Master Agent Simplifies IP Service Pricing For VARs

TelcoIQ, a five year-old master agent in Lanham, Md., has launched an online pricing and purchasing system called Envoy that simplifies the process of quoting, fulfilling and supporting a wide range of IP services, said Joel Sam, president.

Available free of charge, Envoy enables solution providers to quickly generate proposals for individual or bundled services such as T1 line, DSL connections, VoIP, Ethernet services, wireless hotspots and even traditional local and long distance voice services, said Sam. Solution providers can private label proposals under their own company's brand name, and the Envoy system can be used to revisit and negotiate pending orders, and make adjustments for ongoing support as needed, he said.

If there is a catch, it is that users of the system essentially act as sub-agents to TelcoIQ, explained Sam. All orders are fulfilled by TelcoIQ, which can build competitive bids by leveraging a mixture of bandwidth providers including AT&T, Qwest, Covad, Savvis, MegaPath and others.

"Agents can now create customized proposals that incorporate their own branding in a matter of seconds, and they can do this from anywhere where the Internet is accessible," said Sam.

The Envoy interface provides price comparisons between the service offerings of competing bandwidth providers so users can mix and match offerings based on contract length, service locations and other variables in order to rapidly generate the most competitive bid, explained Sam.

Solution providers can choose from two levels of interaction with TelcoIQ by either signing on to its agent partner program, or simply taking part in the referral partner program, he said. Agent partner program participants bid for and close sales, all the while serving as the primary point of contact for customers while TelcoIQ handles back office duties and pays the partner commissions. Referral partners can earn commissions on sales by simply handing successful bids over to TelcoIQ whenever the opportunity to sell voice and data services comes along.