Dialpad marks 15 years in business this year.
The customer communication platform launched in the US in 2010 and has since grown to more than 1,200 employees globally, with POPs across 17 countries, including South Africa, Europe and APAC, with a client base that includes the likes of Netflix, Uber and Randstad.
The channel-first company has more than 30,000 customer globally, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. The UK market alone accounts for just over 100,000 seats across multiple sectors, including the healthcare, hospitality, recruitment and service industries.
Indeed, EMEA is where it's making its biggest push right now around channel partner recruitment.
Working with a team of 36, which spans research and development, customer support management, channel management and deliverables, Ross Jack, RVP channel sales EMEA at Dialpad, who is based in its UK head office in Holborn, London, has been brought in to drive the company’s channel strategy and build stronger partner relationships.
Jack has been in the IT and communications industry for 28 years, starting at Actimax/Universal, where he worked under founder and managing director John Massey for 13 years as business development manager and then head of business development. Following its acquisition by Network Resource Group and being rebranded as CloudXL in 2012, he became sales manager.
From there, Jack became sales director of Admiral and then sales manager of Solution Builders. In 2014, he joined Relish UK as UK and Ireland channel account manager, before stints as IT/telecom solution specialist at Daisy Group and senior IT/telecom solution specialist at BT.
Then, in 2021, Jack moved to Mitel. After three years there, first as UK & Ireland channel account manager and then head of partner recruitment for UK and Ireland, Dialpad made Jack an offer that, by his own admission, he couldn’t refuse.
“I have seen some big changes during my time in the industry,” said Jack. “For example, to start with, I was working with answer machines and you had to listen back to the whole recording. Now, thanks to advances in AI, everything is instant: you can receive call transcriptions and summaries in a matter of minutes.”
In his new role, Jack leads Dialpad’s channel strategy and operations for the EMEA region, focused on driving growth through its network of partners. Leading a team of channel account managers, his work involves engaging partners and building long-term relationships, while maintaining a keen focus on driving revenue and expanding the company’s market presence across the region.
During his time in industry, Jack has seen both sides of the equation, from a vendor and a reseller perspective. That gives him a deeper understanding of the needs of the reseller and their customer, and enables him to match that with the right product set.
“I have a unique insight and understanding of the Channel,” said Jack. “Having spent the early days of my career in various sales roles, I know how resellers operate, but also have an appreciation of the vendor side, having worked for Mitel.”
Combined solution
Dialpad’s USP, according to Jack, is that it provides a single UcaaS and CcaaS solution. The platform also uses its own technology stack rather than that of third parties, he said.
“There’s not many vendors out there that can truly say they offer the full contact centre and back office solution,” said Jack. “We also have an advantage over some of the bigger vendors that we’re up against in that we have that nimbleness and flexibility to pivot quickly to provide the products and services our customers want.”
Both of those factors, said Jack, have enabled Dialpad to sustain more than 30 per cent year-over-year revenue growth by the end of 2024, with an annual recurring revenue of $300 million-plus in November 2024 and a current valuation of $2.2 billion. And as the technology evolves, he only expects demand for its products to increase.
Another key advantage Dialpad brings, said Jack, is that it was one of the first companies to use AI in its products and, therefore, it has been able to develop the technology more fully, and gain a greater understanding and experience of it. As a result, he said that it’s able to provide a high quality of both entry level licence and more sophisticated AI functions.
“We have got nine billion minutes’ worth of business calls that are pushed out across our AI modelling,” said Jack. “So we’re able to provide AI support at both the SMB and large enterprise levels.
“Our understanding of the technology and its effectiveness is now such that we can clearly articulate the tangible return on investment that it can provide. We have also built up strong case studies that we can use to show our partners and their customers how the technology works to solve a problem and the end result it can deliver.”
Despite the obvious benefits that AI delivers, Jack believes it should be used to help humans rather than replace them altogether. Working collaboratively alongside each other, he said that they can provide a better outcome for end users.
“Almost everyone is getting on the AI bandwagon,” said Jack. “It’s a very powerful tool, but it needs to be used in the right way and with human oversight and interaction.”
More important than the AI for MSPs and resellers, though, said Jack, is finding the right vendor partner that will grow and adapt with them as their and their customers’ needs change. They also need a partner they can trust, that takes a consultative approach and will enable them to scale their business, he said.