The company says Sphinx was initially taken on board as a UK voice distributor for Alcatel-Lucent, and has since extended its remit to cover the full portfolio of Alcatel-Lucent's convergence solutions. Alcatel adds that Sphinx offers a full portfolio of complementary IT products, and does not carry any competitive products to Alcatel-Lucent's enterprise solutions. This focus enables Sphinx to deliver superior marketing initiatives, training programs, and technical support, to help resellers to improve their enterprise offerings and boost their revenues. A dedicated team also exists within Sphinx to assist Alcatel-Lucent resellers with business development activities as well as with pre- and post-sales technical support.
Sphinx has had considerable success in recruiting Alcatel-Lucent indirect business partners thanks to its proactive support, and the strength of the partnership resulted in Alcatel-Lucent reported a double-digit percentage increase in growth for its UK enterprise distribution business during H1 2007, compared to the same period during 2006.
Existing Alcatel-Lucent resellers have been quick to voice their support over the distribution deal.
"Since moving over to Sphinx in January 2007, we've benefited greatly from the level of support received," said Chris Fargher, sales director at Liberty Bell, a Manchester-based Alcatel-Lucent convergence partner.
"Sphinx's marketing resources have enabled us to launch our own marketing campaign, while the dedicated Alcatel-Lucent team ensures that there's always someone around to answer any queries. Overall we've been very impressed by the close relationship between the two companies, and their commitment to helping develop our business."
"We held concerns initially about such a radical change in Alcatel-Lucent's distribution strategy, particularly since Sphinx has no background in telephony, which is where our expertise lies. However Sphinx has been able to allay our fears in all areas, and we actually feel better managed now than ever before," said Gordon Brown, managing director at GB Telecom, a Scottish-based Alcatel-Lucent partner. "So far 2007 has been an exceptional year of growth for us, so it's vital that we have a reliable distributor to support our business objectives - again, Sphinx has proven extremely capable in this respect."
"The distribution agreement with Sphinx has been an unqualified success from both a strategic and a financial perspective, and we're delighted to be in a position to start growing our channel coverage so soon after the initial appointment," said Doug Rodgers, enterprise and corporate sales sector leader for Alcatel-Lucent's enterprise activities UK&I. "Thanks to Sphinx's motivation and technical capabilities, it has never been easier to deal with Alcatel-Lucent. This is the reason why the partnership has resonated so well with our channel, and going forward, it presents a strong argument for new resellers to switch to Sphinx as well."