NEC is a company traditionally known for its hardware innovations. It’s all part of a reputation that has been forged during the last 123 years of operation. But as the world continues to evolve, modern businesses also have been forced to adapt. Many have come to embrace a new focus on cloud-based and virtual options in order to better benefit their customers, their partners and themselves. One of those new developments has been NEC’s Univerge Blue Cloud Cash. Through this program, NEC’s cloud communications channel partners gain access to upfront commission payments, even without seeing their contracts completely fulfilled. To accomplish this, NEC offers a custom calculator that can help simulate sales over the contract’s term. Unlike other cloud service sales models, Cloud Cash offers lump-sum payments that equate to what otherwise would have trickled in as recurring revenues and other incentives. And through this advance, business partners can get more on-hand cash to make even more investments. “It comes down to having more choice,” said Al Kelley, the vice president of channel sales for NEC Americas. “With Cloud Cash, you get more cash flow to spend on your business and build a cloud business. Think of the traditional space, for example. These guys have technicians and customer bases and premisesbased systems installed that they need to support. They offer this support through technical resources. And they need more cash flow in order to do that.” It comes down to flexibility. The internalized cloud cash program affords this capability. Program funds can be useful in helping to migrate partners’ customer bases to a cloud communications infrastructure, and doing so in a faster, easier and more cost-effective manner. And this helps to more efficiently bridge what NEC calls the “premisesto-cloud revenue gap.” “Even though I’ve been selling in the cloud space for seven-plus years, I actually come from the premisesbased business,” said Kelley. “There are still some end users who are predisposed to a premises system, just as there are those focused on the cloud. One of the challenges some partners face is – because of financial constraints or how their business is designed – they have to sell against the cloud and excel against hosted.” And that, he continued, “is a losing proposition.” Another Cloud Cash benefit is transparency. Even though nothing ultimately changes for the end user, they gain added visibility into their deployments. It becomes an all benefit/ no risk proposition for NEC’s partners, who are less likely to struggle in their efforts because they are under-funded. “The sad fact is that most small partners are under-capitalized,” said Kelley. “Now, with Cloud Cash, they can do quite a bit more without the struggle of having to go through such lean times or incurring as much risk. That’s the beauty – and the major benefit – of the program.” Ultimately, NEC remains committed to a transition toward both its cloud and premises business, as well as the popular hybrid model that encompasses aspects of each. It all comes down to offering improved choice and flexibility to meet those needs. During the last 15 to 20 years, NEC has been able to cater to partners of virtually any size, both in the U.S. and abroad. With this new aggressive transition into cloud and premises business, it believes that it is committed to – and well positioned to support – both areas. That, after all, is the value placed on offering improved freedom of choice. “We can do premises, cloud or hybrid,” said Kelley. “We can do some integrations from within our own technology. Then, from a cloud perspective, we have multiple models. There’s an MSP/customer ownership model. There’s a unique revenueshare model where the partner buys it at wholesale and marks it up, sells it and supports it. But we bill it.” It all comes down to choice, Kelley concluded. “Choice of solutions, choice of models and, now with Cloud Cash, financial flexibility. You’re not locked in with doing only the cloud or only on premises. We do both. And we offer multiple ways to take advantage of that.” o CHANNEL MANAGEMENT NEC ‘Cloud Cash’ Helps Partner Fill Premises-to-Cloud ‘Revenue Gap’ 50 CHANNELV ISION | JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2023 By Brady Hicks
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