May/June 19 - ChannelVision Magazine

at your service: Xaas By Gerald Baldino TelesystemLooks to Become UCaaS Powerhouse A survey of channel partners by Edge Strategies, meanwhile, listed UCaaS as the expected top driver of sales growth for channel sellers during the next two years. Competition, of course, is fierce in this space, and this is directly fueling platform growth and development. To stand out, providers are enhancing their platforms with advanced features and functionality, and premium service. Telesystem, for instance, recently became the latest company to over- haul its UCaaS platform. The company – in partnership with Cisco – has launched a new UCaaS interface that enables customers to communicate and collaborate from a centralized source, with voice, video, chat and virtual meetings. With the help of Cisco, Telesystem also has opened additional network nodes across the country. This means calls now travel shorter distances from point to point, for stronger service and faster response times. Telesystem’s UCaaS platform now has appearances in California (Los Ange- les); Colorado (Denver); Dallas (Texas); Illinois (Chicago); Michigan (Monroe); Ohio (Toledo); Pennsylvania (Philadel- phia); and New York City. “This is an incredibly exciting mo- ment for our evolution,” explained Tele- system chief business development offi- cer Bruce Wirt. “The UCaaS space is in- credibly competitive, and in the past we separated ourselves with service rather than sizzle. The development of this of- fering in partnership with Cisco allows us to not only give customers nationwide the white glove support and implementa- tion that Telesystem is known for, but also allows us to provide market-leading features and functionality.” But wait; there’s more. Telesystem couples its UCaaS offering with a secure SD-WAN solution specifically geared toward the enterprise. “When we launched our SD-WAN of- fering last year, we wanted to incorporate security,” Wirt said. “We protect all of our circuits. For instance, any time a custom- er gets a dedicated circuit, they also re- ceive always-on DDoS mitigation. We’ve had a lot of success with this offering.” Security, Wirt explained, still tends to fall by the wayside when selling communications services. “Agents don’t always consider it,” Wirt said. “They want to sell, sell, sell – but oftentimes, they leave their customers’ environment insecure in the process.” This is something that Telesystem aims to address. Now is a great time for partners to get involved with Telesystem, too, as the company is currently offering enhanced commissions and SPIFFs through its network of elite master agencies. Plus, to help agents close deals, Telesystem provides a wealth of online training materials, along with access to a nationwide network of sales engineers who can answer questions and provide support throughout the sales process. Right now the company is focus- ing on training agents to be vertically- minded when approaching customers in markets such as retail, healthcare and finance. Agents are taught about core is- sues that are important to different types of customers, and they are encouraged to use this knowledge to spark compel- ling conversations. These conversations ultimately drive sales in today’s market. Part of what makes Telesystem unique, too, is its flexible approach to onboarding. Agents can onboard at their own pace, leveraging the compa- ny’s resources as much or as little as they need to in order to get started. Add it all up, and you’re looking at a company with a powerful UCaaS offer- ing, as well as a coast-to-coast reach, strong support, stability and security, and an agent-centric approach. It’s also a company that should be top of mind for agents operating in the UCaaS space. o U CaaS remains one of the hottest technologies in the channel. According to Gartner’s most recent study on the topic, spending on UCaaS is expected to grow 20 percent this year among North American mid-sized enterprises, eventually reaching $2.86 billion by 2021. UCaaS Spending, North American Midmarket, $Billions 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 CAGR End User Spend $1.207 $1.48 $1.791 $2.146 $2.505 $2.86 Growth 23% 23% 21% 20% 17% 14% 18.8% Source: Gartner, 2018 62 Channel Vision | May - June, 2019