Allworx Launches Portal For SMB VoIP Partners
The portal also helps communications between Allworx and its partners, said Sandra Gault, executive vice president of marketing at Allworx, Fairport, N.Y., one of 75 vendors named to CRN's 2006 Emerging Vendors list. "It becomes a community for them because we have a message board where partners can make suggestions and see what other resellers are saying," Gault said.
Partners have been using the message board to share product and marketing ideas and ask technical support questions, she said.
From the portal, solution providers can access a wide array of marketing and sales collateral and can also make request custom materials, she said. Partners also have access to a live calendar of training events. In the future, the portal will also house ROI models for partners to use as well as a listing of Allworx and partner events.
Jeff Wohlfahrt, president of Advanced Concepts, a Milwaukee, Wisc.-based solution provider, said the new portal has helped speed communications with the vendor.
"In the past we've relied on sales reps [to get information] but they might be busy or might not have the information at their fingertips so then we're waiting for an e-mail," he said.
Approximately 75 percent of the vendor's 250-plus partners are using the portal, which launched a few weeks ago, Gault said.
Allworx, a division of InSciTek Microsystems, makes IP telephony systems for up to 100 users.