Source: Comms Dealer June 2009
Since Griffin pioneered the iconic 'ISP in a box' campaign back in 2005 they have gone from strength to strength and last year were recognised again in the Deloitte Fast 50 making them the fastest growing ISP in the UK. We thought it high time we took another look under the Griffin bonnet.
I think it boils down to service. We survey our 400+ Partners every quarter and we work hard on our approval ratings against which our employees are targeted. We are particularly pleased that 98% of our Partners would recommend us to a friend or colleague and that 97% of our Partners believe that Griffin adds value to their business. We recognise that in the channel it is not just a question of signing up Partners and 'handing over the keys'. Resellers need products to work and when they go wrong they need people and systems that are responsive and fix the problem first time. Just as importantly they need us to properly train them, work with them on collateral and marketing campaigns, work with them on bids and accompany them on sales appointments. Griffin has pioneered the concept of the aggregator, integrating into multiple network operators and developing tools to allow Resellers to easily choose and implement the right products for their customers. By focusing on automation and putting pressure on our suppliers we keep costs down thus maximising the margin opportunities for our Partners.
According to Deloitte, Griffin is officially one of the fastest growing technology companies and the fastest growing ISP in the UK with a 523% growth rate measured between 2003 and 2007. We have won the Deloitte's Fast 50 award four times, the Sunday Times Tech Track award three times and the ISP of the Year award, voted by the Channel for 2008/2009.
We are currently rolling out MOPS2, our next generation provisioning platform, which will allow Partners to order DSL from three suppliers and allows Partners to set up white label and branded Resellers of their own. We are excited about the launch of the Cable & Wireless LLU products on the new platform and have a whole host of new products in the pipeline to roll out over the next 12 months.
We have an educational seminar planned again at the BT Tower in June with BT Wholesale where we will be talking about next generation connectivity and MPLS solutions for multi-site and retail opportunities. These events focus on helping Resellers to identify opportunities in their customer bases and are aimed at Systems Integrators and VARs as well as Voice Resellers.
As you are probably aware the major network carriers have been selling MPLS IPVPNs for some time in the channel but our Partners have explained to us the need for a more agile solution that allows enterprises to connect multiple sites using a choice of connectivity type and supplier. The problem with single-carrier solutions is that you have a limited choice of connectivity options from one carrier and often Partners lose bids on price and the inability to manage large broadband estates. We have a pre-bid support team that helps Partners to win major bids and we guarantee Partners that they will optimise their choice and margin when they resell our products. Griffin's policy of integration and automation means Partners have tools at their disposal to easily provision and manage circuits on the IPVPNs they have sold.
We believe that in the future the underlying business connectivity services will become secondary to the application being sold by the channel. As the last mile becomes fast and reliable enough to manage all applications, companies will pay by the seat for hosted services delivered over IP. Our strategy is to help our Partners provide IP to all of their customers with single or multiple site solutions and get the relationships and products in place in the provisioning portal to enable our Partners to sell a complete portfolio of managed desktop services in their own name. Our experience shows us that Resellers do not want bleeding edge products they want solutions they can sell and support easily that are reliable and deliver healthy recurring margins. When the mass market is ready for SaaS Griffin will deliver the products and the Partner tools to achieve this. Watch this space...