Tech Pacific signs Vodafone

Tech Pacific has signed to distribute Vodafone's Mobile Connect software and new BlackBerry handsets under an agreement that commences on 4 October.

Under the agreement, mobile operator Vodafone is charging into the IT sector, tapping a potential 5000 resellers on Tech Pacific's books, to sell the service.

Joshua Velling, systems and peripherals category manager at Tech Pacific, said there's a big opportunity for the reseller channel with the BlackBerry device and services that sit around it.

Vodafone officially launched the device last week, which combines remote control email, mobile phone, text messaging, synchronised office tools and mobile internet browsing in one unit.

"The opportunity here is to obviously sell hardware particularly into a small and medium organisation [which would] typically have an exchange server running.

"You can sell the BlackBerry Enterprise product, put a separate server in, configure that up, and away you go," he said.

Resellers would also get a commission "sign-up fee" for selling Vodafone plans. "[The commission] depends on the level of plan," he said.

Tech Pacific is taking expressions of interest from resellers who want to sell the product. "To resell the product, the reseller has to go through a training program because obviously it's a little different from just taking the hardware and on-selling it, you're taking the hardware and you've got to talk the customer through the plan and connect [them] up on the plan.

"We're using our website technology to do that. On TechLink (Tech Pac's website) they're able to submit their expression of interest. It's not [about] just moving a product from A to B; there are contracts to communicate to the end user. We can use our web services to make this experience a lot easier," Velling said.

He added that selling this type of mobile technology is about a reseller understanding their customer's mobility requirements. "They've been doing that for yonks with notebooks and understanding their usage. This is an extension to that understanding," he said.

Russell Hewitt, chief commercial officer at Vodafone, said the company needed to look beyond its traditional distribution channels.

"Until now, businesses have been forced to construct and manage their own piecemeal mobile and wireless solutions through a number of third parties. By partnering, Vodafone and Tech Pacific are leading the Australian market in mobile data and will significantly reduce the cost and complexity of being mobile for Australian business customers," he claimed.