Microsoft (Teams), Cisco (Webex), and Zoom (Phone) are three of the leading Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) vendors in the North American market. In a recent panel discussion at the Channel Partners Conference and Expo in Las Vegas, the leaders of these companies discussed the challenges and opportunities for channel partners working with their platforms.
One key theme that emerged from the discussion was the importance of market timing and having the right go-to-market model to win the market. According to DP Venkatesh, VP/GM – Digital, SMB and Global Strategic Partners at Cisco, “it’s not just about features, it’s about market timing.” He emphasized the importance of having the right go-to-market model to reach customers and win market share. Cisco has over 200 million seats across its network of providers, and there are hundreds of millions of seats available today for channel partners.
DP Venkatesh also discussed the importance of contact centers to Cisco’s Webex division. He predicted that the contact center will bring the next biggest wave of growth for the company and its partners, and that calling and contact center together is a popular buy for Webex customers. The contact center is becoming the experience center, and the market is evolving. Venkatesh emphasized that Cisco needs its partners to build and deliver solutions, and that AI is bringing intelligence to audio, video, and cameras, focusing on business outcomes that drive better experiences.
Chris Carabello, Senior Director – Product Marketing at Microsoft, emphasized that hybrid work is driving the market momentum right now. He explained that new modes of working need to be met, as users are hungry for hybrid productivity. Microsoft Teams grew from 14 million users to now 300 million users post-pandemic, and the company is continuing to add features and value with products like Microsoft Copilot. Teams Phone (and Teams Phone Mobile) is a huge area of white space for Microsoft, and cloud voice growth in the enterprise is growing tremendously, a massive area of investment and focus for the company. Operators add a lot of value, specifically consulting with end customers on where their users are and what tech they need to bring it all together. Microsoft sees a lot of opportunity and growth in its first-party and third-party contact center offerings for channel partners.
Carabello also discussed the importance of AI, stating that with ChatGPT4 and Microsoft’s Copilot integration into the Microsoft 365 suite, AI is the most transformational technology ever, and we’re going to continue to see lots of use cases unfold very quickly. How channel partners capitalize on AI is key, and there are tons of frontline use cases to help partners drive more value.
Colby Nish, Head of North America Sales at Zoom, focused on the importance of driving better experiences for users. He emphasized that making products that are simple to use is crucial for user adoption, and that easy deployment is the winning combination. There are a lot of different types of channel partners providing value-add services to end customers, and Zoom sees a lot of opportunities to grow its channel business. Zoom Contact Center is Zoom’s homegrown CCaaS solution, after a failed acquisition of Five9, Zoom has been working tirelessly to develop its own solution. Zoom is developing its Zoom Contact Center solution with conversational AI capabilities which it believes is key to contact center success.
Nish also discussed the importance of AI, stating that Zoom’s focus with AI is on time savings such as smart summaries and smart composing, making meetings more productive is a top priority. Federated AI is critical going forward, which allows customers to bring their own data into these AI models.
Overall, the speakers emphasized the importance of channel partners in delivering value to end customers. The market is evolving rapidly and solution providers like CallTower are helping channel partners win with market-leading platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Webex.
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