channel

I received an invite yesterday from XO to come down to the Tech Data Expo at the Don Cesar Hotel in St. Petersburg FL. ADTRAN shared the booth with XO at this event. Surprisedly, the other two carriers that distribute through Tech Data had assigned booth space, but were absent.

XO is a good fit for Tech Data. While I think the XO catalog is too large to know well - wireless, hosting, IP, VOIP, transport, collocation and more - the VAR's at Tech Data vary so much in what they do and what would complement their business that the wide selection helps - IF you can get in front of them and remind them throughout the year how they can take advantage of the additional revenue stream.

For many VAR's the advantage of XO through Tech Data is that there's no contract (especially for those VAR's already under contract with Ma or Pa Bell) and with Tech Data as the "master agency", it isn't likely you need to worry about your residual check. (And now that XO has converted their debt, it is in a good position going forward, which other debt laden CLEC's can't say).

Many VAR's are already in the PBX space and were asking about SIP. I wasn't sure if they actually grasp the concept of SIP or that they just know enough to be dangerous. The biggest difference between a PRI and a SIP Trunk is Inter-Operability.

Posted in CLEC, VAR, agents, broadsoft, channel, sip trunking, voip, xo

Will Verizon Agents Get Screwed Again?

May 13, 2009

Remember the MCI Agents who didn't like the new deal under the Verizon Business umbrella, who were pushed aside and lost commissions? Did you know that when Verizon did their funky little deal with Fairpoint over the New England region, VZ agents were pink slipped. In fact, one agent is suing Fairpoint. It's the quote from Beth Fastiggi, a spokeswoman for FairPoint, that shocked me:

"We believe that our own local employees can better serve our local markets and, given the appropriate resources, will have the commitment and ability to increase our share of the local business market," Fastiggi said in a statement Friday.

Don't need agents. That attitude explains the lousy service, numerous complaints to the PUC, and the lose of over 100k lines - in a rural market!

Today, VZ announced it is spinning off the landline network in 13 more states - to a joint venture corporation with Frontier.

Posted in agents, channel, mergers, telco

Level3 Needs Your Help

May 11, 2009

"Level3 is expanding is expanding its operations in key local markets throughout the United States. These actions are designed to provide a world class customer experience for mid-market business customers in these markets. Level 3 is launching the first phase of this initiative in the Nashville, Seattle and Washington, D.C., areas, as well as upstate New York (Buffalo, Syracuse and Rome/Utica) and Colorado (Denver, northern Colorado and Colorado Springs)." [press release]

Level3 has gone back to the Type II CLEC strategy of offering service to everyone they can touch via their own network and UNE / Special Access from the ILEC. It is pouring personnel into these markets to take on as much revenue as fast as it can.

Posted in CLEC, agents, channel, telecommunications

So You Want to Go Retail?

May 5, 2009

When I talk with vendors in this space, they often suggest that getting into Costco or some other Big Box retailer would make their day. My father was a salesperson for P&G for 20 years working with Sam's, BJ's, Stop & Shop and other big chain grocers in New England. (Yes, even Stew Leonard). These chains re-designed aisles based on who was paying for what shelf space - and who was sending in labor to re-configure the aisle.

There's a good blog post here about marketing computer parts.

Posted in channel, sales and selling

VoIP in the Channel: You Need a Complete System

May 4, 2009

Over the years I have worked with many VoIP Providers. A good chunk of my consulting is on The Channel, Referral Systems, and Sales Compensation.

There are a number of landmines that can destroy a relationship with an independent sales agent. These include but are not limited to:

Your quoting system (or time to quote)
How you track the sales and provisioning process.
How you track Compensation.
How you handle agents calls / issues / sales / payments.

All of these mines have subsets as follows:

What is your number porting process like?
What is your training like for customers?

Posted in agents, channel, voip

Are You Still an ILEC Agent?

April 7, 2009

This from Telephony online and the Convergence Consulting Group:

The latest in an annual study of the bundled services market shows US telecom service providers are losing wireline voice customers at a faster pace and being transformed in the process into companies that will look very different from their traditional telecom roots. The Battle for the American Couch Potato: Bundling, TV, Internet, Telephone, Wireless, released this week by the Convergence Consulting Group, shows maintaining a broadband connection is increasingly important to telecom providers, as wireline voice services become much less important.

If you look at the numbers in that PDF report and you still think that the QBPP is a viable option or that the last 400K businesses in the BellSouth region will somehow see the light and convert, I have some land for you in South Florida.

I have written about this in years past: the telcos have finally hit the wall. Everything is flat or down now: TV, wireline, cellular, and broadband.

Posted in Internet, agents, bellsouth agent, broadband, cableco, cellular, channel, duopoly, telco, video, wimax, wireless, wireline

Telecom is Broken Part III

April 6, 2009

So a client calls me. An agent sent him an unsolicited quote for 10MB of bandwidth over Ethernet for a ridiculously low quote. Since I have a long history with the client, he offered me the chance to match it and take the order.

So I go back to the carrier and ask for a match. I'm told no.

Posted in agents, bandwidth, channel, telco

The Energy Game

March 23, 2009

Did you know that as an agent you can broker energy? Paetec is plugging agents into the energy business - after it purchased an energy broker. I know a couple of agents that have been in the energy business for a while. I don't think it can replace its telecom business.

In other energy news, the telecom companies are also looking to get into energy management in the way of the smart home.

Posted in agents, channel

Times They are Re-Channeling

March 16, 2009

At the Channel Partners Expo, on individual calls with agents, and on a conference call with a bunch of agents today, I noticed something big: the Channel is shifting.

I have known for a while that VAR's would replace the traditional telecom dialing-for-dollars, save-you-10% agents. It's coming because sales cycles are longer; the product set is very different; and it's all about IP and Apps. (Net-head versus Bell-head).

There's another shift happening: agents are banding together every way they can to get leverage against the carriers, who hold too much power. It started bubbling in 2007 with my post called What's a Partner Worth?

Posted in agents, bellsouth agent, channel, commissions, telecommunications

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