TBI's Emily Ball and Bryan Reynolds deliver December Channel News.

Technologies advancing remote work

2021 will be a year for the enterprise (large and small) to build out or course correct what they implemented in haste due to COVID-19. We see how much technology helped and continues to help us navigate the pandemic, an example being Zoom as the default “Kleenex” type reference for all video conferencing now. There is a reason why the CCaaS business is booming – many deploying it for analytics and reporting relating to workforce optimization and remote work. And why companies like Twilio have surging stock pricing due to APIs syncing communication platforms with business applications – think remote restaurant ordering, pickup and end-to-end customer/business communications.

The partnership brings IT Professional Services to TBI’s partner community.

CHICAGO, IL – DECEMBER 2, 2020 - Leading technology brokerage firm, TBI, announces the addition of Everstream, the business-only fiber network, to their provider portfolio. Everstream’s enterprise-grade network spans more than 15,000 route miles of fiber and delivers robust business fiber services, including dedicated internet access, dark fiber, Ethernet and data center solutions.

The partnership brings IT Professional Services to TBI’s partner community.

CHICAGO, IL – DECEMBER 2, 2020 - Leading technology brokerage firm, TBI, announces the addition of Imagit to their provider portfolio. Imagit is a full-service IT solutions provider with extensive experience in every aspect of desktops, servers, and network environments. With over 20 years of experience and a presence in 45 countries, Imagit helps businesses around the world meet their IT needs today and plan for the technology demands of tomorrow.

TBI celebrates notable industry leaders and professionals making an impact in telecom. Learn more about Woman of the Channel, Jennifer Halasz, from Comcast Business.

Jennifer is the National Partner Account Manager in Comcast Business’ Indirect Sales Channel. Her main focuses are to streamline operational processes, strengthen relationships, and to identify new paths for revenue.  Jennifer takes particular interest in improving Ease of Doing Business for Comcast Business and TBI’s valued partners. She has ten years of telecom experience, and has been with Comcast Business’ Indirect Sales Channel for 6 years.

• Scalability
• Cost savings
• Ease of management
• Coupling of services

TBI celebrates notable industry leaders and professionals making an impact in telecom. Learn more about Woman of the Channel, Mary Khoury, from Broad Sky Networks.

Mary is the marketing director at Broad Sky Networks, where she manages the rapidly growing brand and channel marketing programs for 4G and future 5G wireless networking solutions.  

Her love for technology marketing started in the semiconductor industry, where she managed global marketing campaigns for EKC, now owned by Dupont. Mary next jumped at the opportunity to launch the brand for a then-new telecom start-up, MegaPath Networks, where she worked with direct and channel B2B sales teams. At MegaPath, her interest grew in channel marketing—working with sub-agents, resellers, and VARs to develop sales enablement and MDF programs to expand their telecom portfolio and revenues. Over the past 25 years, Mary has held marketing leadership roles in the telecom, semiconductor, and renewable energy space to educate and sell technology solutions for businesses. 

TBI celebrates notable industry leaders and professionals making an impact in telecom. Learn more about Woman of the Channel, Heather Stene, from Verizon.

Heather Stene leads Commercial Channel Operations for Verizon Business Group. With responsibility for channel program management in service to VBG’s sales leaders and partner stakeholders, her team manages program strategy and execution, the partner ecosystem, and performance analysis.

In her 25+ years of industry experience, Heather has led teams with increasing responsibility spanning sales, engineering, channel marketing, sales operations, and product management. Throughout her career, she has consistently delivered on results while focusing on the customer and partner experience.

Heather holds a B.S. in Management from Purdue University.   As an avid reader, special education advocate, and football fan, Heather enjoys volunteering in her kids’ school activities . She and her family live in the greater Indiana area.

TBI's Emily Ball and Bryan Reynolds deliver November Channel News.

TBI is a Verizon Platinum Partner, meaning our agents receive higher compensation, less restrictions, additional Verizon resources, exclusive trainings and access to sales enablement tools. TBI partners have the ability to sell the entire Verizon portfolio: wireline, enterprise, SLED, government, and you guessed it, WIRELESS.

Adding Mobility to Your Portfolio, A TBI an Verizon Playbook Increasing Value to Your Business covers what’s new in mobility and how to gain further access into your customer accounts through “pair with” wireline solutions.

With 5G being accessible in 1,800 cities and to 200 million people, now is the time to lead with wireless. The guide covers mobility sales as it relates to solutions for:

• Primary
• 4G LTE Backup/failover
• Out of band: connection/access
• VoIP
• Mobile devices/access
• Endpoint security/management

We have an incredible mobility team comprised of sales operations, solution engineers and subject matter experts. Download our playbook to see how much money you can be making with mobility. 

Computing has been moving to the edge as companies recognize the benefits of processing closer to where data is generated. The number of connected devices is more than we have ever seen, propelled by remote workforces with mini computers aka smartphones on themselves at all times, demanding instant data transfers. Edge computing brings better performance capabilities, reduced network latency and bandwidth usage. In some instances, for example when involving autonomous vehicles or critical medical devices, latency can prove very dangerous, perhaps a difference in life or death, making edge computing necessary for localized data processing, allowing for faster response times and only relevant data sent back to the cloud for storage.

As edge computing becomes more necessary due to increased IoT consumption, so does the need for security. So, how do businesses address security when it comes to edge computing?

Challenge:
How to provide reliable UCaaS solutions—one that could also align with a company-wide shift to Google, which centered around the use of G Suite productivity apps, Chromebook, and Android support.

Solution:
Omnichannel Contact Center, G Suite Integration, Communications APIs

Results:
MedXM now uses a unique combination of Vonage collaboration-enhancing cloud solutions, productivity-boosting integrations, an enterprise-grade contact center solution, and contextual communications that has redefined how they communicate with members in real time.

As Vonage expands Unified Communications internationally, we've put together a list of some critical vendor questions to ask for partners to share with their prospects as they transition their customers to the cloud.

The partnership brings Marco’s Managed IT, Voice, Security and additional business IT solutions to TBI’s partner community.

CHICAGO, IL – NOVEMBER 4, 2020 - TBI, North America’s leading technology brokerage firm, announces the addition of Marco to its provider portfolio. Marco specializes in business IT—from planning and design through installation and support. Its wide range of offerings include Managed Services, Voice, Audio Visual and Security. The company helps over 30,000 customers nationwide apply technology and services to work smarter, more collaboratively and with less security risk.

The partnership brings highly- connected data centers in the United States & Canada to TBI’s partner community.

CHICAGO, IL – NOVEMBER 4, 2020 - TBI, North America’s leading technology brokerage firm, announces the addition of Cologix to their provider portfolio. Cologix, North America’s leading hyperscale-enabled, network-neutral interconnection platform, enables customers and their end users to connect to the cloud faster with more flexibility.

CHICAGO, IL – OCTOBER 30, 2020 – TBI has been awarded a Top Workplaces 2020 honor by The Chicago Tribune. The list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by employee engagement technology partner Energage, LLC. The anonymous survey uniquely measures 15 drivers of engaged cultures that are critical to the success of any organization: including alignment, execution, and connection, just to name a few.

TBI celebrates notable industry leaders and professionals making an impact in telecom. Learn more about Woman of the Channel, Lauri Martinez, from PGi.

Lauri Martinez has over 20 years in B2B marketing within the IT & Telecommunications industries.  Within these roles, Lauri was responsible for developing and managing various channel marketing programs; creating and executing regional marketing strategies for direct and indirect sales teams; creating sales enablement tools to assist in progressing pipeline; and running over 100 marketing consultations with various IT and Telecom organizations. Currently, Lauri is the Sr. Director of Field, Channel & Customer Marketing at PGi where she handles all market with, to and through campaigns for the channel organization, assists with new partner acquisitions, manages all field marketing campaigns and works with various teams on wallet share growth and churn reduction initiatives for PGi’s customers . In addition, Lauri oversees PGi’s voice of the customer initiatives, focusing on developing quotes, positive reviews and customer advocacy for PGi and their GlobalMeet virtual event solutions.

TBI celebrates notable industry leaders and professionals making an impact in telecom. Learn more about Woman of the Channel, Christine Rawlinson, from Interxion: A Digital Realty Company.

With over 20 years experience in Channel, working with well-known technology brands, Christine Rawlinson is now the Director of Partner & Alliances for EMEA North at Interxion, A Digital Realty company. Her expertise in building out successful Channel businesses brings her to her current role.

As one of the founders of the Global Channel Program for Equinix and having spent 10 years in a B2B Channel agency working with clients such as Microsoft and Symantec to drive millions of dollars of incremental business through a broad range of Channel initiatives, Rawlinson is a strong Channel player and an asset to a company that is in the early stages of its Channel journey.

AI in the collaborative space is not a new concept but its role and demand in the midst of a global pandemic have never been more relevant than today. However, having AI and having a strategy for how to use it and drive value, internally and externally, are two separate things. The term “garbage in garbage out” has never become more of an apt phrase than in relation to what data is driving this automated intelligence. Companies must adapt quickly to change, more so today than ever. Rigorously creating an answer and response database from scratch, or using a knowledge base that is not properly vetted, are what most companies are forced to choose from. The key is to understand that going from little or no automation to a full automation agent-less customer experience overnight is not the answer. Below are examples of core concepts for a successful AI journey.