Telecom Reseller / Technology Reseller News

Mark Lindsey, Analyst and Engineer at ECG, spoke with Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, during the Channel Partners Conference & Expo about how AI is transforming call intelligence and post-call workflows for businesses and MSPs.

Lindsey described ECG’s approach to capturing and analyzing conversations, turning voice interactions into structured data that can be immediately acted upon. By leveraging AI, ECG enables automatic transcription, summarization, and extraction of key action items from calls, helping organizations streamline follow-up and improve accountability. “We’re turning conversations into actionable intelligence that can be shared and used instantly,” Lindsey said.

The platform goes beyond simple transcription by organizing insights into clear outputs such as summaries, tasks, and next steps. This allows teams to quickly understand what happened during a call and what needs to happen next, reducing manual effort and improving operational efficiency.

The discussion also highlighted how these capabilities benefit MSPs and channel partners by enhancing customer engagement and internal workflows. By automating routine tasks and providing clearer visibility into communications, organizations can improve productivity while delivering a better customer experience.

As conversations at Channel Partners continue to focus on AI and automation, ECG is positioning its solution as a practical way to bring intelligence and structure to everyday business communications.

Learn more about ECG: https://www.ecg.co/

Bob Knauf, Senior Product Marketing Manager at HP | Poly, spoke with Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, during the Channel Partners Conference & Expo in a conversation that combined a look back at a distinguished career with a forward-looking view of workplace communications.

As Knauf prepares for retirement after decades in the industry—dating back to the original Polycom SoundStation—he reflected on the evolution of communication technologies and the enduring importance of voice. Despite the rise of mobile and digital collaboration tools, he emphasized that desk phones remain critical in many environments, particularly for frontline workers, healthcare, retail, and regulated industries. “HP is committed to creating products that help people communicate and collaborate better,” Knauf said.

The discussion highlighted HP | Poly’s new Edge V series of open SIP phones, designed to modernize workplace communications with improved usability, HP branding, and the high-quality audio experience that Poly is known for. The devices incorporate advanced technologies such as NoiseBlock and Acoustic Fence, along with new capabilities to reduce reverberation, ensuring clear, full-duplex conversations even in noisy or open environments.

Knauf also pointed to strong channel opportunities tied to the broader HP | Poly ecosystem. MSPs and partners can pair the Edge V phones with a full portfolio of headsets and services, enabling them to deliver complete communication solutions across industries. This integrated approach allows partners to expand revenue streams while improving customer experience.

As the industry continues to evolve, Knauf’s perspective underscores a key takeaway: innovation in communications is not about replacing voice, but enhancing it. His career—and HP | Poly’s continued investment—reflect a long-standing commitment to making human communication clearer, more reliable, and more effective.

Learn more about HP | Poly: https://www.hp.com/us-en/poly.html

IntraTEM Expands into the Channel with Telecom Expense Management Focus, Podcast, IntraTEM has built its business over the past two decades serving clients directly, focusing on managing expenses across mobility, wireline, cloud, and SaaS environments

By Doug Green

“We organize the chaos of invoices and inventory so businesses can focus on strategy instead of spreadsheets.”

At the Channel Partners Conference and MSP Summit, I spoke with Tommi Ellis of IntraTEM about the company’s move into the channel and how Telecom Expense Management (TEM) is becoming increasingly important for MSPs and their customers.

IntraTEM has built its business over the past two decades serving clients directly, focusing on managing expenses across mobility, wireline, cloud, and SaaS environments. The company’s approach goes beyond simple cost reduction. While identifying savings is part of the value, Ellis emphasized that the bigger opportunity lies in organizing invoices, managing inventory, and bringing clarity to complex telecom and IT environments.

At its core, IntraTEM combines a robust portal with a strong human element. Ellis made it clear that while automation and platforms are essential, the company believes hands-on support is still critical. Customers are often dealing with multiple providers, fragmented billing systems, and limited visibility into what they actually have deployed. IntraTEM steps in to normalize that data and provide a clear operational picture.

For enterprises, this means less time spent reconciling invoices and more time focused on strategic initiatives. For MSPs and channel partners, it opens up a new layer of value-added services that can deepen customer relationships and create recurring revenue opportunities.

The timing of IntraTEM’s move into the channel is deliberate. Ellis was brought on to build out the partner program, bringing nearly a decade of channel experience to the role. After years of direct sales, the company now sees the channel as the most effective way to scale its offering and reach a broader market.

The message to MSPs and partners is straightforward: TEM is not just about cost savings—it’s about control, visibility, and operational efficiency. As customer environments continue to expand across mobility, cloud, and SaaS, the complexity only increases. Partners who can help clients manage that complexity will be in a strong position to differentiate themselves.

IntraTEM is positioning itself as that behind-the-scenes engine, helping partners deliver clarity in an increasingly fragmented communications and IT landscape.

Learn more at: https://www.intratem.com

“It’s as easy as asking the question—do you still have copper lines? If you don’t ask, someone else will,” says Jake Jacoby, CEO of TELCLOUD.

In the latest episode of the TELCLOUD POTS and Shots Podcast Series, Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, speaks with Jacoby about how channel partners can move quickly from awareness to execution in the fast-growing POTS replacement market.

As legacy copper lines continue to be phased out by carriers, millions of remaining POTS lines still support life-safety and mission-critical systems such as fire alarms, elevators, security panels, and other legacy devices. While the need for replacement is urgent, many MSPs and trusted advisors hesitate, concerned about the time and complexity required to get started.

Jacoby addresses these concerns directly, emphasizing that TELCLOUD’s channel-first model is designed to remove barriers to entry. While POTS replacement involves multiple operational components—including logistics, installation, compliance, project management, and ongoing support—TELCLOUD offers a flexible approach that allows partners to engage at any level.

For partners looking to move quickly, TELCLOUD’s full-service, white-label model enables immediate entry into the market. In this scenario, TELCLOUD handles the heavy lifting behind the scenes—from deployment to support—while the partner maintains the customer relationship and brand presence. For more experienced telecom providers, TELCLOUD also supports a more hands-on, wholesale approach.

Jacoby notes that one of the biggest reasons partners hesitate is simply lack of awareness. Many providers are not proactively asking customers about their remaining copper lines, despite the growing urgency. “This is happening to every business customer that still has copper,” he explains. “If you’re not having that conversation, someone else will.”

The timing is critical. As shutdowns accelerate, entire regions may face sudden demand for replacements, creating bottlenecks in labor and deployment capacity. TELCLOUD encourages partners to act early, helping customers avoid delays that could impact building operations and compliance.

Ultimately, Jacoby frames POTS replacement as both an immediate opportunity and a long-term strategy. With relatively little upfront investment, partners can generate recurring revenue streams lasting 15 to 20 years, while strengthening their role as trusted advisors.

The episode concludes with the Shots segment, where Jacoby highlights a special Cazcanes Reposado tequila, uniquely aged in Jack Daniel’s barrels and available exclusively through select distribution—continuing the series’ blend of telecom insight and tequila craftsmanship.

For more information, visit telcloud.com or call 844-900-2270.

By Doug Green

“We find good people for good people.”

At the Channel Partners Conference & MSP Summit, I spoke with Keeley Davis, VP of Global Strategy & Growth at Solvo Global, about a growing challenge for MSPs and channel partners: how to find and scale talent in an increasingly competitive and global market.

Solvo Global operates across 33 countries, giving it a broad footprint to help companies access talent both domestically and internationally. While many MSPs still rely on local hiring or informal networks to fill roles, Davis pointed out that the market is shifting. Companies are now more open to nearshore and offshore talent models as they look to control costs, improve scalability, and keep up with demand.

For many smaller, family-run MSPs and channel businesses, hiring often begins informally—through referrals, personal networks, or word-of-mouth. While that approach can work in the early stages, it becomes a limitation as companies try to grow. Solvo Global positions itself as a more structured and scalable alternative, helping organizations move from ad hoc hiring to a more strategic talent acquisition model.

The company supports both U.S.-based recruiting and global staffing, meeting organizations wherever they are in their growth journey. For companies not yet ready to fully embrace global talent, Solvo can start with domestic placements. For those ready to expand, the firm provides access to international talent pools that can augment teams across functions.

A key driver behind this shift is the broader conversation around AI and automation. As businesses invest in new technologies, they also need the right people to implement, manage, and support those systems. In many cases, global talent becomes a practical way to bridge that gap quickly and efficiently.

For MSPs and channel partners, the takeaway is clear: talent strategy is becoming a competitive differentiator. Companies that can access and manage global talent effectively will be better positioned to scale, serve customers, and compete in a rapidly evolving market.

Learn more at: https://solvoglobal.com

By Doug Green

“It’s not just about connectivity anymore—it’s about delivering the entire outcome around how IT deployments succeed.”

At the Channel Partners Conference & Expo, I spoke with Marek Wasilewski of Expereo about how the company is redefining what it means to deliver connectivity in a Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) world.

Expereo positions itself as more than a traditional connectivity provider. As Wasilewski explained, the company delivers a comprehensive, service-led model that wraps connectivity with the operational, logistical, and deployment support enterprises actually need. That includes everything from sourcing diverse access types—such as direct internet access and LEO satellite—to full lifecycle services like project management and installation.

The conversation reflects a broader shift in the market. Connectivity is no longer viewed as “plumbing,” but as a strategic layer that underpins cloud, AI, and distributed enterprise operations. For global organizations, especially those operating across multiple regions and infrastructure environments, the challenge is not just access—it’s consistency, performance, and execution.

Expereo’s approach addresses that by aggregating multiple connectivity options into a unified service model. This includes terrestrial networks alongside emerging technologies like low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite, enabling enterprises to design resilient, flexible architectures that can adapt to location, performance requirements, and business continuity needs.

From a channel perspective, this creates a significant opportunity. Partners are increasingly being asked to deliver outcomes—not just circuits. By leveraging a NaaS provider that integrates connectivity with deployment and support services, partners can expand their role into more strategic engagements, helping customers solve complex, multi-site networking challenges without taking on the operational burden themselves.

The timing is important. As enterprises accelerate cloud adoption and AI-driven workloads, network performance and reliability are becoming mission-critical. At the same time, global supply chains, remote work, and edge deployments are introducing new layers of complexity. Providers like Expereo are stepping in to simplify that landscape.

What stood out in this discussion is the emphasis on execution. It’s one thing to design a global network; it’s another to deploy and manage it across diverse geographies, providers, and regulatory environments. Expereo’s value proposition is built around closing that gap—delivering not just connectivity, but a fully managed, outcome-driven service.

For partners and enterprises alike, the message is clear: the future of connectivity is service-centric, globally integrated, and increasingly tied to business outcomes rather than infrastructure alone.

Learn more: https://www.expereo.com/

By Doug Green

“We’re like the operating system within their cloud communications platform.”

At the Channel Partners Conference & Expo 2026, I spoke with Jon Brinton of Crexendo about the company’s growing role in the UCaaS ecosystem and its momentum behind the NetSapiens platform.

Crexendo continues to position itself as a foundational layer for service providers, delivering unified communications and cloud communications solutions through a broad global partner base. With approximately 250 service providers licensing its platform, the company has effectively become an embedded engine powering a wide range of white-labeled UCaaS offerings.

Brinton framed the business in simple terms: Crexendo operates behind the scenes, enabling providers to deliver communications services to both business and residential customers. That “operating system” approach has scaled to more than 7 million users on the platform, with growth reportedly outpacing the broader market.

At Channel Partners, that ecosystem effect was on full display. Crexendo’s presence extended beyond its own booth, with multiple exhibiting partners also relying on NetSapiens to power their offerings. The result is a network effect where innovation and value are layered on top of the core platform by an expanding community of providers and technology partners.

The conversations at the event reflected that momentum. Rather than simply pitching features, Crexendo and its partners are increasingly focused on how to differentiate services, integrate complementary solutions, and drive revenue growth through the platform. This aligns with a broader shift in the channel, where success depends less on basic UCaaS delivery and more on building complete, value-added solutions.

For Crexendo, the strategy is clear: continue expanding the ecosystem while maintaining a strong, scalable core platform that allows partners to innovate on top. As the UCaaS market matures, that combination of stability and flexibility is becoming a key competitive advantage.

Learn more at: https://www.crexendo.com/

By Doug Green

“You have to think about your business as a business—not just a technology stack—and intentionally build the value you want long before you plan to exit.”

At the Channel Partners Conference in Las Vegas, I caught up with Mahen Gundecha of MSP Exit Planning to discuss a topic that continues to gain urgency across the MSP community: exit planning.

Gundecha makes a clear distinction between traditional M&A preparation and what he calls true exit planning. While many MSP owners focus on preparing for a transaction late in their careers, often in their late fifties or sixties, his approach emphasizes building enterprise value well in advance.

The issue, as he explains, is that many MSP founders come from technical backgrounds. They build strong operational businesses, but often remain focused on service delivery, tools, and day-to-day metrics. What can get overlooked is the broader perspective—how the business is structured, how transferable it is, and ultimately, how valuable it appears to a potential buyer.

Exit planning, in this context, is not about timing the market. It is about designing the business with the end in mind.

A key challenge many MSP owners face is uncertainty around succession. In many cases, there is no clear internal successor, and family members are not interested in taking over the business. That reality makes it even more important to ensure the company is structured in a way that is attractive and viable for an external buyer.

Gundecha emphasizes taking a holistic view—stepping back from the technical foundation of the business and evaluating it as an asset. That includes assessing scalability, recurring revenue quality, operational independence, and leadership depth. These are the factors that ultimately determine valuation and deal success.

The takeaway for MSPs is straightforward: waiting until you are ready to sell is often too late. Building value is a multi-year process, and the earlier it begins, the more options an owner will have when it is time to exit.

For MSP owners navigating growth, consolidation, and increasing competition, exit planning is no longer a distant consideration—it is a strategic discipline that should be integrated into the business from the start.

Learn more at: https://mspexitplanning.com/

By Doug Green

“Businesses are experiencing a form of identity theft in voice—and they’re paying the price for fraud they didn’t create.”

At the Channel Partners Conference & Expo 2026, I spoke with Maurie Munro, Vice President of Enterprise Sales at Transaction Network Services (TNS), about one of the most urgent challenges facing the telecom ecosystem: the collapse of trust in voice.

TNS operates at the intersection of enterprises, carriers, and consumers, with a communications division focused on ensuring that legitimate calls are delivered, recognized, and trusted. But as Munro explained, the reality is far more complex.

Today’s voice environment is shaped by widespread spoofing and fraud, where bad actors impersonate legitimate businesses by using real phone numbers without authorization. The result is what Munro describes as “identity theft in voice,” where enterprises suffer reputational and operational damage from activity they didn’t initiate.

Consumers, in turn, have adapted. Caller ID is no longer trusted. Calls are ignored, labeled as “Spam Likely,” or blocked altogether—often impacting legitimate outreach. For enterprises, that translates into declining answer rates, reduced campaign performance, and strained customer relationships.

TNS brings a data-driven approach to solving this problem, processing more than 1.5 billion call events daily. This scale gives the company deep visibility into how calls are treated across networks and where breakdowns in trust occur.

The company’s TNS-COM business focuses on three critical areas:

Together, these capabilities help enterprises protect their brand identity in voice—much like consumers monitor and protect their personal identity in financial systems.

The impact is particularly acute in high-touch industries such as banking, healthcare, retail, and contact centers, where voice remains essential for critical communications like fraud alerts, appointment reminders, and service notifications. When those calls fail to connect—or worse, are mistrusted—the consequences ripple across operations, increasing costs and reducing effectiveness.

Looking ahead, Munro sees branded calling evolving beyond simple identification. While displaying a business name is important, the future lies in richer context—logo, intent, and verified identity working together to rebuild trust at scale.

“The goal isn’t just to get the call through,” Munro emphasized. “It’s to ensure the person receiving it knows who it’s from—and can trust it.”

As the industry continues to combat fraud and improve call authentication frameworks, the next phase is clear: restoring confidence in voice as a trusted channel for both businesses and consumers.

Learn more: https://tnsi.com/

Shiraz Hasan, Vice President of Channel and Distribution at AT&T Business, spoke with Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, during the Channel Partners Conference & Expo about the company’s evolving partner-first strategy and its commitment to driving growth through the channel.

Hasan emphasized that AT&T Business is focused on simplifying engagement for partners while expanding the range of solutions they can bring to market. By aligning internal resources, streamlining processes, and enhancing partner support, the company aims to make it easier for MSPs and channel partners to sell and deliver AT&T services. “We are building a partner-first model that makes it easier to do business with us and grow together,” Hasan said.

The discussion highlighted the breadth of AT&T Business offerings, including connectivity, mobility, and advanced networking solutions, and how these can be combined to address complex customer needs. Partners are increasingly looking for integrated solutions that deliver both performance and flexibility, particularly as enterprises continue their digital transformation journeys.

Hasan also noted that the channel is a critical growth engine for AT&T Business, with ongoing investments in tools, training, and enablement programs designed to help partners succeed. By fostering closer collaboration and providing greater visibility into opportunities, AT&T is strengthening its relationships across the partner ecosystem.

As conversations at Channel Partners continue to focus on partner enablement and new revenue opportunities, AT&T Business is positioning its channel strategy as a foundation for long-term growth and innovation.

Learn more about AT&T Business: https://www.business.att.com/