ScanSource Partners With Mitel To Bolster Communications Portfolio

ScanSource Communications and Mitel unveiled a partnership Thursday morning in which the South Carolina-based distributor will now offer the full lineup of Mitel communications solutions as part of its portfolio.

The communications products sales division of ScanSource is adding Mitel business phones, unified communications and collaborations solutions in addition to contact center.

ScanSource says adding a vendor like Mitel fills a void in its portfolio and solidifies its place in the communications market.

[Related: ScanSource Rolls Out Cloud Services Program For Partners]

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"It’s a long time coming," ScanSource Communications President Rich Long told CRN on a call. "We’re the experts in this category and this has been a hole in our portfolio that we’re really happy to fill. It really solidifies our standing as the leader in the communications category for distribution with [unified communications], collaboration and networking. That’s part of our strategy to be the leader internationally as a distributor of communications products. The big news here is that it was a necessary and needed addition to our portfolio that we’re really pleased with."

This past August, Mitel was listed among the top four leaders in the unified communications space in the Gartner Magic Quadrant along with Microsoft, Cisco and Avaya.

ScanSource plans to deploy the offerings from the Ontario-based vendor to its solution providers behind its professional services, technical and sales support.

"I think it’s pretty exciting," Sandra Hill, Mitel vice president of channel and distribution, told CRN on a call. "What we were looking for was a leader in the unified communication and collaboration space, and that’s what we found with ScanSource. A couple of things that were key to us with them was that expertise in that space. They are known as a distribution leader, so that will bring a great deal of help. Finding the absolutely right partners for our business, but even more importantly to me beyond finding them is enabling those partners in the UC space. Many of them that will come to the brand will come without knowledge or expertise in unified communications. They need help getting there. I think ScanSource is the perfect distribution partner to help bring that."

In addition to its UC offerings, Hill says she believes ScanSource will be a great distributor for its open solutions end-point market that it entered when it acquired Texas startup Aastra for $550 million last year.

"They are already supporting some of our open-solutions distributors, so they are gravitating towards ScanSource because they have a relationship there and a trust," Hill said. "We’ve seen an increase in our business along those lines with that. The other key areas that we were looking at that ScanSource brings to the table is that they have a great relationship with some Microsoft Lync resellers that may want to look at our Contact Center For Lync solutions, our cloud product, our contact center produc ... ScanSource knows all those markets really well. That’s our full brand and they have to be able to address all of it."

Mike Carney, senior vice president of AGC Networks, a ScanSource Communications partner based in Irving, Texas, believes that solution providers will see the partnership between ScanSource and Mitel to be quiet convenient, especially those who are customers of more than one UC vendor.

"ScanSource is expanding their offerings in the UC market and it now includes most of the marketplace," Carney said. "So UC resellers have a one-stop shop if they have multiple manufacturer offerings and work with ScanSource. ScanSource hopes to add to its customer base with the increased line card. Both companies are North America- and Europe-focused, so there is also a geographical fit between ScanSource and Mitel."

PUBLISHED MARCH 26, 2015