Olive Communications chief executive Martin Flick tells Mobile News his thoughts on what might happen this year, including consolidations and the importance of Internet of Things in gaining market share
Mobile resellers are dying – long live cloud-based IT and communication providers. It will prove a very interesting year for the industry and for channel partners and customers.
Convergence and cloud-based fully-integrated fixed and mobile communication platforms are here to stay, with customers driven by Brexit uncertainty now requiring flexibility, agility and cost effective solutions.
Network operators and telephony manufacturers are now demanding channel partners upskill and support multi-platform solutions, with an evolving support model to assist in the management of these solutions.
It will be a year of channel consolidation, with some smaller players unwilling to invest in the resources required to serve more complex customer needs.
Volume growth and market share gains will largely come from Internet of Things penetration, which is generally the preserve of direct network with big industry, so for the channel increasing revenues can only be driven by upselling and cross selling other services and/or through acquisition and base consolidation as the “old guard” owner managed lifestyle business owners cash in their chips and sail off into the sunset releasing their pension funds.
Mobile network operators will want to work more closely with fewer but much more capable partners in the channel who deliver real proximity to their customers’ needs.