CTX Resources Fills the Temporary Channel Staffing Need

By Charlene O'Hanlon

CTX Resources is turning the temporary staffing model on its head with a new business offering channel-focused professionals for short or long-term contract positions.

The service, aimed at IT vendors and services organizations, aims to help fill the employee gap for temporary assignments such as product launches or territory engagement, said Stephen Reid, president of CTX Resources.

Reid and Tim Wheaton, vice president of marketing and sales, both are former IBM channel executives who noticed a trend occurring as the economy began to nosedive a few years ago. “We looked at what was going on in the marketplace, and we noticed that due to the economic conditions, many [IT vendors] were disinvesting in the channel, laying off employees and moving back to a direct sales model,” Reid said. “We believe when the market starts to rebound, IT providers will have to rebuild their partner channels, but we may never get back to the same full-time employee model. So we said, ‘Let’s try this.'”

The company, which just opened its doors, offers professionals in sales, marketing, operations and alliance management  all with at least 10 years of channel experience and all currently running their own independent consulting firms.

“Our CTX associates we don’t call them temporary workers all are independent IT channel professionals and their association with us is something they are doing as part of their business,” Reid said.

Rather than utilizing the standard temporary help model, whereby companies call with their needs and a worker is sent to fill that need, CTX first specs out the job to determine the need before sending any associates.

“We go in and find out what it is that the company is trying to get done, what the company is expecting out of the job and what type of person would be ideal for the position,” Reid said. “Then we go to our associates, and if one or more meets the specifications, we discuss terms, fees, travel, etc., and if they like it and are available, then we have a match. If not, then we will take it to our pool of qualified contractors, which have gone through an extensive vetting process.”

It’s too soon to tell whether a temporary employment model for channel professionals is the next wave of employment for IT vendors, but Reid is hopeful.

“Having a partner channel is the only way for an IT company to have an effective long-term sales strategy, but it could take years for a company to rebuild its channel program once it has been dismantled,” he said. “Our goal is to help fill that gap.”