Menu
Some vendors had been partnering with AppDirect to build a cloud marketplace of their own.
Channel-facing B2B commerce platform AppSmart is aligning its brand more closely with parent company AppDirect.
The AppSmart marketplace will carry AppDirect branding starting in early 2023. That includes its URL and name. Moreover, other AppSmart web experiences and products will adopt AppDirect branding. The transition will take place over the first two quarters of 2023, chief marketing officer Adam Christensen told Channel Futures.
AppDirect’s Nicolas Desmarais
“We believe that the future of B2B commerce is in relationship-based marketplaces. We’re seizing the opportunity to leverage our digital ecosystem and the relationships that have been built on our world-class platform between business buyers, advisors and technology providers to fuel growth in the technology market on an unprecedented scale,” AppDirect chairman and CEO Nicolas Desmarais said.
AppDirect, the 13-year-old B2B subscription commerce platform, entered the technology advisor (agent) channel in 2018 with the acquisition of WTG and later a host of well-established tech services distributors (TSDs). It spun up its AppSmart division with the help of the various agents that worked with those TSDs, partnering with them to bring end customers into the AppSmart marketplace.
For Mark Venuto, chief operations officer at AppSmart partner US Network, the announcement represents an official unification of two worlds — that of software in AppDirect and telecommunications in AppSmart.
US Network’s Mark Venuto
“It’s going to be a great thing because you’re going to combine software solutions and telco solutions under one umbrella. It just creates a better environment for the TSB community with more product segments for all the TSBs and their subagents to sell from one company. It gives you a greater reach, breadth, and depth globally, versus just in the continental U.S.,” Venuto told Channel Futures.
Christensen said the AppDirect and AppSmart businesses had run distinctly from one another, despite AppSmart leveraging the AppDirect platform.
“This really just brings the business into one and makes it simpler and easier to do business with,” Christensen said.
AppSmart partners with some of the largest telecommunications vendors through its TSD business. At the same time, AppDirect has been partnering with big-name channel vendors like Comcast and Verizon to help them build their own cloud marketplaces. And those companies see the value in unifying the brands, AppDirect executives said.
Comcast Business’ Cary Tengler
Cary Tengler is vice president of indirect sales for Comcast Business. He said his team is excited to see AppSmart integrate more deeply into AppDirect.
“For years, telecom and IT solution selling has been on the verge of convergence, but still remain largely separate. AppDirect has the unique combination of technology, tools and people to finally make that convergence happen,” Tengler said. “We’re both a customer and a partner of AppDirect, and we’re excited about the potential for AppDirect to leverage its marketplace and its vast ecosystem of suppliers and partners to dramatically shift how end users acquire and deploy IT and telephony solutions.”
Christensen said integrating all of sales, marketing and operations can bring all AppDirect resources “directly to bear for our advisors.”
AppSmart’s Adam Christensen
“This will result in faster development of innovative tools and experiences for our advisors and their end businesses,” Christensen said.
Christensen added that agents can now think of AppDirect as an offering they can deliver to their customers. That’s in addition to the offerings on the AppSmart marketplace.
“This also paves the way for advisors to be able to sell the AppDirect platform itself to their enterprise customers, who are in need of either a marketplace to create their own external ecosystem or to build an internal procurement marketplace,” Christensen told Channel Futures.
We’re thrilled to share our plans to unify @AppDirect & AppSmart under a single brand, opening up tremendous opportunities for all advisors to continue fueling innovation throughout the channel community. Learn more about our latest milestone in our blog: https://t.co/nYDnxtVvfl pic.twitter.com/SVzCMUBXf7
— AppSmart (@AppSmartcom) October 18, 2022
AppSmart this summer announced the consolidation of its U.S. channel sales programs into one. Christopher Shubert, who joined AppSmart from its purchase of MicroCorp, accepted the position of vice president of channel sales. He said the appointment signified AppSmart’s efforts to move multiple teams and processes from the acquired companies into a single system. The “teams” had embraced a single philosophy, he said.
AppSmart’s Chris Shubert
“Me moving into this role is just the next piece of that: AppSmart moving into [a place] where we’re not a many-tentacled beast, but a streamlined, focused organization dedicated to helping our advisers achieve the next step in their evolution,” Shubert told Channel Futures in July.
Venuto said the integration gives his team a single pane of glass.
“When we go to order any products or services, request codes, or any level of software, the process is completely streamlined,” Venuto told Channel Futures. “It’s more effective and robust across the board.”
AppSmart differs from the tech services distributors (TSDs) it competes against, in part because it provides a marketplace that end user customers can shop (using their technology advisor partner’s tag). Nevertheless, the company still leverages the systems associated with the legacy TSD (formerly known as a master agency) model. And Christensen stressed that AppDirect’s TSD efforts are not simply a means to an end but a core route-to-market for the subscription commerce company.
Christensen emphasized the health of the business in an interview with Channel Futures…
Session expired
Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page.