BT has claimed there is enough space in the SME market for both the telco behemoth and its reseller base.

Following its acquisition last week of VAR Basilica (CRN Online, 20 August), BT’s fourth reseller buyout in two years, the telco admitted that the move adds IT capabilities to its portfolio putting it squarely in its channel’s path.

However, Ricky Ricketts, head of BT Indirect Sales, told CRN that
its resellers already operating in the 50 to 1,000 seat market would already believe they were going head to head with BT.

“We estimate that there are 1.2m SME businesses in the UK, which is a huge community. This [buyout] does add capabilities to BT’s direct sales force, but we are reviewing a way that we can then add value to partners and possibly link in Basilica.

“We have had an IT strategy for some time and I don’t think resellers will see this as a major threat,” he said.

Ricketts said if any conflict should occur the vendor will review each case and speak to the customer. “The end-user should choose the solution and the supplier.”

John Carter, managing director of DMSL, said: “BT bought SkyNet and TNS last year so it is targeting the mid-market. It will not do this on its own, so it is acquiring to enable it to get traction.

“With the introduction convergence there is likely to be more changes to come. BT’s route to market is firstly its web site, then BT Direct and the channel after that ­ at the moment it is focusing on going direct to the end-users.”

“BT does not see itself as a phone company, now it wants the whole IT marketplace, and there will be other acquisitions on the horizon.”

Mark Evans, director at BT VAR ME consultancy, said: “It’s another route to market for BT. The business community won’t deal with Basilica just because it’s owned by BT. BT will have to build trust with customers ­ and many customers already have trust with their reseller.”

Antoine Barre, EMEA vice president for Solution Partners Organisation at HP, said: “Both Basilica and BT are partners of HP and we see an opportunity with the two firms merging. Basilica can bring a lot of skills to BT and apply them to BT’s customer base.”

Tom Gutteridge, head of marketing and business development at Damovo, said: “I can understand why BT wants to make this move. Unified communications is key to our sector and BT has a skills shortage in this area. There is the expectation now that BT is operating in the IT space and end-users expect it to have solutions that include Cisco and Microsoft.”