Monday Morning Impact – October 4

IDC Survey: Hybrid Work Models Are Still Evolving Amid Uncertainty

With the post-pandemic recovery underway but challenged by the Delta variant and uneven vaccination rates, many organizations are still trying to determine what their future hybrid work model will look like, according to recent IDC data.

On a global basis, physical office sites are still expected to be the dominant location for work as organizations find themselves in a more stable and “steady state” environment. However, the mix of office-based, remote, non-office, and field workers is expected to vary from region to region. Asia/Pacific workers, for example, are more likely to claim the physical office space as a primary work location compared to the United States and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). In EMEA, a much higher share of survey respondents (27%) prefers remote or work-from-home as their primary work location. Meanwhile, the share of the U.S. workforce currently working remote (44%) is expected to decline, but field and non-office locations are gaining favor as primary work locations.

“The ratio of support for hybrid work opportunities within and across geographies will no doubt continue to evolve. Work primarily within office facilities, while a dominant choice, will certainly be part of a hybrid mix that will flex to address new and unforeseen challenges to organizational, political, and social instability,” said IDC research vice president Holly Muscolino.

Another aspect of these evolving hybrid work strategies is the effort to achieve “experience parity” – a comparable employee experience for a hybrid workforce by ensuring that all workers securely interact with corporate resources (including people) with a consistent experience and context across locations. While experience parity has not yet been achieved by most organizations, nearly half the companies surveyed by IDC indicated that their hybrid work technologies, policies, and processes were “in progress” with most key resources available to remote employees with some lingering access or user experience issues. U.S. organizations have made slightly more progress toward experience parity, but considerable work remains to be done.

“Investment in digital and work transformation technologies align with organizational imperatives around improved business resilience and increased employee productivity,” said research director Amy Loomis. “We are also tracking a direct correlation between spending levels with stronger momentum toward achieving experience parity for hybrid workers while lower spending levels align with more limited or ad hoc approaches.”

The IDC report, Finding the Next “Steady State” of Hybrid Work, looks at how ongoing global disruptions are challenging organizations to consider a variety of hybrid work locations.
Channel Impact^®
As companies continue to grapple with the hybrid model, partners are well-positioned to assist in resolving the technology related issues, as well as other considerations.

Zoom Unveils Reseller Program for Zoom Phone BYOC

Zoom Video Communications has announced that its reseller partners will have the opportunity to sell Zoom Phone Bring Your Own Carrier (BYOC) licenses as well as the ability to connect customers who use enhanced cloud peering to access PSTN to Zoom Phone Provider Exchange, a new way to discover providers and follow a self-service journey to provision phone numbers.

The company is currently running a pilot program for select resellers that meet the requirements to sell Zoom Phone BYOC and expects to welcome a wider pool of resellers by the end of the year.

Zoom Phone is a cloud phone system for businesses of all sizes. Zoom Phone BYOC provides enterprise customers with the ability to keep their current PSTN service providers by redirecting existing voice circuits to the Zoom Phone cloud or implement a hybrid solution with Zoom Calling Plans.

Previously, only Zoom Master Agents had the opportunity to refer deals for Zoom Phone and Zoom Phone BYOC. Now Zoom’s reseller partners from around the world who meet the requirements and qualify will be authorized to resell Zoom Phone BYOC.

“We’ve seen a lot of success in selling Zoom Phone, reaching two million seats in just 10 quarters, and I see a lot of opportunity for our resellers with our Zoom Phone BYOC program,” said Laura Padilla, Head of Global Business Development and Channel. “Zoom Phone BYOC provides customers with the flexibility to stay on their current carrier or easily use a combination to best meet their geographic reach and service needs.”

Channel Impact^®
The new Zoom Phone Provider Exchange offers a streamlined experience to select the provider of the customers’ choice, and provision phone numbers directly in the Zoom portal.

PlanetOne Rolls Out AI-powered Partner Platform

PlanetOne, a Scottdale, Arizona-based telecom master agent, has rolled out “Sentient,” a sales enablement and engagement platform for partners. The offering provides real-time visibility and account-based business intelligence on each respective partner’s sales funnel from lead to commission. Allied partners can use Sentient to track a wide variety of functions, including marketing, pricing and quoting, as well as uncovering and managing post-sale, cross-sale, up-sale opportunities.

“Sentient is live and working in real time to give our MSPs, VARs and agents access to everything they need to collaborate online, make smarter business decisions and execute,” said vice president Jake Schuman. “With Sentient online, PlanetOne channel partners gain an exclusive and significant business advantage that empowers them to market, sell and solve with greater confidence – leading to more at bats and wins for everyone.”

Embedded tools feature the capability to estimate revenues with an integrated rate sheet and calculator, view every opportunity in every stage of the sales lifecycle, and calculate totals of all opportunities in every stage of the lifecycle by value, provider, or product type.

“This simplified tracking process enables our partners to spend less time managing projects and more time focused on servicing their customers and growing their revenues,” added Schuman.

The platform can also map fiber routes and shows which providers are currently servicing buildings and other real-estate assets.

Channel Impact^®
The new AI-powered platform provides PlanetOne channel partners with amplified business intelligence to optimize sales, marketing, and support.