Proximity restructures to focus on new business

New sales chief admits VAR had a reputation for being an engineering-led firm

Proximity Communications has restructured its sales team to focus on winning new business.

With a turnover of £9m, Proximity competes with the likes of Intrinsic, BT, KCom and Azzurri at the peak of the Avaya channel and claims to have the largest pool of Nortel-accredited engineers in the UK.

Stuart Legg joined the Avaya partner as sales director last month and has immediately hired new heads and redeployed existing resource to make the firm more sales focused.

In his previous role at comms application developer Datapulse, Legg had a panoramic view of the Nortel and Avaya channel and said Proximity had a reputation for being an engineering-led business.

"It is good at keeping its customer base, but needs a push on going out and aggressively winning new business," he said.

As a result, Legg has already restructured Proximity's team to focus on vendor alignment, location and market sectors, hiring four heads including two account managers focused on the south-east and the Midlands.

The firm recently began working with ShoreTel, adding to its long-standing partnership with rival Avaya.

"ShoreTel is raising its profile in the market and we are seeing more opportunities where it is mentioned," said Legg. "We wanted to give customers two options and act as a trusted advisor.

"There has been some pain in the channel over the last year or so with Avaya and Nortel integrating their businesses. But we're going back down the other side of the hill now and Avaya is making it easier for partners to engage and sell again," he added.

Legg's role had been fulfilled temporarily by chief executive Darren Boyce following the departure of sales director Jane Emerson last July.

Boyce said Legg would bring more "focus and structure" to Proximity's sales. "Stuart has been involved with a software-based vendor and the way the market is moving we have to become a more software-services-based business," he said. "He will help with that transition."