“We have now run seven preview events for resellers and more than 200 companies have attended so far. A wide range of resellers have been attracted - from traditional voice based to networking and IT organisations seeking to move in to the voice market. Interestingly, more than 60% of those attending are new resellers we have not spoken to before.”
Barnes said that his next steps are to qualify the interest, sign resellers and get training underway.
“We are in the midst of booking appointments with resellers now and determining whether companies are to be wholesale partners – where they need to demonstrate capability in terms of billing and skills sets, or partners which is more straightforward.
We do have a migrations path for those that join as partners should they wish to become a wholesale partner later – it’s a flexible program designed to cater for all types of reseller. We do however expect to have signed 20-40 reseller partners in the next couple of months.”
Barnes adds that traditional hardware based voice resellers are telling him that the Samsung Hosted offering adds more applications to their portfolio.
“We believe we have got the timing spot on for Samsung Hosted; networks are far more resilient, customers are increasingly aware of the hosted options they have and there is a need to cater for a growing remote and home working workforce. Those resellers that are signing with us will also be able to benefit from undertaking the highly professional THUS sales courses. These are proven sales modules that are delivering an amazing 48% closure rate on new business.”