CV_Fall_21

48 W ith 25 years in the communica - tions industry, NetCarrier has seen it all. The company, which began its operations in the early 1990s as a provider of dial-up internet services for commercial and residential custom- ers, has now become synonymous with custom cloud communications. Today, NetCarrier prides itself on providing as-a- service voice and data options such as its proprietary hosted PBX platform and its flagship nCloud Connect UCaaS (unified communications as a service) solution. Through these and other technol- ogy enhancements, NetCarrier focuses on bringing quality solutions, as well as peace of mind, to a complex telecom- munications marketplace. Having its own proprietary platform allows NetCarrier to virtually eliminate third-party involvement, while giving the company full control over its pricing and feature development. NetCarrier’s mission is to exceed the highest expectations of the most demand- ing buyer of telecommunication services by providing superior customer support, custom solutions and savings. We recently hooked up with NetCar- rier’s vice president of operations, Sean Washington, and director of sales and marketing, Laura Bella, to discuss these and other developments for the company. ChannelVision: NetCarrier is a name that is known for custom cloud communications. How has rolling out your proprietary hosted PBX platform positioned NetCarrier within the channel and industry? Sean Washington: NetCarrier is celebrating its 25th year in the commu - nication industry, which means we have seen many cloud providers come and go. The knowledge we gained throughout the years was the driving force in our decision to develop our proprietary hosted PBX platform, nCloud Connect. Having our own software development team and carrier voice switch allowed us to develop a best-of-breed platform. Our partners were integral in the develop- ment of our platform by providing insight and feedback into what features and functionality customers expected. Owning the code allows NetCarrier to control the feature-development timeline, support, pricing and future expansion. CV: With this platform specifically, where has NetCarrier seen success? SW: Customers cloud communication needs are not cookie cutter or one size fits all. The nCloud Connect platform was designed to be customizable to fit any business, allowing us to be successful across all industries. NetCar- rier provides solutions to complex challenges that customers and agents face, such as lack of IT support, flexibility for a distributed workforce and budgetary confinements. We were also able to find success in the SMB market due to a lack of affordable feature-rich contact center solutions, by offering our enhanced queuing solution, a hybrid product and an enterprise level application. Having a good product does not guarantee success, it needs to be properly imple- mented, deployed and supported. That is why it is imperative that both sales and operations are closely aligned. Laura [Bella] and I have continued to work together over the years to unify the sales-to-deployment strategy at NetCar- rier to ensure success. CV: With a solid product and deployment strategy in place, with proven solutions, is there anything additional you offer partners? Laura Bella: Over the past 20 years, as a channel-based organization, we have seen the value of having a partner program. We decided to enhance this program by becoming a Master Service Provider. That means we are offering marketing support with collateral, social media content, trip and spiff incentives, as well as UCaaS tools. NetCarrier offers direct partners a full 24 percent commis - sion with contract assurances, just like master agencies receive. We have elimi- nated revenue commitments to ease our partners’ minds, allowing them to focus on building their business. CV: Anything else on the horizon? LB: We have added a wholesale program for partners that have the desire to control configura - tion, deployment and pricing. Adding new partners and develop- ing those relationships is always exciting and we look forward to that! o Additional information on NetCarrier and its portfolio of services is available by visiting the company website, www.netcarrier.com, calling (877) 625-6831, or emailing info@netcarrier. com. NetCarrier Provides Comprehensive Cloud Solutions for Even the Most Complex Needs PROFILE AT YOUR SERVICE: XaaS NetCarrier vice president of op- erations, Sean Washington Laura Bella, NetCarrier direc- tor of sales and marketing CHANNEL V ISION | Fall 2021