Telinet works closely with Oak to deliver its aiOffice call management, ProVoice voice recording, and Smart Series CTI applications, to its customers, with a high level of support and customisation.
James Emm, joint CEO of Oak says “Telinet and Oak have worked together for over ten years, developing a good working relationship. Telinet has continually impressed Oak with its high level of professionalism and customer offering. We are proud to award Telinet the first Platinum Partnership and we look forward to continuing our relationship over many years.”
To achieve Platinum Partnership Telinet must go through Sales and Engineering training courses with Oak, in addition sales of over £200,000 per annum must achieved and maintained. At the end of 2005 Oak Telecom also announced the opening of a new Centre of Excellence in Peterborough where training and accreditation courses will be held.
“Telinet aims to deliver its customers a high level of service and to that end we have been working closely with all of our suppliers. We are the first reseller in the UK to have a triple Platinum Partnership with Mitel, Telstra and now Oak. We are extremely pleased with being awarded the first Oak Platinum Accredited Partner, as it reinforces our strong relationship.” Matthew Lambert, Telinet Sales Director continues “The accreditation shows we look to deliver the best solutions to customers and we are continually developing our supplier relationships to their benefit”.
James Emm, Joint CEO at Oak Telecom told Comms Business Magazine, “We are addressing a number of issues with our new channel partner program. For instance, there are a number of large resellers for major PBX vendors not buying via our distributors which Oak needs to reach. The introduction of our tiered – Platinum, Gold and Silver – partner program will now provide a level of accreditation for those companies.”
Emm says that the new Oak partner program is a major initiative for the company as it will provide resellers with improved performance based margins, increased account management representation, technical and sales accreditation and dedicated support lines.
Joint architect of the Oak Telecom Partner Program, Product Manager Lee Essex commented at the time of the program launch, “As with any accreditation scheme we are seeking to form a close relationship with channel partners. We have existing good relationships with vendor and distribution partners and now need to focus on the third element – the resellers; after all, we have 20 years experience of working with the channel. Being close to the channel lets us understand their needs as well as providing us with access to the needs of the customer. In essence we want to set out a road map for resellers so that they can make more money out of ‘peripherals’.”
James Emm is keen to stress the quid pro quo when he states that in order to qualify for the new channel program resellers must, like Telinet, agree to undertake the accreditation training. “Our aim is to provide accreditation across our entire range and enable partners to become self sufficient on smaller, less complex applications such as call logging, basic CTI applications, voicemail and smaller call recording projects whilst Oak will continue to manage the installation of larger more sophisticated solutions.