Peter Radizeski

Peter Radizeski, founder and president of Rad-Info, has noted that the distis have already been operating in the brokerage arena to some extent.

There are multiple examples of these companies partnering with vendors for commission-based sales.

“Ingram has contracts with UCaaS providers, CenturyLink and more. TD Synnex already has a decent portfolio of connectivity and cloud communications on top of the hardware UC&C they offer,” Radizeski told Channel Futures.

Radizeski pointed to relationships that already exist between TSBs and distis. For example, he said TBI and Ingram are currently working together.

“In the past, Microcorp and XO tried working with Tech Data. It is an uphill battle with VADs. It is about SKUs, MDF, and other hurdles like sell through when the contact with the VARs is through a portal only,” he said.