Today's Fone Logistics Conference’07 saw 4 Networks pledge support to the indirect channel through Fone Logistics Partners.
With branding adorning the conference suite at The Belfry reading, Customer, People, Technology, Product & Partner, Ian Gillespie, standing behind a display board ‘PRECOGNITION (PRE-COG)’, opened proceedings saying, ‘Fone Logistics is committed to working with the indirect channel…
Julien Parven, Head of Marketing, presenting Fone Logistics coming 2 year plan explained that the indirect channel needs to change and evolve. Fone Logistics sets out to understand their partners (dealers) businesses and will be engaging with them on a more direct level so that both dealers and FL will succeed in the changing market collectively.
It seems that the ongoing success of FL’s ‘Select Business’ program has brought it in to closer alignment with the networks; Parven boasted of £53 ARPU’s, 18% data usage and a seemingly remarkable 74% 2 year contract rate, all achieved within the last 12 months.
Dealers, invited to ask what the most significant change in 2007 was, responded in the main with agreement that their biggest collective competitor were the networks themselves, channel conflict; this lead very nicely into the next slide – ‘the best way to predict the future is to invent it’.
Converged Services.
This is where the indirect channel is going and with this in mind Fone Logistics is extending its invitation to ‘Select Business’, which was initially introduced to push high value business through O2, to a wider dealer base offering new products and services with ongoing training selling converged services through O2, T-Mobile, Orange and 3.
FL’s network partners were invited to speak to the assembled audience, with an open, honest and transparent presentation given by Maggie Kennedy, Head of ‘Direct Indirect’ (?!), congratulating dealers, through Fone Logistics, on high ARPU and data sales. Confirming that unlike with other distribution partners, O2 creates an annual plan with 6 monthly reviews in conjunction with FL ensuring its dealers don’t experience ‘boom & bust’.
Bernie O’Beirne (c’mon! – insert joke here, or write one in the blog box below), Director of Indirect Sales, 3, came in second with a pledge to support the channel through FL with voice, data and converged products, promising a soon to be launched flexible ‘Mix & Match’ tariff for B2B, soon after the consumer launch October 1st; explaining that their growing direct team were a test bed for training the indirect channel on selling 3 – ‘3 will be known as bringing best to business’.
Steve Heald, Head of Independent retail, Orange, was less affable ‘we need to sort the good from the bad’ and went on to say ‘it’s more productive to work with fewer partners’ whilst discussing Oranges KPI approach to the channel. After 20 minutes he ended his presentation with ‘we see an increasing focus on the channel’ although some attending may be forgiven for not knowing which one he was referring to.
Roger Fletcher, Head of Indirect Channels, and Mark Hayward of T-Mobile came seemingly in numbers to protect themselves, with the ongoing line of the day, ‘independent partners and the channel are vital to us; a key part of our future’ before going on to complain about the bad press they’d been getting from the press recently.
All in all after some negative press directed toward Fone Logistics (not us) toward the end of 2006 regarding them dropping Vodafone (or the other way round) it seems that their figures, network partnerships and dealer base are on top form and growing, rapidly.
Fone Logistics are actively recruiting dealers/partners for their Select Business program.
Julien Parven, Head of Marketing, presenting Fone Logistics coming 2 year plan explained that the indirect channel needs to change and evolve. Fone Logistics sets out to understand their partners (dealers) businesses and will be engaging with them on a more direct level so that both dealers and FL will succeed in the changing market collectively.
It seems that the ongoing success of FL’s ‘Select Business’ program has brought it in to closer alignment with the networks; Parven boasted of £53 ARPU’s, 18% data usage and a seemingly remarkable 74% 2 year contract rate, all achieved within the last 12 months.
Dealers, invited to ask what the most significant change in 2007 was, responded in the main with agreement that their biggest collective competitor were the networks themselves, channel conflict; this lead very nicely into the next slide – ‘the best way to predict the future is to invent it’.
Converged Services.
This is where the indirect channel is going and with this in mind Fone Logistics is extending its invitation to ‘Select Business’, which was initially introduced to push high value business through O2, to a wider dealer base offering new products and services with ongoing training selling converged services through O2, T-Mobile, Orange and 3.
FL’s network partners were invited to speak to the assembled audience, with an open, honest and transparent presentation given by Maggie Kennedy, Head of ‘Direct Indirect’ (?!), congratulating dealers, through Fone Logistics, on high ARPU and data sales. Confirming that unlike with other distribution partners, O2 creates an annual plan with 6 monthly reviews in conjunction with FL ensuring its dealers don’t experience ‘boom & bust’.
Bernie O’Beirne (c’mon! – insert joke here, or write one in the blog box below), Director of Indirect Sales, 3, came in second with a pledge to support the channel through FL with voice, data and converged products, promising a soon to be launched flexible ‘Mix & Match’ tariff for B2B, soon after the consumer launch October 1st; explaining that their growing direct team were a test bed for training the indirect channel on selling 3 – ‘3 will be known as bringing best to business’.
Steve Heald, Head of Independent retail, Orange, was less affable ‘we need to sort the good from the bad’ and went on to say ‘it’s more productive to work with fewer partners’ whilst discussing Oranges KPI approach to the channel. After 20 minutes he ended his presentation with ‘we see an increasing focus on the channel’ although some attending may be forgiven for not knowing which one he was referring to.
Roger Fletcher, Head of Indirect Channels, and Mark Hayward of T-Mobile came seemingly in numbers to protect themselves, with the ongoing line of the day, ‘independent partners and the channel are vital to us; a key part of our future’ before going on to complain about the bad press they’d been getting from the press recently.
All in all after some negative press directed toward Fone Logistics (not us) toward the end of 2006 regarding them dropping Vodafone (or the other way round) it seems that their figures, network partnerships and dealer base are on top form and growing, rapidly.
Fone Logistics are actively recruiting dealers/partners for their Select Business program.