Distributor ScanSource has announced several updates to its services, including a Services+ rebrand.

They were introduced Wednesday at ScanSource’s Virtual Partner Conference (VPC 2021) for North American partners.

Ray Nelson, SVP technical sales and services, says Services+ wraps up the firm’s services “into a cohesive approach”.

ScanSource’s Ray Nelson

“You’re seeing this paradigm shift where things are being consumed as services. There’s such an opportunity to wrap different things together,” he said.

Nelson said Services+ involved “a lot of planning” designed to help partners out.

“We’re not trying to replace their services,” he said. “We’re trying to help them out when maybe they don’t have help geographically, or maybe their resources are overburdened.”

An example, he said, are wireless assessments.

“Every one of our products touch some form of wireless, so we will do an assessment upfront for them. We help them go into the next phase, which is planning and design, helping them be able to bring the right products together. And then, implementation and deployment services if they need extra help.”

“We’re helping our partners around Microsoft and cloud computing, 365 Azure,” he added. “We’re also building services around what we call IPSP, which is helping service providers optimize their environment. So a good example: We have a major UC provider, and we’re preconfiguring all of the devices with them. We now have a really good flow from the hardware side of it, and all the way to UC-as-a-service delivery. We’re in the entire ecosystem. All of that is under the Services+ umbrella.

“We’re just looking to be able to help partners, be it a service provider, one of our agents or our traditional VARs capitalize on tremendous opportunities,” said Nelson.

Mix of Partners

Casey Huffling is new SVP, North America specialty sales, at ScanSource. She said the event Wednesday was the first conference that combines hardware partners and Intelisys agents.

ScanSource’s Casey Huffling

“They can mix as we as we further go down the path of becoming one ScanSource,” she said.

“We tried to focus on education around the state of the economy; what’s happening around the channel? How has the pandemic really changed and accelerated remote work? We really want to help our partners find some new routes to market,” she Huffling added. “If you look at our business, we’re best positioned to enable our partners to find other avenues. Whether it’s hardware, professional services, cloud carrier services, to really change the dynamics of their business. We want to help them build recurring revenues.”

“Over the last five years we made some great acquisitions, bringing Intelisys into the community,” noted Nelson. “Our Cascade platform for Microsoft, and software as a service. This partner conference is a lot of making sure our partners have the opportunity to capitalize on that. [That’s] so that they’re going where the buck’s going,” added Nelson.

New Marketing Programs

ScanSource also flagged a couple of new marketing programs at the event. One is “Discover Opportunity,” which it launched earlier this year. The company, however, said it is adding more in the way of education on vertical markets, said Ansley Hoke, SVP global marketing.

ScanSource’s Ansley Hoke

“We’re doing virtual shows, we’re really showcasing in each vertical how to go deeper within the technologies that we offer,” said Hoke.

There is also ScanSource University, the distributor’s main learning tool within its website. It is now launching a new podcast, which will talk about industry trends.

“We’re going to ask partners to register to be one of the first on the podcast, and have different guest speakers,” said Hoke.

ScanSource also highlighted a new financial services option, called Finding Your Focus. Targeted at partners scaling their business, it allows ScanSource to take on the operational burden from a financial standpoint.

“From invoicing to collections, to make sure that the partner is able to keep selling,” said Hoke. “It’s one thing to educate; it’s another to make sure partners are successful in landing new deals and finance them.”

Huffling is not the only new ScanSource exec, with the distributor recently announcing a shake-up of its leadership team. This includes promoting Tony Sorrentino as president of its North America business. Additionally, John DeLozier has taken over as Intelisys president, with his predecessor, Mark Morgan, becoming president of global business strategy for ScanSource.