CV_Summer_21_2

For those who have expressed concerns that the communications channel, and the telecom agent, are dinosaurs, this special issue of ChannelVision should put those notions to rest. Several years ago, even decades, when IP networking, ubiquitous connectivity and the cloud first appeared on the market, many future-minded thinkers rightly envisioned the major shifts that would come to the communications business and openly worried that the channel and its agent partners would be unable or unwilling to make the move from legacy to next-gen, from on-premises to anywhere, or from selling savings to providing solutions. Yet once again, while putting together the 2021 installment of our “Master Distributor Directory,” we were impressed with the number of partners and products that had to be added to many of the master agent listings. We were reminded how each year, and even in a particularly tough year, master distribu- tors continual add to the assortment of advanced IT and emerging technologies and services being offered to agent partners. Indeed, the channel’s master distributors have merged and evolved the last several years, and along the way they have embraced the latest in cybersecurity; IoT, 5G and device management; application delivery and analytics; cloud computing and SD-WAN, among other IT tools and technologies that are enabling digital transformations. All the while, our annual “Visionary Spotlight Awards” once again highlight several of the most advanced and innovative IT tools and technologies that are currently being offered to agent partners. This year’s winners, just to mention a few, include managed IT solutions powered by AI and machine learning, analytics integrated into a POS system, network function virtualization, SASE certification, 5G and in-building wireless solutions, remote user portals and device management and apps to encourage engagement. It couldn’t be better timing either, because surveys suggest that businesses coming out of lockdown are especially open-minded to emergent technologies, have greater faither in cloud and cloud delivery and are actively looking for solutions to new problems, mainly due to remote and hybrid working. After going through the largest ever forced experiment in the history of the workforce and having been pushed along the path toward digital transformation, compa- nies have never been more reliant on – nor arguably had more faith in – their communications, collaboration and connectivity services. It would appear to be a good time for channel providers to be poking around and asking clients about their other business problems whenever discussing these core services. Certainly, as this issue attests, those in the communications channel that fail to take any advantage of current opportunities can’t say it was because oppor- tunities were not provided by the channel. Jacks and Masters LETTER Martin Vilaboy Editor-in-Chief martin@bekabusinessmedia.com Bruce Christian Senior Editor bruce@bekabusinessmedia.com Percy Zamora Art Director percy@bekabusinessmedia.com Rob Schubel Digital Manager rob@bekabusinessmedia.com Jen Vilaboy Ad Production Director jen@bekabusinessmedia.com Berge Kaprelian Group Publisher berge@bekabusinessmedia.com (480) 503-0770 Anthony Graffeo Publisher anthony@bekabusinessmedia.com (203) 304-8547 Nazal Parvin Associate Publisher nazal@bekabusinessmedia.com (415) 516-7053 Beka Business Media Berge Kaprelian President and CEO Corporate Headquarters 10115 E Bell Road, Suite 107 - #517 Scottsdale, Arizona 85260 Voice: 480.503.0770 Email: berge@bekabusinessmedia.com © 2021 Beka Business Media, All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in any form or medium without express written permission of Beka Business Media is prohibited. ChannelVision and the ChannelVision logo are trademarks of Beka Business Media 6 CHANNEL V ISION | June, 2021