New Avaya channel boss looks to skill up PBX VARs

Niall Anderson fills newly created channel director role and eyes video and data success

Avaya's new UK channel boss has called on PBX specialist partners to follow the vendor down the road to video and collaboration or be left behind.

Niall Anderson recently joined the comms manufacturer as UK and Ireland regional channel director. The role is a newly created one, and Anderson claimed this spoke to the "continued investment" Avaya is making in its ongoing drive to become more channel-centric.

Reporting into Anderson will be Lynda Colman, who oversees relations with Platinum partners, while Barry Tuffs will work with the wider reseller base. Mike Handley looks after partnerships with systems integrators and services providers, while Avaya's relationships with BT and Vodafone will be managed by Ben Taylor and Emma Carpenter, respectively. Anderson will report into country manager Lee Shorten.

Anderson told ChannelWeb the addition of Nortel's data portfolio, and the recent release of Avaya's collaboration suite Flare, were a sign of things to come. Partner accreditations for video and data would launch next year, he added.

The new channel boss reinforced the message from Avaya's recent partner conference that the vendor is committed to imposing a more stringent policy on partner accreditations. Anderson added that, while some partners remained largely focused on traditional PBX technologies, Avaya is determined to drive evolution.

"There is a willingness to grow, and these are the partners that will grow with us," he said. "Whether they do it with us or not, that is the way the market is going. We have to help them do that in a way that is profitable."