This time 30 years ago, the first GSM phone was launched, the first website was created, and Linus Torvalds released the first version of Linux. It was clearly an important year for the world of tech. Big things were happening in the newly deregulated telecoms market, and the reseller channel as we know it was beginning to form.
David George, Tracy Jackson, and the team at Crane Telecommunications were about to launch a game-changing product and brand to the UK market. That launch was the GSX Key telephone system from Goldstar, which was the brand they originally traded under before adopting the LG brand we know today. It was the entry point into the UK market for Ericsson-LG Enterprise, and that heritage has shaped their products, business model and total focus on the channel for 30 years.
Since 1991, Ericsson-LG Enterprise has sold every single product and delivered every pound of revenue through the channel. The technology may have changed, and many aspects of the business model have evolved to deliver the UCaaS products that resellers provide today. However, one thing that hasn’t changed:
A total and complete focus on the reseller channel, their needs, listening to their voice and delivering the products they need to win and support businesses across the UK.
Discussing his thoughts from the original launch in 1991 is Tim Brooks, then Tech Support Engineer at Crane, now Founder and Managing Director at Pragma. He commented: “As a vendor, they are as relevant today with their UCaaS proposition as they ever have been, a strategy that has been fulfilled by their total commitment to the channel. Resellers can invest with confidence, knowing that the solutions are delivered by Ericsson-LG and will focus on the needs of their customer base. Having been involved with the brand in its different forms for over 30 years, I’m hugely proud of our relationship at the forefront of the Ericsson-LG global partner community.”
Tracy Jackson, then Co-founder and Director at Crane, now Sales Director at AdEPT Group, also commented: “Back in 1990, David George and I concocted the idea that we could create a company that would do things differently from the rest. Although at first, we were laughed at for our channel-only approach, as time went on, it became part of Ericsson-LG’s success in not just the UK, but globally. It isn’t by accident that Ericsson-LG has had 30-years of success. It’s down to the community of partners initially created by Crane and continued by Pragma coupled with the evolving reseller focused product portfolio from Ericsson-LG. Here’s to the next generation to continue the journey and follow in our footsteps.”
Thank you to all the teams at Ericsson-LG Enterprise, everyone at Crane, and most of all, to all the resellers over the years who have helped Ericsson-LG deliver an outstanding solution to customers and build the foundations for the fantastic reseller channel we have today.
To celebrate this tremendous milestone, we will be publishing Pragma’s first guest blogs onto the channel that will be scheduled on a weekly basis for the next 6 weeks. Tune into the Pragma Blog page to read the stories of how some of our long-standing reseller partners began their Ericsson-LG journeys.