agents

Some Tampa Bay Telecom Tidbits

August 18, 2014

Highwire Telecom in Florida had a re-org and a few people were let go. Highwire is a TEM and auditing firm here in Tampa, Florida.

Bright House is chasing Enterprise with its fiber and Hosted PBX service (powered by their Telovations acquisition). BHN is also involved in the local start-up scene in Tampa Bay.

Posted in TEM, VAR, agents, cableco, jobs, master agency, xo

The Expanding Channel Programs

July 16, 2014

Not only do I see more cloud service providers looking to the channel for sales, I see other channel programs expanding.

First up, is VZ opens Enterprise accounts to channel partners. I say this with caution because the history of VZ's program has always been a yo-yo.

AireSpring launched AireContact to the channel.

Posted in agents, cellular, channel, cloud computing, security

Agents May Not Like This

July 9, 2014

Verizon's re-launch of its channel (after quite a few starts and stops) came with a new channel chief, Janet Schijns. In an interview in CP magazine, she makes some points for the channel.

The buying patterns are changing. So many components of this simple statement.

Posted in VAR, agents, channel

Are You Getting Rejected By Cable?

June 30, 2014

I hear a lot of stories about cable: (1) About a one-third order drop out rate due to no facilities: (2) Intensive paperwork for orders and quotes; and (3) clean orders are rare, which causes rejections that result in delays and extra time. Oh, and even worse:

A change in Comcast's process is making clean paperwork even more important. Effective immediately, Comcast's direct team may now take over any order that is rejected for more than four business days; causing partners to lose the order.

Posted in CLEC, Internet, agents, broadband, cableco, commissions

Selling Storage in a Free For All Market

June 25, 2014

I say consumer storage market because for small business with less than 15 employees, consumer apps are used. Earlier this week, Microsoft offered 1TB of storage on OneDrive to Office365 customers. (Thx Pete Davis for the heads-up.)

Today, at I/O, Google brings out the big guns -- unlimited storage for $10 per month and Office editing.

Posted in agents, backup, channel, smb

Technology Channel Association Changes Taking Place

June 13, 2014

The TCA (Technology Channel Association), a non-profit trade association for channel partners that I helped found in 2008, has made a few announcements.

TCA President Jeff Ponts writes, "We have expanded our relationship with Cloud Partners, and have signed strategic relationships with CompTIA, and the Baptie Group to meet our goals." The main goal of TCA is education of the channel - all segments of the channel.

"The cornerstone of the TCA has always been the Certified Telecom Professional (CTP) exam. It was rolled out in 2010 and is now on its third revision to meet our industry's expanding role in supporting our members.

Posted in TCA, agents, certification, channel

Vendor Buys Its Platinum Partner

June 9, 2014

"Vertical Communications, a provider of business communications software, announced that it has merged with Fulton Communications, a national systems integrator of voice, data and video communications technologies and one of the Inc. 5000 "fastest growing companies in North America."" Fulton is a Vertical Diamond Partner, who has sold more Vertical solutions over the past two years than any other channel partner."

"The new combined company will offer business customers vendor-direct communications technology solutions, including cloud and premise-based enterprise telephony, unified communications, and vertical-market voice applications, as well as a local presence for direct sales, support and professional services in major markets across the United States." [press release]

One Master Agent thought this was notable since the software company is looking for more direct sales (rather than rely on the channel). Many of the Master Agencies are in fact running a direct sales force in the background behind their prominent indirect sales model.

Posted in agents, channel, master agency, mergers

New President and CEO at Microcorp

May 29, 2014

On the heels of yesterday's email about buying up master agency bases, Microcorp announced today that Brad Miehl, founder of MicroCorp, will ne replaced as President by Microcorp's current Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Phil Keenan, a 28-year industry veteran.

Karin Fields will take over reigns as both COO and CEO.

Big shift to one of the largest and older master agencies who, according to the email yesterday, is looking to grow through acquisition of other agencies.

The Master Agencies seem to be at the transition stage if you look at the number of management changes that have taken place in the last couple of years.

Posted in VAR, agents, master agency, organizations

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