Turning over £400 million and part of the DCC group, Micro-P has always been a strong distributor of IT and data products and has a firm presence in the mobile market. During the past few years, and with the advent of the convergence revolution, Micro-P needed a sound understanding of the voice market to embrace and ride the new converged wave. We got the inside story from Alex Lister, General Manager of Communications Micro-P.

The key challenges Micro-P faced when entering the voice market were choosing the correct vendors to partner with and recruiting suitable individuals to spearhead the Communications Division, and integrating the new division into an already successful and established business. "Obviously these challenges were overcome and the Micro-P Communications Division continues to grow and prosper," said Lister. "Choosing our first PBX vendor NEC in October 2009, it was key that we had a sound relationship and they understood fully our go to market plan. We already had some good relationships with key vendors such as Plantronics. We understood that it would take time in recruiting new data VARs, but are fortunate that we have 7,500 VARs with whom we have an excellent relationship. We held roadshows in strategic locations and invited them along to understand the Micro-P and NEC message."

Last month Micro-P bolstered its voice credentials by partnering with Samsung's Network Division to sell the vendor's PBX and communication solutions. "Our portfolio of products in communications continues to grow," added Lister. "We have direct relationships with nearly all of the key peripheral vendors such as BT, Plantronics etc. We are now distributing two system brands, NEC and Samsung, and would envisage bringing on another vendor over the next 12 months. We will also start to introduce new vendors who can enhance our existing portfolio."

Lister's converged marketing messages are clear. "We see voice, data and mobile eventually converging and Micro-P is in pole position to assist our resellers, both voice and data," he said. "We will continue to actively promote Unified Communications products along with our vendors who work with us. We will embrace new technology and support our resellers with technical standards of excellence every step of the way. We will offer our resellers a bespoke support package based on their individual requirements centred around training, product offers, marketing support etc."

Unified communications plays a key role for Micro-P. "The company has aligned itself with all the key vendors who recognise this fact and plan key marketing activities around this," noted Lister. "Most of these vendors have either developed, or are developing, unified communications products in their portfolio. We see these products as pivotal in pushing the convergence message. UC is the cement in the building blocks towards our converging market."

According to Lister, Micro-P has been inundated with enquiries from voice resellers who realise there is another key player in the voice market. "To Micro-P these resellers are brand new customers so we can service them with all the ‘given' attributes from a first class distributor," commented Lister. "More importantly, we can sell to them systems and peripheral products with the technical support which I feel is lacking in the distribution market. To add to this, we offer them other products from our portfolio such as laptops, flat screens and mobile devices so they can start to diversify their business."

Lister said the response has been ‘tremendous', with most of the switched-on VARS understanding that they must embrace convergence if they are to move forward over the next few years. "They like the fresh approach from Micro-P, particularly around the fact that we recognise the importance of sound technical support for the reseller," said Lister.

"By investing in technical support we are comfortable that we can offer a level of expertise which will ensure all our resellers have support when outside their comfort zone. We are also working with our key vendors to ensure that we offer a flexible training packages which are palatable and minimises time out of the office and away from the business."

To give VARs a leg up into voice sales Micro-P outlines the margin benefits of selling a phone system and assists VARs from a technical point of view, hold their hand through the initial start up. "Our key message is that technical support is paramount and we have invested heavily in this area working towards a centre of Technical excellence headed up by John Bird one of our latest new recruits," said Lister.

So far, progress is ‘excellent', he reports. "Resellers want to see a new distributor that can do all the basic distributor functions with ease," Lister observes. "A distributor that has all the angles covered providing voice data and mobile propositions. A distributor who understands convergence from all levels and who can guide them through and into the convergence arena with first class technical support.

"Micro-P is expecting large growth in the communications area, with some ambitious growth targets and a massive recruitment of new resellers over the next 12 months."