Now that reseller TMC Communications has joined forces with VoIP services provider GLOBALINX Enterprises LLC, agents may wonder what’s in store. Ron Ireland, who served as president of TMC, now runs the GLOBALINX channel. Ireland joined TMC as controller in 1998, shortly after it was founded. He later became CFO and took on the presidency and oversight of the agent channel when TMC founder John Marsch passed away in 2006. Channel Partners interviewed Ireland about his new role, about the deal’s impact on partners and his plans for the program.
Channel Partners: How is the TMC channel changing now that GLOBALINX owns the company?
Ron Ireland: The TMC channel isn't going to change from a contractual standpoint. GLOBALINX is standing behind the terms of the existing agent agreements. What will change is the product set. In addition to TMC's legacy voice and data products, GLOBALINX will be adding IP products to the channel, which will run on their existing Broadworks platform. It’s all positive. The effect is GLOBALINX-TMC will have more resources at their fingertips to help our agent partners succeed. Contractually, agent agreements don’t change, commissions are paid in the same timely manner they’ve always been, the online tools and resources are still there and will continue to be developed. There’s very little impact, and certainly no negative impact.
CP: What about your experience at TMC’s helm will influence the way you run the GLOBALINX channel?
RI: I think we’ve had a long history of stability and I think continuing to have the same names and faces is a tremendous plus. But I’ve seen the need over the last five years to be out in the field more, be in front of our agent partners more. As president of TMC, I didn’t have the luxury of time to be able to do that. And being able to dedicate my time to channel development, I fully expect to be out in the field more, learning how we can better help our agent partners succeed. That’s really my goal — how can we be of better service to agent partners?
CP: What changes do you have planned for the program?
RI: I think you’ll see a little bit more excitement in terms of promotions and rewards for our agent partners. That’s probably the most immediate and most visible. GLOBALINX brings some personnel resources to the table that we haven’t had in the past in terms of a deeper engineering team. They’re a little more technically advanced than we’ve been able to do in the past. And with more small businesses moving into the IP world, you have to have expertise in-house to help guide them through that — SIP trunking, hosted PBX, any converged product that requires a pretty thorough understanding of a customer’s data network.
CP: How do you expect GLOBALINX’s partner-generated revenue to change in the next year?
RI: I expect 2011 to be a breakout year. Given the resources GLOBALINX is able to put behind the channel, I fully expect to see double-digit growth this year.
CP: How many agents are in the combined program? How do you expect those numbers to change in the next year?
