“The real challenge is how do a I as an SP differentiate my services, how do I innovate on those services,” says Andy Lark, CMO of Dubber. Lark reflects on earlier tries of monetizing the network, which ultimately were expensive and lacked differentiation. Now, SPs are focusing on their core value: enabling conversations. “You need the magic in the network,” Lark adds, to capitalize on the services SPs already deliver and that sit right at the core of their offerings.

In this podcast we learn about using ML and AI to create visibility into the conversations that the SP is already facilitating. Workflow automation, where conversations are captured into actionable data. “What I want is the major action items tagged for me,” says Lark. We discuss how AI and ML enable people to not just get a transcript of a meeting or a customer call, but to be given the exact things they need to glean from that call. We are moving from creating huge amounts of undigested and digestible data, to bite size pieces of data, and then on to being given exactly the bite size bits that we need to react, enabling a sale, improve customer service or get a jump on dispute resolution. Whereas some of this was available to giant firms, now SPs can offer this to their smallest clients. But we need to make sure that customers understand that they’re not just getting a transcript but more of a roadmap for action. Imagine that for less than the cost of a cup of coffee we get quick meeting highlights, a customer satisfaction score and even a notice to check in with customers of note.

Visit www.dubber.net

Building on a thirty-year heritage that began with breakthrough mobility devices for retail, ScanSource today is building growth for its partner community by pursuing opportunities in mobility, productivity from anywhere and security. In this podcast Tony Sorrentino, President of Specialty Technology and Brian Cuppett, SVP Modern Communications discuss how ScanSource is bringing together a wide community of suppliers to bring to market a set of solutions that turn work from anywhere into productivity from anywhere, with an eye to understanding that just throwing together several products and technologies, without any orchestration, can challenge productivity. ScanSource helps its partners find the right combination of products and services to meet individual customer needs. We learn that ScanSource is building solutions that work with networks that might already be in place, and how security is both an urgent customer need and major partner activity, as the edge of the network includes multiple sites and all manner of risk issues. “We exist to help out reseller partners to expand their offerings… to do the best job they can for their end customers,” says Sorrentino.

Visit www.scansource.com

As ScanSource moves from a technology distribution model to being a company that orchestrates technology products and services to help partners custom match customer needs, the company has adopted new approaches to help the partners with that process. ScanSource’s Discover Opportunity program is designed to offer the partner community a broader, more integrated view of creating solutions. Organized along several key verticals, the program offers partners a place where they can view a wide range of solutions, digital and hardware, cloud based and on prem, to find the right combination of products and services to meet a customer’s needs. As we learn in this podcast, the program also aims at encouraging the partners to proactively deliver productivity ideas to their clients. Ansley Hoke, SR Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and Jamaal Savwoir, Vice President of Partner Experience walk us through the program and how ScanSource is using it as a path to have partners open new conversations with clients in the public sector, healthcare, retail, and manufacturing, to bring together AI, mobility, IoT and much more.

Visit www.scansource.com

“There’s been a lot of progress, but there’s a long, long way to go,” says Jim Dalton of TransNexus. Dalton says that currently the program resembles a bucket with a hole on the bottom. Reciting statistics that show that as few as 1 in 4 calls are covered under STIR/SHAKEN. TDM networks remain a special challenge. In this podcast, recorded at the Competitive Carrier Alliance conference, Dalton outlines that this is a special challenge to rural wireless carriers and their customers. “The technology is here today,” says Dalton, who adds that this can be achieved inside the market, with technology that is available, accessible, and affordable. We learn what public policy, private sector and technology implementation steps that must come next. “There’s lots of options for service providers.”

Visit www.transnexus.com

TDM, a digital technology, now in eclipse, is still present in many carrier networks, according to Alan Percy of TelcoBridges. “You cannot just overnight, turn off the old and turn on the new,” says Percy. In this podcast, Percy lays out how real digital transformation includes a step-by-step plan, vs a huge, disruptive swap out. To get there, the steps need to be bite sized, affordable, and achieved in a stable, not disruptive manner. The need to make the change is critical, since so many things, such as STIR/SHAKEN can only be achieved by making this technology journey. “It’s an IP world now,” says Percy, adding that carriers need to offer those products and services that can only come with making this migration. The promise of that change might be big. New carrier provided services might end economic isolation, and attract jobs, investment, and people, in many communities.

Visit www.telcobridges.com

Ribbon Communications has been in the business of connecting people and organizations, with a long line of products that stretch back to the dawn of telecommunications. Now, according to Ivan Bykov, who works on Solutions for Mobile Service Providers and Operators, that focus is on experiences. In this podcast, we learn about the need to make customer experiences at a level that makes the carrier indispensable to the customer. Bykov then walks us through Ribbon’s ideas and products that make this possible. Recorded at the CCA 2022 conference in Portland, Oregon, Bykov outlines how Ribbon is offering the solutions that enable the carrier community to go well beyond their traditional offerings and how they can take advantage of the revolution that 5G offers.

Visit www.ribboncommunications.com

The food and beverage industry can be a textbook example of siloed technologies, deployed in an industry that is not always technology facing. In recent years, restaurants have gradually adopted better order taking and payment systems. Now, Unified Office, Inc. is offering an Industrial IoT service for restaurants and other Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs) called Total Connect Nowsm Operations Performance SuiteTM (TCNOPSTM). In this podcast Unified Office’s Ray Pasquale outlines how TCNOPS can deliver real-time tracking and alerts enabling them to manage refrigeration, prep table, oven exhaust, thermostats, air conditioners, safe doors, security and video systems, and other mission-critical functions. The development furthers the promise of IoT, in helping companies automate and streamline historically labor-intensive functions, in an industry that is experiencing labor shortages.

Visit www.unifiedoffice.com

The IT and Security staffing problem is not going away any time soon. A great way to mitigate the SOC staffing issue is to provide tools that reduces their time spent on a problem.

Nick Graves

Nick Graves, Chief Architect at Revelstoke speaks to Don Witt of The Channel Daily News, a TR publication about how their technology provides a unified data layer. When staff is responding to different events, they need to use multiple tools that are not integrated, Revelstoke integrates the tools at the data layer simplifying the problem and maximizing the staff’s time. Accelerating network expansion requires tools like the Revelstoke.

There is no longer a need to learn the programing language for each tool.  Use Revelstoke and have access to all of the tools through a common interface.

Intuitive drag-and-drop kanban-style playbook builder to maximize efficiencies

Fully operable in minutes

Low-code playbooks for common workflows

Connects to most APIs

They have done all of the hard work for you.

Current SOAR platforms are broken… like actually broken because no one has time to build connectors when there’s actual threats to stop. They founded Revelstoke to empower security teams with a smarter SOAR solution that actually makes life easier. Are they heroes? No, they’re just a group of security practitioners with decades of experience, who were tired of doing things the way they’ve always been done.

Some of the most experienced minds in security are driving the innovation behind their SOAR platform. After successful runs at leading security companies whose products you know and use today, they’ve all joined forces to do something truly different. You could say they’re the type of people who like to crack open a cold one and talk case management.

For more information, go to:  www.revelstoke.io

Being a frontrunner, Blackpoint Cyber knows it is all about channel in the security business. That is why Christine Gassman, who brings with her a vast amount of experience from her previous positions, joined the company as Director of Channel Engagement. Christine has some very aggressive plans for the channel and discusses them with Don Witt of The Channel Daily News, a TR publication.

Christine Gassman

MSPs are the organizations that can really benefit form the Blackpoint technology. Top cybersecurity practices for MSPs to follow include:

Don’t Slack on Basic Cyber Hygiene

Promote Cybersecurity Awareness & Education

Implement a Security Stack with Active Monitoring

Establish Regular Backups

Implement Strict Account Management

Get True MDR for Immediate Incident Response

Listen in as Christine provides an energetic review of the Blackpoint portfolio.

Blackpoint Cyber is the forerunner in the managed detection and response space, leveraging their proprietary ecosystem to help their partners fight back and win against cyber threats. They have served the community since 2014 and proudly continue to safeguard businesses around the world.

They believe that no one should go alone into the unfair fight. At Blackpoint, their team strives to provide unified, 24/7 detection to help you take out your adversaries before they can even see us coming.

With decades of real-world cyber experience and deep knowledge of hacker tradecraft, their team moves fast to disrupt even the most advanced adversaries. In a threat landscape where attackers have you in their crosshairs, Blackpoint takes the target off your back and stands ready to respond to malicious cyber events 24/7/365.

For more information, go to: https://blackpointcyber.com/

Arrcus announces the availability of FlexMCN, the industry’s most flexible multi-cloud networking solution, built for the distributed cloud era

“Everybody is doing cloud, however the pendulum has shifted from working with a single cloud to working more than one cloud,” says Shekar Ayyar, CEO of Arrcus. The challenges include how to “stitch and tie together” various clouds and various, pre-existing, on-prem situations. Recently, Arrcus announced the availability of FlexMCN, a multi-cloud networking solution, built for distributed cloud.

The FlexMCN solution consists of ArcEdge as a secure data plane software, coupled with ArcOrchestrator, now available on premises and off premises, to dramatically simplify and expedite the setup of cloud operations. By leveraging ArcOS for robust routing, FlexMCN enables the deployment of multi-cloud and hybrid cloud networking across cloud domains, and secure connectivity for workloads across cloud instances.

In this podcast, Ayyar outlines the solution and how it allows many players, previously locked out of many opportunities and relegated to selling a narrow range of service, to reassert themselves.

Read the press release

Visit www.arrcus.com