ChannelVision Magazine

TouchTone Adds Channel Manager TouchTone Communications recently welcomed industry veteran Kevin Fanoe of Georgia to its growing agent sales team. As a channel manager, Fanoe will support partners on all levels including sales op - portunities, order fulfillment, training and problem resolution.  Fanoe brings more than 12 years of IT and telecommunications experience. He comes to TouchTone after having worked at Windstream, AT&T and, most recently, ETS Solutions. “With his extensive knowledge in both IT and telecom, Kevin understands the im - portance of integrating the right technology into telecommunication strategy,” said Ken McCormack, TouchTone’s vice president of sales and marketing. “This not only makes him an asset to our partners, but to their customers.” RCN, Grande and Wave Add TCG to Channel Program RCN, Grande and Wave Business Solutions has added Telecom Consulting Group (TCG) to its agent channel pro - gram. The arrangement will give TCG’s national network of 4,000 agents the abil - ity to expand and offer RCN, Grande and Wave Business Solutions’ fiber-rich solu - tions and suite of competitive products to their respective clients. TCG is a specialized national master distributor that partners with carriers to provide its agents with cutting edge tech - nology, and other services with COAX cable, metro Ethernet, hosted VoIP, PRI, analog lines, dynamic T1s, SIP, 3G/4G wireless internet and cloud services. The organization’s agent channel program provides participants with an ex - tensive portfolio of internet, voice, cloud networking, and custom solutions with support of all advanced services including high-speed data, voice, cloud networking, and custom solutions through a wide range of product suites. The IT channel is seeing the emergence of a host of formerly unfamiliar play - ers now selling technology. And we are not just talking about SaaS providers. According to surveys by CompTIA, IT channel pros are increasingly coming up against accounting firms, law practices and digital marketing agencies, among others, when competing for a deal. “Accounting firms, law practices, marketers are in the game now, having become experts in a particular tech discipline or software product and opting to parlay that knowledge into an adjacent revenue stream,” said CompTIA. Among the non-traditional tech players, accounting firms experienced the biggest visibility gains in the channel between 2018 to 2019, show CompTIA fig - ures. Thirty-one percent of respondents from the traditional channel in this study said they encountered accounting entities in the tech sales landscape in 2019; that compares with 19 percent that said the same in 2018. Respon - dents also saw more law firms selling tech last year – at 22 percent compared to 18 percent in 2018. Easy to dismiss as strictly competition, a growing number of channel firms are choosing to join forces with these newer players. These arrangements can help to fill gaps in skill sets or solutions portfolios, mitigate technical complex - ity that prevents some companies from entering new markets, and enable an easier entry into the emerging tech arena, among other benefits, said CompTIA researchers. Partnering is particularly attractive to small channel firms with limited and largely horizontal infrastructure practices, said CompTIA. Six in 10 small channel firms that have engaged in partnering, primarily with organizations specializing in applications or a specific vertical industry, said they did so to expand skills and broaden their portfolio and rated the experience as positive. Overall, incidence of partnering between traditional and nontraditional channel companies is on the upswing, with the number of IT channel firms that partnered frequently with newer entrants to the ecosystem increasing from 20 percent in 2018 to 30 percent in 2019. Those that did so occasionally edged up as well. “One of the keys to success for partnerships with would-be competitors is formal process, terms and accountability. In the past, such relationships often failed by being too handshake-casual,” warned CompTIA researchers. “Eleven percent of respondent viewed partnering negatively, citing informality and a difficulty finding the right matches.” CHANNEL MANAGEMENT Non-Traditional Friends or Foes? Source Source: CompTIA Incidence of partnering with new players Source: CompTIA Virtual reality Al 5G 3D printing Blockchain AR Robotics Drone hardware Drone software Biometrics 2019 2018 45% 40% 37% 32% 28% 27% 27% 26% 25% 23% 37% 42% 20% 23% 34% 27% 20% 25% 23% 24% Yes, frequently Yes, occasionally No, but we are planning to soon No, and no immediate plans to do so 30% 20% 45% 42% 17% 22% 7% 16% 2019 2018 Pr Di in log Top Source 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 62 CHANNEL VISION | March - April, 2020