Nimans sharpens reseller focus after direct sales exit

Distributor says Total Communications offering transforms it into single-source solutions provider

Nimans claims its decision to quit corporate sales activities last year has allowed it to re-engineer its business to be more reseller-focused.

Following its 2009 acquisition of rival Rocom, last July Nimans hived off both firms' corporate sales activities under the Rocom brand. The Nimans brand became 100 per cent channel-focused.

Nimans group sales director, Richard Carter (pictured), said this had allowed the distributor to pour all its effort into honing its services proposition for resellers. It is in the process of launching Total Communications, its first full services wrap.

"It enabled us to look at our offerings and come at it from a reseller perspective," Carter said.

"Total Communications makes us a single-source solutions provider rather than a box shifter or minutes broker," he added. "We can now do it all ourselves, from the installation to leasing, and the network and training."

Carter, who rejoined Nimans last year, revealed the SMB specialist is also plotting an assault on the mid-market.

He said: "I know we are dominant in SMB. But we are looking to make moves into the 100- to 1,000-user market with Siemens and Aastra."

Nimans lost its Avaya contract last year but Carter said the comms giant had been "expensive business" and claimed the distributor had more than filled the gap with new signings. This includes Radvision and Panasonic in the videoconferencing space.

Carter also highlighted the fact that Nimans has built up four key networking franchises in BT, O2, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, alongside a 15-strong network services team.

"Hosted is an area we are planning on growing," he added.