Master Agent Featured Articles

The cloud is impacting many areas of IT, both directly and indirectly, ultimately disrupting the way organizations use information technology. While adoption rates of the cloud continue to grow, there are remaining concerns about cloud in as far as security, cost benefits, reliability and privacy among them.

The cloud is also having an indirect impact on the role of the master agent, which is an agency that signs carrier contracts and consolidates volume, assists its sub-agents with pre-and-post-sales support, consolidates commissions from multiple carriers into one monthly commission statement/payment, and leverages its size to gain concessions from carriers on behalf of its agents.

The big question is: As IT and communications technologies converge with cloud and managed services, will master agents continue to play a role and, if so, what, if anything, must they do to enhance it?

According to a recent post onThe Download, Comcast (News - Alert) Business’ weekly solutions provider blog, the future of the industry and the role of value-added resellers (VARs) and master agents alike will play depends on whether they are able to make the necessary changes in time.

The implications of the cloud, the adoption of SaaS (News - Alert) software and changes in customer buying behavior creates both an opportunity and a challenge for VARs and master agents, according to Kara Sprague, a principal with McKinsey & Company (News - Alert). While master agents will continue to be an important distribution channel for core voice and data telecom services, they require training in order to be able to offer managed and cloud services.

As TMCnet’s Rory Lidstone recently pointed out, a master agent can help lend value to corporations. An IT service provider and master agent can work together, with the latter party acting as a source of knowledge for the IT service provider and ensuring that solutions are a proper fit for the organization.

Ultimately, an agent works with the IT service provider to create a complete unified communications solution, benefitting both sides of the partnership. While some might view the cloud as a threat to the master agent, in reality it presents an opportunity for them to drive sales and increase their value in the market.