Industry Pundits Clash Over MSP-Agent, IT-Telecom Convergence
One of the hottest debates in the channel took center stage again on Tuesday.
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CHANNEL PARTNERS VIRTUAL — The jury’s still out on convergence between MSP and telecom agent channels.
The worlds are coming together if you ask Andrew Pryfogle, Pax8‘s chief market development officer. Pryfogle said Pax8 is seeing agents enter into managed services while MSP partners introduce telecom services.
But not all of Pryfogle’s peers are buying his outlook.
Pax8’s Andrew Pryfogle
“Convergence means you’re bringing something to the table that we don’t have,” said Rob Rae, Datto‘s senior vice president of business development, in reference to agents. “But you’re not bringing anything.”
Rae, Pryfogle, Bill Power and Jared Martin debated the topic at the Channel Partners Virtual event on Tuesday.
Pryfogle said MSPs stand to lose customers, particularly SMB customers, to agents that sell telecom-related technologies that the MSP portfolio doesn’t contain. Agents can get a foot in the door with a UCaaS, fiber or SD-WAN conversation and steal the client, Pryfogle said.
Datto’s Rob Rae
But Rae said the biggest danger exists for agents, who are realizing that their traditional business model is dying. In the meantime, Datto and its MSP partners continue to chart positive sales forecasts, even during a pandemic.
“The MSP channel is actually flourishing, which is part of the reason why I can understand why you would want to converge with this space,” Rae said.
No one is denying that agents need to increase their recurring revenue.
TPx’s Jared Martin
“The agents have seen a shift in the market. They’re looking for ways to stay relevant when it’s no longer just about bandwidth and transaction. The future really is managed services,” said Jared Martin, vice president of MSx managed services for TPx Communications.
Case in Point
Both sides of the debate pointed to TPx as evidence for their case. The long-time CLEC rebranded three years ago to focus more on managed services than connectivity. Martin said his company converged, because at the end of the day, the market demanded it.