Intelisys, Fueled by ScanSource Investment, Triples Growth

INTELISYS CHANNEL CONNECT — ScanSource has invested approximately $100 million in Intelisys, according to ScanSource CEO Mike Baur.

ScanSource’s Mike Baur

That’s in addition to the $83.6 million the distributor spent to buy the master agent in 2016. Baur encouraged a partner audience to fully buy into ScanSource’s channel plans.

“We want all your business. We don’t want you dating these other master agents,” Baur said. “We want you committed. We’re the only guys putting our money where our mouth is.”

ScanSource outlined how Intelisys fits into the distributor’s channel strategy at the master agent’s annual Channel Connect conference Wednesday in Monterey, California. ScanSource’s ultimate vision is to function as the center “of a solution-delivery channel,” according to Baur, and that’s why the company went on to buy more companies after Intelisys.

First came the master agent Kingcom (acquired by Intelisys in 2017), followed by the Salesforce consulting firm Canpango, the commissioning platform company RPM Software and (as of two months ago) the cloud services distributor intY.

Canpango and intY enhance ScanSource’s respective contact center and software plays, while RPM has a goal of improving partner experience.

Baur said Intelisys succeeded in the industry partly because it calmed the fears of agents, who worried if they would actually see their commissions. ScanSource aims to double down on this strength with the purchase of RPM.

“Intelisys was brilliant at creating a system that could track all of these deals, all of the orders, all of the processes, and make sure it was done completely, accurately and on time,” he said.

Partner experience is a popular topic at Channel Connect, though not to be outdone by customer experience. ScanSource aims to harness customer experience for the channel’s benefit. Baur said suppliers need reassurance that partners will take proper care of end users.

“There are suppliers in the room today who still do not use the channel as their primary go-to-market delivery channel. They still do it direct, because they want to have control, and they want to have control because they want to make sure that the end customer has a great experience,” Baur said.

Meantime, Intelisys has tripled in size in the last four years and is eyeing more growth.

Intelisys president Jay Bradley eight years ago penned a blog declaring that his company would become a $100 million master. Intelisys reached the milestone early in 2015 and joined ScanSource the next year. Approximately 25 supplier partners worked with Intelisys when Bradley joined the company in 2002. Now he says 160 are in the line card.

“The amazing opportunities just continue,” Bradley said. “I had no idea we’d get here, but here we are.”

Baur said a channel partner recently signed a $340,000 monthly ….. UCaaS deal — the largest in the industry by his calculations. The agreement represents a huge milestone for indirect sales.

“People didn’t think the channel could deliver this, or ‘This is enterprise stuff’ or ‘This takes a direct sales force.’ This stuff is real. It’s happening. If you’re not excited about the future, then — man, you better leave. Because we are excited, and we want you guys to benefit from this. You’re here early in the process,” he said.

Intelisys earlier this week announced a new online IoT/wireless certification course. It also recently honored its 20th platinum sales partner.

Baur earlier this year told a partner partner audience that ScanSource is growing its monthly recurring revenue by 26 percent on a quarterly basis.

“Mailbox money. This is the magic of recurring revenue,” he said.