AppDirect Buying vCom, Boosting Life Cycle Management Channel Futures – Leading Channel Partners Forward

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B2B subscription commerce platform provider AppDirect purchased vCom Solutions and vCom’s IT spend management software platform.

AppDirect announced Tuesday that it has agreed to purchase vCom and bring into its portfolio technology life cycle management services that channel partners and end customers can use. Part of the haul is vCom’s vManager software platform, which tracks inventory, orders, cost allocation, invoices and other aspects of the technology life cycle.

The companies had already been partnering with each other. vCom was AppDirect’s preferred mobility life cycle management supplier. Now AppDirect is taking those capabilities in-house, adding another tool its partners can use for the management of technology.

AppDirect’s Nic Desmarais

“By augmenting AppDirect’s current technology management functionality with the depth and breadth of the vManager platform, AppDirect will be able to empower our advisors to offer the world’s most comprehensive IT procurement and management platform to organizations of all sizes,” AppDirect chairman and CEO Nicolas Desmarais said. “vCom’s offering will also allow AppDirect advisors to provide additional value to their end businesses, elevating their trusted consultancy and increasing revenue.”

The deal has not yet closed.

vCom Acquisition Adds Life Cycle Management

Many technology advisors are seeking to more closely align with life cycle management capabilities. Multiple technology advisors have augmented their technology sourcing practices by budling platforms to give clients visibility and insights into their technology spend. Advantage Communications Group, for example, has built vMOX for mobility management. Other firms are looking to acquire life cycle management. Bridgepointe Technologies acquired Cannon Group, and executives at ScanSource’s new advisory business have emphasized the need for a life cycle management platform.

Gary Storm, Sameer Hilal and Joe Condy co-founded vCom in 2001 after working together at Networld Communications.

“This strategic union will deliver on the original visions of both our companies: to help businesses find, buy and manage all their recurring IT through trusted advisors. It will enable us to quickly and extensively expand our value creation, thanks to AppDirect’s far-reaching distribution and community of seasoned technology advisors,” said Storm, the CEO of vCom. “AppDirect has a powerful ecosystem, and the vCom team will complement and accelerate all that AppDirect does.”

vCom’s Gary Storm

“We are so excited about the potential of this acquisition. We have been working closely with the vCom team, and our vision around the future potential of our two organizations joining is completely aligned,” said Andy Ellerhorst, vice president of corporate development and chief of staff at AppDirect. “Adding the vManager platform to AppDirect’s procurement platform will further extend the value that we can offer advisors through a single platform.”

The acquisition also brings in QuantumShift, which vCom calls a “wholesale buyers’ club” for consolidating products from multiple vendors.

AppDirect-vCom: What Happens to Tech Advisor Business?

In addition to providing life cycle management software and managed services, vCom is also a technology advisor that sources solutions for end customers in the agent model that other AppDirect technology advisors use. Moreover, it’s one of the more successful TAs. Telarus in August added vCom to its Hall of Fame and recognized it as a top 5 seller.

However, AppDirect is buying vCom for its software and services, rather than its advisory practice. AppDirect noted that it will spin out vCom’s direct sales team and “branded franchise advisors” into a new entity. Those sellers will operate in an exclusive relationship with AppDirect, in which they will use AppDirect as the distributor for all of their vendor contracts.

The move to spin out the vCom advisory business comes from the same playbook AppDirect employed with AdCom Solutions. AppDirect bought AdCom for its network operations center (NOC) software and managed services and ultimately shed AdCom’s advisory/agent practice.