Let’s face it, the business of selling IP telephony solutions has a good amount of complexity to it – particularly when you look at implementing these solutions. Aside from the time it takes to get the network tuned up for voice traffic, you also have to take the the voice system and program a growing breadth of applications to meet the customers needs. If it were easy, everybody would be doing it right? A growing challenge I’m seeing with my partners is the challenge of managing cash flow. Since implementations are taking longer and customers aren’t paying any quicker, something’s got to give right? This is one area where partners need to look at what their distributor can do to shorten the time from shipment to successful implementation. A big thing that Catalyst is doing is providing System Integration and programming on the IP Office system. Aside from loading cards, upgrading software and testing the system for DOA, we actually program the system to your customer’s specs. By the time the system arrives at the customer site, it’s rack and stack and training (which Catalyst can do remotely). If you’re like most partners, you ship the system to your facility to put on a bench to do  staging/programming in-house before sending it out to the enduser. This typically takes at least a week and in some cases causes you to incur freight charges. If you happen to have some DOA materials, it could take much longer. So, from a time from shipment to install, your interval is shorter by outsourcing to Catalyst which allows you to pay your bills timely without having to borrow from your bank. This also helps you maintain the best credit score with all of your vendors which ultimately helps you negotiate the best discounts in the long term. As for your technicians, this is also a great opportunity to evaluate how you use those resources to drive revenue. Could they be generating higher margin professional/ billable services? Going out on sales calls to close deals? Providing network consulting (for fee)? Just as exciting, in the coming months, you’ll see Catalyst announce the same program for Avaya ECG Communication Manager systems. The good news is these services are sku’d and easy to price and order. Click this link or call me to learn more.