Next Steps For Avaya/Nortel Resellers

John Black, president of Catalyst Telecom, talks with Jameson Publishing and Business Solutions magazine President Jim Roddy in this exclusive Executive-To-Executive interview. In this interview, Black details actions Avaya/Nortel VARs should take to avoid getting overwhelmed and confusing their customers. These actions should increase a VAR's sales -- and reduce their headaches.

"It's too much to take on in one fell swoop, that's for sure," Black says. "So (Avaya/Nortel resellers) really need to prioritize, based upon their end user base, what needs to be done first. That could be just getting the legacy upgrades done so that you get revenue flowing. Once you get revenue flowing, then you can make investments in other areas, and that might be hiring new skills. The Nortel guy may be hiring Avaya skills. The Avaya reseller might be hiring Nortel skills. But they also have to learn the other vendor's processes and products, and the certification process for both vendors, depending on the level of certification they want to achieve, takes time and it takes money and it takes effort."