Channel Challenges

Making our partners more profitable is the ideal outcome of the solutions we implement. With the digital transformation of the telecoms and IT channel gathering pace, the margin on products and services is changing so it's important to look at business operations to see where efficiencies can be made.

Making the most of your areas of strength to maximize profit margins is key but also reducing overheads; buildings, warehouse operations and streamlining logistics support can reap both operational and commercial benefits. Multimessage can help our partners:

• Reduce overheads by outsourcing specific operations
• Focus on business strengths
• Create a sustainable business model
• Maintain stock integrity, reduce the amount of lost stock.

In the past few years with the popularity of hot desking, working from home and hybrid working increasing this gives companies the opportunities to look at their operations. Do I need the office and/or warehouse facilities that were previously required?

If the answer to these is no, then it’s worth finding a channel partner with the skill sets and experience to manage the operations that can be outsourced. Multimessage can provide the resources to manage hardware for new projects or for maintenance and support hardware which reduces the need for warehousing allowing our partners to manage roll outs of new projects and fault management from anywhere.

• Improve stock Integrity
• Reduce the need for warehousing
• Prestaging Services for new equipment

There can be large associated costs and risk having to scale up when going for and winning large contracts. When our partners are looking to grow their business the outsourced services that Multimessage provide reduce that risk and provide security knowing you have a dedicated partner supporting your new contract.

We provide the resources to enable channel partners to successfully roll out new projects especially on large customer estates, multiple site installations and the subsequent ongoing support.

Stock integrity is critical for businesses of all sizes but even more so when the volume of customers with support is large and increasing. Firstly, it’s essential to know what equipment is needed to support your customer base, then we provide the ‘best in class’ service to support the hardware.

• Inventory as a service, or storage & logistics
• Prestaging services
• Warranty management
• Ongoing support of hardware

Establishing a sustainable business model ensures we are all doing our bit to improve environmental performance and reduce carbon emissions. Multimessage thrives within the Telecoms and IT channel providing services to extend the life of Telecoms and IT equipment. Through the medium of Repair, asset recovery, Reuse and WEEE disposal we:

• Repair rather than replace
• Reduce the volume of stock required to maintain customer equipment
• Reuse legacy equipment, reduce electronic waste, ensure no equipment goes to land fill.

Understanding your business model, the products you support and how you manage faults we can reduce transportation costs and energy usage and ultimately reduce the associated carbon footprint.

Outsourcing hardware management to a specialist partner ensures our customers can rely on our management of hardware no matter what is going on across the UK or globally. We ensure parts are on site within SLA. This is achieved through efficient management of hardware, dedicated account management and product knowledge and essentially the use of forward stock locations to get parts close to site when required.

• Dedicated account manager
• Multiple sites holding stock
• Short repair turnaround, which means stock levels maintained and low capex costs.

M&A within the Telecoms industry have increased substantially in the past 5-10 years, mainly driven as a result of the digital transformation and cloud services means there is increased dependence on ‘cloud seats’ and the recurring revenue that goes with it.

The primary concentration within the M&A process will be on boarding customers, existing staff and maintaining business performance. However, an important aspect often overlooked is the management of stock and its integrity. Multimessage as the primary inventory partner can onboard acquisitions, process stock and quickly provide access to remote staff to call off as required. This enables our partners to speed up M&A and reduce overheads quickly to make these efficient and reduce capital expenditure buying stock when you could already have it.

OEM support is the way to go when new products and solutions are installed for your customers. However once the initial warranty period has expired or the first contracted period of support is up for renewal it’s time to consider 3rd party alternatives which can often provide similar support at a fraction of the cost. If OEM’s decide to end support of a product it often leaves customers unsure how they will support equipment and they may feel forced to upgrade. In most scenarios Multimessage can keep these systems going for many years after manufacturers end their support.

Multimessage monitor the market and the products but our repair capabilities are built around customer demand. If you have a support contract coming to an end and would like a partner to provide hardware repair or full inventory management then please get in touch.