SUMO Networking Platform Is Rolled Out By ScanSource
The IT distributor says its international networking community enables VARs to “explore and broker new relationships that can enhance their offering.”
IT distributor ScanSource Inc. officially announced SUMO in recent weeks. The online tool was created to provide VARs with a networking resource.
SUMO is an international online “networking community”, supported by ScanSource Inc. business units. Using a Google search appliance, SUMO members seek out potential partners by entering specific search criteria. Companies that match those criteria are then returned.
Through SUMO, resellers can extend their reach by finding partners in other technologies and geographies. For example, a SUMO-generated partnership can help a VAR effectively extend its geographic reach. SUMO can also help VARs create alliances by identifying companies with specific technology or vertical market expertise. Hardware vendors, for example, can locate VARs with specific skillsets in certain geographies to help close deals.
Hili Shrem is the director of business development at Visual Retail Plus. Shrem says SUMO has been a useful networking tool for Visual Retail Plus. “We are looking to grow the number of resellers offering our POS software,” Shrem says, “and SUMO has allowed us to speak to management-level representatives of companies that we never would have learned about if it weren’t for this tool.”
In addition to being a networking tool, SUMO also enables VARs to compete on more deals due. This is done by way of an extended partner network that can be tapped into to participate in specific opportunities.
“We are seeing more and more members of our channel explore partnerships as a means to extend their sales and support ‘reach’ and be competitive in more deals and opportunities,” says ScanSource vice president of marketing Bobby McLain. “SUMO allows VARs to easily explore and broker new relationships that can enhance their offering, in essence taking the networking opportunities typically afforded only at conferences and trade shows and putting it at their fingertips 24/7.”
ScanSource is currently accepting technology providers into the SUMO community. Providers must be affiliated with the ScanSource channel to be considered.
