The Channel is at the heart of PlatformX Communications’ (PXC) new Zoom proposition. That was the key message from PXC’s partner day held at the Zoom engagement hub in London in September. Partners heard from a host of speakers from PXC and Zoom about the opportunity for them to sell the product and increase their margins.
The event kicked off with an introduction from Paul Smith, chief sales office at PXC, who explained that the company started engaging with Zoom two years ago to see how it could bring the product to UK businesses through the wholesale channel. He said that PXC had been running trials with 11 partners, the beta phase of which concludes in November, and then it will be ready to launch.
“We knew that voice was complementary to everything that we do such as data and other services and we wanted to work with a company that is best-in-breed,” said Smith. “When we saw the level of investment and innovation that Zoom put into their product, we were just blown away, so we decided to engage them.
“Now that we have gone through a successful trial phase, we’re ready to flip the switch and start doing some volume. That’s where the Channel comes in for indirect sales.”
Steve Rafferty, head of EMEA at Zoom, then gave an overview of the company’s channel strategy, saying that it had made some key changes to the business, notably appointing Tony McNish to run the UK channel. He said that the Channel was integral to sales of the product through the company’s wholesale model.
“The only way this grows is through the Channel,” said Rafferty. “We have got the funds and investments behind the product and we’re here for the long term, but we really want to hear what our channel partners want and need from us in terms of how we can make their lives easier and make their customers more successful.
“But let’s be clear – we aren’t interested in owning the customer – that’s not the market we’re in. We’re all about enabling the Channel to make our product as successful as possible.
“Moving forward now, we have worked out that there’s a huge $500 million revenue opportunity over the next three years. And we want to go after that with the Channel.”
Next up was Graham Kedzlie, PXC sales director, who talked about how to create partnership value. He said that Zoom’s automation capabilities were a big driver in the vendor selection process as they’re critical to PXC’s success.
Another key selling point of the product, said Kedzlie, was the fact that channel partners can do everything through Zoom’s one portal. That includes, he said, deal registrations online, provision, revenue assurance and the ability to raise tickets and faults, as well as a referral model.
Added to that, Kedzlie said Zoom gives partners the opportunity to upsell to customers of Mitel, with whom Zoom has a strategic partnership that provides enterprises with a hybrid cloud solution. He said that it also offers professional services, tiered pricing, rebates and sales performance incentive funds, and bring your own carrier.
“We have integrated all of the services into the partner programme, so, where you have a revenue commitment with PXC, we’ll now be attributable in that spend,” said Kedzlie. “Therefore, that unlocks features such as marketing, budgets and leads, which is really powerful when you start to integrate into the PXC platform.”
Moving forward, Kedzlie said that next year PXC will combine its connectivity portfolio with Zoom to provide voice and connectivity bundles to customers. He added that customers will also be able to select the handsets they want to use with the technology.
Single platform experience
Then James Scotton, Zoom CX sales specialist – majors and enterprises, gave an overview of the Zoom portfolio, saying that the single platform approach gives channel partners the unique opportunity to provide their customers with the total experience for both employees and customers. That’s because, he said, the Zoom stack of services sits on the same cloud native platform, which started with video and then enterprise voice, and has been extended into modern customer engagement tools.
“We offer everything from the omnichannel customer engagement tools right the way through to virtual agent and workforce engagement,” said Scotton. “But the real gamechanger for us has been inclusive AI, which enables us to deliver enhanced customer experiences.”
As well as its technological capabilities, Scotton said that the Zoom platform provides stability, flexibility and accessibility for customers. That’s evidenced by the 100 per cent service uptime it has delivered in the last 365 days and the fact some of the world’s largest organisations use it every day and trust it.
“We feel that we have got a head start, with a platform which is truly one service and administration portal and one consumption of licence, but with AI capabilities incorporated as standard,” said Scotton. “This provides everything, including operational efficiencies for agents, workflows and customer automated self-serve tools, which can all be easily used.”
Differentiation
Scotton said that there were eight key differentiators that Zoom has used to set itself apart from the competition. These include, he said, the power of the brand, the power of the single platform, its reliability, its innovation, its commercial optimisation, its inclusive AI, its simplicity and low cost to serve, and its open platform.
“All of these factors will help the Channel to remove complexity and enhance its offering,” said Scotton. James Adamczuk, CX evangelist at Zoom, then gave an interactive demonstration of how the product’s technology works. Calling the contact centre, he showed how it records and responds to customer interactions.
The last presentation was by David Brindle, solutions architect at Zoom, who spoke of the competitive advantages that can be provided by taking up AI.
This event recap was included in our November 2024 print issue. You can read the magazine in full here.