Commenting on the name change, James Palmer, Nine Telecom Group CEO, explained, “When Nine Telecom Group completed the acquisition of Club Communications in February 2009, the combination of Club with Nine Wholesale was christened Nine Club, a name that has become synonymous with service excellence for resellers over the past two years. I believed that it was important at the time to retain the “Club” identity which had proved so successful in recruiting and retaining reseller business over many years, because the resellers who worked with Club Communications had developed a strong sense of belonging and valued the regular opportunities to share ideas and experiences with fellow resellers.”
Palmer believes that this ethos continued under the Nine Club banner, but with the recruitment of over seventy five new resale partners since the birth of Nine Club, the need to retain the original Club name is now reduced.
Commenting further on the logic behind the changeover, Palmer went on to say, “By reverting back to the Nine Wholesale name, any sense of ambiguity will be removed and channel partners will instinctively recognise which part of the Nine Telecom Group they should engage with. The plan is to retain the resale community spirit engendered by Club Communications and develop an accreditation scheme for our resellers, which will include regular workshops and events at which they can continue to share ideas and problems, while hearing more about market developments and new product technology from the Nine Wholesale team. I welcome any input from our resellers in to the design of this scheme.”
The reborn Nine Wholesale operation will be based in the same offices as Nine Club at Stonehouse near Stroud in Gloucestershire. Contact numbers will remain the same and resellers will continue to work with the same business development managers and support teams that they have become accustomed to.
Palmer believes that 2011 remains a year of great opportunity for Nine Wholesale’s resellers, with new product launches announced this week at the Convergence Summit North and other initiatives on track for release later in the year. By partnering with Nine Wholesale, Palmer says resellers can guarantee access to; joined up thinking, a best of breed product portfolio and a channel only provider who has no intention to rush for the exit.