It’s the start of a new year, partner statuses have been reset and it’s time to set goals for 2020. If you’re aspiring to grow your business with 3CX, then your sights should be set firmly on reaching the coveted Titanium partner status, our highest partner tier reserved for true 3CX all-stars.
Wondering what it takes to get there? Well, look no further than to Jonathan Marsden, CEO of Leeds based The Technology Group (TTG), who joined the 3CX Partner Program as a Bronze Partner back in 2014. Since then, the business, along with their 3CX solution, has gone from strength to strength- last year, The Technology Group not only became the first UK partner to reach Titanium status but reached the target twice over! We asked Jonathan what made them one of 2019’s most successful 3CX partners.
Jonathan Marsden, CEO, The Technology Group, UK’s Largest Titanium Partner
Hi Jonathan, can you introduce us to The Technology Group, the UK’s largest 3CX Partner?
Sure! We are extremely proud to be flying the flag for 3CX here in the UK and internationally. It’s our mission to put 3CX’s awesome communication tools in the hands of businesses around the world, who are looking to evolve to next-generation telephony.
Clients that work with us see that we are ambitious, passionate, detailed, and extremely experienced with 3CX. We became a 3CX partner in 2014 and I’m proud to say that we are now fortunate enough to call FTSE 100 companies, some of the largest schools, colleges and university campuses within the UK, and many other brilliant business clients of ours. We currently have solutions in over 27 different countries with well over 30,000+ 3CX users.
Before offering 3CX, what solutions did you offer?
Like many startups, in the early days, we sold a UK based BroadSoft platform but within a few years, our customers were starting to outgrow the limited features it offered. We were ready to make the jump to Managed Service Provider, which we felt would enable us to take better control and ownership of the solution and its componentry. It was at this time that we discovered 3CX and with its powerful capabilities, we immediately had a sense of the opportunities it could create for us.
Why did you decide 3CX was the right solution for TTG?
We wanted to provide a service to customers whereby we would be proud to share the component names, and not feel the need to “White label”, which creates development lag and complexities in market positioning. 3CX is well established, proven, and sits on the right side of speed to innovation versus the bleeding edge of technology.
Small things like new releases for the mobile client are always up to date, unlike our previous solution where we would see the mobile app break with a new iOS update or when a new iPhone was launched. With simple direct to PBX and even automated updates, that issue is long gone. Newer features like WebRTC web meetings are best in class, and a reason in themselves to choose the product.
How do you resell 3CX to your customers?
We allow our customers to choose between buying all the PBX components separately or purchasing a full 3CX solution as a service, for a simple price per user, per month, without any upfront costs. 90% of all customers last year opted for a managed service offering, however in certain scenarios, such as for college campuses with 1000s of users, offering an on-premise solution can provide better economies of scale. It’s great that 3CX is flexible enough to allow both.
As a business, what benefits have you seen since you became a 3CX reseller?
Since partnering with 3CX, we’ve been able to provide our customers with a product that stands out from the crowd and enables them to reach their communications goals effortlessly. One of the biggest benefits is that 3CX sends us leads rather than competing with us as a direct seller. We’re receiving more leads from 3CX than any other partner solution we have worked with over the past 15 years!
How does 3CX help you to differentiate The Technology Group from your competitors?
Firstly, 3CX gets the basics right. The core of the system is incredibly reliable and the features of 3CX easily match those of traditional PBX giants such as Avaya, Cisco or Mitel. We have complete flexibility over the endpoint, so if we need a DECT multicell solution we might use Snom, if it’s handsets- Yealink, or if we need headsets maybe Sennheiser, all of which are compatible and tested by 3CX.
What would be your advice to aspiring Titanium Partners?
Get the balance right between a subscription model and selling licenses upfront. Subscription or “As a service” builds excellent recurring revenue whereas selling licenses provides cashflow today for growth.
If you are growing, you need to invest in people, as ultimately most businesses fail to grow past 10 employees due to the lack of the founder letting go, and allowing others to reach their full potential. This crucially is about allowing people to learn, make decisions and sometimes make mistakes… a tricky thing for any passionate leader to burst through. At 45 employees, we have had to completely rethink company structure on two occasions, and so my advice would be to follow your gut instinct, do what you say you will for customers, and ensure that together we all enhance the 3CX brand, towards everyone’s success, by creating a partner community that’s known for its excellence.
Sourced from: 3CX Blog.
View the original article here.
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