Rauch praised the scalability of the telecom channel, and said vendors might benefit from expanding their channel from two tiers – a distributor and an IT service provider – to three tiers – a distributor, an IT service provider and a telco provider.

"The trick to dealing with telcos is to really be able to define the guide rails," Rauch said. 

Cerqua, who has a telecom background, has found that IT customers frequently turn to All Covered for telecom consultation due to the existing trusted advisor relationship. Lots of opportunities exist for legacy IT firms in the telecom space, Cerqua said, particularly as it relates to unified communications or cloud-hosted solutions.

"If you're looking past the telecom," Cerqua said, "you're leaving money on the table."