Nimans are big on value, big on choice and big on expertise. This sets them apart from other distributors. UC Advanced were keen to find out more about Niman’s expertise, and how the team imparts their knowledge to their customers and helps them to deliver projects for their customers. We caught up with Luke Nutbrown, Head of Networking at Nimans, for some real-life examples.
Luke enthusiastically shared, “At Nimans, I am in the fortunate position of leading a team who are highly experienced. We work with over 1000 networking customers every year, and my team’s work and influence can be seen up and down the breadth and depths of United Kingdom and Ireland. To borrow a phrase from one of my team members, ‘Networking – nothing works without it!’”
Invisible Friend or Prominent Partner
Luke continued, “Whilst we are big on choice, value and expertise, we take our direction from the customer about our presence on projects. Some customers prefer background advice and want to appear to be the experts in front of their clients whilst others prefer to introduce us to the end customer as expert partners.”
Project Planning
The Nimans Networking team are certainly flexible when it comes to project planning, and are equipped to give advice at every step of the way, from concept to delivery and after-service. Luke advised, “It really helps when the client knows what they want and what they are up against. My team is here to also fill in the knowledge gaps – considerations that the customers might not have thought about, or considered, especially when it comes to logistics, financing and interoperability issues.”
Networking in Real Life
Nimans was selected to be the preferred distributor partner for an established networking and one-stop VoIP supplier based in Bolton, who was commissioned by a multi-national coffee chain to provide a fully resilient, ordering and audio network. The WiFi needed to be robust – fast enough for many customers to use the free WiFi, reliable enough to still take orders if an outage occurs. The sounds system needed to be versatile, offering the option of different audio zones with crystal clear sound to cut through background noise, but to not drown out conversations.
Luke enthused, “Whilst this brief was clear, the team can work when the challenge, problem or brief is not finalised, and when it is still a draft, and additionally they can be brought into projects when the initial scoping hasn’t been done or might have some holes.”
Delivery when you need it
The solution that the team installed, was delivered to stores with just-in-time, on-demand, logistics internationally, as well as across the UK. Deliveries from Nimans were timed to meet the installation team, when they were due to arrive for each installation. The resilient TP-Link WiFi installed has mobile backup networks, ensuring there will be no future issues processing customer orders or payments, even if an unexpected WiFi outage should occur. The networking solution was fully integrated into the Bose and Apart audio systems, POS and Samsung tablet ordering systems, which were also installed. This left the coffee stores with a solution that enabled them to do what they do best, concentrating on serving some of the best coffee a made with speciality grade Robusta beans and other delights, and their customers enjoying the ambience with A* grade technology
Luke continued, “At Nimans, we work with many coffee chains, and other outlets such as fast food, stadiums, restaurant chains and universities. When it comes to coffee though, we have supplied thousands of pre-configured routers installed across the world so we can go big or small, down to a one shop fitting.”
Large Projects
Nimans worked with another customer on a networking project many times the size of individual coffee stores. They provided networking covering the whole stadium for a lower league football club. On that project the minimum requirement was for 6000 fans to be able to connect to Wi-Fi simultaneously. The requirement was varied. As well as the outdoor environment, in the stands, all indoor areas including banqueting suites, cafes and restaurants had to be covered with flawless connectivity, and allowing for movement between areas. Luke points out, “Although logistically, delivery was to one site, the volume of equipment installed was vast.”
Nimans Networking
Nimans networking have strong partnerships with most large networking vendors, TP-Link, Draytek, Ubiquiti, Netgear, Riello and more. Luke proudly states, “With our dedicated team of experts, we offer comprehensive networking solutions tailored to customers’ needs with our extensive UK stockholding and next day delivery anywhere in the UK. We have a security offering, an AV offering, a UC offering, and can help resellers explore those spaces in each of those areas. It’s a very converging marketplace; no longer are traditional partners staying in their traditional lanes. Everyone’s crossing over. Being a distributor that allows partners to cross over is, we consider, a real strength of ours.”
Networking with Resellers
Nimans networks with the best in Networking. Luke helpfully adds, “We can price up any networking to any budget or preferred brand, recommend how several brands can work best together, and we have a huge choice and massive stock-levels. We’ve seen and supplied most types and sizes of project. Do get in touch, pay us a visit or invite us round. And I would like to end by saying: Nimans, we’re big on choice, big on value, big on networking”.
