Jem Telecom looks to SIs for market skills lift
BlackBerry VAR looking to capitalise on 'huge growth' in 2006
BlackBerry VAR Jem Telecom is looking to partner with System Integrators (SIs) to help it to push its sales and support offering.
The firm believes that vendor Research in Motion (RIM) and its flagship BlackBerry handset is set for huge growth in 2006.
Mark Cope, director at Jem, said: “RIM is getting huge traction in the UK and 2006 will be a year of growth with the Intel processor and the new BlackBerry model.”
According to research firm Gartner, there was a 20.7 per cent rise in PDA shipments for the third quarter of 2005. RIM’s BlackBerry device chalked up a 25 per cent market share in the PDA market by increasing shipments by 52.6 per cent year-on-year.
“We are launching a recruitment strategy to work with more SIs who are looking to get margin from BlackBerrys without developing their own sales force,” said Cope.
Sales force automation and sales field automation are the most popular functions that users plan to
integrate with CRM data. This will grant sales representatives access to contacts, appointments and email through their BlackBerry, Cope said.
“Jem can offer the total package: end-to-end sales, third party applications, any off-the-shelf application, deployment and project management. Basically the whole piece in one place,” added Cope.
Peter Heath, senior manager for European alliances for BlackBerry at RIM, was positive about Jem’s plans.
“This is the year that partners such as Gem can generate growth with the BlackBerry platform proving to be more than just email.”
“Our alliance partners fit with resellers, ISVs and SIs working well together. What Jem is doing is fantastic and we thoroughly support such plans,” added Heath.