Easy to use and full of resources, Community puts the whole value chain online

10 December 2008: COLT, a leading European provider of business communications, has today further strengthened its commitment to its channel with the launch of its new partner program. COLT Community is available to partners across Europe particularly those selling to small and medium-sized business customers. Community redefines the partner relationship through a comprehensive set of tools and initiatives and places the whole value chain online, from leads and opportunities through to order tracking and account management.

Rakesh Bhasin, Chief Executive Officer of COLT said, “We recognise that the majority of relationships that are built, particularly within our small and medium-sized business customers, are forged and maintained by our channel partners. COLT Community is a very strong signal to both our existing 650 partners and the rest of the market that we are serious and committed to the channel.”

“Our Expect More customer promise is now extended to our partner base and through 2009 and beyond, we expect the COLT Community to grow in size, but more importantly, in mutually profitable business”, he added. “We’ve had a very successful recruitment campaign in 2008 and have brought 100 new partners on board, all of whom are contributing to our growing presence in the small and medium-sized business market.” 

“Community is a significant investment from COLT and shows the market that no other service provider is as committed as we are to achieving business goals through the indirect channel”.

Community offers a range of benefits to COLT partners, based on their accreditation as a Platinum, Premium or Select partner. As partners progress to achieve higher accreditation, they will be eligible for an increased number of Community benefits, including the Executive Sponsorship Programme that provides platinum partners with direct support from COLT’s senior management team.

The Community initiative is founded on four pillars;
- Partnership
- Marketing
- Product
- Rewards

At the heart of Community is the promise to enhance partnerships with dedicated account managers, while offering access to a dedicated online partner portal that facilitates customer management. The portal includes shared pipeline management, automated pricing and offering, online ordering and tracking, plus account management features. This suite is available under a single logon and is backed by dedicated multi-lingual support. All of these systems have been developed by COLT using the latest technologies and products.

In the Marketing pillar, the partnership is further supported by extensive marketing activity via jointly-funded lead generation, sales leads supplied by COLT and easy to execute ‘campaigns in a box’.

When it comes to products, Community offers a full and unrestricted access to the COLT portfolio including its award winning Ethernet services and the newly launched VoIP access product. Our partner portal offers multilingual online training that enables partners to gain COLT certification and develop their product offering.

Key to Community is the reward package. Community has been designed to help partners achieve results and create business growth and as such, achievements and success are rewarded. Resellers receive discounts, while agency partners benefit from commissions; COLT is very competitive in both areas. Even our commission environment is highly automated, giving a regular, predictable reporting and payment experience. Community is available for all COLT partners now.