RingCentral has named Brandon Thomas to take over the vendor’s channel partner program.
“Going forward, we are focused on building on that continuity and stability, driving results for our customers, our valued partners, and RingCentral,”
Thomas said.
“As always, we will look for ways to evolve our program based on partner feedback to offer partners new ways to deliver value across the customer lifecycle.”
This announcement came after former Channel Head Zane Long announced he was retiring after nine years at RingCentral.
RingCentral’s Channel Ecosystem
RingCentral’s channel ecosystem is a network of external partners-such as technology distributors, resellers, brokers, and advisors-who sell, deploy, and support RingCentral’s UC solutions to end customers.
The company has a “channel partner program,” a structured initiative that manages these relationships, provides resources, incentives, and support to partners, and helps drive indirect sales and customer success through the partner ecosystem.
RingCentral has over 15,000 channel partners globally, supporting businesses of all sizes across multiple regions.
What Brandon Thomas Can Bring
Thomas has said that in his role, he will address partners worried about continuity by leaning on his track record of growth and success for partners.
Thomas, who started at the company the same year as Long and has been in the role since March, has held seven other senior channel positions, most recently serving as VP of Global Partner Success.
“Brandon Thomas’s long-term experience with RingCentral perfectly positions him to maintain momentum as the new head of channel,”
Craig Durr, Chief Analyst at The Collab Collective, told Channel Futures.
“I like that his stated focus on back-office excellence addresses a critical pain point where many partner programs falter. If he can remove friction for partners, he will prevent partner attrition and strengthen relationships.”
Despite being one of the major UC players in the industry, RingCentral has been battling downward stock momentum, reaching 52-week lows.
The company has missed Wall Street revenue estimates twice over the last two years.
Yet, following the release of the company’s AI Receptionist solution, RingCentral briefly broke its downward trend.
This is credited to buzz around anything AI, and the fact that this solution showcased something closer to the much-talked-about agentic AI capabilities that the industry is currently looking toward.
RingCentral AIR is now available, but in a controlled release for select US customers.
Yet targeted towards smaller SMBs, it further develops the offerings partners can use to sell to customers as part of any RingCentral package.
“Channel partners are core to RingCentral’s DNA and remain at the forefront of our go-to-market strategy. Our partners’ relationships are key to maximizing customer satisfaction, and we’re continually looking for ways to build with our partners across all customer lifecycle functions,” Thomas said.
Equally, Thomas is reportedly taking steps to make the relationship with partners go beyond the initial sale of the solution, offering partner product feedback and support.
Thomas said he would invest a “tremendous amount of time, resources, and people power” to assure RingCentral channel partner success, support, and escalations functions are “second to none.”
Upfront SPIFFs will remain unchanged, providing reassurance for partners concerned about the terms under which they are obliged to sell RingCentral.
However, Thomas has previously urged in his past role at RingCentral for partners to own more of the customer relationship, saying those who provide more pre- and post-sale services to their customers will form stickier accounts.
He added that vendors like RingCentral are increasingly incentivizing this behavior.
RingCentral said it will also continue to prioritize initiatives like its Certified Delivery Partner Program-launched in 2016 under Zane Long-which enables partners worldwide to deliver technical design, implementation, and support services for enterprise customers migrating to RingCentral’s cloud communications platform.
“When a partner can design, deploy, and support RingCentral solutions on their own, they add value for their customers, strengthening that relationship for the long term,” Thomas said.
