Following the announcement of VanillaIP’s announced plans for their Class of 2019 training programme, I caught up with Sales and Marketing Director, Iain Sinnott to learn what’s next for VanillaIP in 2019. Having reached 2019, it should be no shock that the Class of 2019 is due to kick off shortly. Iain also ran me through the plans for the next campaign “Not all BroadSofts are equal” which exposes the hosted telephony market to verticals and industries that have typically struggled to adopt cloud technologies.
Class of 2019
The new training scheme is set to take the shape of a typical football league, with channel partners vying for top spot. Consisting of physical and face-to-face training, backed up by over six hours of online training, VanillaIP look set to change the way the typical hosted telephony market sells. Traditionally, the reseller space has relied on carrier names and the backing of branding from powerhouses such as BroadSoft and VanillaIP. Iain has previously acknowledged that the market needs to move from a product-led sell to an empowered solution sell.
Not all BroadSofts are equal
The major reason behind VanillaIP’s focused training is linked to the message of not all BroadSoft platforms being the same. Iain commented that “with VanillaIP’s platform covering low range, low-cost extensions to fully functional omnichannel contact centres, VanillaIP have more useful functions and functional control than any other BroadSoft platform in the country”.
“It’s not a matter of BroadSoft vs BroadSoft. Our proposition is very different”.
Specialist packages are due to be released to demonstrate the breadth of the VanillaIP platform so that economically and functionally, resellers have the packages they need to enter their chosen markets.
Education sector
One example of creating a specialist product set is the classroom phones in the education sector. These phones and associated users do not need complete hosted telephony functionality. The main use case for these handsets is simply answering the phone. Vanilla IP has created a bespoke classroom extension to allow the education sector to move to a cloud phone system. This means that the office users in a school or university can leverage the benefits of a BroadSoft platform without having to pay a premium for lesser used handsets.
“20% will be office users but 80% of the deployment has to be at a tight pricepoint. We have to be flexible and accept how these industries work”.
Charity deployments
VanillaIP is also tailoring their solution to suit the more strict charity requirements where funding is an issue. Iain said it’s not just about having a charity logo on the books but having the confidence that resellers can approach charities and know they can offer a good price to local charities in their community.
Iain summarised nicely that no longer can a reseller or end user approach a vendor for a BroadSoft platform. “When someone says you can do that on BroadSoft, that’s too broad a statement. You need to know which vendor using a BroadSoft switch can do what. It’s like going to a BMW garage and asking for a BMW”.
