Revenue Continuity

Generally, this column has stressed the technical aspects of a business continuity plan, but let’s not forget the ultimate BC goal – an uninterrupted revenue stream.

2009 was a difficult year for resellers, so increasing revenue in 2010 is a major priority. Many resellers are looking at expanding their markets. Fortunately, many resellers specialize in selling VoIP, FoIP, virtualization, SIP trunking, hosted services or a combination thereof. These resellers are uniquely positioned to take advantage of the BC market since these applications are critical BC components. The solutions are also green, plus increase security and mobility, so they are a perfect fit for 2010.

Certainly the economy has presented obstacles, but it has also opened opportunities. Companies formerly adamant about having customer premises equipment managed exclusively by in-house IT departments are now open to hosted and managed services that are a perfect fit for BC. A reseller managing CPE requires less overhead for a company than maintaining a full-time staff. Also, resellers manage multiple accounts and specialize in specific areas such as communications and messaging. On average, a reseller can provide a higher level of expertise for new deployments and upgrades than in-house staff focused solely on maintaining their company’s infrastructure.

Even if a company decides to retain its entire IT staff, many are increasingly open to using resellers in a consulting capacity for new products and upgrades. In this scenario the reseller is involved in the initial selection process and may continue on board through the implementation and training stages. This business model is not new, but today’s business environment combined with 21st century solutions, is making it more popular than ever.

Hosted VoIP, FoIP and SaaS (News - Alert) solutions further reduce operating costs. Many resellers with portfolios of CPE solutions have also become agents for service providers. These resellers can present customers with a wide variety of solutions including CPE/hosted hybrids plus gain a recurring revenue stream through ongoing commissions.

2009 was a difficult year, but resellers that focus on the opportunities presented by the 2010 market can have very successful year. IT

Max Schroeder is the senior vice president of FaxCore (News - Alert) Inc. (www.faxcore.com) and managing director of the DPCF.

Rich Tehrani is the president and group editor-in-chief at TMC (News - Alert) and conference chairman of ITEXPO.

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