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In this month’s Expert Witness Adrian Sunderland, CTO Griffin Internet looks at the white-label broadband phenomenon
There is a growing realisation that IP has become the defacto communication standard and that the first broadband service into a business will probably expand to carry all a company’s voice and data services. Resellers serving the business market are rushing to protect their customer base and safeguard future revenues by selling their ownbranded broadband products. This month’s Expert Witness examines the white-label broadband phenomenon.
Selling your own-branded broadband requires in-house technical expertise.
Myth – Resellers don’t have to invest in expensive equipment and specialist staff if they partner with a reputable managed broadband supplier. Branded provisioning platforms are available allowing resellers to take advantage of existing networks and to place and manage orders from placement to live date. Provisioning systems are available which link into the backend systems of the underlying network provider providing resellers with a series of rules and triggers to intelligently handle each stage of the order, without the need for
manual intervention and therefore additional provisioning staff. Endusers are kept up to date with automatic progress reports and all of the jargon (RADIUS, DNS, IP Transit, IP addressing) is looked after by the Managed Service Provider.
Resellers often have the choice of doing their own first line support or taking a branded service from their supplier. With a bit of effort on the part of the supplier diagnostic, reporting and repair tools can be exposed to resellers allowing them to manage the technical support function using XML tools, avoiding the need to go through a third party contact centre.
Offering own-branded broadband allows resellers to protect themselves from the competition.
Fact – Reselling another company’s brand was not seen to be a problem before convergence. With voice and data convergence slowly becoming a reality, resellers are starting to see new competitors attacking their bases right under their noses. The issue is that when resellers promote another company’s products, they earn a commission but do not own the enduser as they are billed by the supplier. By taking control of the billing process and the relationship with the end-user, resellers are able to protect their customer base from competitors.
Resellers can boost the value of their business by adding recurring revenues from IP that the market values much more highly than CPS or WLR revenues.
Setting up as an ISP is timeconsuming and difficult.
Myth – Resellers can often be set up and selling own-branded broadband within days where the process has been designed with the channel in mind. Specialist managed service providers will provide resellers with all the tools, training and marketing collateral they need to get started. Those suppliers with more of a focus on the channel will dedicate pre-sales technical and senior sales resource to help resellers to convert major network bids.
Keeping pace with advances in technology is expensive and requires specialist skills
Fact – But this does not need to concern you as a reseller. There are managed broadband providers that are committed to developing relationships with multiple broadband suppliers and have the financial and intellectual muscle to transition to 21st Century broadband networks. Choose one that is also committed 100% to the channel and you will be sure they are focussed on helping you to beat your competition and not hedging their bets by building a direct sales force to potentially compete with you.
To find out more about selling and managing broadband under your own brand please contact managedbroadband@griffin.com.