Master Agencies PartnerTEL, Telesis Merge

By Khali Henderson

PARTNERTEL INC. AND TELESIS Management Corp. announced Jan. 16 the completion of their long-rumored merger. The two companies will come together under a new banner to form one of the countrys largest master agencies with more than $300 million in monthly customer spend under management.

Combined, the agencies serve more than 7,000 commercial accounts and nearly 400 subagents nationwide. The combined company has more than 60 employees, and expects to add 15-to-20 more by years end, says Dan Bommer, former president of Telesis, which was founded in 1994.

Bommers partners in the new venture are Steve Gareleck, former chairman and president, and Remington Reynolds, former CEO of PartnerTEL, which the two men formed in 1997. Each partner will head up one of three primary practice areas. Bommer is president of expense management; Gareleck is president of managed services; and Reynolds is president of outsourcing services.

One of the drivers of the merger, says Bommer, was to consolidate carrier contracts. Telesis represents 25 service providers while PartnerTEL reps about 40. The combined company will reduce contracts to 25 or 30, he says.

Gareleck says combining helps substantially in negotiating hard-to-get carrier contracts not only because of the firms increased volume commitment but also its ability to sell and retain customers. For example, the master agency provides telecom expense management, including invoice processing and payments, to both enterprises and SMBs through a combination of PartnerTELs proprietary CMP software and outsourced solutions. Both PartnerTEL and Telesis had been growing their auditing and bill payment offerings and found this to be a key synergy of the merger, says Bommer.

The company also provides remote managed services for IT and telecom infrastructure. And, it sells and installs equipment, such as routers and PBXs. PartnerTEL brings to the table relationships with PBX makers Estech Systems Inc. and Mitel Networks Corp.; the new company expects to sign dealer agreements with others. All the sales people we have are throwing PBX leads over the fence, says Bommer. Now we can bring them in-house.

The data networking equipment is sourced through an arrangement with a Cisco Systems Inc. Platinum Partner which will continue until the companys own volumes warrant a direct relationship with the vendor, says Bommer. By providing two or three revenue streams, the new company hopes to attract and retain quality agents. We want the ones that understand the bigger picture; not the ones that want to haggle over percentages, says Bommer. Gareleck says he expects to double revenue from subagents this year.