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Most Admired
Channel partners and their customers have a lot of great things to say about Star2Star Communications (
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Alert). This company brings its cloud communications to market exclusively via its global channel program, which has 650 participants. "Our end-to-end sales support, free marketing resources, and concierge marketing support are what helps Star2Star's Partner Program stand out," explains Star2Star Communications, which adds that it pays partners commissions monthly and will provide detailed reports of their earnings upon request.
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Most Collaborative
Wildix is collaborative company both in terms of the way it works with its 70 channel partners across North America and in the business solutions it provides. The company says it delivers partners high margins, the ability to control their customers and pricing model, and a structured go-to-market program. Wildix Academy offers an array of training opportunities. Also, partners can speak directly to the Wildix CEO or CTO. And the company's UC solutions leverage WebRTC, which enables end users to communicate and collaborate easily and effectively.
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Most Collaborative (Runner-up)
The RingCentral Channel Sales Program now has 7,000 partners (mostly MSPs) in Australia, Canada, France, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S. The company says its collaboration approach is the program's key differentiator. The Channel Harmony: One to Infinity Program's "unique structure offers full compensation to the partner and the direct sales team while providing specialized subject-matter expert, sales engineer, and executive sponsorship resources to help close deals of all sizes, from one to infinity." And the partner still gets 100 percent of those commissions, RingCentral adds.
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Most Flexible
Digium Inc. provides Asterisk software, telephony hardware, and on-premises and hosted Switchvox (
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Most Improved
Windstream Enterprise (
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Most Incentive
Upstream Works Software is a Global Cisco Preferred Solutions Partner that provides omnichannel contact center software. Partners can choose from a three-tiered program based on their level of commitment. The company also "offers a Partner Deal Registration Program, which is an opportunity-based incentive program that rewards 'first-in' partners who generate, develop and close new, Upstream Works for Finesse end-user opportunities. Partners who lead with and position UWF are eligible to receive deal protection and additional benefits for value-added efforts and pre-sales investments."
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Most Potential
Since establishing the Versa Cloud IP Partner Ecosystem last year, Versa Networks has welcomed aboard 20 partners. The company works "shoulder-to-shoulder" with those partners to win deals and implement SD-WAN solutions. Versa partners can create revenue from the Versa sale, from profits on the company�s white-box network appliances, on a recurring basis from services, and via professional services. The partner program to date has focused primarily on the white-hot U.S. SD-WAN opportunity, but Versa says that it's "eager to add partners globally."
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Most Potential (Runner-up)
Expediting the creation of new software solutions is one of the biggest challenges of organizations today. ZeroStack's (
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Most Proven
UCaaS company Intermedia launched the Intermedia Partner Program a dozen years ago. Today, the program serves 6,500 partners. These partners can sell under the company's Private Label model or its Advisor partner model. "A rarity in the cloud world, Intermedia itself runs a profitable cloud-based business, so we are best positioned to help our partners to do the same," Intermedia says. With "both an upfront payment per user, and recurring commission of 10-20% based on volume sold, the more partners sell, the more they make. Data services: 2x MRR upfront +8% recurring."
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Most Supportive
Preparing partners to succeed is a big focus for AireSpring (
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Most Supportive (Runner-up)
Skuid delivers a no-code cloud platform used to build customized business applications. The Skuid Alliances Program, established in 2014, currently has more than 40 channel partners. Skuid partners get referral fees, market development funds, and credits. The company also offers partners a dedicated partner management person, access to its product support team and services team, as well as sales executive sponsorship and participation in sales meetings.
