BT throws bundle into choppy waters

BT's latest channel move could backfire, writes Sara Driscoll

BT has had what could be described as ‘a tumultuous relationship’ with its channel over the past decade, and last week the firm once again incited channel antipathy.

The telco has launched BT Business IT Manager: basically a bundle of PCs, servers and hardware, along with installation and support. The kit is from a number of vendors including Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Intel, and the whole package is aimed squarely at the SME market. In BT’s own words: “It gives [SMEs] the equivalent of their own IT manager at a fraction of the cost of employing one.” BT goes on to say that support will be delivered over the phone or on site and that customers can choose the level of support they get. And all of this at a ridiculously low price point that only a behemoth such as BT could afford.

This would be great news – a good entry-level channel bundle for the SME sector – except that BT is not sharing this bundle of joy with its channel. Instead, the telco will use its own engineers to do the deployments and deliver support, and use its BT Local Businesses – about 75 franchise-style BT firms – to actually sell into SMEs.

BT sent CRN a statement, which said: “The viability of offering this service through the channel is under review.”

Viability? BT already has a network of resellers and distributors in place and the bundle is one of the simplest on the market. What is not viable? It sounds suspiciously as though BT is simply testing out whether or not it is in fact viable for it to sell the package directly before it decides, generously of course, to share the wealth with its channel.

Channel players have seen what happened last time BT tried to go up against its own channel with Open Orchard back in 1993, a debacle that ended with BT admitting it couldn’t serve the market directly any better than its own channel.