C&W Taps Channel For Hosting, Data Services

Last October, C&W laid off two-thirds of its direct-sales force and said that all small and midsize businesses and existing accounts would be supported by solution providers.

Earlier this year, Links Communications, a Blackwood, N.J.-based solution provider, signed on as a C&W partner and has been happy with the results.

"C&W had recently laid off [much of its direct-sales force, so there was definitely a hole in the marketplace," said Marcus Cianfrani, sales manager at Links, which also resells services from AT&T and other providers. "They offered us the ability to take over management and maintenance for a large part of New Jersey, and that residual income is how we make most of our revenue."

To keep the lines of communication open with partners, C&W also started using Partner Central, a Java-based partner relationship management (PRM) product from Channel-Wave.

Currently, the system is being used to generate and track lead referrals, but over time it will provide a means of online training, certification and joint marketing, said Neil Cohen, PRM project manager at Vienna-based C&W.

That PRM system goes a long way toward differentiating C&W from other carriers, said Robb Fujioka, CEO of Incoming, a Redondo Beach, Calif.-based partner.

"C&W delivers us leads. The other [carriers do not," he said. "They expect us to go out and get new business for them."

Incoming specializes in e-mail marketing applications and bundles C&W's data communications and hosting capabilities with its own applications.

Another benefit of Partner Central is that it allows partners to find each other, according to Cohen.

"If I can do A, B and C of a given deal but can't do D, E and F, I can go to the [PRM system to find someone in the area to partner with rather than lose that business," he said.

About 70 U.S. partners use the PRM system now, Cohen said, and C&W continues to lengthen that list.