AVANT Amplifies Focus on Vendor Engagement in 2023 to Drive Greater Success for Trusted Advisors
Additional investments in people, processes, and technology work to elevate the alignment between AVANT, its Trusted Advisors and vendor partners
AVANT, a platform for IT decision-making and the nation’s premier Technology Services Distributor, today announced more investments are being made in people, processes and technology to net greater efficiencies, add more value and increase alignment between its Trusted Advisors and vendor partners.
“The economic uncertainty around the global economy is creating both challenges and opportunities within the channel,” said Shane McNamara, AVANT’s Executive Vice President of Engineering and Operations. “As the world adjusts to the realities of a looming recession, we see the role of Trusted Advisor continuing to be increasingly important as businesses seek out expert guidance in selecting best-of-breed cybersecurity, CCaaS, UCaaS, Connectivity and Cloud solutions for their hybrid and remote work environments. AVANT is the connector for the Trusted Advisor to the vendor community and through the investments we are making in our vendor engagement team, combined with our Pathfinder technology decision-making platform, we are enabling our Trusted Advisors to stay ahead of the pace of change and helping them grow stronger together with us, both now and in the future.”
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Industry-leading Talent Optimizes the Trusted Advisor and Vendor Experience
Adding to its award-winning team, AVANT has hired Samantha Zuniga as Vice President of Vendor Engagement and elevated Jaime Matoba to a newly created role as AVANT’s Senior Director of Business Development. Together, Zuniga and Matoba will leverage their combined experience in sales and business development to guide AVANT’s Trusted Advisors in making the right investments in the vendors, technologies, and services that will unlock more revenue opportunities and drive business growth. Their responsibilities will include developing and executing vendor strategy, driving vendor engagement with AVANT’s Sales Engineering and Channel Manager teams, improving vendor alignment with the AVANT Trusted Advisor community, and managing a new vendor selection and onboarding process.
“Samantha and Jaime both play a critical role in the future growth of AVANT, the success of our Trusted Advisors and our vendor partners,” added McNamara. “Samantha’s passion for customer service and culture have been huge drivers in her success with her teams and in the channel. This combined with Jaime’s proven expertise in sales and business development will ultimately help to strengthen the alignment between our Trusted Advisors and vendors.”
Zuniga comes to AVANT with more than 20 years of experience in the indirect channel working for technology solution distributors in various operational roles, at all levels, building out programs and streamlining businesses processes. Matoba brings more than 20 years of sales experience to her new role, with a strong emphasis on technology sales. She has held various positions within the industry, ranging from direct sales to channel sales, and dedicated much of her career to evangelizing the benefits and opportunities of cloud and CCaaS technologies.
New and Enhanced Vendor Resources Make Doing Business with AVANT Easier
In addition to the expansion of its vendor engagement team, AVANT is offering several resources to drive success for its vendor partners and Trusted Advisors. These include AVANT Analytics, training and educational events, AVANT Technology Insights, and Pathfinder.
“Our Trusted Advisors have told us that AVANT’s ecosystem is one of the best in the business. Our robust vendor portfolio includes over 300 vendors across countless legacy and next-generation technology solutions servicing more than 38,000 opportunities a year,” said Zuniga. “Working to enhance the knowledge and expertise of our Trusted Advisors when it comes to engaging with our vendor partners in developing go-to-market initiatives will enable them to win new business and close deals, while solving the unique business challenges faced by their customers.”
