Reflections on a challenging year
2021 – what a year it’s been for the channel. While it’s been challenging, it’s not been without its rewards. I’d like to take some time to reflect on the key positives we’ve had over the last 12 months and, on behalf of the team at BT Wholesale, to thank you all for your continued and much valued support.
Championing innovation
First, let’s look at some of the innovative products and launches we’ve introduced for you this year. We’re listening to you and continually developing our portfolio to help you to grow.
Partner Plus
Our Partner Plus programme offers a host of benefits, including business support, marketing resources and productivity gains. It empowers you to deliver excellent customer service and accelerate your business growth.
WHC with Webex
Together with Cisco, we’re helping customers work better from anywhere, on any device. Video conferencing, instant messaging, secure file sharing, collaborative spaces and IP calls, all on our Wholesale Hosted Communications (WHC) platform
That’s why we’ve combined two powerful solutions – Broadband One and WHC Express – to give the ultimate in control and flexibility, ready for an all-IP world.
Winning combo
WHC Express gives small businesses a digital phone line ready for the move to all-IP. And you can pair it with Broadband One, our managed connectivity service that offers flexible, reliable and ultrafast full fibre speeds up to 1Gbps. The winning combination.
A year of making it simple
In 2021 we really tried to simplify how we work with you. It’s fair to say we have a way to go, but we’re committed to doing so and we are on the journey now.
We’re simplifying our order management processes, automating our pricing tools and opening up our brand and marketing support to you via our Partner Plus programme.
Through all of this we are trying to place you at the heart of what we do, simplifying access to our portfolio and experts so you can always deliver.
We’ve also developed new APIs for WHC and Ethernet circuits, so you can order directly from your systems. And we’ve automated our pricing tools and introduced self-service. That means better, faster ordering and renewals, so you end up with happier customers and stronger growth.
On top of that, we're supporting you with Ethernet in many other ways. From 99.9997% availability to fast turnaround on orders, we’re making it easier to deliver reliable service and boost your customers’ bandwidth.
Spreading joy and hope within the channel
In support of BT’s Hope United campaign, we launched a competition back in June to find local football teams that were helping to support their communities. It was an opportunity to spread hope across the channel and promote Hope Utd’s message of tackling online hate and a vision of a hate-free future.
Nominated by Node 4, Kettering FC Kites were the well-deserved winners. They’re an inclusive team that support children in care, those with behavioural difficulties, children of different social backgrounds and those new to the game.
Hear from the coach, Aaron Tebbutt, on what it means to run the team and what the prize money will be used for. Read the interview
Seeing each other again
It’s been great to get back out into the industry and see both old and new faces again at in-person events.
I really enjoyed catching up with some of you at Comms Vision – what a great event! Gavin Jones, our Channel Director, spoke about walking the road to all-IP and Steve Blackshaw, our Head of All-IP, discussed the importance of creating a strategy for the digital future. We also heard some great insights into how we can all drive value creation in disruptive times.
Looking forward to this year, we’ll be at Channel Live in March, and hopefully you’ll be able to join our Partner Plus Live event where we plan to unveil and share our key plans for the year ahead.
If you aren’t a member of Partner Plus and would like to join, you can sign up to become a partner here.
New MVNO agreements driving progress
Exciting things are happening in the MVNO space. We’re partnering with technology and connectivity platform provider Plan.com as part of a new MVNO agreement. Thanks to this partnership, the firm’s business customers will get access to 4G and 5G on EE, as well as VoLTE and VoWiFi early next year. Visit Channel Pro to read more about this landmark deal.
We’re also supporting the move towards IoT through our recent MVNO agreement with Wireless Logic. As the demand for connecting devices continues to grow, our award-winning mobile network, combined with Wireless Logic’s expertise and market-leading global IoT services, will power the next generation of IoT solutions for UK customers.
As Nick Wooten, our Director of MVNO, told Mobile magazine, the IoT market is set to be worth nearly £1bn in the next few years, and MVNOs will play a big role in its future.
Collaborating with our MNO partners
On our MNO side, we’re continuing to value the important work of our partners in collaborating to improve the UK’s connectivity and ensure everyone – wherever they are – has equal digital access. Some of the unusual and unexpected places where we’re bringing mobile connectivity for all include a church tower in Leeds and above the turf at Hillsborough Stadium. You can follow our Connect for Good campaign on LinkedIn where we share views from our cell sites each week.
That’s a wrap
Wishing you all the very best at this wonderful time of the year, and I look forward to having the opportunity to work with you again in 2022.
Alex Tempest
Managing Director, BT Wholesale
