A peek inside BTP's history

For those of you who are not familiar with the term - Value Added Reseller (VAR), read along...

A typical B2B supply chain looks like the following: Manufacturer builds products that are stocked by distributors who then sell it to resellers in wholesale who then retail them with value-added-support to the end customer.

Each stakeholder adds value in this chain. Manufacturers focus on building great products, distributors excel at wholesale logistics, and resellers manage the last mile distribution, logistics, and support.

In this article, we will talk more about the WHO, WHY and WHAT about VARs by telling you the inside story about BTP, a VAR for enterprise headsets since 1991!

History and timeline:

Eric and Marilyn Torrison, a young couple back then, decided to setup a warehouse in Carnation, WA town to supply headset systems. These systems require thorough design to make sure they are compatible with the popular phone systems back then (think Mitel, ShorTel, Avaya, Cisco, etc.). Each department in a given organization needs a different type of headset system depending on their unique workflow. The headset systems needed by government employee taking calls with Avaya phone might be very different from the headset system needed by a call center agent that needs a durable headset with quick disconnect functionality.

The business organically grew as a leading supplier in the state of Washington with expertise in Government, Healthcare, Finance, and Call Center domains.

Torrisons were big on customer service and made every order is addressed on the same day and every phone call is answered by a live person without wait.

Fast forward to 2018, the Torrisons retired, and the business was acquired by Esha Vimawala, a former Wells Fargo employee.

Values BTP provides:

The Torrisons differentiated based on one principle - genuine customer service. The internal call tree was set so that if the phone is not answered within 2 rings, it will ring their personal phone. They trained and retained employees that were detail oriented and can master the art of complex logistics.

BTP's expertise can be highlighted in these 3 unique areas:

Subject Matter Expertise. Each customer's needs are uniquely different. BTP specializes in hardware and software solutions for Unified Communications. When a healthcare provider wanted to migrate from Cisco to Teams, BTP helped with selecting the best supplier that can meet their needs for Teams calling (requires deep understanding of pros and cons of Microsoft calling plans Vs. Direct Rouging Vs. Operator Connect, and what other features are important). When the same customer wanted to modernize their contact center operations, BTP helped with selecting the best supplier that provided integration with EPIC, among other features. To wrap up, BTP has worked with 1500+ customers to date, and created unique headset standards for their unique workflows.

In B2B environment, logistics can get complicated. The warehouse team will diligently record locations of the companies and verify their shipping addresses. It allows them to catch shipping address mistakes and proactively notify the customer before the order ships. During supply constraints (think pandemic), BTP will take stocking POs and store the product for customers for months ahead of their go-live date to ensure business continuity. BTP will adapt to customer's preference of ordering channel (web order, phone order, email order, direct EDI integration via platforms like Ariba, Coupa). To streamline the ordering process across the board, BTP will create a PDF standard that becomes a reference document so customers can easily discover the product they need to order. See a case study here.

Once the product is delivered to the customer, BTP's customer support team is on stand-by to help with on-boarding and troubleshooting. This lifetime support coming from BTP saves a ton of time for the customer's internal IT service desk team and allows them to focus on more important projects.

WHO, WHY, and WHAT:

Now that we spoke about BTP's history and their value-added services, let's put WHO, WHY and WHAT in perspective:

WHO are VARs: VARs are the entities that have direct relationships with the end customers. They manage logistics and support for these customers.

WHY VARs exist: VAR's main focus is to take care of the end customers by adapting to their unique needs. They represent more than one brands and become one-stop-shop for the customer, so customers do not have to deal with each individual brand separately.

WHAT VARs do: They understand each customer's needs and customize logistics and support for each customer. A large enterprise customer may need direct integration with SAP Ariba procurement system. A banking customer may need a standard created for different departmental workflows. A healthcare customer may need real time support for the users. It is VAR's responsibility to drive customer satisfaction.

To see how BTP has served its customers in the past 32 years, please visit the testimonial page. Each testimonial is from a real customer; however, their name is abbreviated for confidentiality.