CV_MayJune_2018

58 2018 Visionary spotlight awards | Channel Vision This year, LANtelligence , Star2Star , AT&T , Broadvoice , Telesystem and Telegration were all honored with a “Channel Program of the Year” award. Launched in August 2017, LANtelligence’s Mas- ter Solutions Provider Program defines the new and unique format of channel partnerships that help man- aged service providers (MSPs) be ahead of the curve in the managed IT services field by building sustain- able unified communications practices in addition to their core businesses. UCaaS and CCaaS are the essential components of the service suite that customers prefer to have managed by the specialists. They are also a valuable competitive tool for MSPs to more effectively compete against carriers and other bigger competitors that may use communication solutions as an entryway to monop- olize the rest of a customer’s outsourced IT services. However, UCaaS and CCaaS solutions require very specific knowledge and expertise to be handled on every step of the way. For an MSP, this requirement is often associated with the major investment into staff hiring and training, certification with the manufacturers, demo kits, marketing, etc. LANtelligence’s program offers MSPs partnerships with established UCaaS and CCaaS provid- ers, along with support for a range of competencies, in- cluding sales engineering, project management, network design and deployment, solution programming, integra- tion and custom software development, field technical resources, training and round-the-clock ongoing support – all provided by a master solution provider. Meanwhile, Star2Star ’s Channel Program was honored thanks to its comprehensive pre-sales to post- sales purview, including billing and support. “Our core mission is to support our partners along every step of the sales lifecycle so that they can be more successful,” the company said. “This program pro- vides endless opportunities for resellers, agents, white- label and wholesale entities to increase their incomes.” It includes a familiar and flexible model that fa- cilitates short-term cash flow and evergreen monthly residual income, end-to-end sales and marketing support, and more. End-to-end support includes full- service quote assistance, deal registration and pro- tection, sales engineering and professional services, implementation and installation services, and the abil- ity for partners to customize their Star2Star portfolio around their business models. This program has been recognized in the industry as one of the top channel programs 13 times since 2010. Star2Star also was honored with a VSA in the enter- prise category, for unified communications and UCaaS. AT&T Partner Solutions was recognized for its continued ability to drive strategic wireline and wireless revenue growth. In 2017, this division contributed more than 40 percent of incremental growth in the above- B eka Business Media and ChannelVision Magazine proudly presents the winners of the 2018 Visionary Spotlight Awards , which were created to highlight both channel and service provider innovation in communications. The awards honor outstanding products, services and deployments across technology categories. The winners of the 2018 Visionary Spotlight Awards exemplify this goal, showcasing the communications industry’s overall innovation, capacity for future-thinking execution, creativity and feature set differentiation; and offering channel partners a cornucopia of op- portunities to boost their roles as trusted providers and their business success. “We are once again honored to showcase so many top innovators and industry visionaries in the channel and communications space,” said Berge Kaprelian, president of Beka Business Media. “The caliber of the 2018 nominations exceeded all expectations, with multiple winners in some categories. This just highlights the rapid acceleration of meaningful, cutting-edge deployments and product/service design and engineering across our industry today. We congratulate all of the winners.” Channel Program of the Year Ov e ra l l E xc e l l e nc e Award s : ® 2018