Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) is an area in which Westcon-Comstor sees great opportunity, with the size of the worldwide UCC market set to expand to $167.1 billion by 2025. Our investment into UCC is a top priority for Westcon-Comstor UK & Ireland in 2021.
Together with our best in breed vendors in UCC, and the launch of Avaya Cloud Office by RingCentral for Europe in June 2020, we are supporting channel partners to unlock the opportunity for growth and create value for customers, fast track the path to recurring revenue streams, and expand and scale their businesses.
The UCaaS model
Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) is different to the traditional UCC sales motion that we all know. In this model, the agent (or reseller partner in the traditional distribution channel) works as a referrer for the vendor and earns lucrative, upfront commission and recurring revenue on customers referred and landed. This is a no-touch partner model in that the transaction occurs directly between the end customer and the vendor. It offers a unique opportunity for partners to increase their recurring revenue with little to no cost of sale.
Lead with value and enablement
Westcon-Comstor is the European Master Agent for Avaya Cloud Office, supporting partners with free sales and technical training, marketing assistance and legacy user migration campaigns. We connect new and existing reseller partners with the vendor, work hand in hand with them to unlock the potential in every opportunity and develop business plans that build profitable long-term relationships.
Unlike traditional Master Agents, we lead with value and partner enablement to ensure partners have the knowledge and tools to go to market. The Master Agent opportunity for Avaya and UCaaS is compelling to both VARs and consultants – even those with no voice experience – as it requires only opportunity qualification to delivers monthly recurring revenue for the lifetime of the customer contract to the partner.
Partner support that wins awards
This exceptional support and enablement for channel partners won us the Avaya Cloud Office Master Agent of the Year award. Even under challenging circumstances due to COVID-19, our Avaya teams created innovative sales and marketing initiatives to launch this new model into the market.
Our offering included the Avaya Cloud Office solution bundled with value-adds to support presales, marketing and technical functions. We established an online marketing hub where marketing kits, collateral and content was created for agents to use to market to their customers, and an outbound telemarketing campaign was launched to generate qualified leads for our partners.
During the launch, customers were actively looking for cloud UC solutions to enable their employees for remote working so, while the pandemic posed challenges in launching the Avaya Cloud Office model, it was also well received due to the emerging demand in the market.
Opportunities for partners in the new normal
Even though vaccine schedules are being implemented globally, customers are still looking for solutions to enable their remote working or adopt a flexible working approach. Gartner predicted pre-COVID-19 that the worldwide user spending on cloud-based web conferencing technology would grow by 25% in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic will accelerate this growth.
UCaaS provides UCC functionality without the need to install or manage on-premises hardware. Instead of a large upfront investment followed by service charges, UCaaS is billed on a cost-per-seat basis, per month, with a minimum contract term making it an attractive offer for end customers. We are also the only Master Agent who offers a demo system and trial licences for customers to try before they buy.
Due to our vast vendor ecosystem, we present opportunities to partners that include other complementary solutions such as security, that can bring additional recurring revenue under the Avaya Cloud Office umbrella. At little to no cost of sale, partners only need to qualify opportunities, and Westcon-Comstor, together with Avaya, take care of the rest.
Start earning now
Become an agent and start generating commission for your cloud deals.