News & Updates

AppDirect Acquires TBI

By Ideas @ AppDirect / February 1, 2023

We've been talking a lot lately about the rise of the relationship-based marketplace and how the powerful relationships built on the AppDirect ecosystem are at the forefront of that shift. We’re proud to announce that today, we took another major step to put the value of relationships at the center of our business with the acquisition of TBI, one of the leading technology service aggregators in North America.

This alliance will bring the best of both companies to advisors and their customers. TBI’s reputation for stellar support and education, and for building outstanding relationships among advisors and providers, complement AppDirect’s world-leading platform that 10,000 advisors and 5 million subscribers rely on to run and grow their business.

This combination also means a significant increase in the number of advisors working with AppDirect, further reinforcing AppDirect as the top destination for advisors to grow and diversify their business.

View the video to get exclusive insights about this acquisition from senior leaders at TBI and AppDirect.

About TBI

Geoffrey Shepstone founded TBI as a technology services distribution business back in 1991. For more than 30 years, he’s built and shaped TBI into a company that prides itself first and foremost on its personal and consultative approach to working with the advisors and providers it serves. In Geoffrey’s words, “We deliver the type of white-glove service rarely found in the industry. We take the time to learn our partners’ businesses. We deal fairly and forthrightly, and we provide genuine counsel, not just quotes.”

Behind the TBI acquisition—A changing B2B technology buyer landscape

This acquisition comes at a time in the post-pandemic B2B technology landscape when advisors are increasingly at the center of SMBs’ buying decisions. As business buyers struggle to make the best technology choices in a complex and crowded technology environment, many of them believe they can achieve better ROI from their technology choices if they work with an advisor. At the same time, a growing number of business buyers are looking to purchase their tech solutions from a marketplace where they can single-source all of the products they need.

This is why it’s more important than ever for advisors to be relevant to their clients and, as stated recently by Anylysys Mason’s Bob Takaks, to respond to SMBs’ need for a stronger relationship with their service providers. This is especially true for advisors who’ve focused primarily on legacy telco and connectivity solutions and who realize they need to expand into selling SaaS and other value-added services to remain viable and competitive. The relationships they forge with their buyers will make the difference between a declining business and positioning themselves to flourish and thrive.

How advisors and their customers will benefit from this acquisition

For end businesses, AppDirect and TBI is a perfect match. They’ll benefit from world-class expertise and support, and the largest array of technology solutions available.

For AppDirect advisors—enhanced enablement, engineering, and training support

Advisors who work with AppDirect will gain access to an even more comprehensive enablement program through University of TBI, new opportunities for networking events, and more back office and engineering support to drive their operations and sales. They’ll also gain access to new providers to further enhance the already extensive AppDirect catalog of more than 1,000 solutions.

In addition to the platform, tools and support they’ve always relied on from AppDirect, advisors will also be able to expand their business and value proposition through:

• Increased sales engineering support—Additional engineering expertise will help advisors with discovery, design, and testing.

• Expanded enablement programs—In addition to the AppDirect Cloud Academy, they’ll have access to TBI’s expansive University of TBI enablement program, with text and video-based training, certifications, and bootcamps that deliver the best options for their customers. The curriculum includes courses on UCaaS, CCaaS, SaaS, IaaS, Security, SD-Wan, Managed service offerings, and many other areas.

• Enhanced operational support—As a combined organization, AppDirect is now one of the largest technology services providers. And as a leading organization in this space, we’ll have the best teams in the industry to support our advisors’ operational and back-office needs.

For TBI advisors—The AppDirect platform advantage

In addition to the exceptional support TBI advisors are accustomed to, they’ll gain access to AppDirect platform capabilities to digitally transform their business, including:

• Revenue diversification through the AppDirect multi-category catalog—TBI advisors will be able to complement their existing portfolios with new SaaS, managed services, and energy solutions that weren’t previously accessible to them, allowing them to diversify their revenue streams, differentiate themselves from the competition, and future-proof their business.

• Digital marketplace—A one-stop-shop digital marketplace will enable TBI advisors to easily find, buy, and manage technology solutions for their customers.

• Digital back office and enhanced self-service tools—TBI advisors will be able to manage every aspect of their business from a single portal on the AppDirect platform. They’ll have one-click access to procure cloud, energy, and telco services, and to track and manage their quotes, orders and commissions.

• A procurement platform for end customers—On the AppDirect platform, TBI advisors will have the ability to manage identity management, application management, data visualization and workflow automation—all from a common digital interface within the AppDirect marketplace. TBI will also be able to offer its end customers a procurement platform to manage all the cloud applications that power their business.

• Cloud Academy (SaaS)—In addition to their existing University of TBI access, they’ll have access to AppDirect on-demand videos and in-person cloud training sessions where they’ll learn to confidently position and sell software-as-a-service solutions to their customers and prospects.

 For more information, read our press release.