Telecoms provider demonstrates commitment to the channel
Opal, the business to business division of The Carphone Warehouse Group today announced the acquisition of its former long term partner V Networks. The move is part of an ongoing strategic plan to strengthen its position in the channel and become the partner of choice. The alliance will offer a new level of commitment to the channel providing partners with greater rewards and a quick return.
Nathan Stenson Director of Opal’s Wholesale & Indirect Channels said: “Opal is delighted to announce the acquisition of V Networks. We will be working with the same team to deliver the next earn out program for channel partners, representing the fastest and best guaranteed buyout offering in the market.”
Channel partners will continue to have accounts with V Networks and benefit from the extensive product portfolio, back-end online portals and professional account management that they have come to enjoy and expect from V Networks.
“Opal brings with it the substantial resource of a FTSE 250 company. It is also the 3rd largest operator in the UK,” said Mark Shraga, Sales Director at V Networks. This acquisition provides our partners with the opportunity to maximize their returns and margins not only through Opal’s traditional services but also through new compelling next generation propositions.”
Nathan Stenson concluded, “We have always worked very closely with the channel to provide not only the best technologies, through elements such as our next generation network, but also the best partnerships and deals.”
New move puts landline sales within reach for mobile dealers
Opal, the business-to-business division of The Carphone Warehouse Group, will launch major new opportunities for its channel partners at Convergence Summit South, held at Sandown Park on 7-8th October.
In the first of several steps set to shake up the telecoms industry, Opal will make TalkTalk Business bundles available to its indirect channel partners. For the first time, B2B channel partners will be able to offer their customers unlimited minutes and free broadband bundles at a price competitive with network operators.
Customers will benefit from a line, calls and free broadband package delivered over Opal’s Next Generation Network (NGN) costing just £24.99 a month. The package is designed to fit customer’s needs, with the ability to select unlimited peak, unlimited off-peak or 150 mobile minutes.
Reinforcing its commitment to the channel, Opal is also announcing that it will be offering partners upfront commissions of £100 for every new customer connected to a TalkTalk Business package.
Among the first partners to sign up to the new product offerings is Bob Sweetlove, Business manager of Hugh Symons Communications, one of the largest mobile distributors in the UK.
He said: “At present we are only able to sell mobile airtime and hardware so the ability to offer a landline proposition will provide us with incremental sales and allow us to attract additional resellers to our broader product range. Offering upfront commission will allow us to speak the same language as the mobile dealers as it is a business model they are familiar with. This offering will make it easier, and more attractive, for them to add landline to their services.
“This is a bold innovation from Opal, I’m not aware of a competing product wrapped in this way. It is a big step along the road to a truly converged reseller channel.”
The innovative new propositions are made possible thanks to the economy and flexibility of Opal's fully-unbundled NGN, the largest in the UK. In addition to excellent value and new opportunities for increasing margin, channel partners have the peace of mind knowing they are backed up by the Group’s £200 million investment in a cutting edge, resilient IP network.
Opal’s Director of Wholesale Channels, Nathan Stenson, said: “Our well supported NGN provides us with an excellent opportunity to bring together converging technologies and we can be intelligent in the way we price them for the benefit of the market. These latest offers are truly innovative within the marketplace and we expect channel partners to feel immediate benefits.”
Opal, the B2B division of The Carphone Warehouse Group, has announced a new service for call centres - the enhanced, hosted dialler, and the formalisation of its partnership with leading UK call centre software developer, Rostrvm Solutions.
The launch of the enhanced hosted dialler proposition is a key element in Opal’s strategy to deliver advanced functionality to business customers in easy-to-adopt packages.
Paul Lawton , MD for Opal, commented: “Our hosted dialler package offers tremendous operational and commercial flexibility, which is important in today’s economic environment. Hosted applications are an ideal solution for business looking to leverage operating rather than capital expenditure.”
The Opal Hosted Dialler services bring numerous tangible benefits to call centres, from greater efficiency, time and cost savings through to much-improved voice and data features, reliability and ease-of-use. It gives the business user the opportunity to operate call centre dialling campaigns from anywhere that has a phone, a PC and good access to the internet meaning they can use the Opal hosted dialler straight away.”
Ken Reid, Rostrvm Marketing Director said, “The new Opal hosted dialler incorporates advanced call centre features including choice of dialling modes from preview to predictive, tools to support in-conversation business processes and make the call centre agent’s life easier together with web-delivered management information to ensure that customers can easily monitor the business benefit derived from the technology.”
The Hosted Dialler is available from Opal as one element of a suite of contact applications to support call centres including number translation services, Hosted Interactive Voice Response, Hosted Call Recording, in-network Telephone Preference Service (TPS) management, SMS messaging services and both traditional & SIP voice connectivity.
Combination of HiPath OpenOffice, Siemens’ unified communications platform, and Opal’s SIP Trunk connectivity creates compelling opportunity for the Channel
Siemens Enterprise Communications and Opal, the B2B division of The Carphone Warehouse Group, are launching a compelling new promotion for channel partners aimed at highlighting the benefits of SIP Trunk Technology.
Channel partners may now be able to get up to four free Opal SIP Trunks for 3-months with every Siemens HiPath OpenOffice*. The combination unleashes the benefits of unified communications, and rather than limiting these to head office, provides wide-area IP Connectivity, allowing organisations to unlock features such as presence, instant messaging and file sharing across an entire organisation, including satellite offices and home workers.
“Once an organisation has put SIP at the core of its communications network, a host of new services and capabilities become available that provide easy, personalised communications with complete control in the hands of each user, driving operational and cost efficiency. The result is an integrated user experience regardless of location or device,” confirms Dave Dyer, SME Marketing Manager at Siemens.
Opal SIP Trunks have been tested by Siemens for interoperability. Integration will be a seamless process for the end-user.
Nathan Stenson, Opal’s Director of Wholesale Channels, said: “This promotion supports our intention to capitalise on our position as the first-to-market tier one carrier with a SIP Trunk proposition. The partnership with Siemens allows us both to offer our Partners increased competitive advantage – on the one hand the flexibility of Siemens HiPath OpenOffice UC software platform, on the other future-proof IP connectivity using Opal SIP Trunking.
Reinforcing its commitment to SIP, Opal has also launched a SIP incentive to its Partner base that will award the Partner delivering the highest number of SIP connections between September 1st and November 30th with a luxury break for two to New York, Ibiza or Las Vegas.
*Subject to Status, Eligibility and Terms and Conditions
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