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Danish company, Excitor, is moving into the UK market with its Dynamic Mobile Exchange (DME) product, destined to provide mobile device management, data security and mobile cost management for most smartphones. This company says the UK mobile market is currently underserved in this area, so it is recruiting mobile dealers in a bid to plug the gap. Kim Dennis, business development director EMEA at Excitor, explains the company’s bid to rock the Brits…
Excitor’s DME solution provides mobile device management, data security and mobile cost management for iPhones, Java, Symbian, UIQ, Windows Mobile smartphones, and soon also for Android and BlackBerry operating systems. Dennis comments: “With DME, organisations can remotely configure mobile phones, deploy software to them and have a complete inventory of all devices. Organisations also gain a variety of security capabilities that can help them enforce security policies on mobile phones. This includes enforcing user authentication if desired, and making a remote data wipe to a lost phone or an automatic wipe if the SIM card is replaced. In addition, company files can be backed up if the phone is lost.”
Spiralling costs
Dennis continues: “Many organisations are faced with spiralling mobile voice and data costs. This has caused a surge in mobile telecom voice and data expenses, and companies try to get a handle on it by introducing unlimited data plans. However, unlimited data consumption can come at a high monthly cost if you pay out for all employees to have a data allowance, but you don’t know how much data your employees are actually using; an expensive ‘insurance’ for no big surprises.
“So, what if a 15 MB plan was sufficient for 80% of employees and you knew exactly who those 80% were? Also, fixed or unlimited data plans don’t include roaming charges. DME can lower or stop synchronisation activities while roaming and ensure that the cheapest foreign operators are used. And DME continues to add capabilities for reducing data traffic and telecom voice expenses, and is a very attractive alternative to the very data intensive ActiveSync email sync solution built into Microsoft Exchange that can drain both your telecom expense budget and battery.”
What sets Excitor apart from others in the mobile device management market space is its ability to give organisations complete real time statistics and analysis of voice, data, MMS and SMS consumption across all users, states Dennis. “This allows companies to monitor, manage and reduce their telecom expenses as they can chose the optimal telecom plans for data connection and voice activity based on their consumption patterns. In addition to consumption visibility, DME can also ensure that the cheapest roaming partners are used when employees travel abroad.”
Danish roots
Excitor was founded in 2001 in Denmark. Its first mobile solution, Mobile Care, targeted the home care market, with a handheld device for health care staff to help shift schedule handling, verification of medicine, and other care needed to provide for each patient, plus it enabled them to view visit history and add notes about each patient for the next shift of home care staff.
Mobile Care gave Excitor some key experience around central device management, mobile security and device interface issues, as users were not particularly IT savvy. Excitor has since sold off this solution and now focuses on its DME solution that uses its heritage and key competencies around device management, mobile security and intuitive mobile device interface.
Excitor has a solid customer base in the Nordic region with both local and global customers. Among its customers are municipalities, central governmental institutions, manufacturing companies, banks, insurance companies, international accounting firms, and more. Names include Ericsson, Ernst & Young, Siemens, the Swedish Parliament, and Marsh (MMC). Excitor has received recognition from key analysts and is included both in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant and IDC’s Leadership Grids within the mobility space for the capabilities of its DME solution.
Hello Blighty!
Now, Excitor is making a move on the UK. Dennis says the UK has a healthy appetite for telecommunication solutions and the market has a high number of larger enterprises, which is one of Excitor’s key segments. The business has already made inroads into the UK market, with customers including SunGard, the NHS, Vale of Glamorgan County Council and Magna Housing. Some of Excitor’s Nordic customers also have a significant presence in the UK, making it a natural extension of its reach. In addition there are a huge number of medium size customers that can and should benefit from the DME solution, he claims.
However, he adds: “The UK mobility market is underserviced by the reseller community. Today, no one can deliver cost visibility for mobile devices and definitely not combined with mobile device management and security. To service growing demands, Excitor is looking for medium to large size resellers and system integrators who are active in the fixed mobile convergence and the hosted market place. DME is a natural add on product for a company that is already providing hosted services for Microsoft Exchange, voice solution or even a combination as DME has the ability to deploy third party mobile device applications.”
He continues: “With current market conditions, there is a natural focus on reducing device investments, managing mobile hardware and getting a handle on mobile telecom expenses for data and voice consumption. In a market like this, DME has a key role to play and represents a great opportunity for partners to satisfy customer demands.”
Dealer grab
Excitor has already recruited a number of UK resellers and it intends to further recruit high quality VARs and system integrators to service both the small and medium sized enterprise and large enterprise market places. As customers demand both on-premise solutions as well as software as a service offerings, Excitor is recruiting partners with experience from both delivery models.
In addition, Excitor is looking to appoint sub-resellers to its existing hosted service partner, UK-based ESE. Dennis explains: “These sub-resellers will be able to service the entry level market from 10 to 100 users with no need for technical expertise as this is provided by our hosting partner, ESE. Through a simple monthly per user subscription model, they can sell mobile device management, security and cost visibility, and of course enterprise-grade PIM synchronisation, which DME also offers across any network and on almost any smartphone or mobile phone.”
Healthy margins
Dennis claims Excitor provides healthy margins on the DME software license and maintenance. The channel also has revenue opportunities from consulting services around installation, infrastructure optimisation, security reviews, and report development for inventory management, policy compliance and voice and data consumption, he adds.
“This enables our partners to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty by delivering mobile cost visibility and security compliance for the mobile platform. Excitor’s DME solution offers a more affordable alternative to BlackBerry and a more secure, less data intensive and hassle-free alternative to Microsoft ActiveSync. DME delivers wider mobile deployment opportunities on current and future devices and provides a future proof framework for customers’ evolving mobility needs. Companies do not like to invest in mobile solutions that tie them to a specific mobile operating system, as the race for the coolest and best mobile phones doesn’t have a predictable winner, and continues to change,” he states.