In today’s world of technology, VARs are at risk. That’s what Ken Mercer explains in his article, “Cashing in on Convergence: A Survival Guide for VARs”, published on The VAR Guy, January 27th. Ken explains that it is no longer sufficient for VARs to sell from a single silo of products, whether hardware or software, as they have in the past.

** This article was originally published on CRN.com.

The midsize business market – defined as those companies with 25-100 users, more than five corporate locations, and $5,000 in monthly recurring charges (MRC) – offers alluring opportunities for driving significant channel revenue growth in the years ahead.

When we talk about our technology being smart, I think of Buzz Lightyear. Specifically, I think of Buzz in his more delusional days in the first Toy Story film, when he genuinely believed that the laser pointer in his arm was a dangerous laser beam and not simply a red beam of light.

Here we are: 2015. A new slate, a fresh start.

Closing the book on another year, not only is it human nature to look back at the past 12 months and measure your personal successes and setbacks, it’s also prudent business practice. The best way to set constructive and realistic goals for the new year is to take a good look at the past year.

While high-level catch phrases won the day in non-IT circles this past year, the emergence of unified communications-as-a-service (UCaaS) — packaged telephony functions integrated with messaging, mobile, and productivity apps — made 2014 the year of voice.

In the last five years, 90% of companies began turning to (or at least began investigating) the cloud to build infrastructure, store data, address business continuity and disaster recovery issues, and to run applications. This according to a new study published by IT industry analysts at CompTIA.

WAYNE, Pa. — December 09, 2014 — Evolve IP™, The Cloud Services Company™, today announced that Telecom Brokerage, Inc. (TBI), a leading national technology Master Agency, is offering Evolve IP’s complete suite of award-winning cloud services including: virtual data centers /servers, disaster recovery, virtual desktops, unified communications, and contact centers.

The small and midsize business (SMB) market (1 to 99 employees) offers many opportunities for driving significant channel revenue growth in the coming years. The challenge for VARs is understanding that companies in this market have unique business requirements and technology needs that are sometimes overlooked.

As a Product Support Specialist at TBI, I am charged with managing one of the company’s most valuable assets: Our relationship with our agents. I work with agents on a daily basis, delivering quotes and responding to requests quickly and accurately. My job is focused on continuing to build on the trust that agents have put in TBI.

This morning TBI announced a very exciting business partnership: An exclusive relationship with Houston-based Teligistics.

Teligistics is in the telecommunications sourcing and expense management business. They assist Fortune 1000 companies reduce the complexity of purchasing telecom services and work to keep service providers honest by making sure they adhere to the fine print details of multiyear, often multifaceted and confusing, contract language.

CHICAGO and HOUSTON – November 11, 2014 – Chicago-based TBI, the nation’s leading third-party distributor of technology solutions, announced today an exclusive agreement with Teligistics, the leading telecommunications services sourcing firm. The agreement allows TBI to offer Teligistics lifecycle management solutions on an exclusive basis through its nationwide network of more than 2,000 independent partners selling a range of IT, network, and communications services to end-user business customers.

Last Thursday and Friday, October 23rd and 24th, TBI held its inaugural Partner Advisory Council at our new company offices in Chicago. The goal of the Council is to drive conversation around the state of the industry and technology trends – all while learning of ways TBI can better serve our partner community.

Being in the right place at the right time: that’s how I feel about TBI attending the final event of the 2014 ASCII Summit Series in Bally’s Atlantic City.

I’m here at the show with Channel Manager Seth Woodward, speaking with ASCII members and explaining the value TBI brings to the table in the form of a strategic partnership. Looking from their business point of view we’re showing ASCII members that working with TBI allows them to offer their customers a complete technology solution, which adds exponential value to their current customer relationship, while also setting them on a level above their own competitors who don’t offer these technology services.

TBI First Master Distributor to Join New WOW! Business Partner Program

ENGLEWOOD, Co. – October 22, 2014 – WOW! Business, a communications and cloud service provider, has signed a channel sales agreement with TBI, the nation’s leading third-party distributor of technology solutions. The agreement makes TBI the first third-party distributor to join the new WOW! Business Partner Alliance program and fortifies the regional communication service provider’s ability to meet growing demand from business customers in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast U.S.

I love New York.

And last week I had an amazing opportunity to travel there for a major partner event.

As a National Channel Manager, I support partners throughout the country. At times, it can be difficult to meet every partner face-to-face or visit them as often as I would like, so I jumped at the chance to help put together a special event for our Manhattan area partners. Together with our Premier Solution Provider, Comcast, we hosted over 25 current and prospective partners who joined us for a great evening of food, drinks – and hockey!

Dave Michels is one of my favorite industry pundits. Behind the curmudgeonly exterior resides a very shrewd mind with often key insights. He knows intimately where technology has been and where it is going, often ahead of the “in the know” pack.

Dave is especially adept at sounding the death knell for those industries he views as behind the curve as well as woefully behind the times. In his sights for quite awhile has been premises-based communications.

Dave’s most recent bow shot, “Premises-Based UC is Over”, lays out several specific reasons why the channel should look hard at moving its customers to cloud communications solutions.

The “consumerization of IT” is a fairly simple idea. In short, it amounts to a reversal of roles.

It speaks to the impact consumer-originated technologies are having on enterprises. Increasingly, IT is no longer dictating to employees the hardware platforms and software applications that must be used to conduct business. Instead, the technology consumers themselves – sales, marketing, the back office – are in charge of decision making and telling IT to make things happen.

Come on in. The water is just fine.

Not sure whether to get into the telecommunications game? Possibly a new analyst report will help make the case.

Gartner Inc.’s 2014 “Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service” indicates that, for the first time, UCaaS has gone mainstream.

SCOTTSDALE – September 03, 2014 – Telesphere, the nation’s leading provider of fully hosted VoIP and cloud communications services, announced that it has partnered with Telecom Brokerage, Inc. (TBI), one of the nation’s largest third-party technology services distributors. As Telesphere’s newest channel partner, TBI’s network of more than 2000 agents and VARs will now offer Telesphere’s secure, feature-rich cloud communications services to business customers across the U.S.