New FracTEL Program Helps Partners Dodge 'Reseller Sucker Syndrome'

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Business telecommunications provider FracTEL has launched a new reseller program and turnkey service-provider platform aimed at helping partners avoid what it calls “reseller sucker syndrome.”

The program and platform will be unveiled during next week’s Channel Partners Conference & Expo. The program is facilitated by the open architecture platform that supports the customer life cycle, from customer acquisition through onboarding, service delivery, billing and customer support. It also includes tax and regulatory compliance.

FracTEL provides cloud PBX, SIP trunking, WebRTC and APIs.

Michael Crown, FracTEL’s president, tells Channel Partners his first point of reference in developing the program was himself.

“I worked in the channel and my experience was, I think, similar to that of many resellers in that ultimately we ended up feeling like we got the short end of the deal, and one of the things we wanted to make sure when we decided to build a partner program is that we never did that to our partners,” he said. “We made the judgment that there had to be a third way between the traditional reseller program where the provider bills the customer and pays a commission, and the reseller is kind of at the mercy of the provider, and on the other end, really the only alternative is to establish yourself as a provider and provide the service directly to the customer, which is a very complicated and costly investment, and it’s well beyond the means of most resellers.”

The new program makes it “easy enough for a customer to set up shop as a provider, and be fully licensed with the Federal Communications Commission and the state authorities, and be a legitimate provider, but at a fraction of the cost that you would normally have to spend to do that,” Crown said.{ad}

“Along with the FCC and state authorities, there are literally thousands of tax entities in the United States alone, each with unique requirements,” he said. “Of course, the consequences of non-compliance can be devastating. Our comprehensive program takes care of all that for you.”

The company has had a limited agent program, but its primary sales have come from an inside sales team, which has been successful, but “now we recognize the value in reaching out and developing a channel partner program,” Crown said.

FracTEL is going to be selective about the partners it aligns with to prevent market oversaturation and maintain “some level of geographic exclusivity,” he said.

“We’re looking for very qualified resellers, ones that we feel are going to be able to provide a good user experience, and are capable of managing and administering their responsibilities as a service provider,” Crown said. “So we basically feel if we can have 20-25 good, high-quality resellers by the end of the year, we would consider the program successful.”