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Telecom Convergence: Has It Distorted the Line Between Master Agent and Distributor?

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Telecom Convergence: Has It Distorted the Line Between Master Agent and Distributor?

 
May 21, 2015

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  By Michelle Amodio, TMCnet Contributor
 


Telecom convergence might be changing the master agent landscape as we know it. Gary Jacobs of Bridgepointe Technologies recently gave some insight on this matter, saying that the line between master agent and distributor might be hazy. A master agency handles some of the behind the scenes workload to free up providers to do what they do best – sell.


While a portion of commission will trickle off to the master agent, many telecom providers feel the tradeoff is well worth it. Gone are the days of dealing with order tracking, dealing with carriers and other administrative tasks. By focusing on the selling, the customer numbers can grow in droves, perhaps something many service providers could benefit from.

A master agent provides all the tools required to offer IT & telecommunications infrastructure solutions to the customer. While impressive dividends are always nice, getting customers and retaining customers -- especially for more challenging areas, like rural telecom providers who are up against some heavy contenders – is great. A master agency means having a solid business focus.

According to Channel Partners Online, Jacobs says that telecom convergence, where IT and telecom meet, has turned telcos into telcos that now sell IT services, but that is not without its challenges. The biggest challenge thus far has been training sales staff who otherwise may not understand the new service offerings.

The solution? More information.

It’s imperative for master agents to get with the times. Gone are the days of selling just voice and data; consumer expectations regarding the many benefits of convergence are high, and telecom operators must be prepared to offer the products, services, underlying technologies, and infrastructure required to meet those expectations. Master agents need to start a dialogue.

“… If they don’t start having those conversations, then they will truly be left behind, and there will be more and more agents that are not only comfortable selling the network and the voice, but comfortable talking about the infrastructure, storage, disaster recovery, VDI and all of the other cloud services available," said Jacobs according to Channel Partners Online. “Those are the folks that are going to win the business from the traditional agent, I truly believe."

Telecom convergence is much talked about in the communications industry. With a converged network, the full set of services can be provided over the entire network as opposed to full service being limited to the intersection of the service-specific networks, and it has easier interoperability. Convergence (News - Alert) is not just about technology. It is about services, new ways of doing business and of interacting with society.




Edited by Rory J. Thompson
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