Peter : On Rad's Radar?
Peter
| Peter Radizeski of RAD-INFO, Inc. talking telecom, Cloud, VoIP, CLEC, and The Channel.

agents

Get Ready Channel... Go Hosted!

June 16, 2013

5.5 Questions to Ask Your Cloud Vendor

May 28, 2013

An agent asked me for some advice on what Hosted PBX provider they should look at. I think it is always about local - you need local support, local numbers, and if it is OTT or single location local network.

Then she asked me what questions to ask a cloud vendor. Here are 5 and one-half.

Business is a Thinking Man's Sport

May 9, 2013

When I heard Mark Sanborn call business a thinking man's spot, it made me smile and then think. Oddly, most of these news items have all fallen in my lap today. It made me re-think how the value added distributors (VADs), like Tech Data, were going to morph.

Tech Data is the 2nd largest VAD at $26 Billion after Ingram Micro (at $37.8 Billion in sales), but TD is located in Tampa Bay, where I reside.

Big Agent Win or Scam?

May 2, 2013

A couple of small ISP/CLEC companies received letters from Verizon Wholesale stating that VZ Wholesale is outsourcing their puny accounts to an agency, Alliance Wholesale Agents, LLC.

This would be huge win for any agency, since VZ waffles over the channel all the time.

However, this agency is a Dover, DE company formed in January with no website and some goofy VoIP phone numbers. It points to either a scam or VZ Wholesale, specifically Kathryn Kalajian,who signed the letter, didn't check to the agency out.

The Cloud is like Chicken Wings

April 25, 2013

I presented a webinar for Cloud Services Community today about Selling Cloud Services as an agent. The take aways were as follows:

  • Where do I start when thinking about selling cloud services?
  • Is there criteria for choosing a cloud vendor?
  • What pitfalls are there in cloud for an Agent?
  • How to choose a cloud provider?
  • What steps to take as you move to cloud services?

Can agents even sell cloud services? Sure but as a sales engine, not an install and deployment shop. That will be the hard part: who does all the pre-sales and post-sales engineering if an agent just wants to ink contracts for you?

Thoughts on the Channel in 2013

April 16, 2013

There is this article with four opinions about the Channel in 2013. Reading them, I am almost certain that they are not only viewing the channel from differing sides but that they are discussing different channels.

I do like the statement from Ian Moyse, "We are seeing the same swathe of change as we have seen in other industries with providers who ignored the changes in customer buying choices (take Kodak, Blockbuster Video and the big record shop chains such as Tower Records and HMV). This change will be a contributor but not the only cause to the start of a new re-shaping and re-sizing of the channel with resellers facing new competition from Telco's, Xsp's and a new breed of reseller and potentially vendors themselves."

Selling Direct is Different Than Channel Sales

April 16, 2013

I make this statement often: Selling Direct is Different Than Selling via The Channel. You would think it was obvious, but it is not.

When a company sells direct, the messaging is aimed at the end user. The sales channel is pursuing customers.

Is the Channel Too Lazy to Sell Cloud?

March 29, 2013

Talking with channel managers lately in the Hosted UC (UCaaS) space, well, has been depressing to be honest. No one is having fun - or knocking it out of the park. Yes, there are pockets of success - mostly from verticals or niches (surprise!).

So one CM made the comment that channel partners are too lazy to sell cloud.

Sunset

March 6, 2013

We are watching the sunset of many things in telecom. The PSTN, growth, innovation, copper plant.

While there is much change going on in the industry, a lot hasn't changed.

VZ just pumped almost $350M into its Florida wireline infrastructure.

Are You Channel Ready?

February 27, 2013

I am at Channel Partners Expo in Vegas (speaking tomorrow at 9 AM). It is all about cloud and the channel here. It makes me ask: Are you Channel Ready?

Do you have a service offering that is channel ready?

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