Monday Morning Impact – June 24

Avant Communications Launches Market Research Initiative

Avant Communications has announced a market research initiative in which the Chicago-based master agent will analyze and leverage the market data derived from its daily business, as well as other sources, to develop market research reports, videos, podcasts, and other deliverables for its network of agents and the industry at large.

Marketed as “Avant Analytics,” the offering is intended to help build sales prowess and opportunity assessments on security, SD-WAN, UCaaS, CCaaS, and other technologies in which Avant specializes. The company will analyze insights from thousands of annual IT business purchasing decisions and conduct primary research to deliver regular reports on the state of disruption in the industry in the form of studies, papers, blogs, podcasts and briefings.

“Avant Analytics is a new dimension to Avant’s IT decision-making platform,” said CEO Ian Kieninger. “In keeping with our mission to facilitate digital transformation, this initiative will be an indispensable resource to Trusted Advisors who need to make critical recommendations and decisions on behalf of their customers, who must stay current to effectively navigate today’s technology transitions or risk being left behind.”

This new initiative will be led by Ken Presti, a veteran industry analyst previously associated with IDC, his own agency, and Channel Impact.

“Change is the only constant in today’s IT landscape, and that rate of change is accelerating,” said president Drew Lydecker. “Companies we’ve never heard of are challenging the giants in this industry, leaving enterprise customers no choice but to adapt if they hope to survive. Trusted advisors are in a prime position to help IT leaders navigate the confusion and equip them with insights to make smarter purchasing decisions. That’s where Avant Analytics comes in.”

Channel Impact^®
Master agents and distributors are looking for new ways to differentiate in this modern era of technology. Since these companies work with multiple vendors, they are in prime position to conduct data-gathering initiatives such as this one.

NexusTek Unifies MSP Offerings

NexusTek, a Denver-based MSP, has rolled out a new suite of managed services for small-to-medium businesses, combining 24/7/365 support services, helpdesk, backup, disaster recovery, dedicated engineering, cyber security, network services and monitoring. The SSAE 16 SOC II-certified company designs solutions that bring together storage, virtualization, unified communications and collaboration, data protection and networking technologies.

One of four separate service plans can be chosen based on the needs of the specific customer, with fixed monthly, per-user pricing,

The “NexusTek Essential IT Services Plan” provides 24x7x365 monitoring and managed security services, recurring hands-on support, and IT inventory management.

“NexusTek Remote” is a more comprehensive plan that couples unlimited helpdesk with emergency support. This package includes on-demand access to NexusTek engineers and comprehensive cyber security and data protection solutions.

The company’s “Dedicated IT Services” plan is differentiated by a dedicated engineer who provides hands-on services and the benefits included in the “Essential IT Services” plan. As part of this package, NexusTek can augment existing IT staff, offloading routine management and maintenance. Clients receive quarterly technical business reviews, proactive IT project planning, and ongoing patch management.

At the top of the hierarchy, combining the Essential, Remote and Dedicated plans, “NexusTek Complete” is designed to cover everything a business needs, including unlimited remote support, on-site engineering, critical remote support, unlimited emergency support, managed security protection and strategic planning.

“We know that without a dedicated IT department to actively monitor networks, devices and applications, an alarming number of companies are dangerously unprepared to prevent network outages, security breaches and other potentially catastrophic incidents,” said NexusTek CEO Mike Jenner.  “NexusTek strives to address this need and help businesses from coast to coast harness the transformative power of technology to their advantage.”

Channel Impact^®
The services are intended to offer the flexibility and control businesses need for enhanced agility, addressing cybersecurity, business continuity, compliance and auditing.

Pexip Unveils Expanded Video Conferencing Partner Program

Pexip, a Norwegian provider of video conferencing and collaboration solutions, has established an expanded, four-level partner program that includes portfolio access, various incentives, technical training, deal registration, sales and marketing resources, and a full-service partner portal.

The company provides a scalable, cloud-native video conferencing platform interoperable with Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, Google Hangouts Meet, and other services. Customers can deploy Pexip on their own privately hosted servers, in their own cloud subscription of their choice (Azure, Google Cloud or AWS), as a hybrid, or as a service. APIs can be leveraged for further customization.

“Our channel partners have a tremendous opportunity to earn more revenue by reselling cloud video conferencing, and we’re committed to helping them succeed,” said Tom-Erik Lia, Chief Commercial Officer, Pexip. “We’ve worked hard to create a new partner program that offers financial incentives to drive early and effective sales engagement, and to motivate transparency throughout the sales process.”

Pexip says its product line is sold exclusively through a network of more than 300 partners in 75 countries, and used in more than 190 countries. The revised program combines elements of the pre-merger Pexip and Videxio programs.

Channel Impact^®
By reselling Pexip’s cloud-native video conferencing platform, partners can increase their recurring revenue and help customers collaborate on any device, from any location.