He advises resellers to look closely at the individual requirements of their customers, both now and in the future - and not base assumptions on how many staff are employed but how they communicate on a daily basis.
“We are talking about a mobile market place in the professional business world.
Take for example a recruitment consultant out in the field; he needs to get all his communications from a single work station, fax, e-mail or voicemail. I know one organisation that has just five staff where Unified Comms and mobility applications are ideally suited. The Unified Comms market is driven by individual customer requirements, from SMB upwards. It’s important for resellers not to rule out the SMB arena but they have to be realistic, do their homework and assess each sales opportunity on its own merits. There’s no point wasting time in certain situations, as one suit does not fit all.”
Phil says the key for resellers is to take a consultative approach and understand the requirements of their customers. “Market demands are changing,” he points out. “They have to understand the business practices and processes of the people they are selling to so they can apply the right applications to give them the right business solutions, which will then impact positively on their bottom line.”
He continues: “Where Unified Comms in the SMB sector is concerned it’s about assessing the industry a customer is working in and identifying what they are trying to achieve. For example there may be only a small number of people employed and they could all be home based in which case you can create an office environment without having to all work under one roof. To harness the benefits of this type of technology first assess the company and its particular needs rather than focus on the number of staff employed.”