ChannelVision Magazine

at your service: Xaas With the ability to facilitate col- laboration, enhance the customer experience and incorporate smart technologies, unified communications as a service (UCaaS) is arguably one of the most exciting technologies be- ing offered through the channel. Chad Muckenfuss, NetCarrier vice president of sales and marketing, sat down with ChannelVision to discuss the com- pany’s partner program and the partner opportunities presented by its updated UCaaS platform. ChannelVision:What are some of NetCarrier’s latest initiatives that would be of interest to the channel community? Chad Muckenfuss: NetCarrier’s ex- ecutive team identified the need to en- hance and refresh our existing UCaaS platform, in order to provide unmatched service to our channel. This new and proprietary platform will be NetCar- rier’s formal entrance into the enterprise UCaaS marketplace. The opportunities for substantial growth and expansion are driving NetCarrier to make significant investments into the development of a proprietary UCaaS platform that meets and exceeds the best in the marketplace today. The platform incorporates mobile applications on both Android and iOS devices, artificial intelligence (AI) voice command and contact center applica- tions. Additionally, the platform technol- ogy will support pure IPv6 routing, small packet notify and proprietary routing en- gines with intelligent media anchoring. CV:What do you see as the greatest market opportunities for channel partners in the market today?What about the greatest challenges? CM: One of the greatest opportuni- ties for channel partners is the $2.89 billion dollar global unified communica- tions market that continues to expand. New technology trends including AI, API and mobile integration are driv- ing new companies to adopt UCaaS. A benefit in selling UCaaS platforms for channel partners is the recurring monthly residual payments that NetCar- rier pays, along with upfront SPIFFs. Partners also can become a certified VAR to install NetCarrier services and gain an additional revenue stream. The greatest challenge channel partners face is customer adoption of UCaaS services. The slow adoption of cloud solutions provides a challenge when replacing legacy equipment and moving customers to the cloud. Educating customers on the benefits of cloud communications can ease the customers’ minds with making the transition. NetCarrier helps our chan- nel partners to provide a value propo- sition to their customers. CV: How has your partner ecosystem changed in the past year or so, and what do you expect for the rest of 2018? CM: NetCarrier continues to develop current and new partner relationships throughout the U.S. The development of a proprietary UCaaS platform allows for auto-configuration resulting in a more streamlined implementation process for our partners. NetCarrier is continuing to certify VARs for installations to improve the customer experience and provide a more out-of-the box solution. CV:What investments are you making in the channel community of late in terms of support, customer service, tools, program enhancements, etc.? CM: NetCarrier heavily invests and prides itself on providing 24x7x365, never-outsourced customer support and the ability to deploy custom solutions. Each customer is provided with a dedi- cated project manager and is visited by a technician throughout the implementation process. NetCarrier has partnered with industry-leading hardware providers to implement zero-touch provisioning for customers. NetCarrier is constantly updating our incentives on a quarterly basis to help drive business to our partners. What’s guiding your overall company mission going forward? CM: NetCarrier will continue to de- velop new UCaaS features and func- tionality to push us to the forefront of the marketplace. We will continue to stay true to our mission statement of “with integrity, superior communication, cus- tom solutions, and savings, NetCarrier will exceed the highest expectations of the most demanding buyer of telecom- munication services,” while growing our brand recognition nationally. CV: Anything else that you’d like to highlight for channel partners? CM: We are able to provide a tech- nical support team that is available 24/7/365 and is never outsourced. NetCarrier is a national provider that is nimble enough to service businesses of all sizes from SMB to enterprise. We are a privately held, well-funded and a flatly managed organization. We have ex- panded nationally through organic growth and continue to innovate our product set to future-proof our success. The longevity of our employees al- lows customers and partners to feel confident in working with NetCarrier. By providing a single point of contact during the implementation process, a project manager is able to help a customer’s transition, giving them piece of mind. Our new proprietary platform sets us apart from all other UCaaS providers and will allow us to further gain market share and increase our brand recognition. o Chad Muckenfuss, NetCarrier vice presi- dent of sales and marketing UnifiedApproach NetCarrier optimistic about UCaaS opportunity Channel Vision | March - April, 2018 48