The Alliance Partners has formally issued commendations to two key members, Association Resource Group (ARG) and MicroCorp, for exceptional performance and lasting contributions in the channel and the community at large.
The recognition comes as the two companies celebrate milestone anniversaries—25 and 30 years of being in business, respectively. The Alliance said that it is recognizing the companies for having demonstrated ongoing excellence in promoting values, character and impactful service in the telecom and IT channels.
Both ARG, a founding member of the Alliance, and MicroCorp, a long-standing member, have provided outstanding leadership and guidance to the organization, and to numerous advisory boards and industry organizations. Also, their owners have volunteered countless hours on the Alliance’s Executive Committee and as Officers of the Board. Most recently, Karin Fields, co-owner and CEO of MicroCorp, is serving as vice-chairman of the Alliance, while Greg Praske, co-founder and CEO of ARG, is serving as secretary and treasurer.
“We’ve certainly seen a lot over the last 25 years,” Praske said. “We got our start shortly after the long-distance market was deregulated. At the time, there weren’t many channel partners in the industry. Coming from the trade association community, we looked around to try to learn from others in the industry. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t a forum. Eventually, we were able to bring together a group of channel partners into the Agent Alliance. Together, we were able to care and share for each other. Now, today we enjoy a position in the market where we represent the best method of procuring technology services for over 3,200 companies. We also enjoy meeting with and assisting other channel partners as they get started and grow their business.”
ARG has been in business since 1991, starting out as a small consulting firm offering affinity programs and strategic planning to national associations in the Washington D.C. area. From there, the affinity programs fed into telecom services, and telecom led to branching out beyond the national association marketplace. Over the past 25 years, having built strong relationships that provide the ability to offer unmatched financial and service benefits to its telecom clients, ARG began focusing exclusively on telecom consulting services, evolving into one of the most respected telecom agencies in the country. Today, ARG has recruited the foremost technology experts in the industry on conferencing, hosted voice, SIP, data centers, cloud and more.
Meanwhile, founded in 1986 by Brad Miehl, MicroCorp began as a master agent for partners selling long-distance services.
“For the last 30 years, MicroCorp has acted as a resource for channel partners and a thought leader in a swiftly changing industry that in many ways is now unrecognizable from those early days,” said Fields. “Our decades-long association with the Alliance has been a critical component in our involvement with the community, and our ability to be a resource for our partners throughout many seasons of change. We’re proud to be recognized as a champion for the partner community—and are committed to being a leading light for partners in a fast-moving tech world for the years to come.”
Built on a philosophy of true partner support, Miehl and Fields have continually expanded the provider and service portfolio to meet the growing demands of its partners. Today, MicroCorp supports complex bids through the aptly named People Powered Network – the most powerful combination of back office systems, people and support offerings in the industry. With keen attention to pre-sales efforts, MicroCorp support teams boast more than 500 years of experience and provides white glove service through the company’s TotalCare 365 services. Partners have access to an engineer for architecting data center, cloud, SIP, SD-WAN and blended MPLS network solutions for domestic and international bids. Lastly, MicroCorp partners utilize the company’s flagship tools within Nautilus – a collaborative platform that allows partners and providers to communicate with the MicroCorp team on everything from quotes to orders and commissions.
“Both MicroCorp and ARG have always been mindful of the interests of the channel, and have worked tirelessly to advance best practices within the telecom/IT industry,” said Bill Power, CEO of the Alliance. “We are incredibly proud to recognize these outstanding companies for their overall contributions to the Alliance and to the industry as a whole—and look forward to many years of leadership to come.”
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