In the U.S., ScanSource will carry Mitel’s entire product line, but in Canada, where the core Mitel products do not go through distribution at all, ScanSource will be limited to the Aastra product line.
Brian Cuppett, vice president of merchandising, ScanSource Communications
ScanSource Communications, a sales unit of specialty distributor ScanSource, has become an authorized distributor of Mitel. ScanSource resellers in the U.S. will have access to the full line of Mitel products. In Canada, however, Mitel deals direct with its resellers on the core Mitel products, and does not use distribution. Consequently, ScanSource in Canada will be limited to Mitel’s Aastra product line, which the company acquired with Aastra in 2014.
This is the first deal ScanSource has had with Mitel in North America.
“We worked with Mitel a long time ago, but this is net new within the last five years, and we had only worked with them in Latin America previously,” said Brian Cuppett, vice president of merchandising, ScanSource Communications.
In the U.S., having access to the full Mitel line, which includes not only their business phones, but their unified communications, contact centre, and collaboration solutions, is a significant gain for ScanSource.
“Mitel has gotten a lot of positive feedback from resellers because their platform has cloud and hybrid capability as well as PBX, and the hybrid opportunity is very strong today,” Cuppett said. “In the past, we have primarily led with Polycom and ShoreTel, and this will allow us to expand and add more wallet share with our reseller partners, particularly as a number of partners are looking for multi-vendor alternatives.”
In Canada, only the Aastra line will be available through ScanSource, although Cuppett is hopeful that Mitel will eventually make their core line available through distribution.
“The hope is down the line they will move to full two-tier distribution in Canada,” he said.
The Aastra line will, however, offer ScanSource resellers in Canada new opportunities, particularly around their open SIP portfolio.
“Their open SIP products will work well in our Microsoft Lync strategic segment, which is growing rapidly,” Cuppett said. “The open SIP products will also work with our service provider program.”
Cuppett also noted that adding new offerings presents an opportunity to enhance their Canadian business.
“We are looking to grow with our resellers in Canada, and this presents an opportunity for us to have more conversations with them about other products we can provide to them as well,” he said.
