BTAS reaps VoIP harvest

IP telephony has propelled voice, data and video integrator and service provider BTAS
to 45 percent revenue growth in the last year on the back of a 300 percent increase in Alcatel business.

Gavin Jones, chief executive at BTAS, said the integrator had been boosted by a 300 percent increase in Alcatel sales in the last year, contributing to an overall growth rate of about 45 percent.

Much of that Alcatel business was IP telephony-related, he said.

"The customers are actually coming out of their shell, putting in contact centres and IP telephony," Jones said.

The IP telephony market was strengthening after the previous year's doldrums and he didn't see the trend reversing in the near future. Companies were once again making capital investments, he said.

"I don't see anything changing for us at all," he said. "The last 12 months have been fantastic. We have had quarter on quarter growth. We're very happy."

BTAS planned to boost its sales ranks and was eyeing potential acquisitions as a result, Jones said.

BTAS was targeting larger corporates with 500 to 750 seats or more and had grown customer numbers in its support business, he said.

"That's obviously because they're unhappy with their incumbent at the larger end of town," Jones said.

BTAS worked with Alcatel, Avaya, Concerto Software, Fujitsu, smaller companies such as Active Voice System Solutions, CPS, peripherals specialists such as Knife Recording and a host of subcontractors, he said.

Key to success was thinking beyond IP telephony as mere "plumbing" and looking at the services to build around that. Too few service providers were good at understanding client needs, Jones said.

Rob Carnell, general manager for enterprise offerings at Alcatel, said BTAS had exceeded the "aggressive" growth targets set by the vendor. "It has consistently over-achieved in the last few years," he said.

Carnell said BTAS had won Alcatel's premium partner of the year award for 2004. Alcatel had at total five premium partners.