Attendees were ‘taken on a journey’ about why the flexible connectivity solution will become a critical part to their own and their customers’ businesses – with the SMB arena set for the biggest growth.
“There’s never been a more exciting time to be in our industry,” heralded Mark Curtis-Wood, Head of Network Services at Nimans where there’s been a 100% year-on-year rise in SIP connections over the last three years.
He told the audience: “It’s knowing what to sell at the right time and how to sell it. We are talking about evolution not revolution. It’s not about rip out and replace but understanding what the customer wants and delivering a solution. It’s time to evolve.”
Two sessions were held in the morning and afternoon such was the high demand – attracting dealers from as far as The Midlands and beyond. Some had not sold SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) before.
“I’ve dabbled with SIP in the past but I had to give the business to someone else. It was a case of I can’t do it but I know someone that can,” said one Cheshire-based dealer. “But I lost control of the customer and that’s why I’m here today. It’s been a massive benefit. Not just an eye opener but a double eye opener. In the future I’m going to work with Nimans Network Services and get my hands dirty myself. I won’t need to give any more business away.”
His positive comments were echoed by a Chester-based reseller who remarked: “I want to understand and explain to my customers what’s best for them and also me as a system installer and maintainer. I need the knowledge to propose it in the right places to the right clients. I’ve a much better understanding now.”
Visitors learned how Nimans is now a managed services provider with specialists and dedicated teams of experts operating throughout the business.
“As an industry there’s a long way to go in terms of market penetration,” Curtis-Wood added. “We are at a crossroads around SIP and the associated products. There’s significant margins and growth. Many customers think the biggest reason is to save money but they are actually buying SIP for other reasons. It adds value to their business based on flexibility, control and cost.”
The Nimans proposition gives resellers a strong and proven platform to capture a bigger share of the market - based on high calibre training and accreditation - ensuring they ‘get it right’.
Curtis-Wood concluded: “There’s a right way of doing SIP and a wrong way. It’s about creating a holistic solution. Conversations often start off about how SIP can cut ISDN costs by 25%. But it’s really about flexibility, disaster recovery and number portability.
“We can help resellers embrace SIP for the first time or take their service to the next level based on a highly effective training programme and a proven and reliable infrastructure. Working directly with Nimans ensures they can take greater control and access everything they need from one place. Voice is becoming just an application now. If you control the pipe going into a customer’s premises you can sell additional services on top. That’s the secret to success.”