Francois Mazoudier, chief executive of Speakanet, Ernst and Young’s Danish Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005, was in the UK last week to find reseller partners.
“It is a simple sale. Businesses do not need a PBX or desk phones. They keep their existing landline number, and the routing of inbound calls is carried out by our web-based application,” said Mazoudier. “We shield the end user from the complexity.”
Resellers would be expected to sell a subscription to end users from which they would make recurring revenue.
According to Speakanet, the service can be installed by the customer and set up on a PC in less than 10 minutes.
There are several clear selling points that should win resellers easy converts from SMEs and corporates, argued Mazoudier.
“Companies are finding their communications systems difficult to support. Suddenly they have high fixed-line rentals, and mobile phone bills going through the roof,” he said.
“Converting to one system will save them money and will be a lot easier to manage. It’s the traditional hardware suppliers who will suffer, but they have had things their own way for too long.
“Our service does not require any purchase of hardware,” continued Mazoudier. “This means that resellers do not have to invest in stock, so we could create a new breed of reseller that does not have any legacy of traditional telecoms revenue that they have to protect.”
However, Richard Bampfylde, managing director of communications VAR Echo Communications, shrugged off the competition.
“It is going to take a lot of explaining to get the concept across to the man in the corner shop. Is that going to be worth it for a commission
on £10 a month? Also, I cannot see the telecoms establishment beating down the door to work with them, as it will cannibalise their existing revenue streams,” he said.
Mike Ballantine, business development manager of communications equipment vendor Aastra, said: “People do like mobile phones, but we’ve adapted by giving our phone systems the same user-friendliness. People can now use their Nokia handsets to take inbound calls.”
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