Top Intelisys Suppliers: Genesys, Calero Grow Big

Leading Intelisys suppliers are celebrating the investments they've made into the partner community.

Intelisys, the ScanSource-owned tech services distributor (TSD), announced supplier awards at the ScanSource Channel Connect conference in Orlando last week. Eleven vendors and multiple channel managers took home hardware.

Intelisys noted that it selected the winners using multiple criteria. Those factors "include but are not limited to, revenue performance, year-over-year growth, and overall impact of their solutions and programs in the channel." The 11 categories featured seven technology-specific buckets, including cable, cloud, security and mobility. CCaaS/CX provider Genesys specifically grew the most overall revenue over last year, while technology expense management (TEM) provider Calero grew its revenue the most as a percentage.

Channel Gets a Boost

Paul Constantine, executive vice president of supplier services at Intelisys, a ScanSource company, said his team is seeing a "slow but noticeable shift of business" at carriers, who are moving more and more toward indirect sales.

Intelisys' Paul Constantine

"That's a dynamic that we've been hoping for and encouraging and working on since we bought Intelisys. And it was part of the reason why we acquired Intelisys — a massive opportunity within a direct-to-indirect shift. Most companies that use channels realize that channels are more efficient, more effective routes to market," Constantine told Channel Futures.

Many of those vendors are making the investments in the tech services distributor (TSD) channel because they need to, Constantine said.

"Some companies don't change until they have to, and we're starting to see signs of that in the carrier space. They're like every other business in America. They're under pressure; they've got to deliver results. And what a better way to deliver results than to drive a channel program that attracts new channel partners, expands their effective sales force and helps give them a variable cost route to market," he said.

Constantine said Intelisys is seeing a large number of contact center (CCaaS), cybersecurity and mobility providers make their entrance into the space. That means Intelisys sometimes needs to down-select from a long list of applicants. Not every supplier is ready to move beyond direct agreements and invest into the TSD channel, he said.

"We end up doing a lot of supplier education on when the right time is," Constantine said. "It's not just about having the best technology and the best solution. It's a timing thing too; you can be too early into the channel."

Top Intelisys Suppliers

Top CCaaS Supplier: Five9

Top UCaaS Supplier: RingCentral

Top Revenue Growth Supplier: Genesys

Top Cable Supplier: Spectrum

Top Carrier Supplier: AT&T/ACC Business

Top Cloud Supplier: Rackspace

Top Security Supplier: eSentire

Top Mobility Supplier: Advantix

Top Growth Percentage Supplier: Calero

Top New Supplier: Wireless Watchdogs, a Dataprise Company

Diversity Partner Program Most Supportive Sponsor: Comcast Business

Channel Manager Awards

Top National Channel Manager: Matt Winterburn and Felisa Aprill, Lumen

Top Regional Channel Manager: Ty Smith, Cox Business (Pacific Southwest)Regional Finalist: John Atsalis, Spectrum (Northeast)

Regional Finalist: Devan Adler, Nice CXOne (Southeast)

Regional Finalist: Kevin Spry, Nitel (Midwest)

Regional Finalist: Reid Starr, Granite (Southwest)

Regional Finalist: Kirk Avasiuni, Vonage (Mountain/Pacific Northwest)

Events Season

Sandler Partners, Avant, Bridgepointe and Intelisys/ScanSource have all hosted conferences in the last month. Some vendors have attended all or most of those events, educating, training and networking with current and prospective sales partners.

Five9's Kelli McMillan

For Five9 director of global partners Kelli McMillan, ending the season of events with the Intelisys community made sense.

"Intelisys is like the foundation of the TSD channel. To have them round out this circuit we've been on is amazing," McMillan told Channel Futures. "Being able to see foundational partners, spend some time with them and learn about their agenda for the next few years helps us to better figure out how we can help them grow in that plan and be successful."