Avanquest acquires IMR
Distributor aims to broaden its partner base with acquisition of document management firm
Value-added distributor Avanquest has completed its acquisition of distributor IMR, and aims to improve its grip on document management vendor Captaris’ UK channel.
IMR distributes the Captaris Alchemy range of document management software. Avanquest is the UK distributor of Captaris’ two other product lines, RightFax and Workflow.
The acquisition enables Avanquest to provide the full Captaris product suite and swell reseller numbers.
Chris Thompson, managing director of Avanquest, told CRN: “The acquisition makes sense for us. It gives us a springboard to become the primary Captaris distributor in the UK.
“We have about 150 registered resellers, 80 of which have done business with us in the past 18 months. IMR has 40 resellers, so there is a cross-selling opportunity.”
Thompson said Avanquest plans to expand its UK channel further after the IMR acquisition.
“We have certificated resellers that can provide services and other resellers for which we provide the whole service process and give them a margin on the business,” he said.
“We expect our channel to grow in both certified and uncertified resellers. We have released a programme to offer new incentives to channel partners. We hope to grow our channel base by 25 per cent.”
Thompson said the key to building a successful channel is ensuring there is no conflict between partners.
“If a reseller registers an opportunity, we will work with it on that opportunity,” he said. “VARs can have as much involvement [with end-users] as they want. The more involvement, the more margin resellers gain.”
Clive Longbottom, service director at analyst Quocirca, said: “The Captaris offering is a good solution, but Avanquest will need to look at lifecycle management. Document management is a shrinking market.”
Longbottom voiced concerns about the number of Captaris VARs Avanquest has taken on. “You don’t want hundreds of VARs in the UK for one offering,” he said. “You need to have good regional resellers that understand the local market.”
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