Although it has been based here for 24 years, most of communications manufacturer Sangoma Technologies Corp.‘s overall revenue is generated from countries outside of Canada. This year, though, company executives want to expand their partnerships and presence by paying more particular attention this country.
Sangoma is a Markham, Ont.-based vendor focused on designing and engineering voice and data communication products that are distributed around the world. Doug Vilim, vice-president of sales and marketing, said the company provides PC-based hardware and software for performance driven communication solutions. Ninety per cent of the company’s total sales come from solutions that support open source-based operating systems or applications.
Vilim said about 10 per cent of Sangoma’s global revenue comes from Canada, whereas just under 50 per cent comes from the U.S. and Canada combined. In Canada, he said the company’s products are distributed through Gentek as well as an ecosystem of channel partners, which include ISVs, resellers and VARs. It also sells products to RuggedCom, a Woodbridge, Ont.-based OEM of ruggedized communications equipment for harsh electrical and climatic environments.
“In Canada, we have between 200 to 220 partners, and globally we have 1,924 partners enrolled in our Sangoma Partner Program,” Vilim said. “We’re constantly looking for new partners, but for us, it’s not a numbers game, it’s a quality game.”
Kathleen Reed, Sangoma’s marketing director, said the company is actively recruiting partners through its Empowered by Sangoma initiative and through the Sangoma Partner Program. Just last year the company launched its partner portal Web site, which includes resources such as marketing and certification information, in addition to information on pricing. Reed said back-end work is currently being done on the portal, which, when complete, will feature a new Web portal interface as well as a more streamlined application process and an easier online referral program.
Jeffrey Freedman, Gentek’s vice-president of sales, said the distributor only sells the Sangoma product line in Canada, although it does distribute other products globally. The reason for this, he said, is because Sangoma has its own overseas channel distribution strategy that involves distributors outside of this country.
“Gentek has been selling the Sangoma product line for about two years now,” Freedman said. “We approached them to carry their products as we were getting deeper into the VoIP space and because we had customers who wanted products that worked with the Asterisk software.”
In the last two years, Freedman said the distribution relationship with Sangoma has been nothing short of good for the company.
“Sangoma has found a nice niche to supply their customer base with products here,” Freedman said. “From a product perspective, we find that customers are very satisfied with the products and our partnership has allowed us to get into a segment of the marketplace that we weren’t able to get into before,” he added.
Vilim said Sangoma hardware is flexible and can be used to build both voice and data routers.
“At Sangoma, we see data and voice as being one of the same,” Vilim said. “What most people are doing with our products today are using them to generate dial tones by providing a communications solution through using an IP PBX or a PC-based solution.”
Although Vilim admits that there’s nothing “sexy” about selling communications hardware, he said partners who do well with the Sangoma product line are focused on the technology sale.
“It’s not a flashy, glossy sale,” he said, “so our partners are very technical and engineering-driven. The partner profile that we look for is someone who’s technical and understands IP and who’s also customer service driven and understands how to not only fix a technical problem, but a customer problem too.”
Reseller partners should note that they can receive margins in the 30 per cent range on the company’s products, Vilim said. In addition, he said partners can also increase their revenue streams by servicing IP PBX boxes along with the hardware itself.
