Zoom Intros Referral Program for ‘Master Agents’

SAN JOSE, Calif., based Zoom Video Communications said it’s expanding its Global Channel Partner Program, launching a new referral program and partnerships with ‘master agents’ AVANT Communications, Intelisys, Pax8, and Telarus. The newly-forged bonds with master agents extend Zoom’s global channel partner reach, and it is the first time partners from Zoom’s referral program can take the recently launched Zoom Phone to market.

Laura Padilla, Zoom‘s Head of Global Business Development, said the company’s focus on Zoom Phone is purposeful, as it can create a lot of value if the right partners sell the UCaaS offering. “This is why we wanted to evolve our channel partner community to include master agents, who have the competency selling UCaaS solutions,” she told Channel Partners.

Master agents will gain access to Zoom’s entire product suite, ongoing commission on Zoom products for the duration of the customer’s lifecycle. There’s also a simplified process for sales engagement along with no-cost tools, and resources for marketers.

In a statement, Zoom said, “Our new Partner Referral Program is the cornerstone of Zoom’s video-first unified communications platform’s go-to-market initiative.” Kara Longo Korte, Director, Product Management, TetraVX told me in a recent interview, Zoom’s expanded referral partner program further validates Zoom as another leading UC provider like Cisco and Microsoft.

She added, in general, the partnerships provide communications leaders with more options to build solutions for customers that meet their needs. The important thing to remember, there is no one size fits all model that works, as she put it.

“The most reliable solutions are those that allow providers to tailor it. In some cases, this means utilizing a mix of applications to meet the customer’s unique needs”

When it comes to traffic, Zoom’s seen a swell, gratitude to the COVID-19 pandemic, which Korte said ‘rapidly elevated Zoom as a B2C provider. She believes consumers will now expect functionality parity in their workplace. This partnership, to her, sets Zoom up to better equip partners with this exactly.

As work from home arrangements unfold during a time of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as in the future, we might expect job seekers to look for organizations that provide tools that let them collaborate remotely.

“Zoom and other collaboration solutions will enable employers to provide solutions that attract the most adequate talent”

As the prospect of remote working is uncertain, the one sure thing is that we likely won’t see a mass migration back to the office anytime soon. We’ve entered a new frontier, one that doesn’t look at all like any pre-COVID-19 period. The systems that make it possible to get remote workers up and running, and collaborating in real-time should continue to see an uptick in usage, as such, it won’t be too laborious to sell these offerings, Korte told me.

The future of work, something we always seem to imagine, was kicked into overtime during the past few weeks and watching corporations shift their trains of thought from outdated philosophies to the new ones that offer balance and safety for employees should be fascinating to watch unfold.