Zoom has opted for a brokerage model over a traditional resale channel in ANZ and tapped Tradewinds Technology Brokerage as its master agent in the region.
Zoom has become ubiquitous with consumer video conferencing globally but the vendor lacks the enterprise market share of its rivals Cisco and Microsoft.
To pursue the big end of town locally the company has chosen to follow its US go-to-market strategy which it changed in early March to the master agent model.
For Zoom, the master agent model is preferable due to the need for a carrier license to sell telephony services.
Under the model, Zoom holds the carrier license, eliminating the reliance on resellers making that substantial investment.
“Zoom’s Channel Partners are vital to the success of our business. We’re proud to expand our Program to work with Tradewinds and its partners,” Zoom APAC channel boss Don Kerr said.
“By bringing our full video-first unified communications platform to market, these partners will open the doors to bringing happiness to customers around the world.”
Tradewinds local boss Tony Heywood told CRN the target demographic was the individual or organisation who wants to develop an agency model.
For Heywood, this has been successful for partners with existing specialties and also for those with strong client relationships.
“The reseller or the agent partner is actually speaking to the needs of the business that [they are] serving, rather than the business that [they are] working for,” he explained.
“In the case of a value added reseller or an MSP, we are very much at pains to say this is not to replace what you do. If you want to sell security under an MSP environment, fill you boots.
“So this whole model is about bringing the right expertise to the table and not worrying about whether you get to produce an invoice to the customer or not.”
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