successful, giving you fresher leads and a more detailed insight
of the curve, shaping the sales tactics of our leads. It’s important, in this into audience interests and trends.
future.
environment of constant Teamwork makes the dream work
In the channel, where KPIs, leads and conversion numbers change and evolution of In our industry it’s all about communication - but how often do
become increasingly competitive, a focus on sales numbers is
inevitable. In a world where we are all focused on lead nurture,
technologies, to have a focus we make the most of our peers’ expertise? Team brainstorming
sessions can be a really valuable way to encourage ‘outside the
competition and remaining ahead of trends, it’s easy to be on a proactive marketing box’ thinking and share ideas and best practice when it comes to
reactive, firefighting our way into 2019 with what we believe is a
flawless sales strategy, plugging the greatest new technologies
strategy in addition to a social media tactics or ways to generate new leads organically.
and solutions. flexible and reactive sales Recruit your best resource
But a focus on generating sales and profit margin is great, until
approach. According to a recent survey we conducted, 35% of our channel
the day you run out of leads. It’s important, in this environment partners have ‘Little or no in-house marketing resource’.
of constant change and evolution of technologies, to have a Recruiting a professional marketeer should be a key first step in
focus on proactive marketing strategy in addition to a flexible taking marketing more seriously. Many channel partners have
and reactive sales approach. In an increasingly competitive someone whose main role is admin looking after their marketing
market, it’s becoming more and more important for the channel endeavours. But marketing is a full time job, especially in today’s
to embrace key marketing tactics, to work alongside their sales, digital and content-hungry world. Alternatively- if budget will not
to make sure that the pool doesn’t run dry. allow for this outlay, be sure to make the team aware of key
marketing campaigns, collateral and social media drafted posts,
Spring clean your strategy all available on Gamma’s online marketing portal - Accelerate.
Having the ability to take a step back from the day-to-day is
imperative in giving channel partners the headspace and clarity
Create a plan and diarise
for a more forward-thinking approach. The greatest marketing success stories will start with a flawless and comprehensive
plan. Due to popular demand, we have done the legwork for you, creating an easy
With many partners appointing an admin person to look after to follow marketing planning guide available in Gamma Accelerate. Using a project
marketing outside of their day-to-day responsibilities, marketing management tool, or simply adopting better use of outlook calendars, once your plans
can often become the neglected younger sibling of sales. are in place can really streamline your team - making delegation and tracking easier
Mapping out a clear marketing function is an important part and keeping everyone in check with any marketing implementation across the team.
of future-proofing your strategy and while it’s easy for channel
partners to continue with the ‘status quo’, the attitude of ‘If it’s
27 GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFY GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFY 28AMPLIFY AMPLIFY
“
We’re always looking at ways to
improve your experience with
Accelerate and help you elevate your
brand, boost lead generation and
close more sales. Want to suggest
ways we can help you further? Or
need help getting started with
Accelerate? Get in touch by emailing
Ramp up lead accelerate@gamma.co.uk.
generation with
Accelerate
New web banner latest information and sales tools to
help close new business and upsell to
brand look and feel. Our latest Accelerate
campaigns are ready and waiting for you
builder existing customers. You’ll find proposal to get started.
templates, battlecards, calling guides,
This clever new premium feature lets you
build your own website banner adverts,
presentation templates and more! Connect vertical
helping you extend the reach of your
Image library campaigns
campaign to hot prospects and boost
We’ve focused on five of the top verticals
campaign performance. Whether you’re looking for a specific
that would benefit from Connect –
handset image, product logo or some
The web banners are easy to set- Estate Agents, Recruitment, Healthcare,
visual inspiration for a campaign,
up - simply choose from our library Professional Services and Logistics.
Accelerate’s searchable image library is
of templates, which you can find in the place to look. Can’t find what you’re
Accelerate under 'Web Plugins > Browse’, looking for? Let us know! Data services
then follow the instructions.
Social media just got campaigns
To find out how you can upgrade
your Accelerate access to include web easier We’ve expanded our data services white
banners, please email accelerate@ label campaign material to include:
We’ve made it even easier for you to
gamma.co.uk. promote your campaign through social. The digital business age – staying
Thanks to your valuable feedback, connected’ supports lead generation
Sales enablement Accelerate’s posts are now prepopulated for our data services
- supporting your with links to the applicable content,
Full fibre has landed’ campaign -
already personalised, making the process
sales team to sell zero-touch for partners – simply review
promotes Ethernet services from
CityFibre
effectively the post and approve!
A winning marketing campaign is about
more than volume of leads. What
Latest Accelerate Need help planning your marketing
activity? Check out our step-by-step
happens next is imperative to making it campaigns now guide to marketing planning - http://bit.
a real success. But do your sales team
have the tools they need to maximise
available ly/2rAldog
their chances of turning leads into sales? Our white label campaigns are made Gamma Channel Partners can also
up of a whole host of campaign assets download an easy to edit marketing
The new sales enablement area of including eGuides, infographics, plan template from Accelerate - Gamma
Accelerate aims to support your whitepapers, social posts, web banners Portal > Help and Support > Gamma
salespeople to sell effectively. It provides and emails. And don’t forget, you can Accelerate > Collateral > then search
one, easy to access location to all the tailor these campaigns to inject your own ‘Marketing plan template’.
29 GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFY GAMMA.CO.UK/PARTNERS/AMPLIFY 30You can also read
