Angelo Kociper is at it again. The former founder of SMC Networks Canada and one time Belkin Canada vice-president, has established his second company in the Canadian channel community.
The company is called 360 Management Group. It will be a manufacturer’s rep headquartered in Barrie, Ont., but with an office in Richmond Hill, Ont.
Currently, 360 Management consists of three people that will be managing channel partners and customers across the country.
Kociper, who will have the title of director of vendor relations at the company, said that visibility, commitment and organization has three qualities his company will try to achieve in the IT channel.
He added that there was a niche in the Canadian market for a company like this one.
“We saw excellent opportunities with vendors in these particular channels,” Kociper said.
These opportunities are what allowed 360 Management to build its partner community to about 30, as well as to grow its customer base to well over 500 individuals across the country. Kociper says these numbers continue to grow by the day.
“Our customers become our word of mouth,” Kociper says. “This is what helps us have key customers from coast to coast.”
360 Management helps vendors gain a footprint in the Canadian IT channel by providing them with support and services from start to finish. These include everything from training and marketing support, to consulting services to even return support.
Kociper says one of the main differentiations between this company and most, is the fact that 360 Management Group also has a reverse logistics and client support program in place. This is designed to aid with support and sales by providing bi-lingual technical support services and to help recover potential revenue created from non-defective returns.
According to Kociper, partnering up with 360 Management is a win-win situation for both parties.
“Our partners get from us a wealth of experience and support,” Kociper said. “We help them engage with their customers and what we get from them, is credibility because their names exist in the channel.”
The channel management program for partners has been designed so that introductions and sales can become visible in just a matter of weeks instead of several months.
“Within just three weeks, we show [vendors] great opportunities,” Kociper said. “Within weeks, they’re already getting orders and sales. That’s what we’d like to repeat each time we bring on a new vendor.”
With a staff of only three people, it’s amazing how easy and efficient 360 Management makes everything seem.
“It takes a great amount of organization skill,” Kociper said. “But in the end, it really comes down to the people. We only take on products we know will get out to partners. That’s when we can truly commit to those customers.”
Moving forward, the company is looking to expand its staff and locations within Canada to reach out to more partners and customers. How they will achieve this is through increasing their visibility.
“We want to engage in more channel visibility,” Kociper said. “We want to help vendors succeed by showing them there’s an opportunity to become viable in the Canadian industry.”