FaxCore Steps Up Channel Recruitment
By Steven Burke, CRN
FaxCore, a small Centennial, Colo.-based maker of fax document server software, is launching an aggressive channel recruitment effort as it formally unveils .Net Windows Server 2003 support for its FaxCore 4300 product.
The nine-month-old company, which was bootstrapped and has 12 employees, is aiming to increase its worldwide solution provider force to 175 from the current 38 by the end of the year, said David Armistead, vice president of worldwide sales at FaxCore.
The FaxCore channel program includes a 35 percent software licensing discount and 25 percent revenue sharing on support contracts. Among the other benefits are joint sales efforts with lead sharing, software licensing discounts, on-site demo kits, marketing collateral, internal knowledge-base materials and 3 percent co-op support for advertising, seminars or road shows, said Armistead.
Paul Banco, vice president of sales at CiBan, a Marlboro, N.J.-based FaxCore solution provider, said the vendor's channel program is top notch. "They are 100 percent committed to the channel," said Banco, who has closed three deals averaging as much as $20,000 each in the past several months and has 10 deals that he is working on closing. "This is a really great channel program."
Banco said the cost savings and productivity gains that are being driven by the FaxCore 4300 are dramatic. "Generally, the system will pay for itself in the first couple of months," he said. "You can save 30 to 40 percent on fax communications alone."
Banco also praised the technical prowess of the FaxCore product. "I have been in the fax-server industry for eight-plus years and have never seen a product like this," he said. "FaxCore has a highly scalable back-end MySQL relational database that is part of the product, which enables robust archival capabilities and easy search."
Banco said that fax is still an integral part of the business processes in eight out of ten companies.
One CiBan client, IntraMark, a Westwood, N.J., food brokerage firm, completely automated its client ordering, processing and inventory system using the FaxCore solution with a customized application for a savings of thousands of dollars in paper costs alone, said Banco. Another CiBan client, Old Bridge Township, is using the FaxCore solution for far easier fax-document archiving, retrieval and search capabilities, said Banco.
FaxCore runs on both Windows Server 2003 and any Windows 2000 platform with a .Net framework installed. FaxCore 4300 Standard edition, with support for two fax lines, has a suggested retail price of $1,995, while the FaxCore Enterprise edition, with support for two fax lines and an e-mail gateway, is priced at $4,995.
The product currently supports Exchange and GroupWise. Lotus Notes support is expected to be added in the next week. The product also integrates with digital document-sending devices including Hewlett-Packard Digital Sender and the Xerox Document Centre.
FaxCore is establishing direct ties with its solution providers in the United States. "We want to work with certified solution providers in the document management, messaging and collaboration arena," Armistead said. "We want solution providers looking for a true business partner that will take an active day-to-day role in their business. We are looking for associates that want to have a close vendor partner relationship to be successful in the marketplace. These days, that has gone by the wayside and the partner programs are more commoditized."