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If there is one message ANPI, a leading provider of voice and data solutions for both the carrier and small business markets, hopes to get across in 2015, it’s this: the company is committed to equipping its reseller and agent market with the tools needed to drive revenue and grow expediently.

“We saw a gap in the market,” ANPI Vice President of product Management Patrick Herron told TMCnet at ITEXPO (News - Alert) today during Editor’s day. “When you ask agents what are some of the things that would make them the most excited in a partner program, they always say, ‘Full visibility into what is going on with my customers.’” 

“Our job has always been to listen and be innovative,” Herron added.

In line with that sentiment, at the end of last year, ANPI launched Atlas, its customer lifecycle management platform for its ANPI Premier Partners. The portal—which aggregates everything from customer orders to billing to installation and service processes—equips agents with the power to manage every aspect of the sales process in one central location. 

In addition to allowing agents to build custom packages for clients, Atlas can be used to track the equipment delivery, provisioning activity and final service turn-up. It also provides visibility into customer care as questions arise or trouble tickets are created.

“Atlas is a way to enable our partners to scale,” Herron said. “The platform gives them a complete OSS/BSS to run their operation the way they see fit, allowing them to grow quicker and give them the capability to grow and manage their hosted UC business at the pace and level of customization that no one else will provide them.”

For ANPI, maintaining a best-in-class partner program is core to the company’s mission. As such, ANPI continues to offer its 90-day satisfaction for its customers, to help agents appease their customers when it comes to installation and provisioning concerns. Moreover, this month ANPI has included a 14-day installation agreement that guarantees the company will get customers up and running with their services in 14 days.

These types of industry-leading promises enable agents to sell more effectively.

“We have the best channel partner program in the industry,” Herron said. “We are making sure our channel partners understand we are in it for their success. We believe what we have to be a solid resource center to help them continue to sell.”

While at ITEXPO this week, ANPI will be speaking on a number of sessions as part of the Ingate sponsored breakout sessions. Specifically, Herron will be leading a session at 3 pm Thursday, January 29, titled “UC: Seven Pitfalls to Avoid.”

As a teaser to the session, one critical UC misstep companies make is not making their end users comfortable with the concept of UC.

“What often happens, especially in smaller businesses, is they will have a little discussion in a conference room and say we are switching things over night and your new phone will look a bit different,” Herron said. “Well, what happens is that the next day no one knows how to forward a call or retrieve a voicemail.”

ANPI recommends that decision makers take calculated steps towards explaining UC to their end users. To begin, start with basics and teach your users how to make, take and transfer calls. Then graduate to detailing how to: access messages; use instant messaging and presence technology; use collaboration tools, like Web conferencing; and use mobile. 

For more from Herron, be sure to stop by Room B114 Wednesday and Thursday.