Comms-care swipes deal to support all of Kcom's Cisco clients

Third-party services player grabs multi-million pound deal covering 6,000 customer sites

Comms-care has won a multi-million pound three-year deal to provide Cisco support services to all of Kcom's UK clients.

The contract will see the Cheshire-based third-party services specialist providing on-site support to 6,000 customer sites and a total of 100,000 individual Cisco products. Comms-care has invested in a dedicated Kcom service desk, additional spare parts depots, and bespoke training regimes for support staff.

It has not been specified who the previous supplier for the deal was, but Kcom did hive off maintenance services to Phoenix IT Group in 2010. The former Cisco Gold partner was expelled from the networking giant's channel programme last year.

In a statement sent to CRN, Comms-care said: "The initial migration of services was completed well within timescales and involved momentous effort and dedication by both Comms-care and Kcom staff to ensure there was minimal disruption of service.

"A project of this magnitude has clearly demonstrated Comms-care's capabilities in successfully transitioning large-scale support contracts on behalf of their channel partners, whilst having no detrimental impact on the quality of service the end-user customer experiences."

The contract will be fulfilled in what is characterised as a collaborative services model, with Comms-care working alongside Cisco. The support services outfit's managing director Ben Davies claimed the deal speaks to his firm's high-end credentials.

"We are delighted to be working in partnership with the UK's leading information and communication service provider," he said. "Our reputation as the leading strategic IT support partner to the channel continues to grow with every new partnership we forge. We see the Kcom partnership as a real indicator of how high-profile companies continue to put their trust in us in becoming a natural extension to their own service proposition.

Stephen Long, managing director of Kcom, added: "In Comms-care we've got a partner that shares our same values and commitment to the end user experience. Our customers will benefit from a high-quality Cisco support service delivered by a responsive and flexible team."