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Avant is on the move.

This week, Avant, a Chicago-based cloud technology services distributor, announced enhancements to its Channel Sales Enablement Program and an important deal with Comcast to resell the cable giants cloud and co-location services.

But thats only a fraction of what the up-and-coming cloud services distributor, which serves scores of VARs, MSPs, telecom agents and cloud services brokers worldwide, has been up to. In the past few months, it has broadened its executive team, added to its portfolio of SD-WAN, security and UCaaS services, and expanded its footprint in the UK and greater Europe. Its also eyed new data centers in Asia.

What is more, Avant has doubled the number of agents that it serves, and increased "booked agent revenue by 75 percent" since 2015.

At this weeks at the 20thChannel Partners Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, I caught up with Andrew Lydecker, co-founder and president of Avant. At the event, Lydecker was a whirlwind inmotion discussing everything from company building to SD-WAN technology to Avants latest sales tool, BattleApp. The latest edition, version v.2.1, was on full display this week. It adds new features and functionality to support both back-office and face-to-face selling activities, according to the company, including:

AndrewLydecker, co-founder and president,Avant

In addition to the upgrade to BattleApp, Avant also announced several other enhancements to its Channel Sales Enablement Program. They include a three-day Special Forces Training event for elite partners, a new BattlePlan sales methodology, a series of sales events for CIOs and other decision makers, and new interactive sales tools to help VARs, MSPs and telecom agents develop use cases for technology sales.

If you get the sense from the companys naming conventions that Avant is a little action-oriented, youre not mistaken. Lydecker is openly aggressive and outspoken about the way the company positions itself. To hear him say it, business is war and perception is reality.

We want to be the weapons dealer for salespeople, he says, which is another way of saying Avant is focused on building the tools that will help its VAR/agent/MSP customers win business and crush competitors.

While it all sounds macho and even makes Avants public relations advisor cringe, the approach has made the company a favorite among cloud services brokers, very large systems integrators and key telecom agents. Its also given Avant a distinction that its suppliers love.

More here:
The Doyle Report: Avant Steps Forward in Cloud Services Distribution - MSPmentor