It seems that not enough love is given to VARs. I want to change that. Given our wholesale legacy, it was not obvious that we should sell SIP Trunking using an indirect channel. However, as we performed an analysis of the market and the resources required to penetrate that market it became clear, indirect is the way to go.

"But why you ask?"

You might think the answer is cost. You would be wrong. Currently, we do successfully sell our wholesale offering using a direct sales force. And, the number of potential customers is in the hundreds, not too difficult to touch all of them twice a year. Moreover, the market is fluid, carriers and application service providers move from carrier to carrier usually seeking better pricing and service. Whereas the SIP Trunking market numbers in the millions and is impossible to reach without hundreds of sales people or, should I write it, an indirect sales force.

So why wasn't that our primary reason?

Immaturity. Immaturity of market and SIP implementations by the OEMs, VARs and customers made it clear that delivering SIP was going to require equipment skills and direct implementation experience. SIP is a relatively new protocol and it continues to evolve. This results in uneven implementation by the OEMs. Their product managers and developers have to plan for complying with SIP as well as adding new product features. This results in SIP implementations with varying degrees of compliance with the Required Functional Capability (RFC).

Consequently, "how do you resolve these disparities?"

You can't. Broadvox and other ITSPs need to look to the VARs to assist in determining customer requirements and solving any onsite issues. Additionally, Broadvox supports the effort by performing interoperability testing and maintaining an experienced group of SIP engineers to trouble shoot any issues. While they are good, most customer issues cannot be addressed without a VAR onsite or very familiar with the implementation to assist. They coordinate the timing of turn-ups, release updates, testing, and installs. They are invaluable.

So here is my shout out to all the VARs, dealers and interconnects out there. Our success depends upon you. So, if you are looking for a service provider who gets it, call or visit Broadvox. Our partner program focuses on you and the customer.

Enjoy the long weekend. See you on Wednesday with a new recipe and more on IP communications.