Nimans’ Chairman and MD Julian Niman confirmed: “Whilst it is always unfortunate to end a supplier relationship, we have significant strength in depth within in our system portfolio, working with top brands including Panasonic, Siemens, NEC, Samsung and Aastra.
“Our customers have always benefited from unrivalled levels of pre and post sales support and service excellence, including deliveries from a UK warehouse. We are however not a pan European distributor and this doesn’t fit as well with Avaya’s strategic direction. We do though wish them every success for the future.”
Niman added: “On reflection we feel this decision was perhaps inevitable. After Avaya’s acquisition of Nortel they simply had too many UK distributors. As a result we’ve seen margins eroded by around 5% this year. However I’d like to reassure our customers that we remain a full Avaya distributor for the next three months and will be attending their partner conference in Barcelona. Complete product availability remains in place.”
Thomas Veit, Head of Distribution, Avaya EMEA explains, “The announcement today forms part of our strategy to maintain our close partnerships and ensure we are able to provide our high levels of quality support and resources to our partners. Nimans is highly respected in the industry and with its customers. We would like to wish the team well moving forward.”
Remaining Avaya distributors that Comms Business Magazine spoke to said they did not want comment on Nimans misfortune.