Master Agent Featured Articles

In the commercial sector, it can be challenging to run a business and know exactly what you need to meet your communications needs. You read several authoritative articles on the topic and you’ve done your research, yet you continue to find conflicting information. How do you make the choice between different vendors, different options and different support plans? You know you want to migrate to the cloud, but that’s really as far as you’ve gotten.

This is where a master agent can deliver significant benefit, not just for a business like yours, but also for the provider that wants to extend you and your colleagues a solution that works.

To that end, SingleHop, a cloud hosting and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) provider has partnered with Telecom Brokerage (News - Alert) (TBI) to provide the former with access to a network of sales agent partners. Telecom Brokerage is known as one of the nation’s largest telecommunications master agents, providing unbiased industry advice for customers on a regular basis. Through this partnership, TBI will simplify the quoting process.

Mark Mercado (News - Alert), vice president of Channel Sales at SingleHop noted that this move is a natural step for the company as IaaS is considered the next natural offering to include in an agents’ network. As agents continue to work to understand the needs of the customer before offering a solution, a broad portfolio of options is essential. When an agent can offer a holistic solution, the outcome is deeper relationships and better value.

Even with this value, however, SingleHop did not make an exclusive agreement with TBI. The company is working on building business relationships with a variety of telecommunications brokerage firms to expand its reach. As TBI agents want to better understand how to position and sell the cloud, SingleHop’s channel team is considered a strong fit to improve the potential of sales and repeat business.

Therein lies the value in the master agent relationship, especially as companies want to move to the cloud. With access to vendors with just the click of a mouse, companies and consumers alike can instantly have anything they need to power their communications. Yet a lack of information can quickly widen the gap between what a company needs and what they understand as the right solution to fill that need.