New Alcatel UK sales boss shares the channel love

Alcatel Lucent Enterprise veteran Peter Tebbutt eyes growth with channel partners

Alcatel Lucent Enterprise's (ALE) newly appointed UK and Ireland (UKI) sales boss Peter Tebbutt has pledged further investment in its channel as it eyes growth in the region.

Tebbutt started work in the new role last month after holding a variety of other business development roles since 2006 when he joined the company. He takes over from David Parker who has moved to lead the company's North American channel business.

All of ALE's business goes through channel partners, Tebbutt claimed, between 15 and 20 of which the firm works with direct, and another 80 which are sold to via distributors.

The firm works with Arrow ECS in the UKI region and has recently appointed distributor Nuvola to further expand its reach into the market.

Tebbutt said he wants to grow the channel by working better with its existing partners to drive growth, but also by seeking out new partners with which to do business.

"For me, because we're a 100 per cent indirect business, the channel is everything to us," he said. "I want to develop our channel and support the channel to grow our business. When we talk about channel development, you have to support the existing channel because the market is changing.

"We want to help existing partners grow to maximise their revenue but we are also looking at how we attract and recruit additional partners who we can work with in terms of developing our overall business."

He added that he wants to offer partners a host of new resources, including new product demonstration facilities and further investments to help the channel address the market.

Large public sector frameworks at Kingston University and Bristol NHS trusts – all delivered with the help of partners – were cited by Tebbutt as key indicators of the firm's growth, although he remained tight-lipped on exactly what his growth targets were for the company.

"Versus some of our competition, we have less complex solutions that are more flexible in what they do, and we have a clear strategy where some competitors are not as clear in that space," he said.

"We can simplify customer networks, which saves them money, and I think no one in the market – other than Cisco, which is obvious – has that depth and breadth that we offer."