As a true partner-first company, Intermedia goes to work for its partners with the products and support that helps them maximize their success in the channel with the opportunity to earn up to 5x more revenue. But rather than us telling you about the Intermedia Partner Advantage, hear it from our partners themselves.
For a business to stay in business for years, let alone decades, the foresight and willingness to evolve is usually central to its story. Those in the technology industry often reinvent themselves many times over to serve new and emerging needs. ImageNet Consulting is one of those organizations that has seen itself evolve over the years, and success has always seemed to follow.
Starting out as a typewriter repair company in 1956, ImageNet then segued into print/copy services and document management. But as technology kept moving, along with the needs of customers, they more recently launched into managed IT services and now consider themselves a technology solutions provider. They have grown too, with offices throughout Florida as well as Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
To meet the diverse needs of their client base, they depend on system partners that allow them to put together high-quality, reliable, and flexible solutions, and provide superior support throughout the sales process. Needless to say, in choosing a new service provider, they set the bar high.
Juan Fernandez, Vice President of Managed IT Services, recently shared his experience in selecting and working with Intermedia.
“We measure vendors on a number of different attributes — marketing, sales, channels, rating in the marketplace, do their products meet our customers’ needs, and how easy they are to work with. It’s a long checklist for any provider,” Mr. Fernandez said.
Scrutiny like this makes sense because, ultimately, the partners’ reputation is on the line. It also has to make fiscal sense. “From a profitability perspective, it has to be viable for us, and we want to know if we can white label it.”
Measuring all those metrics takes some time, but it’s worth it to find the right fit. In evaluating Intermedia and its voice services, Fernandez said three things stuck out for him:
1. A Partner Throughout the Process
“They partnered with us through the process. I never asked for it upfront, but you can get a feel of how a company will treat you as a partner quickly, and the experience we had was different with Intermedia. Executives were even approaching us to make sure our needs were met,” Mr. Fernandez shared.
2. Getting the Sales Team Ready
“I didn’t want to house a bunch of people to sell the product. We needed to get to market fast. Intermedia said they would train our team to do this,” Mr. Fernandez added.
3. Taking Over the Burden of Support and Billing
ImageNet didn’t want to be in the support business. “From a productivity and profitability angle, it would take too long for us to do this. Having a strategic partner take support calls on the front end was important.”
Billing on the backend was also a massive undertaking. “The billing piece is huge. Not many vendors will do the calculations and tax. They will either give you the file or send it for you. Not many providers offer this,” Mr. Fernandez commented.
Ultimately, it was the total package of what Intermedia had to offer that made the decision for ImageNet – a broad portfolio of cloud communications and collaboration solutions, including voice, video, chat, file sharing and management, email, and more, combined with expert support and care every step of the way. Plus, Intermedia’s CORE reseller model enables partners to make up to 5x more revenue, set their own margins, own their customer relationships, and provides full sales and marketing materials, continuing education and training programs, as well as attractive rewards and incentives.
Curating Products, Removing Liability
Mr. Fernandez further explained what he seeks out in partnerships. “I’m focused on curating the right products and moving liability off my plate. We picked the best for us, and Intermedia showed what being a good partner is with training our team and taking time to ensure we have the tools we need.”
A Shifting Workforce Needs New Communication Tools
ImageNet was ahead of the curve on remote work. “We started a remote program back in 2018. With the adoption of mobile devices and the need to answer your phone no matter where you are, this is the future of the workforce,” Mr. Fernandez added.
While they were planning for this shift to working from wherever, they, like most, felt sudden, significant disruption caused by the pandemic. Fortunately, they had a cloud-based communications system option for customers ready to go. “We had just deployed the Intermedia portfolio when the pandemic hit. It was huge for our customers, who mostly had on-premises PBX systems. They were trying to forward calls and didn’t know what to do. On behalf of our customers, I want to thank you for keeping a lot of businesses going,” Mr. Fernandez said.
Learn more about ImageNet and its partnership story by watching this video.
Scott Anderson
Scott Anderson is Intermedia's Chief Marketing Officer, and is responsible for Intermedia global marketing, including product, brand, direct, channel, demand, and digital marketing, as well as internal/external communications.
July 21, 2021
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