Julian Niman has made a reputation for being a man of few words, but his actions speak volumes. On July 12th he declared Nimans to be a robustly dealer-centric business, and the message became crystal clear when a structural shift of major importance and significance saw Rocom's reseller operation move under the Nimans brand.

There is little dissent or debate on the merits of Nimans' move to a 100 per cent dealer model. According to Chairman and Managing Director Julian Niman, rolling up Rocom's reseller activities under the Nimans banner removes conflict between the erstwhile rival brands and makes doing business with the distributor much easier. "There was a degree of conflict as both brands competed in the same channel, often for the same business," noted Niman. "The new structure simplifies processes for everyone and allows suppliers to better direct their resources to one central operation."

Dealer focused
The big shift means that Nimans will no longer sell direct to end users, a move that overcomes perceptions of the distributor as a joint channel and direct sales business. "We are 100 per cent on the dealers' side, providing one account manager, one account from one team based from a central office," added Niman. "No job losses will arise out of these developments, and the Rocom brand will continue to operate from Wetherby, concentrating on the limited supply of telephony consumables to the corporate market."

The rebrand has hit the market at an interesting time with voice and data converging at an astonishing rate, and it may turn out to be one of the most significant developments in a year that is already looking fascinating from the channel's perspective. With more data distributors taking on telephony products, and Nimans extending its reach into data, the new reseller focused regimes being implemented by Nimans bring an inevitable sense that its strength of brand and logistical expertise will guarantee great success in a new converged world.

This prediction is supported by leading comms industry analyst firm, MZA. Its General Manager, Stephanie Watson, noted: "It is a natural progression to unify the brand and activities for the new combined channel company. Both Nimans and Rocom have always had a strong SME channel presence, and the unification under one well respected channel brand will allow the combined company to focus on driving new business opportunities and supporting its reseller base. Nimans has also strengthened its management team with new hires and old acquaintances returning to the fold. Rocom's brand will remain but will focus on the corporate direct sales activity, leaving the Nimans brand as a truly channel focused force in the UK."

Training & education
Education and sales training have emerged as major requirements for distributors to deliver. Those that can prepare their resellers for new markets will find it easier to maintain close relationships with their own channel. This has driven a reinvention process in the distributor community, away from box-shifting traditions towards added value and differentiation through services. Nimans has taken this evolution one step further having centralised its operations under one roof and introduced fresh marketing and support initiatives, according to its Chairman. "This restructure is a statement of intent which is part of our long-term commitment to the reseller channel," he said. "Nimans is now in a much stronger position to maintain its status as a premier supplier, providing all the stock, delivery and support services our customers need in what remain very challenging economic conditions. More efficient and cost-effective marketing campaigns will allow us to divert funds into lead generation and joint reseller marketing activities. This is the dawning of a new era in reseller distribution."

His passion for the business has lost no vigour since he established the company in the early 1980s. Niman continues to play a daily hands-on role, assessing the market's prospects - which remains a frustrating finger in the wind business - but under his leadership the distributor has been relatively buffered against the recession with increasing sales amounting to seven per cent year-on-year growth. Conferencing sales are up 36 per cent, data equipment 23 per cent, headsets 45 per cent and call processing 30 per cent.

The firm recorded another uptick in June this year when distribution supremo Richard Carter returned to Nimans as Business Development Director. His appointment was the final piece in a new management structure which all tolled brings the combined distribution experience of the Board to more than 100 years. Added together there is over 250 years of experience in the company, and Carter wasted no time in applying the know how gained from his 25 year stint by rebuilding the marketing department. "The restructure has removed the duplication of effort for both Nimans and vendors, creating more time and money to invest in joint marketing efforts," said Carter. "We will produce marketing collateral such as brochures, and invest in a telemarketing division to produce sales leads for resellers."

Lead generation
Under a new Multiplier proposition launched last month, Avaya resellers will be the first to benefit from subsidised sales leads, using BDF funding (which is often under-used by resellers) from Avaya to purchase new business opportunities. Each campaign runs for three months and will then be updated with a set of new value-add offers. "Avaya resellers can take advantage of exclusive Power Build system bundles with an extra 10 per cent off the RRP," stated Carter. "Six IP Office bundles aim to stimulate sales at the sub-30 end of the market. They are complemented by a set of application-based technology packages for key market sectors such as office and teleworkers. Multiplier puts added power into sales campaigns, enabling resellers to accelerate their revenue streams by taking advantage of business generation tools across all our seven system brands. The scheme is a fresh approach to forming closer partnerships with customers and suppliers."

Carter also noted that Nimans is making available its internal skills courses to resellers. The distributor holds half-day courses for its 300 staff daily and is now making these skills and courses available to resellers for a nominal price. Nimans' expertise encompasses a variety of disciplines and reseller support schemes, and its wide ranging experience - from pre and post-sales support, dedicated technical support, network services, voice and data installation, leasing services, sales and technical training courses including educational roadshows - gives the company an in depth knowledge of the comms sector with an outreach that is difficult to match.

Perhaps not so well publicised is Nimans' capability in delivering data products and services to the market. Far from playing catch-up, the distributor is pushing full throttle towards bringing a comprehensive data proposition to the masses. Last month Nimans took on Avaya's full data portfolio, from switches and routers to gateways and firewalls. The man at the centre of this data campaign is James Perkins, Group Sales Director, who said that end user demand for applications like videoconferencing, IP end points, IP handsets and CCTV are driving and determining the distributor's IP-based channel strategy.

Data support
Nimans has gone big on training its own staff to bring them up to speed with selling and supporting data products, focusing on both the technical and sales aspects. At the same time Nimans is recruiting highly adept data specialists to form a pool of skills it can take to the dealer channel. "Approximately 50 per cent of dealers are taking a watching brief on data," calculates Perkins. "Twenty per cent are close to skilling up while 30 per cent have taken the plunge. Last month we trained 140 engineers and the message to our dealer channel is that we can give them the help they need to increase sales by including data products in their portfolio."

Perkins also puts together data product bundles for dealers including elements of the networks services division Nimans acquired when it bought Rocom. He commented: "The data installation division offers partners site surveys and white label services to help dealers secure more of the customer's spend, rather than leave money on the table for another comms provider to collect."

Leading vendors approve rebrand

Leon Mangan, Sales Director, UK Channel, Siemens Enterprise Communications: I fully support any business initiative that drives focus and attention on adding value to the partner channel. If the removal of brand confusion allows more focus on selling and growth, then this augers well for a positive future.

Alan Reeve, Managing Director, Aastra Telecom (UK): Aastra has had a long and successful relationship with Rocom over many years. We are sure that as the two companies become one under the Nimans Brand the relationship will continue to get stronger.

Paul Clark, General Manager, Plantronics: We welcome the announcement that Nimans will be increasing its focus on the development of the dealer channel. As more end users implement unified communications solutions, we support any move which enables resellers to more effectively drive headset sales opportunities.

Steve Gerrard, Country Marketing Manager, Panasonic: We love the repositioning. The move to preserve the Rocom name and create distinct identities and business models for the two brands is inspirational. The rebranding removes any cross-brand confusion that may exist in the market. With the streamlining of the Nimans business model we now have a strong, consolidated focal point through which to address the UK reseller community.

Andrew Doyle, Sales Director, GN Netcom: Focusing 100 per cent on dealer business is a positive move, and moving to a single account team while investing in marketing will see resellers gain greater focus and support from Nimans. This latest development will support our mutual plans to take full advantage of the expected growth in the headset market.

Wilf Wood, Head of Sales Engineering, Samsung: We are fully supportive of this latest move. We see the rebranding as a logical step that can only bring benefits to Nimans and its various vendors including Samsung.

Glynn Jones, VP, EMEA Voice Sales, Polycom: The rebrand brings a clarity to the organisation and go to market strategy following Nimans' acquisition of Rocom last year. Nimans has for many years been a key distribution partner for our audio conferencing products in the UK, and we believe the new shape of the organisation will continue to benefit all in the supply chain, from manufacturer to customer.