BT Engage IT gets specialist

BT's mid-market reseller arm to launch two specialist sales units as it ramps up headcount

BT Engage IT is creating two specialist sales units focused on IT security solutions and HP Networking.

Talking to ChannelWeb, BT Engage IT managing director Martin Balaam (pictured) said the 800-strong VAR is in expansion mode after completing the integration of the brand into BT.

"We are at an evolutionary stage where we have put the integration to bed. We know what we want to do and are starting to do it," Balaam said.

On top of plans to grow its 75-strong field sales team by 50 per cent, the VAR is launching two specialist sales units focusing on HP Networking and security respectively. Both will have about five heads.

The BT Enage IT brand was created in 2009 on the back of two mid-market VAR acquisitions BT made in 2007 - Cisco and Microsoft house Lynx, and HP stalwart Basilica.

Balaam stressed the £200m-turnover firm had since widened its vendor base to reflect the needs of parent BT's client base, which provides the majority of new business.

"I am looking at which vendors are doing well in BT's customer base and those are the ones I need to be working with," he explained

"Cisco is still by far the largest networking vendor but since the 3Com acquisition HP has a sizable share of the market. Not providing HP would preclude us from a significant chunk of BT's customer base."

The security unit will focus on key hardware and software brands including Cisco, Juniper and Check Point, as well as BT's own network security solutions.

After shutting its Reading and Wood Street offices and relocating some staff to BT's St Paul's hub, BT Engage IT has three main office locations: St Paul's, Barlborough and Letchworth Garden City.

"When I first came in and we moved the office out of Wood Street it seemed daft to me that space was available in St Paul's where all the BT people were," said Balaam. "While at the time change is always difficult, we could get far closer to BT in its building than we would have in Wood Street on our own."