Award winners celebrated for commitment to sales results, innovation and disruption in the channel.
Chicago, Illinois May 30, 2018 AVANT Communications today announced winners of the first annual Special Forces Summit Awards. Recipients were recognized across twenty categories for their sales achievements and sales resourcefulness.
“Honoring our partners’ tremendous achievements is a highlight of the Special Forces Summit event,” said Ian Kieninger, chief executive officer, AVANT. “We’re inspired to continuously help improve our partners sales abilities through sales enablement tools, resources and training events such as the Special Forces Summit. We are thrilled to honor these top performers who are truly represent the best of the best in the channel.”
Channel Sales winners were chosen based on performance. Vendors were elected by AVANT’s channel partners.
The AVANT Special Forces Partner Excellence Award categories and winners are:
Top Channel Performance – Based on AVANT 2018 Fiscal Year ending March 31, 2018
Top Sales Performance (> $500M in annual sales): CDW
Top Sales Performance (< $500M in annual sales): Pro Strategy Solutions
Rookie of the Year: Myriad Supply
Top Deal in UCaaS: Digital Direction
Top Deal in IaaS: CDW
Top Deal in SD-WAN: CDW
Top Deal in Security: FCS
Top Deal in WAN: Pro Strategy Solutions
Top Deal in Colocation: ePlus, Inc
Best use of Sales Resources
Best Use of AVANT BattleLab: MNJ
Best Use of IQAs: Myriad Supply
Best Social Media Presence: Kyle Burt, Catch Solutions
Best CIO Event: Nuvalo
Top Vendor Awards: Criteria based on key attributes for success from AVANT Cloud Channel Survey
https://goavant.net/survey
Most Revenue Potential in 2018: 8×8, Inc
Best New Vendor: CloudGenix
Best Sales Engineers: Masergy Communications
Easiest to do Business With: 8×8, Inc
Most Responsive Vendor: RingCentral
Most Responsive Vendor: RapidScale
Award Recipient Quotes:
“Master Agent Partners like AVANT are critical as we continue to grow our channel business – it’s impossible to have the kind of YoY growth we’re targeting without the sales velocity a partner like AVANT provides. 8×8, Inc and AVANT were both born in the cloud, and their commitment to it has been unwavering. They’re focused on enabling their Sub-Agents to sell cloud services like 8×8, Inc, which has produced a very strong partnership, and their differentiation in our market as an advisor who truly understands next-gen, best-of-breed technologies, is a unique strength we hope to build off of to continue to do a lot of business with them and their partners in the future.” Christopher Peters, Global Channel Chief, 8×8, Inc.
“The resources and the knowledge that AVANT brings to the CDW AIM team is second to none. They operate at the highest level of efficiency and their team continues to help us drive forward to achieve our highest goals together. We consider them not only an extension of our team, but we also consider them friends. We truly thank AVANT for their unwavering support.” Andy Ballema, Senior Manager, AIM Services, CDW
“Our partnership with AVANT is a critical component to the success of the AIM team at CDW. AVANT continues to go above and beyond for us, and we’re so grateful for their constant support and guidance through today’s intricate Cloud marketplace.” Marcia Dempster, Cloud Platform Executive, CDW
AVANT and their channel partners represent the best of our industry. At this year’s AVANT Special Forces Summit, that community chose CloudGenix as their, “Best New Vendor”. We’re humbled and honored by the recognition and very thankful for the partnership. Ryan Williams, Director of Channel Sales – Agent Community, CloudGenix
Digital Direction is honored to receive this award for the largest UCaaS deal in the channel. We have an incredible partnership with AVANT, whom we regard as the most forward thinking company in the vendor relationship space. Our business model provides professional services and consulting to larger clients across the globe which demands we are always in the know. AVANT’s research and pulse on the market gives us that competitive advantage to bring to our clients. Bart Zimmerman, CEO and Founder, Digital Direction
“Avant understands that a one-size-fits-all approach to technology is not strategic. We make a great team because they listen to their customers and work closely with our solution engineers to customize the perfect design to solve customer challenges. Our entire sales engineering team is grateful to receive the recognition.” Chris Werpy, Senior Vice President, Solutions and Services, Masergy Communications
“When you partner with an organization that invests an immense amount of resources into creating a state-of-the-art demo center like the BattleLab, it would be silly not to utilize it. As an organization, we have been blown away by AVANT’s continual efforts to help us grow our business. Whenever we’ve utilized the BattleLab for customer meetings we not only set ourselves apart from everyone else out there, we win the business…every time!” Elizabeth Schneider, Channel Sales Manager, MNJ Technologies
Since partnering with AVANT, Myriad has seen a dramatic increase in cloud, colo, and connectivity-related recurring revenue. Leveraging AVANT’s extensive resources and expertise, Myriad has successfully engaged in and closed more complex and sizable client projects. This has put us on pace to triple our billing MRR in under 24 months. Simply put, AVANT has reinvented the blueprint for integrating cloud, colo, and connectivity into the technology discussion. Andrew Fisher, CEO/Founder, Myriad
“We’re excited to join forces with AVANT, who powers our market intelligence and allows us to laser focus on enterprise cloud enablement. AVANT shares our passion for educating, elevating, and sharing insights that help the enterprise make well-informed decisions. Our event earlier this year showcased some of the most promising companies in infrastructure, SD-WAN and UCaaS, and we’re honored to receive this recognition.” Manon Buettner, CEO, Nuvalo
“Being recognized by two visionary entrepreneurs who have built a market-leading master agency is an honor. We are proud to be the first recipient of the r Most Responsive Vendor award. This is a big deal for RapidScale and something myself and Co-founder William Hiatt are unbelievably proud of. At RapidScale, we always strive to provide our partners with the best experience and we believe winning this award speaks to that.” Randy Jeter, CEO and Co-founder, RapidScale
“At RingCentral, we’re focused on supporting and enabling our partners in unique ways. Through our pure Channel Harmony program, we provide access to subject-matter experts so our partners can drive successful outcomes for their business customers, with 100% commissions paid to all involved for the lifetime of the customer. This recognition by AVANT and their sub-agents reinforces how much we value our partners in working together to bring our industry-leading cloud communications and collaboration solutions to enterprises around the world.” Zane Long, SVP of Global Channel Sales, RingCentral
About AVANT
AVANT is a channel sales enablement company and the nation’s premiere distributor for next generation technologies. AVANT adds unique value with its focus and expertise in channel sales assistance, sales training, sales guidance, and sales tools to fuel IT services business growth. From complex cloud designs to global wide-area network deployments, AVANT sets the industry standard in enabling its partners and clients to make more intelligent decisions about services, technology and cost-effective communications. For more information, visit http://goavant.net/company. Follow us on Linkedin and Twitter.
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Market Impact for AVANT Communications
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