Specific details on the new Mitel channel program elements, and the distributors involved, will not be announced until April, but the strategic outline of both elements of the go-to-market strategy was made clear.
The Ingram Micro deal is part of a significant initiative 8×8 has been making this year to up its investment in the channel.
Because the closing of the acquisition will take place during a planned extensive restructuring of the Mitel channel program, the integration of both programs into a new one will take place in relatively short order.
The plan is to rationalize and simplify the portfolio, although there is no rush to settle on a common platform. There is also relatively little channel overlap, so no need to rationalize the number of partners.
ShoreTel has done all the cloud installs itself since it acquired its cloud business in 2012, but now their Enabled partners who get certified through the new program will be able to do so.
ShoreTel’s Canada country manager talks about the new offerings and what they will mean to partners and customers in the Canadian market.
The new HYBRID Sites complete the integration of ShoreTel’s cloud and on-prem solutions which began with the new ShoreTel Connect branding last year. They improve partners’ selling ability with the single solution, and its suitability for larger deployments.
The new program is also much simpler than the old, with the number of tiers cut by almost two thirds. The cloud changes won’t impact Canada though – the cloud product still isn’t available here. Canadian partners will find opportunity registration and training changes interesting however.
ShoreTel says the new virtualized router will let their VARs be more aggressive in small 5-15 unit mobile deployments, because eliminating the router cost for a 10 unit deployment cuts the initial investment in getting 10 users live by two thirds.
A search is ongoing for a new chief executive at the unified communications company
