Nextiva is Ready to Revolutionize the Partner Environment

Unified communications (UC) service provider Nextiva is looking to do things a bit differently this year. The company—which prides itself on offering everything from small office phone systems to nationwide call centers and everything in between—is now looking to take things up a notch, and that includes a revolutionary new partner program, according to Ira Feuerstein, director of Nextiva’s Channel Program, and Mary Miller, director of marketing.

“We’ve done a really good job with direct sales, and now we’ve decided it’s time to kick it up a notch,” Feuerstein—who was recently on boarded to spearhead the company’s channel initiative—told virtual-pbx at Editor’s Day during ITEXPO in Miami. “We’re dismissing what all the other major carriers are doing; we’re doing it differently.” This means revitalizing the old process, which can involve a lot of waiting and not giving back.

“We consider it to be a two way street,” Feuerstein said.

One big word that both Feuerstein and Miller emphasized was “disruptive.” Feuerstein described disruptive as going the extra mile—or in other words, giving back to instill a sense of loyalty and value to those in its partner community. This can include: giving free Nextiva phone service; automatic pay increases; and ramping up companies’ marketing initiatives.

“Our goal is really to disrupt and build solid relationships with our partners. It’s all about working together to take the ball and put it in the end zone,” Feuerstein said. He adds that the program has been resonating very well with agents so far and that the company is thrilled to be at ITEXPO East 2014 to kick off its channel program, to spread the word and to meet resellers and establish new partner opportunities.

Turning towards the industry as a whole, Feuerstein and Miller see a few noteworthy things happening.

“On the direct side, it seems the ‘M’ in SMB is a very underserved space,” Miller noted. “They oftentimes get left out because they’re not quite big enough to get the attention of the large players but not small enough either. No one’s in their corner and at Nextiva, we are able to cater to their needs to help them grow and succeed.”

“From a partner perspective, companies are really looking to be anywhere at any time on any device and have the same user experience,” said Feuerstein. “I was on the plane flying to Miami and could dial a voice or video call and make it seem like I’m in the office. I didn’t even bring a laptop to this event.”

Enterprise collaboration is exciting and ever-expanding, but not every company has gotten to the “no laptop” level that Feuerstein has achieved. In fact, although 90 percent of top execs said their organization has room to “significantly improve” communication and collaboration, 60 percent have no clear strategy in place for doing so, according to a study by Blue Consulting Group.

Nextiva has been ramping up its product portfolio to directly meet this rapidly growing business need. Miller explained that the company is enhancing its UC platform to directly integrate with collaboration platforms like Microsoft Outlook and Salesforce so that users can seamlessly and easily connect with their client bases, partner bases and employees across the nation and world.

Feuerstein notes that to create a fully baked collaboration strategy, businesses need to have a forward-thinking approach. “Businesses collaborate in so many ways than just phones. How do they collaborate socially? How do they collaborate internally and externally?” he asks.

Both Feuerstein and Miller were happy to say that Nextiva’s customer base can expect an exciting first quarter chock-full of new reveals, plans and ways to revolutionize the space further.

Nextiva is a Gold Sponsor of ITEXPO 2014 and will be exhibiting at Booth No. 407. 


Edited by Alisen Downey