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AireSpring Gets 2018 Internet Telephony Product of the Year Award for Cloud Hosted Key System
The AireSpring Cloud Hosted Key System eliminates the problem of maintaining aging, end-of-life (EOL), traditional key systems, saving on costly repairs and valuable staff time needed to manage them. At the same time, it retains the familiar features and functionality these businesses require in an affordable solution with built-in disaster recovery and AireSpring Advantage White Glove Service. TMC named the Cloud Hosted Key System one of the "best communications and technology solutions available on the market." AireSpring president and chief revenue officer, Daniel Lonstein stated, "The Hosted Key System lets users keep needed familiar features and functionality while gaining a dependable, secure cloud-based solution and AireSpring's signature reliability and service." For more product information, contact your AireSpring Channel Manager or visit www.airespring.com. |
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AireSpring Named a 2018 Excellence in SD-WAN Award Winner by TMC
According to Rich Tehrani, CEO of TMC, "The Platinum SD-WAN Solution has demonstrated innovation and will help shape the face of this rapidly evolving industry. It is our pleasure to honor AireSpring for their inspiring work." Built to provide professional services and more flexible licensing options, this solution offers the best price point available, so users never have to license more than what they need. Among the innovations added are free read-and-write access to the cloud-based orchestrator or portal's "single pane of glass" view. Instead of the usual one-size-fits-all solution, AireSpring offers a multi-vendor product. Our signature White Glove service includes pre-sales design, provisioning and customer service/NOC support. For more information about AireSpring's Platinum SD-WAN Solution, please contact your Channel Manager or visit us at AireSpring.com. |
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AireSpring Spectrum Broadband API Updated to Include Legacy Charter and Bright House Cable Networks AireSpring has recently updated our Spectrum Broadband API to include legacy Charter and Bright House cable networks. Our qualification system now covers ALL Spectrum Coax (Broadband) territory across the U.S. We are pleased to make AireSpring Access provider SPECTRUM (Broadband) available with the following products:
Please re-run or refresh any Broadband quotes to take advantage of this new real-time qualification system! For more details, please visit QuoteSpring. |
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AirePBX Now with Advanced CRM Features
The new Advanced CRM features are easy to implement, and introduce important new capabilities, including:
Now, your clients will enjoy these great benefits with new computer telephony integration:
For more product information, contact your AireSpring Channel Manager or visit agentStar.net. |
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Master the Multi-Location Game with the AireSpring Advantage!
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Are you stuck selling transactional-based services? Concerned about the downward pressure on the price of internet connectivity and what the future holds? Do you want to move up-market and sell a solution to multi-location enterprises but don’t know where to start? Join Mike Chase, SVP Solutions Engineering and the AireSpring Channel Team on Thursday, April 26, 2018 for an overview on how to move up-market by selling managed services. AireSpring is known for its expertise in providing a comprehensive solution to multi-location enterprises. Many of our customers have deployed hosted voice, dedicated internet access (DIA) and SD-WAN collectively across multiple locations in their organizations. The transition to true enterprise solutions sales is simple with the right network operator and managed services provider. So stop slinging circuits and start selling to multi-location enterprises with AireSpring. WHAT: AireSpring Webinar: How to Land Multi-Location Customers with Managed Services
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CHANNEL PARTNERS CONFERENCE & EXPO Visit us at Booth #6059 Register here with Promo Code AireSpring for Discounted Expo & Conference Pass. Offer expires April 13, 2018. |
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TELARUS TIC |
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ITW Visit us at Booth #1610 |
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SANDLER PARTNERS |
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TELARUS TIC |
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TELARUS PARTNER EXCHANGE |
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Welcome to the latest edition in our series of profiles, shining the spotlight on AireSpring’s amazing partners. This month, we’re speaking with Laura Leggett, Partner at DataVoice Connect. Laura, thank you for agreeing to speak with us. To begin, please tell us a little about yourself and your background. How did you end up in telecom and start your own firm? I always say I was born into the industry because my father was one of the first Ohio Bell distributors. My father was a pioneer Ameritech distributor, so I was very familiar with telecommunications. When AT&T broke up in 1984 into the “Baby Bells,” Ohio Bell bought Ameritech. They were sort of the Northern Midwest arm of what we know today as AT&T. Although I was born into the industry, I didn’t actually get into it until 1999. It was a very interesting time because the premise-based equipment side of voice over IP (VoIP) was just coming in. At that time, Nortel and Toshiba were the primary PBXs, and people were still selling Centrex lines. Immediately out of college I worked on the network side of industrial control, just as Ethernet was coming on the scene. The industrial control manufacturers had a proprietary network and I was part of the team that helped deploy some of those networks. I started out in the customer equipment area with a small company called CTC, doing computer telephony in the customer premises equipment (CPE) side of telecom. We were early users of VoIP phone systems, the first of which was developed under the name NBX. We sold NBX as an early land-based Ethernet phone system and eventually they were bought by 3COM. Around 2004 I decided to make the move into carrier services, starting DataVoice Connect with my husband Gary. We had one customer and sold them a phone system and an MPLS connection to China using Global Crossing. We focused on the carrier sales side because we understood the residual nature of the agency business, having learned about it through my father. Ameritech was paying him on a residual basis, and he taught us to see the value of an annuity type of business. At that time, we also had a decent following of premise-based customers to balance out the income stream. We had two young kids at the time and wondered how we would feed them, but it all worked out and we were very blessed. How do you differentiate yourself and get new business?
with both large and small clients. Our customers don’t necessarily understand how phone companies work, let alone how the cloud works, and our job is to be a translator, an advocate and an implementer for them. People often ask us how we differentiate our company and I always identify three key factors:
What do you like about working with AireSpring? We connected with AireSpring in 2007 and started out working with Charles Lomond [National Director of Channel Sales for AireSpring], who does a phenomenal job. The first and foremost thing I like about AireSpring is the fact that you are 100% channel-focused and you don’t have direct sales reps. This fact is so important because carriers that do both channel and direct sales only hurt themselves. If an agent and a direct rep work on the same account and they start competing with each other, the price starts coming down for everyone and no one wins. We want to make sure that we have price parity for any type of direct route. Sometimes we have to battle for that with other carriers, but not with AireSpring. We just did a job in Sandusky, Ohio for a place called Cedar Point (home to the world’s largest roller coaster), where we explained to them why we recommended AireSpring for their communications needs. They’ve been thrilled so far with the fast implementation process. When we can gain the customer’s trust and share with them what our experience has been with AireSpring, they accept our recommendation. Another favorite thing about AireSpring has to be working with Charles Lomond and Chris Abbott, who both have done a great job and are always so responsive. The third thing would be how quickly you turn around and process paperwork. We believe in the expression, “time kills deals.” Before we found AireSpring, it would take weeks to get a quote. It is amazing how quickly Charles and Chris can get us pricing and a quote. AireSpring is able to turn around some very complex applications with their QuoteSpring real-time, online quoting tool. Charles has really helped us engineer some of these deals. We had a broadcast messaging company that needed triple redundancy on their toll-free numbers (another great option at AireSpring that most other carriers do not offer). We needed to engineer multiple IP addresses to multiple failovers across the country. They required backup for their data centers where their servers are located, so that if one went down it would roll to the next one. No other carrier was going to engineer that really well or even make it work, but AireSpring did it. What would you say is the secret to being a successful agent or VAR? Be customer-centric. You have to be focused on the customer instead of just focused on your own agency. If you engineer the right solution for the customer, the money will follow. We don’t spend money on advertising or even SEO. We grow organically through our customers having a good experience with us—when they grow, we grow. We have customers who take us all over the globe, they may need help in India or China or Seattle, and if we weren’t responsive, they would not call us back. An agent has to remember that the secret to success is not just about the sale, it’s about the solution you’re providing and the repeat business you’ll get. You can’t be just about the transaction or the first solution. Dig deeper in each account so you can provide more of the services they need as you get to know the customer. What is the “next big thing” you think agents should be aware of in 2018 as we approach the end of the first quarter? Everyone is talking about SD-WAN, of course, because the price of individual circuits can come down and you can design more failsafe solutions with redundancy built in and everything is going to the cloud now. However, people talk about SD-WAN replacing MPLS. I don’t see it happening for those who know how to use MPLS correctly, at least, not yet. Latency-sensitive applications, namely voice and video, are still going to need an MPLS network with one carrier for guaranteed QoS. If they are a centralized organization with one central firewall, we skinny down the MPLS from 100 to maybe 5 or 10 mbps for just voice or video on the circuits with sensitive traffic and mission critical uses like pristine voice quality. Then, we put in a broadband for the other non-prioritized traffic. It eats a bit into MPLS but it doesn’t mean it will be eliminated if you use it in the right way, especially when you have a customer that doesn’t want to put a firewall at every location. In the end, we think SD-WAN is going to completely change the game in a lot of ways. You can have the diverse loops and multiple connections along with the insight into the analytics for your whole network. You don’t get that from MPLS, and that’s what makes all the difference. We can adapt by limiting the set-up to using T1s with MPLS when it is needed for a centralized PBX. Voice doesn’t require a lot of bandwidth, but it does need prioritization. SD-WAN won’t fully replace MPLS in 2018, but it could do so in later years. Another disruptive factor is wireless. 5G will be available soon and it will be a game changer. What are some of your hobbies and interests outside of telecom?
Our 15-year-old, Lindsey, plays both softball and basketball and we attend her games. Usually I’m sitting in the bleachers taking activation calls on my mobile device. We have fun, knowing the girls only have about two years of this left, so we’re enjoying every moment of it. Since we do work around the clock, it’s great that we have mobile phones and the flexibility of having our agency to accomplish all of it. Laura, thank you for sharing your insights with us. We look forward to contributing to DataVoice Connect's growth! |
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At AireSpring, we know that it is our dedication to customer service that sets us apart, and customer service begins with great employees. Here is your chance to get to know the AireSpring team that oversees your orders and delivers great service every day. This month we are talking with Stephanie Baker, Project Coordinator Supervisor. Hello Stephanie. To begin, please tell us about your professional background and how long you've been in the telecom industry. I’ve been in the telecom industry for about 10 years, starting by chance at a temp job for WildBlue Communications. They supplied early internet satellite communications for rural areas that lacked DSL and cable. Starting out in data entry, I would follow up on status of service calls. Soon I was hired on permanently as a partner analyst, working with dealers and vendors that sold residential service directly to customers. I did that for about five years. After WildBlue was bought out by Viasat at the end of 2009, I decided to move on to an agency called Global Communications Group (GCG), working with the quotes team and doing up-front pricing. Three months in, they needed a project manager who could focus on AT&T. I jumped into that position and got some great training. As I went deeper into project management and orders, I worked with Level 3, Century Link and AireSpring accounts, among others, and with all their partners. I was pleased to be named employee of the year for the operations side. Eventually, they needed more support for account management, so I added that to my portfolio, doing account management for existing customers. I also had a chance to do some sales, and produced about $30,000 in MRC. At that point, I decided I really preferred to focus on project management and coordination. It became clear that the company was changing direction, so I started a search, applied for an AireSpring opportunity and was lucky enough to land the job. Even though the position is remotely based (I live in Denver, Colorado while the AireSpring offices are based in Van Nuys, CA), it has worked out really well, allowing me to focus on the type of work I like best, namely project management and coordination. I was able to become a supervisor at the beginning of the year, opening up a career path that keeps moving me toward continued growth. Tell us about your role at AireSpring and how long you’ve been with the company. I’ve been here since July 2017, starting in project coordination. After one month I was moved to the Complex Team and did project work for PRI, hosted PBX, MPLS, SD-WAN and Managed Connectivity, working with Barbara Jamaleddin (Vice President of Operations for Special Projects and Vendor/Carrier Management). The team has now been reorganized and at the beginning of 2018 I moved into a supervisor role. As Project Coordinator Supervisor, I am able to continue with my own project coordination orders as well as supervising the employees who report to me. Our mission is to manage projects and meet goals, making sure orders are all getting installed and being escalated, and nothing falls between the cracks. Last month we greatly exceeded all our goals. What do you enjoy most about working with AireSpring? I really love the awesome attitude across the organization. Everyone is so great to work with. We know we’re all part of a team—it’s about “we,” not “I” or “them.” There’s always a willingness to jump in and help out if something needs doing, and the team approach extends to customers, as well. It’s not like working for a carrier where you send customers an email and that’s it. Our policy is that we actually call customers. I think you need that personal connection. We get the teams together to review orders and make sure all questions are answered. Even though I’m located in Denver, my team has continuous interaction with the Van Nuys project coordination and turn-up teams. We handle questions that arise around working with engineering. We work with provisioning teams to make sure that orders are moving along and hitting dates, and Test and Turn Up to make sure installations are successful. After orders are complete, customers will often come to us for assistance on repair and billing. We always follow up to make sure they are getting help through the proper teams. As a result, I reach out to all aspects of the company. The personalized customer service we provide makes us stand out. We call customers or customers call us, and we answer or return their calls quickly. Customers are impressed with the interaction, rather than just having a weekly email. We do it all--pick up the phone and call, as well as sending an email. Having this level of communication is what gets problems solved. I am often asked if I miss interacting with people because I work remotely. The answer is no, not really. I almost feel as if I’m there, because we communicate constantly all day. My biggest win in the job, and biggest project so far with a large customer, just finished two weeks ago. It’s a multi-site project with managed connectivity, hosted PBX and failover at 14 sites. It was very complex and they were super happy with everything, as well as being very nice and knowledgeable to work with. They were pleased with the way we pushed things along. If, for example, there were delays in getting circuits installed, we escalated the hold-up and got a result. Ralph Romero (Vice President of Customer Operations), just came out with an improved order workflow for project coordinators. I helped document a new procedure for what our introductory calls should look like, based on a script I created for my own team. Now, it has been added to Ralph’s presentation and has gone to the whole team to use. The procedure will help to ensure that accurate information is gathered up front and sets correct expectations with customers. I'm always looking for ways to improve and better document processes to help out team members and provide the best customer experience. I’m really excited to have my own team and be able to help them develop. I think they appreciate that I respond to them right away. I know that by treating them with respect, I demonstrate that I’m on their team, on their side, and I’m there to help them while providing them the training and tools to better serve our customers. What are some of your hobbies or interests outside of the office?
company—plus, of course, the general store and gas station. Thousands of tourists go there to fish and ride the rapids. They finally just got their first AT&T tower, so I can now receive cell phone calls. I have three kids, ages 15, 16, and 19. They are the biggest part of my life. We go up to the cabin for fishing and hiking and just to get away. My son Austin, the 15-year-old, is into football, so in the fall that is what dominates my life. Abby, the family artist, is 16. She draws and paints and works with colored pencils and markers, but mostly does a lot of sketch art, including Japanese anime. Evan is 19 and he’s our musician. He sings, plays guitar and several other instruments, including violin and drums. His stepfather was in a local band and has been a big influence on him, and my husband’s family has a lot of musical talent. It is a challenge taking them off the grid out at the cabin. I have even come close to threatening that we’d never go back if they continued to complain about lack of internet, and they never complained again. Now they take friends up and find lots of ways to have fun. Stephanie, thank you for sharing your story with us! |
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AireSpring is an award-winning provider of Managed Connectivity and Cloud Communications solutions providing fully managed and connected end-to-end, next-generation solutions for multi-location enterprise customers, including:
AireSpring's services are delivered over its revolutionary nationwide MPLS Mesh Network, providing customers a fully integrated, end-to-end solution from a single vendor.    |
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