Not only are resellers looking to purchase hardware from distributor ProVu, they are also turning to the company for its menu of value added services, explains Managing Director Darren Garland.
Garland has witnessed a growing number of resellers wanting to use ProVu's systems and infrastructure to resolve their technical issues. This requirement is emblematic of a wider trend in which forward thinking distributors are starting to deliver value added services as well as kit. "Our reseller portal, ProSys, gives resellers access to a range of tools designed to ease the fulfilment and management of customer premise equipment," he commented. "With the added assistance of a technical support team, resellers also know that if they face more technically complex issues the team are on hand to assist. By enabling our resellers to remotely manage deployed phones and assisting them with more complex issues they are able to cut their costs as any technical issues become outsourced, allowing them to focus on their core business."
To better support resellers with services ProVu runs tests on all of its products before making them available to order. "This allows us to gain in-depth knowledge of our products," added Garland. "We also maintain close relationships with our vendors which allows us to learn and work with them on technical issues, helping us to continuously develop our product knowledge."
ProVu also offers training to staff and resellers to help equip them with the skills and knowledge to sell its products. "To give all of our resellers access to technical training we have made some of our training courses available online, meaning resellers can undertake training at an appropriate time for them and from the convenience of their own office," explained Garland. "We can also provide training at a resellers' preferred location."
In addition to reseller support structures, automated order processing is also part of everyday life at ProVu. Resellers are adopting this process as well as adapting their own systems to feed directly into ProVu's. "Through our portal resellers are able to place their orders outside of regular office hours with the config settings they require," added Garland. "Resellers can also access deployed phones and remotely manage them from their desks, saving time and money by minimising the need for site visits. Our APIs also enable resellers' customers to place their own orders directly onto our system."
Some products aren't as easily accessible as others so ProVu provides consultancy services to widen product accessibility and attraction. "For example, we have been supplying Sangoma kits for four years and from our experience we have seen that while there is a demand for these products, there is a shortage of people and services to support the install," commented Garland. "With high training costs many resellers simply do not have the means to install such products themselves. As a result, we offer wrap-around services for higher scale installs that require technical expertise.
"This not only helps to open up some products to a wider audience, it also enables resellers to add such products to their portfolio with the added peace of mind that we can assist them with the install and ship items ready to plug in and work out-of-the-box. Prior to an install, resellers can arrange a specific time with our technical support team to be on hand, over the phone. Upon agreement, our technical team's services become sub-contracted to the reseller, meaning they are dedicated to remotely support the specified install for the agreed duration."
Garland is currently assessing additional opportunities for ProVu to offer more value added services. "Our strategy to provide consultancy-based services should allow us to open up the market and make high scale installs more accessible to many of our resellers," he added.
To help resellers keep ahead of the curve ProVu carefully selects its vendors to ensure they have a pure channel model. "This helps resellers to maintain higher margins and ensure a traditional supply chain is maintained," said Garland. "Our resellers will not find our primary vendors' products for sale at lower prices on e-tailer sites. We are also open to suggestions from our channel partners as to what products they would like us to sell."
ProVu offers a range of VoIP products that help to ease resellers' installs by providing them with the complete package. "By not limiting ourselves to just one product line we empower our vendors to continually develop new items," noted Garland. "When launching a new product we ensure that we market items according to brand guidelines and offer resellers training and webinars to increase and develop their own familiarity with the products. Through our technical training, resellers can become fully equipped to sell our vendor's products."
In order to evolve, Garland believes that resellers should be looking to adopt a more flexible approach in their purchasing. "Not only do they want to be looking for cost-effective solutions, they should also focus on reliability and assistance in the maintenance of end devices from their distributors," he commented. "Ultimately, it is through the distributors' value added services that resellers will be able to grow and succeed in today's challenging market." •