IPT on the up, Mitel claims
Vendor talks up EU and North American markets, but some staff are on voluntary pay-cuts
The IP telephony (IPT) markets in Europe and North America are picking up, according to Mitel chief executive Don Smith.
However, Smith admitted that the vendor's services offerings to UK resellers could be packaged better, in the wake of reports that many service staff at the firm's UK offices are on reduced wages.
"We see things picking up in the European Union and North America. Six months ago I would have said IP communications was 30 per cent of our business. Now it's 40 per cent, and we will probably be at 50 per cent next year," he said.
"We have heavily invested in IPT and we are seeing enthusiasm for it in the UK. But if we look at our products, we think customers want to get into it at their own speed."
Despite the rosy outlook, some staff at Mitel are still on a voluntary 10 per cent pay cut, and some have been on a reduced salary for over a year. Mitel cut its direct salesforce last year, moving hundreds of accounts to resellers.
"Our direct model continues to be strong," said Smith. "A lot of our support people are working with the channel now, but there needs to be more investment in packaging services so the channel can sell them.
"In North America our resellers are using service staff from Mitel for installations and services, and this is something that is beneficial to both us and our channel."
Smith said that no redundancies were planned.
Maurice Lee, managing director of Premises Networks, which sells and supports Mitel products, said he is seeing an improved business environment, and Premises has started hiring staff again.
"We have talked with Mitel about doing further services," he said. "But it has not yet been productive. We are happy to help Mitel via our support business."