The Agent Advantage

A Perfect Tele-Storm

The volatile telecommunications industry has inspired many local professionals to become telecom agents. Foster left Iowa-based McLeodUSA and started Fostar Telecom in 2000. Marc Agar, who also worked for McLeodUSA, left to start CA Communications, Inc., in 2002. Jonathan Watkins and Brent Killen also left sales jobs at McLeodUSA to form Telecom Consultants Group in December 2001, the same month that telecom executive Shawn Schmidt formed Digital Planet Communications. Later, the two companies merged, keeping the Digital Planet name.

The advent of VOIP, which allows users to make phone calls over an Internet connection, is making telecom agents even more valuable to tech-challenged companies. “[It] added a new equipment player to the market,” Unger says. “Typically, IT management companies, also known as integrators, had worked only with data. But now that telephony is coming over to the IT side, the IT integrators are thinking, ‘As long as I’m helping customers with IT gear, why would I not want to help them with the telephony . . . especially since I already speak that language, and it represents another revenue stream for me?’”

VOIP promises to stir up a greater need for telecom agents in the years to come.

“Consumers and businesses often think of VOIP in terms of being able to make telephone calls over the Internet, but it’s much broader than that,” Phillips says. “VOIP is a foundation technology that’s enabling phone systems and data equipment to converge under a single platform. As a result, customers who are looking to maximize their expenditures in equipment and services are seeking consultation and support in evaluating those technologies.”

Unger thinks changeover to VOIP is inevitable. “R&D dollars are all being driven into the VOIP side,” he says. “Anyone rolling out a new data network has to look at it from a telephony standpoint—whether telephony is a part of it or not—because they anticipate that it will include telephony in the future. Any other approach is short-sighted. Agents can help companies plan for changes down the road so that those customers can avoid having to change out all their routers in a year or two because they weren’t thinking ahead.”

As the market continues to evolve, so will the role of telecom agents. “I’m hoping that telecom carriers will get a certification process in place for agents,” Foster says. “I envision that it would be on a provider-by-provider basis, much like getting certified to sell Microsoft products or install Cisco Systems equipment. Certification would help protect customers, as well as the reputation of agents.”