Specialty distributor ScanSource, through its Catalyst Telecom division, is looking to recruit 300 resellers to offer Avaya's voice and data solution IP office to the SMB market, according to John Black, president of Catalyst Telecom, in Greenville, S.C.
In the coming year, the company plans to help its existing voice resellers as well as new data VARs move into the convergence space by softening their front-end monetary outlay.
"Initially, they won't have to make a big investment in sales people. Our company and Avaya will provide design support and tech-support training. Avaya has certification programs," Black told VARBusiness in an interview. "We will give them a P&L and show them that this is what their margins will look like."
Both Black and Mike Baur, ScanSource's CEO and president, believe these voice and data VARs will need to play in the convergence space. "How long do they have to get into it? That's the question," Black asks.
"Who will be successful in the converged space -- the data resellers or voice resellers? It's a bigger departure for both than either thought," Black says. "It's a different margin model. And there are different implementations; voice can take a month to stage, while data implementations typically take a shorter time. You also have to do a network analysis to make sure it performs."
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