Distribution Central's UC business unit live

In an exclusive interview with CRN, Nick Verykios marketing manager for Distribution Central tells Jenny Eagle why the service is so valuable to resellers.

Unity Systems enables resellers to sell unified communications solutions which focus on collaboration and increased productivity.

It is headed up by national sales manager, Steve Jones and national technology manager Steve Diebe and has signed up Avaya as its first vendor.

Distribution Central currently has 800 active resellers and, according to Verykios, is looking to hire more to 'fatten up its team'.

"Avaya already had a relationship with several of our vendors. Its core resellers operate in the mid to high end enterprise space but the smaller resellers can now take Avaya and take it to more customers," he said.

"They can show customers the benefits of putting an Avaya system in. It's a communications system that they are selling and we can equip them and train them with programs.

"The response is awesome. Resellers see that it makes sense. Everything we do equips a reseller to sell a new technology and take it to a whole heap of new customers. "

Verykios said offering a unique solution is enabling the channel to do things they otherwise couldn't do.

"Distribution Central is more interested in training up the resellers to sell the right solution.

"We are also fattening the team up and looking to hire more staff. We try to look where the gaps are to invest in our business. This isn't about traditional distribution anymore . We are a services company. Our role is not just to supply technology but to add to it.

"People are willing to spend money to make their organisations more efficient. UC is in the very early days of its capability," he added.

"The reality is, no-one owns the customer. We need to give the reseller a reason for going back to their customer and offer them something that gives them a competitive edge," Verykios said.

According to Andy Hurt, regional director, Channels for Avaya South Pacific, the partnership means smaller resellers are able to compete with the big players.

He said resellers are getting competitive in the way that they present solutions to their customers and the more efficient the go-to-market model, the more creative resellers can be in lowering costs.

"We used to think of the channel as an extension of Avaya," said Hurt.

"The shift has happened more and more where the resellers are an extension of the customer not us. They deal with managed services, asset management, finance, IT infrastructure.

"The resellers are educating themselves. It is at times like these that we have to work with other companies. It's a multi channel interaction."