Amplix Gets Into Mobility Management with CAG Buy

Gemspring Capital-backed Amplix is deepening its in-house mobility management capabilities with the acquisition of Corporate Accessories Group (CAG).

The acquisition pairs Amplix, a New England-based firm that sources and consults on technology services for businesses with Belmont, Massachussetts-based CAG, whose offerings run the gamut of wireless services. CAG’s mobility management services include expense management, plan management, kitting and product sales. CAG also provides phone trade-ins and repairs, according to its website.

CAG founder Peter DiNatale is joining Amplix as an executive and will lead a mobility practice within Amplix’s technology products and services group. Amplix chief technology officer Jeff Liberman leads that group. According to a statement from Amplix, everyone in the CAG team will join Amplix and slot under DiNatale. Those employees will also work with Amplix’ sales, account manage and client success teams.

The companies did not disclose the financial details of the transaction.

The two parties have worked together over the years as partners. ROI Communications, which is one of the three original agencies that merged to form Amplix in 2022, has been referring CAG’s services to customers since 2011.

Amplix’s Joe DeStefano

“A good portion of the team already has experience working with the CAG team from the ROI days which will greatly facilitate this integration,” Amplix CEO Joe DeStefano told Channel Futures.

Deepening the Mobility Management Footprint

For Amplix, the deal helps the technology advisory firm tap into what its executives see as a growing market for helping businesses take control of their mobility costs.

“As our customers continue to consistently prioritize mobility spend optimization, combining our capabilities with CAG’s full stack mobility solutions will enhance the differentiated value we can offer,” DeStefano said.

For CAG, joining forces with Amplix brings a host of previously untapped enterprise customers to the table for the mobility solutions provider. CAG currently serves approximately 175 SMB and enterprise customers.

Peter DiNatale

“As companies increasingly seek ways to cut costs, our deep mobility expertise can offer unparalleled value. We are thrilled to join forces at this opportune moment in CAG’s history and are confident this partnership will create significant growth opportunities for both companies, all of our talented team members and our combined customer bases,” DiNatale said.

From Partner to Teammate

DeStefano has been engaging with DiNatale for the last 15 years, including when DeStefano directed Presidio’s carrier services division. And DeStefano and his teams over the years have let DiNatale and CAG take the lead on mobility opportunities.

“CAG has been the lead on our mobility opportunities because of their deep knowledge and capability in this technology area. Their holistic approach to mobile fills many gaps our customers have in their environments and consistently drives savings and better user experiences. We will be building off this great foundation as we bring our new expertise to the 2,300-plus Amplix customers while enhancing the ability of the CAG to deliver value. CAG’s significant expertise built over decades of successful customer engagements coupled with Amplix’s platforms and back office positions Amplix uniquely to help end users solve their mobility challenges.”

While many technology advisors – historically known as telecom agents – dabble in mobility management, they often do so by way of referral partnerships rather than developing their own teams and practices. ROI would source CAG’s mobility services much in the way it would source connectivity from a carrier or software from a UCaaS provider. But DeStefano said bringing those capabilities closer to the fold made sense for Amplix.

“In the past we would work with CAG as a vendor partner or other providers in the technology services distributor (TSD) portfolio to help with customers, but the scope of what we can do with the portfolio providers will be greatly enhanced moving forward,” he said. “The TSD options are a viable path for advisors if they have the sales expertise to have the conversations (many don’t), but there are also lots of cases where an end user might just want to stay with their current path. Not having this knowledge in-house creates a lot of friction in the sales process, and sales folks will often just move on to something more in their wheelhouse or miss uncovering the opportunity altogether.”

The three original Amplix companies and the next two businesses they purchased all fit into the advisor/agent partner model, which leverages residual commissions from its supplier partners. But Amplix’s acquisition of a mobility management firm reflects the company moving into adjacent areas. It’s interesting to note that Amplix previously acquired the agent business from cabling and audio-visual provider Intervale Technologies. Amplix also signed on Intervale as its preferred supplier for cabling and AV.

Other partners in the technology advisor channel have recently used M&A to expand their mobility and lifecycle management chops. Minnesota-based Renodis has made acquisitions in the area of 5G LTE enablement. Bluewave Technology Group‘s acquisitions included wireless expense management services provider Telapprise. And Bridgepointe Technologies’ acquisition of Canon Group brought in mobility expense management and led to the creation of a life cycle services division.