For most telcos, the whole idea of performing channel management functions came about as a sideline to the "real business" of telecommunications. Telco was about engineering; sales and marketing were necessary evils to be tolerated.

The telco marketplace of the 21st Century, however, takes a decidedly different view of the business. In today's world, the channels identify, educate, sell, support, and interface with customers and plays an ever larger role in the entire business of telecommunications.

"If we had only known 10 years ago that channels were going to be so important, we would have set things up very differently." That's what most managers think today.

Most telcos find themselves in the un-enviable position of being in charge of a very poorly planned, difficult to manage, loose conglomeration of internal channels (multiple sales, customer care, marketing, direct marketing, call center, and Internet channels) along with a plethora of external channels (dealers, agents, wholesalers, retailers, value added resellers, and any number of differently defined "partner" organizations).

Few telco managers today truly understand:

• The complex channel relationships they have to manage
• The consequences that changes in policies and practices will have on those channels and related sales
• In other words, the channels are managing the telco instead of the other way around!

Distribution Management
Providing representation of your organisation to penetrate the distribution channels in your region. This would include appointing distributors, calling on major accounts, OEM’s and resellers, and general responsibility for meeting your sales targets in our regions.

Customer Care
We can provide telephone technical support and helpline activities to your customers, dealers and the distribution channel.

This service would include building your database through registrations, thorough incident reporting and on-selling upgrades and additional services.

Marketing Services
We can provide a range of sales and marketing activities designed in conjunction with your own strategies. These activities may include direct mail, email marketing, and web centred promotions utilising our back end server abilities and web design team. Forte Contact Center also provides a range of reseller-based marketing activities including:

• Advertising co-op programs
  
• Reseller workshops and other event management
  
• Reseller incentive programs

Professional Services
Forte Contact Center can provide a wide range of professional services in co-operation with their distributors and in accordance with their distribution channel.

These services might include:

• Managing the deployment of evaluation units to target resellers and clients
  
• Sell-through reporting from distributors
  
• Managing upgrade solutions to target clients of resellers
  
• Technical training

Warranty Replacement
Providing a warranty replacement service to your customers in conjunction with your warranty policy. Forte Contact Center will work directly with your customers, stocking and replacing product based on the testing and authorisation of our technical support team, thus eliminating any need for the distributor to be involved. This reduces your costs considerably.

Customer Registration and Database Management
We can provide you with registration services and maintenance of your customer database for licensing and future sales activity. This could be your biggest asset and is a direct result of the marketing investment you have made in the region.

Order Fulfilment
We would provide an order processing and fulfilment service for your customers' orders for such things as additional products, product upgrades or new sales to existing users.

Logistical Services
Taking the pain out of logistics, we can manage distributors and their stock levels to minimise stock returns as well as monitor and report on sell-through.