Unified Communications

Managed Services

Mitel looks to deepen enterprise business with Atos Unify acquisition

January 25, 2023 Mark Cox Comments Off on Mitel looks to deepen enterprise business with Atos Unify acquisition
Atos Unify, which is stronger in Europe while Mitel is stronger in North America, has a much stronger services business than Mitel, which should help to provide Mitel partners with upmarket services opportunities.

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Software

French-based Kurmi Software continues North American expansion with release of Kurmi Provisioning Suite Version 7.8

November 17, 2022 Mark Cox Comments Off on French-based Kurmi Software continues North American expansion with release of Kurmi Provisioning Suite Version 7.8
Kurmi’s focus is on enterprise UC provisioning and the new version of the suite extends support for Avaya, Cisco, and Microsoft.

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Cloud

Salesforce announces Genie to power entire Salesforce Customer 360 platform.

September 20, 2022 Mark Cox Comments Off on Salesforce announces Genie to power entire Salesforce Customer 360 platform.
Salesforce also unveiled some major enhancements to Slack as well as Net Zero Marketplace, a platform designed to make carbon credit purchases simpler and more transparent.

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No Picture
Software

Zoho formally opens Canadian head office in Cornwall to drive further Canadian expansion

September 15, 2022 Mark Cox Comments Off on Zoho formally opens Canadian head office in Cornwall to drive further Canadian expansion
The Cornwall office fits with Zoho’s overall hub and spoke strategy, and enables the high emphasis they are placing on a bilingual strategy and being able to communicate with French speaking customers in French.

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Cloud

Egnyte unveils enhancements to MSP packages

September 15, 2022 Mark Cox Comments Off on Egnyte unveils enhancements to MSP packages
Some of the new partner focused announcements , like the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction package, and the simplified compliance for working with the U.S. Department of Defense have been available to direct customers before,  but have now been opened up to the channel.

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Unified Communications

Nextiva introduces next-gen workhub to manage all conversations from a single place

July 22, 2022 Mark Cox Comments Off on Nextiva introduces next-gen workhub to manage all conversations from a single place
Nextiva’s new app is built on their old platform, so there is continuity despite the new type of software.

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Unified Communications

Montreal’s Cloudli acquires ConnectMeVoice to grow presence in U.S. for business communications solutions

June 23, 2022 Mark Cox Comments Off on Montreal’s Cloudli acquires ConnectMeVoice to grow presence in U.S. for business communications solutions
Cloudli sees the acquisition as highly synergistic, from a product perspective, from a market expansion perspective, and, critically for two companies which are channel-focused, from a partner perspective.

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Artificial Intelligence

Avaya introduces no-code Avaya Cloud Virtual Agents to their OneCloud Experience Platform

April 27, 2022 Mark Cox Comments Off on Avaya introduces no-code Avaya Cloud Virtual Agents to their OneCloud Experience Platform
No-code Avaya Virtual Agents make it easy for organizations to both acquire and deploy virtual agents, which improve the customer user experience, something which grades out poorly in customer surveys.

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Channel Programs

LiveVox continues to build out fledgling channel strategy with launch of ACTivate channel program

April 13, 2022 Mark Cox Comments Off on LiveVox continues to build out fledgling channel strategy with launch of ACTivate channel program
While LiveVox has been around for years, their channel is really less than a year old, and the new partner program is designed both to attract quality new partners and to get new and existing partners up to speed.

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Channel Programs

Cloud communications provider Nextiva reworks channel program to improve enablement

April 12, 2022 Mark Cox Comments Off on Cloud communications provider Nextiva reworks channel program to improve enablement
The program is scheduled to be fully rolled out by the time Nextiva has a set of major project launches late in the year, and will complement a planned international expansion, which includes Canada.

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Unified Communications

Michael Day officially takes the helm as GoTo channel leader

April 8, 2022 Mark Cox Comments Off on Michael Day officially takes the helm as GoTo channel leader
Having rebranded from LogMeIn and launched a new partner program that unites what had been three separate ones that came through acquisition, GoTo plans to rework its channel to build deeper relationships than the more transactional ones of the past.

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Security

UCaaS provider CYTRACOM integrates security into brand new ControlOne platform

March 29, 2022 Mark Cox Comments Off on UCaaS provider CYTRACOM integrates security into brand new ControlOne platform
The ControlOne platform, available in Canada as well as the U.S., is designed for MSPs, and is intended to provide both state of the art security and UCaaS in an easy to use platform.

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Channel Programs

Zoom has unified its partner programs and will offer AV partners access to Zoom phone in new Zoom Up Partner Program

March 28, 2022 Mark Cox Comments Off on Zoom has unified its partner programs and will offer AV partners access to Zoom phone in new Zoom Up Partner Program
A key benefit for traditional AV partners who have sold Zoom Rooms in the past, but been largely excluded through regulations from selling phones, is that they will be able to resell Zoom Phones with Native Capabilities. This will be phased in by geos, and while the U.S. and Canada are not in the first wave, they are on the road map.

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Channel Programs

Deep focus on Customer Lifecycle Management highlights Mitel strategy under new channel chief

March 11, 2022 Mark Cox Comments Off on Deep focus on Customer Lifecycle Management highlights Mitel strategy under new channel chief
Other priorities include more emphasis on partner business plans, and making it clear to partners how switching to the RingCentral partnership for their UCaaS puts both Mitel and their partners in a stronger position than before.

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Unified Communications

ConnectMeVoice remakes UCaaS platform with focus on simplicity, transparency

January 20, 2022 Mark Cox Comments Off on ConnectMeVoice remakes UCaaS platform with focus on simplicity, transparency
The new Clarity platform has been rebuilt from the ground up using the latest API REST architecture, and ConnectMeVoice expects that it will help attract customers beyond its traditional sub-250 customer base, as well as new partners that serve those new customers.

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Networking

Mitel repivots strategy back to core strengths in response to COVID impact on UCaaS market

January 13, 2022 Mark Cox Comments Off on Mitel repivots strategy back to core strengths in response to COVID impact on UCaaS market
Going forward, Mitel will focus on the PBX and collaboration offerings that built up their business, and rebuilt their UCaaS initiative around their new partnership with RingCentral, following an effort to break into the UCaaS market that was gutted by the pandemic’s impact.

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Unified Communications

Bluesound Professional adds North American sales manager to help drive innovative streaming audio for commercial spaces

January 12, 2022 Mark Cox Comments Off on Bluesound Professional adds North American sales manager to help drive innovative streaming audio for commercial spaces
Toronto area-based Bluesound Professional has named Craig Cooper as their North American sales manager, as the company looks to capitalize on being first to market in a sector where growth was initially slowed by COVID-19.

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Channel Programs

Zoom adds innovative marketing capabilities for partners with Zoom Partner Demand Center

January 4, 2022 Mark Cox Comments Off on Zoom adds innovative marketing capabilities for partners with Zoom Partner Demand Center
Zoom’s first marketing platform for partners features newer tools like video marketing and event syndication as well as ones which have been around in the industry for many years.

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Channel Programs

Poly seeing good results from innovative Poly Renew buy-back program

November 19, 2021 Mark Cox Comments Off on Poly seeing good results from innovative Poly Renew buy-back program
While the focus of vendor buy-back programs has traditionally been on responsible recycling of products, the emphasis here is on refurbishing phones to today’s standards and reselling them, as a way of dealing with chip supply issues.

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Unified Communications

Jabra launches new Evolve2 75 enterprise headsets for hybrid working environments

October 12, 2021 Mark Cox Comments Off on Jabra launches new Evolve2 75 enterprise headsets for hybrid working environments
The Evolve2 75 is the first Evolve headset to have fully adjustable Jabra Advanced Active Noise Cancellation, and also has additional new features like a unique dual-foam technology earpiece design.

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