SMB and mid-market beckons as new Aussie distributor joins the UC race

A new player in Australian distribution is about to throw its hat in the ring with an eye for the unified communications (UC) market.

Under the banner of e365, the distributor has developed a model based on recruiting new vendors in the collaboration, voice and video market, combined with offerings from well known vendors such as Cisco and Polycom.

With a launch date expected by the end of June 2017, one of the company's directors is Tom Morgan, a veteran of the UC market for over 20 years.

Through his other company, eVideo, Morgan said he has seen the landscape shift to a point where a gap in the market has formed in Australia.

"We are trying to kill the confusion in collaboration,” he told ARN. “There is so much confusion out there as to what is available and the bar to entry for customers and partners has lowered but they don’t know it.”

For Morgan, the influx of UC solutions targeted at the small to medium business (SMB) and mid-market sectors have made the goals of customers more attainable. Yet the reliance on established vendors has limited partner opportunity because of price.

By bringing new vendors to the fore, e365 is aiming to position itself as the place for partners and end-users to be able to browse, select and purchase UC technologies, with support and guidance also available.

The business will have several vendors already on its books at launch, including well-known brands such as Cisco and Polycom. But for Morgan, the main push will be on those new companies trying to carve out a niche for themselves in the UC market.

"It will be a portal for customers and partners and part of that will be bringing in new technology and new services to create an environment which eliminates confusion,” Morgan explained. "Nine out of ten companies come to us and say they want the next new product, whatever it may be, but they don’t know where to get it or how to implement it."

Morgan’s existing company eVideo, is a UC specialist which targets the upper end of the mid-market and enterprise.

Morgan said e365 will not compete in this space, rather partnering with eVideo with many of the solutions developed set to be used to help the new distribution and resale company grow.

"The days of having one meeting room in each state are over,” Morgan said. “Customers want multiple rooms with multiple solutions in each but don’t want to pay $30,000 for each."

By combining a suite of lower-cost offerings, which have similar features to enterprise products but at lower cost, Morgan said e365 can open up a swathe of new opportunities for partners across video, voice and collaboration.

In addition, the company is working on a number of distribution deals with new vendors but in order to offer solutions from established vendors, it has also entered into several sub-distribution agreements with other distributors.

Morgan said that this would work well for both established distributors and the new company due to its ties in the UC market.

"We already have 50 partners on board, all operating voice, video and collaboration,” Morgan explained. “That is a huge market for the distributors to sell into."

By having a customer and partner portal in one place, Morgan said e365 will be able to adjust solutions and offerings based on more feedback than other distributors get and therefore be able to move faster to address market trends.