Telecom Reseller / Technology Reseller News

“It all starts with the recording of a phone call,” says Gary Graves, CEO of TotalCX. In this podcast we learn how each recording of calls with customers creates actionable information that ultimately improve customer experiences. TotalCX offers, in real time, the ability of a manager to coach an agent or have the call escalated. “Total is indicative of our approach to capture communications which is holistic,” says Graves. “The CX aims the arrow.” Graves walks us through how the data his company can amass of how a company is interacting with customers, can provide a deep understanding of areas of improvement, strengths, and opportunities. Graves points out that this whole service is turnkey with the customers being free to focus on continuously improving their game. In a time when agent help is a precious resource, the tools available will also help companies make the experience for the agents better as well, with the data enabling customers to curb areas of agent frustration. Graves also discusses TotalCX involvement with the Cloud Communications Alliance, which he describes as “impactful”.

Visit www.totalcx.com

Earlier today, Lumen Technologies selected Alianza’s cloud communications platform to strengthen its voice and UC service portfolio and provide customers with a feature-rich, anywhere business communication functionality. Built on the Alianza platform, the new Lumen Cloud Communications offering will be positioned as a primary option for customers ready to migrate to a cloud communications solution.

In this podcast, Scott Velting, Vice President of Product Management at Lumen and Alianza CEO and Founder, Brian Beutler discuss the drivers behind Lumen’s decision to work with Alianza and the benefits Lumen’s new Cloud Communications offering will provide to Lumen customers. In choosing to work with Alianza, Lumen can offer a solution that differentiates them from over-the-top (OTT) competitors and helps them achieve strategic revenue goals. With a fully digital customer experience for online ordering, deployment and management, Lumen Cloud Communications simplifies operations and offers a robust migration path for customers on legacy voice services.

Visit the Alianza website or Lumen Cloud Communications webpage for more information.

Inhi Cho Suh, General Manager of IBM Strategic Partnerships, shares with Don Witt of The Channel Daily News, a TR publication, insights  of the extensive telecommunication partner relationships IBM maintains as recognized by the Gartner Magic Quadrant as a leader for IT. Their partners include companies like AT&T, Telefónica, Verizon and Vodafone.

Inhi goes on to discuss the adoption of the cloud in telco along with how some of their business partners are involved with major modernization efforts.

Inhi Cho Suh

It is a very exciting time at the 5G edge. Listen in as Inhi reveals how IBM is helping telecommunication companies apply automation to improve productivity and decision making. They also help telco clints to overcome complex business challenges.

What is PartnerWorld?

It's a premier program that empowers partners to create with IBM. As a partner, you’ll get access to industry-leading Hybrid Cloud and AI technology, first-class support, specialized tracks, training and resources and reach into IBM's customer network.

Build unique solutions with IBM's leading Hybrid Cloud and AI technology

Discover security and performance your customers demand without lock-in to a single cloud provider

Automate, unify and manage with AI

For more information, go to: https://www.ibm.com/partnerworld/public

With less than a month in her new position, Diane Frazzetta takes charge as she speaks to Don Witt of The Channel Daily News, a TR publication, about her vision for the Fusion Connect channel and discusses what the Channel Partners can expect. Building on her eastern regional success, she looks to replicate her approach to the channel across the country.

Diane Frazzetta

With new partner portal tools to be released soon, Fusion Connect will provide the Channel with access and insight into the Fusion Connect process and network allowing their partners and their customers to have a better user  experience.

The pandemic has set the stage for a hybrid workforce in the future.  Fusion Connect delivers enterprise solutions that addresses the channels needs to better manage the realities of the evolving modern work environments.

Listen in as Diane starts to energize the channel!

About: Fusion Connect provides a flexible suite of products to their partners and customers.

They build their solution on a Diverse Nationwide IP backbone that allows them to have critical junctions across the nation, providing a highly available and less latent network hand-off for any traffic traveling across it to many different application vendors. They layer their SD-WAN and UTM on top of that access to offer redundancy, prioritization, and security to their clients.

Next, they layer application services on top of those layers to provide Optimized Application Performance to the services they provide as well as other providers on their core network. Finally, they wrap everything in a management and security layer to provide the best overall experience to their customers.

For more information, go to: https://www.fusionconnect.com/

“We really want to reinvent what the process of what activating and buying a personal connected device looks like,” says Stacy Hamer, VP of Client Experiences, iQmetrix. “We want to empower telcos to be the best option for their consumer, adds Hamer. In this podcast Hamer discusses that 5G is not automatically a revenue maker and that just adding 5G will not necessarily lead to growth without making other changes. Hamer points out that people might love their device, but their affections for their carrier likely run cooler. The cost of customer churn, customer acquisition and other issues can basically create a speed bump to a telco trying to match the higher costs of serving 5G. Hamer outlines the challenges and offers ideas to move forward by getting a company ready to sell 5G part of a larger refresh.

“You need to think about the customer journey, end-to-end, and the context,” says Genefa Murphy, Chief Marketing Officer at Five9. Genefa discusses how data can be used to improve customer engagement and how marketers can remain confident when it comes to using data to offer a personalized experience despite the rise in security risks and an increased focus on data protection. In this podcast we learn about the trends in managing calls and the development of data. We hear about how that data, properly applied, can create better customer experiences. At the same time, misused automation and digitization can lead to alienated customers. Genefa describes a path to avoid those mistakes and deliver on the promise of AI and other technologies in the contact center.

Five9 is an industry-leading provider of cloud contact center solutions, bringing the power of cloud innovation, digital engagement, analytics, workflow automation, workforce optimization and practical AI to more than 2,500 organizations across industries worldwide to reimagine their customer experiences. Genefa Murphy, who heads up the Five9 marketing team, holds a doctorate on the adoption of technologies.

Visit www.Five9.com

“No one saw it coming,” says Craig Doig, CEO of Markee. At the dawn of the pandemic, Markee was looking at the events space, but quickly began working on the healthcare sector where Markee responded to the crises by offering secure ‘out of the box’ solutions designed to be easily adopted by the healthcare provider community. “We had to have something that would be very different and be very focused,” adds Greg Plum, Markee’s SVP of Strategic Alliances. In this podcast we learn how Markee offers a simple interface, that’s browser only, thereby avoiding the clumsiness that comes with downloaded solutions and making it something so easy to use that clients want to use the platform more. We hear about the improved care provider and patient experiences. We also learn about how Markee is tackling HIPPA concerns. As the pandemic devolves into an endemic, with a new normal coming into play, Markee thinks that healthcare providers now need to make choices beyond ‘Zoom-like’ meetings to more secure and specially built platforms.

Visit https://markee.io/

For decades, the ASCDI has served the technology markets by enforcing a code of ethics, holding events where dealers, brokers and OEMs can network and learn about industry best practices. The group has also acted as a voice for the whole IT industry on issues such as Right to Own and Right to Repair.  Last week the ASCDI held its first in person meeting of 2022 in Newport Beach, California as part of a plan to begin more such ‘live’ meetings around the North America and Europe. In this podcast, ASCDI President Joe Marion updates readers and listeners of association and industry news. Marion discusses ASCDI’s embracing of ITAD and how the ASCDI adds value to the ITAD proposition. While ITAD standardizes the recycling process, the ASCDI combined with ITAD can be a reassurance to buyers and sellers that their ASCDI ITAD partner is carrying out ITAD level procedures on things such as data wiping and proper end of life product recycling. “More and more of our members are becoming ITADs,” says Marion, “… and more ITADs are trying to become members of the ASCDI.” Marion notes that not everyone who applies will gain membership. The ASCDI has peer reviewed and peer approval structured membership application process, that affirms membership as a recognition that the new member, its ownership, and its leadership, meet standards of business conduct in the past and present. Today, Marion explains, ASCDI members are meeting market needs, driven by law, to protect customer data and to protect the environment.

Visit www.ascdi.com

Robocall volume dropped 26% last year compared to the 106.9 billion robocalls Americans received at the pre-pandemic peak in 2019, but consumers aren’t buying it: only 38% of Americans report they received fewer robocalls during the pandemic than before Covid-19. Frustration with robocalls remains universal: nearly half (45%) of consumers perceive they get more than five robocalls per day. TNS’ recent Robocall Investigation Report and Robocall Consumer Survey explore discrepancies in gender trust in answering robocalls, consumers fed up with political robocalls and robotexts, an increased consumer demand for branded calling and how branded calling can help mitigate the overwhelming issue of robocalls.

In this podcast, Bill Versen, President, Communications Market and Chief Marketing Officer at TNS, walks us through the report and discusses what we in the telecom community can do. We learn details about impact on brand and gender reaction differences. Machine driven calling could and can be effective. Public safety notification or calling targeted people for a notice they will need to hear, are examples. But brand damage can occur with robocall misuse.

Visit https://tnsi.com/

This Channel Partners week, AVANT is welcoming the channel community to consider donating to Razom for Ukraine. Razom is an organization that has been focused on the long-term development and prosperity of Ukraine. In this podcast Alex Danyluk of AVANT discusses how Razom offers a simple way for the channel community to rally and support, both on an individual and on a corporate level. Alex has Ukrainian immigrant parents who fled the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic during WWII. Now, Ukrainian Americans are seeing a sad repetition of history happening a generation later. With this personal tie, Alex is rallying the channel community together to make a difference with a goal of raising $100K for Razom (Razom for Ukraine), a 501(c)(3) in the heart of Little Ukraine in New York City. The channel community has responded – already banding together to raise nearly $40K. Alex has also produced a series of videos to help people better understand the background of the situation.

To learn about the fundraising page: https://donorbox.org/avant-fundraiser-for-aid-to-ukraine-via-razom

Watch Alex’s videos about Ukraine: https://linktr.ee/AlexDanyluk

Learn about AVANT: https://goavant.net/