Recently in TCA Category

In speaking with Microcorp today about their agent event in October in Atlanta, we were discussing a panel on Trends for 2010.  It's not so much about the vendors, it's about the services that the vendors are offering that will become the next revenue stream for the channel.

This ties in with a TCA listserv discussion about Alternative Streams of Revenue for the Channel Agents. TCA will be hosting an agent call about Electricity with a couple of agents who have been selling electricity to businesses in unregulated states for a while. (Paetec offers this to agents as well).  Other topics include Web Strategy (like Lead Generation through Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Social Media Marketing); SAAS; 4G; the Cloud; and Managed Services.

It won't be enough to just sell TDM in the future, you will need partners to offer Telecom Expense Management (TEM) and Auditing as well as all the new services coming down the pipe (electricity, SAAS, cloud, 4G, VOIP, SIP Trunking, etc.). 

Maybe we are heading into Master Agency 2.0 - the dawn of an era when the master agent will have to be more than a collection of carrier contracts. What do you see that you might need from your Master Agency in the future? Let me know. Thanks.

At the Channel Partners Expo in Vegas last week, I helped man the booth for the newly formed Technology Channel Association, a non-profit agent association that was formed to create a community for best practices, a code of ethics, and solid training of the indirect channel.

Regrettably, the TCA received two separate pleas for help from agents. Both agents were no longer receiving commissions from a carrier.

In one case, the agent was wearing a shirt to advertise the lost commissions. The word I heard was that he had failed to meet quota for a few months. The contract allows for the carrier to discontinue payment for missed quota; almost like you stopped being an agent so we don't have to pay it any more.

I don't know if the agent was warned prior to the checks stopping. Is it a sad state? Absolutely. Is there anything the TCA can do about it? Possibly. We did dialogue with the carrier about the situation and encouraged a resolution.

As a fledgling non-profit with 100 agents, funded at this time only by the dues of our vendors, the TCA is not in a position to take up a dispute like this. This falls under contract law. As far as I can tell, arbitration is not included in my agent agreements, so I don't see how the TCA - or any organization - could help with this kind of dispute.

I realize that agents are hampered by carrier agreements that are heavily weighted in favor of the carrier. (Believe me, I have been on the receiving end of BellSouth not paying me my commissions to the tune of six figures, so I understand the frustration and pain). I also realize that agents that use a master agency don't even get to see the contracts that they are compensated under, which leaves even less room for resolution.  It certainly seems like a good time to change these things. To do that we need the strength of numbers - 100 won't do.

I'm kind of disappointed in the Channel, because the first year of dues was free if you signed up for the TCA at the show. It seemed like a no-brainer to me. But even the two agents with disputes did not join. How does the TCA achieve critical mass if the very agents that want help won't join?

"SMB Nation is a community of over 35,000 small and medium business (SMB) technology consultants, channel partners, sponsors and resellers. With an impressive 10-year history serving as a trusted advisor and mentor to the SMB consulting and  reseller channel, SMB Nation has been able to consistently reinvent itself based upon changing market conditions." SMB Nation did a VoIP survey with NGT. 260 responded (results here).

These are the services they currently provide:

• Networking infrastructure (91.1%)
• Mobility sales, services, support (52.7%)
• VoIP-specific sales, services, support (44.2%)
• Telephony sales, services, and support (35.3%)
• Line of business applications (35.7%)
• Database development/programming/development (32.6%)
• Web hosting (27.5%)
• Host e-mail (26.7%)

These are the services they will add:

• VoIP sales, service, support (56.2%)
• Security (36.6%)
• Telephony sales, services, and support (28.1%)
• Web hosting, hosted services (25.5%)

It's interesting that Telecom Agents sell circuits and very few want to sell non-telecom services, but VAR's and MSP's are marching in to take over the Agent Arena.

The Technology Channel Association, a non-profit trade association for indirect sales agents, has hired CMA Association Management to run the day-to-day functions of the association.. This announcement coincides with the launch of the Agent Committee, consisting of Emmett Tydings of AB&T Telecom; Dave Wallace of Aligned Communications; Ben Henkels of CMP; Mark Adams of Total Business Solutions Communication; and Jeff Ott of Total Carrier Solutions. TCA is working on benefits for its members possibly health insurance. Join today at tcasite.org.

If you are on LinkedIn, there is a Technology Channel Association group for members only.