Tellumat bolsters enterprise communications proposition

Tellumat Telecoms, the communications technology specialist in the Tellumat Group, will boost its formidable business communication offering this year with some of the lessons it learned selling to smaller customers in 2008.

Bennie Langenhoven, managing executive of the business unit, reports signing many new small and medium enterprise (SME) customers last year, having aligned itself in that market segment with sought-after telco partners including Telkom, iBurst, Orion Telecom and Vox Telecom. “Several of them are doing really well for us,
and we want to add to their portfolios,” says Langenhoven.

Tellumat further expects to sign more partners in the SME space this year, but more importantly, it wants to extend its offering with some of the existing partners, to use them in its larger enterprise channel too. “We already have a good reputation as a business comms supplier,” Langenhoven says. “It is this strength that attracted these great partners to us in the first place – telcos, service providers, ISPs and the bigger resellers and distributors. Now it makes sense to use them to reinforce our enterprise proposition.”

Tellumat enterprise credentials

• Importation, warehousing and logistics experience to support customers and partners


• Pre- and post-implementation service portfolio, including project management, systems integration,
  support and training


• A strong research and development capability within the Tellumat Group, which enables Telecoms to
  customise products or easily integrate them into customer infrastructure


• Solid experience in various core and access technologies, including ADSL, wireless, leased line,
  microwave, WiMAX and satellite


• Long-standing voice experience (two decades in which it sold two million ports)


• Leading brands (Lake Communications’ all-in-one Sigma small business comms unit; Inter-Tel’s hybrid
  and pure Internet Protocol platforms, as well as its management platform and collaboration apps; KIRK
  DECT and Wi-Fi telephony; and Polycom’s IP and conferencing solutions). Tellumat will soon be
  launching a leading enterprise IP communication solution


• Local intellectual property (locally-manufactured PBXs, GSM payphones, microwave links and more)


• Premier case studies (microwave backhaul links for Neotel and the SA National Defence Force, as well
  as many enterprise networks, call centres and cordless installations)


• Global clout (since Inter-Tel’s merger with Mitel, Tellumat has access to the brand, technologies and
  close presence of Mitel)


• Local identity and empowerment (Tellumat is a Level 4 BBBEE Superior Contributor in terms of the dti’s
  Codes of good Practice)

Langenhoven says he is confident that Tellumat can continue its success, which he says is based on contributing to the success of its customers. “Despite a global economic downturn and some fall-out in traditional telco supplier circles, we’ve grown our turnover by 30% last year,” he says. “Our partners andcustomers can expect the Tellumat they know and trust to continue to provide great technology and service to them in years to come.”