Sept/Oct 19 - ChannelVision Magazine

channel management we’ve already built – very automated, built on Salesforce – we felt like we were ahead of a lot of the market- places out there, including some of the big masters,” added Tim Basa, president of Telegration, who now be- comes AppSmart’s vice president of sales. “We weren’t looking for an ac- quisition. In fact, we were looking to expand by buying other businesses.” But AppSmart’s financial resourc- es, robust platform and shared vision made the deal too attractive to pass up. “When we got together with Vince and started having a conversation, we were actually giddy because we were working toward a very similar thing,” said Basa. In the early days of SaaS, there were those who thought the acces- sibility and transparency of online marketplaces would disintermediate feet-on-the-street agents. Business buyers would self-serve the search and educational processes, it was projected, and would click to buy. But Bradley, Raue and Basa under- stood that buying business solutions is not like ordering groceries and picking them up in the parking lot. As technol- ogy moves deeper into businesses pro- cesses and profitability, even mundane software purchases can seriously impact key business functions. Meanwhile, business IT and software products often require more customization and integra- tion than mainstream products intended for consumers or the home. Pain points, quite simply, run deeper for businesses, and mistakes are more costly. In turn, even with the near-ubiquitous reach of an online marketplace, successfully scal- ing business SaaS services still requires the relationships, familiarity and personal touch of a trusted partner who “under- stands your business.” “We are disrupting the industry in that we are bringing something to the table that no one has before,” said Bradley. “But the disruption is not an attack of the industry; it’s actually em- bracing it.” Indeed, AppSmart plans to sell exclusively through the channel. The AppSmart marketplace will have its official unveiling of sorts here at ChannelPartners and will be dem- oing its powerful partner dashboard at its booth. “The dashboard enables an agent to see everything at their fingertips within minutes,” said Bradley. The combination of a powerful online marketplace, and the simplicity it brings to selling an ever-widening array of software apps, with two firmly established and respected master agents, and the base of agents and back-office enabling technologies they bring to the table in their own right, quickly makes AppSmart a significant player in the channel – and one with an aggressive technology roadmap to empower the channel in unique ways, said Bradley. Of yeah, and don’t be surprised if another master merger is in App- Smart’s future. o IN LOOKING FOR THE IDEAL RESUME, YOU’VE IGNORED THE IDEAL CANDIDATE. LEARN HOW TO FIND, TRAIN AND CULTIVATE A GREAT POOL OF UNTAPPED TALENT. ACLYUPP4006_Mag_HalfPgHrz_v1b.indd 2 8/28/14 10:44 AM 15 September - October, 2019 | Channel Vision