While Cox Business owes much of its success to the synergy that it has with other areas of the larger Cox Communications operations – which is the largest private broadband provider in the United States – the facilitiesbased provider attempts to stand out in its work with partners and clients by putting the customer first. “We’re very proud of our heritage as a family-owned company and focus on customer’s success,” said Cox Business vice president of channel sales, John Muscarella, reflecting on the recent 125th anniversary of Cox Communications. The company, he noted, has evolved from a small family newspaper in Ohio to a multi billion-dollar business with tens of billions in annual revenue across multiple industries. “It gives us a different perspective on the business because we’re laser focused on the customer experience,” continued Muscarella. “The customer is paramount to everything that we do.” Cox Business provides services for internet, phone, cable, networking and managed cloud, among other areas. By continuing to build out its portfolio, Cox hopes to grow faster than ever, servicing customers with holistic connectivity, cloud and private network solutions. Its belief is that having a full portfolio of solutions to address a customer’s challenges is paramount for the buyer and solution advisor. Historically targeting the SMB mid-market space, the company also has experienced recent success in the higher-end SMB and low-enterprise mid-market, including those with limited IT staff that tend to seek potential partners and outsourced services to improve cloud and connectivity access. Some of Cox’s primary business drivers include fiber (reflecting investment in accessibility); the Cox Private Networks offering, which covers 5G, Wi-Fi and multitenant deployments; and the managed IT and cloud space, due to investments via its provider Rapidscale. With the latter, Cox is better positioned to cater to customer need, extending a full portfolio of cloud-based services. It has also focused on investments in self-service platforms for helping solution advisors to conduct transactions, obtain serviceability requests and do multi-location pricing to automate agreements. “We align extremely well when we’re working hand-in-hand with our solution advisors,” said Muscarella. “Our portfolio diversity allows the solution provider to really dig into customer issues and solve them, whether it’s an internet or cloud service, a public or private managed service. We’re able to address various customer challenges.” Between Cox Business, Rapidscale, Segra (a leading super-regional, fiber-based provider that Cox Communications purchased in 2021) and other operations, Cox boasts a combined channel of more than 100 individuals that support the indirect channel, offering synergy between the segments paired with its wellknown brand name. “We’ve increased our advertising about our changes recently, especially in compensation,” said Muscarella. “When we launched years ago, we started out with upfront commission. Many of the agents and advisors we worked with appreciated it because it helped cash flow, but we overwhelmingly heard that our solutions providers wanted residual commission.” That’s why Cox Business – effective January 1 – offers residuals as an alternative to its upfront program. “We have high installation rates for every order,” he continued. “We lead the industry in that space. Also, we differentiate based on our focus on personal engagement. We’re trying to make sure the customer and solution advisor get personable, attentive engagement to assist installation, support and care. There are people at the end of these services working with us to deliver that human-to-human engagement.” After all, Muscarella noted, “Putting the customer first has always been our mantra.” o For more information on Cox Business and its channel opportunities, visit www.cox.com/business/ home.html or call (800) 261-4021. Cox Business Offers Differentiation Through Synergy, Opportunity, Customer-First Approach By Brady Hicks CORE COMMUNICATIONS Cox Business’ John Muscarella 52 CHANNELVISION | JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2024
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