Rocom goes direct after Nimans shake-up
Heavyweight telecoms specialist Nimans will be ditching its direct sales arms to focus solely on the channel following a “common sense” realignment of its business after acquiring arch rival Rocom last year.
Both of the firms' Manchester and Wetherby offices will remain operational but the Rocom dealer activities will now be part of Nimans.
The combined firm, with revenues a shade under £100m, will be making no major changes to its product portfolio but as chairman and MD, Julian Niman, explains, the move will provide several reseller benefits including a single point of contact and improved call handling capabilities. “Additionally more efficient and cost effective marketing campaigns will allow us to divert funds into lead generation and joint reseller marketing activities.”
The Nimans founder admitted that the acquisition, plus a confused direct and indirect mix often led to a, “…degree of conflict as both brands competed in the same channel, often for the same business,” although in his view, “Nimans is now in a much stronger position to maintain our status as the industry’s premier supplier - providing all the stock, delivery and support services our customers need in what remain very challenging economic conditions.”
The firm which has “several thousand” reseller partners on its books has stated that there will be no job losses arising out of the realignment and that the Rocom brand will continue to operate from Wetherby – concentrating on the limited supply of telephony consumables to the corporate market.
