Welcome to the latest edition in our series of profiles where we shine the spotlight on AireSpring's amazing partners. This time we're speaking with Robert Powell, VP of Business Development at The Bandwidth Team.
To begin, please tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.
When I graduated from the University of Tennessee with a Bachelor's in Sociology, I was not sure what I wanted to do, so I started out caddying at a country club. I loved technology though, and knew I wanted to be in that industry. After a brief internship, I found a job in sales at Quickparts, an online technology company specializing in brokering and sourcing custom plastic and metal parts for mechanical engineers. Quickparts was one of the Inc. 5000 List of America's Fastest-Growing Companies at the time, and I was there for that initial growth. Within a year, I was promoted to running the marketing department. That included a lot of tradeshows, so I spent a lot of time travelling across the country, which was a lot of fun.
When I left Quickparts, I wanted to stay in technology. I started working at NuVox Communications, which ultimately became Windstream. When I took the job, I knew nothing about telecom and I faced a really steep learning curve, but I enjoyed the challenge. It was my first venture into true outside sales, and it allowed me to hone my sales ability and start developing the strong network of partners that are still a big part of the success I have today. NuVox was acquired by Windstream and I stayed there until mid-2012, when EarthLink recruited me to run their sales and account management group. It was a great opportunity to take on a leadership role and while there I mastered selling into the mid-market and the retail industry.
After EarthLink, I worked as an integrator briefly, then moved in 2015 to the Bandwidth Team which focuses primarily on telecommunication brokerage. They were one of the key IT partners I developed at Windstream and carried with me to EarthLink, and as our relationship blossomed, it made sense to join their team.
As a previous Windstream and EarthLink employee can you comment on some of the recent consolidation we have seen in the industry?
There certainly is a lot of consolidation in the marketplace, and it is exciting from a channel perspective. I am interested to see how Level 3 and CenturyLink integrate their channel programs because right now they are quite different. There actually are a lot of similarities between EarthLink and Windstream's channel programs, but there are some differences there too. Most notably, Windstream's stance on not even quoting smaller business opportunities.
How long have you been working with AireSpring?
Actually, I was first exposed to AireSpring in 2015 when Windstream announced that they would stop servicing accounts smaller than $1500. I turned to AireSpring based on a referral from a former employee of mine who had moved to a channel model earlier. He had been so impressed with AireSpring's delivery and service that, in addition to selling AireSpring services, he uses AireSpring 50mb fiber in his corporate offices.
When I started doing more business with the master agencies, I learned more about who AireSpring is, and what a great reputation they have for service. I quickly saw the value that partnering with AireSpring was going to bring to both myself and my clients. At the end of the day, if my clients are not happy, it creates more work for us on the back end, and it turns a profitable relationship into one where the client, the agent, The Bandwidth Team and the provider question the value. If we set expectations correctly on the front end and partner with a provider like AireSpring that delivers on those expectations, it is a better experience for everyone involved.
What do you like about working with AireSpring?
We first quoted AireSpring with a smaller client who was having a lot of QoS problems with their hosted VoIP provider. They needed some dedicated bandwidth and we saw that as an opportunity to try AireSpring. Once we gave AireSpring that first order, we were impressed from Day 1. From the initial quoting process it was very easy and the first implementation went in much more quickly than anticipated. So from a wait time perspective -- from quote to installation, billing and commissions -- that process was streamlined, and the communication was very proactive. We under promise and over deliver for our clients, and AireSpring made that possible. After that initial order went so well, we were able to confidently recommend AireSpring to our clients and to offer specific references.
I always get the sense after working with several AireSpring project managers and engineers that a "customer first" mentality is the culture at AireSpring. Joe Brondon, our AireSpring Channel Manager is very responsive too. I think responsiveness is critical, and we definitely get that. We have been burned too many times with low-cost leaders in the marketplace who have sub-par support and service. AireSpring's flexibility and timely communication was critical, and their ability to deliver what was promised and quoted has been a breath of fresh air.
AireSpring continues to beat the expectations, to over deliver, and that’s one of our core philosophies. So many of the challenges in this industry stem from expectations, and those that are set incorrectly. It’s fine when things change. Telecommunications and technology in general are ever evolving, things happen, there’s hardware with spinning parts and blades and fans… and things break down. What’s been most impressive about the partnership with AireSpring is how the communication has flowed. We don’t expect perfection, but we expect communication, and I think our customers come from that same background. As long as you’re not taking the approach of the ostrich and sticking your head in the sand and hiding when challenges arise, it's fine. Let’s communicate, let’s set, and re-set, expectations.
AireSpring is well-known within the marketplace here in Atlanta, and with some of our key advisors, as a provider who’s done a fantastic job for their clients. Some of these people that we trust a lot have said some really great things, to the point where they’ve started to use your services in-house. There’s a great opportunity here in Atlanta for companies like AireSpring who do what they say they’re going to do and then, when things change, they communicate and set and re-set those expectations. So I’m excited. I look forward to 2017 and growing our business with AireSpring and thank you all for the great support we’ve experienced thus far.
What would you say is the secret to success in this industry?
Partnerships. I think the key is really our partnerships with our clients, with our service providers, and our strategic partners such as suppliers like AireSpring. Without them, we aren’t successful. So we want to remain humble and realize that we’re just a part of the equation. At the end of the day, it starts and ends with the client. More than anything, it’s about surrounding ourselves with those people that are best of breed, those people who bring expertise and value into the equation. I look at ourselves as a conduit or a connecter to buyers and suppliers and we have to be very careful, strategic, and thoughtful about who we bring to the table.
What is the next big thing coming our way in 2017?
I think that the biggest one that everyone is focused on is SD-WAN. A lot of the service providers are scrambling to develop their market strategies. Some are still in beta and some are at GA or Generally Available, but I would argue that it’s still relatively bleeding edge. It’s very similar to when hosted voice became prevalent back in 2009-2010 timeframe – you don’t want to be a guinea pig. When the right application and the right clients are there, and the technology has been vetted thoroughly, and there are contingency plans and back up plans, then I think new bleeding edge technologies are viable. When you look at SD-WAN, and the level of maturity within those offerings across service providers and the hardware providers who are offering the boxes out there, I feel like we've got a little way to go. So looking into 2017, I think SD-WAN will be a big part of a larger conversation that is taking place with CIOs and CTOs and the distributed enterprises who want to move away from or augment their MPLS networks. These customers will want to have greater visibility into the application layer with quality of service and class of service becoming less and less important.
These things are going to be exciting but at the same time, tread lightly with those offerings. As we continue to educate ourselves on SD-WAN, we are excited to learn about what it can do and how we can get away from these MPLS networks or enhance them. We want to get broadband and fiber and deliver both these circuits into a single box and get this ability down to the application layer to redundantly prioritize certain applications. To some extent, you can do this with MPLS today but it’s a lot more limited, there’s less visibility, and less reporting. So to answer your question, I’m excited about SD-WAN. Really excited about looking at more data center offerings and cloud offerings. I think and know that a lot of opportunities will exist as people look to move their core business applications out of the co-locations and their own data centers and realize that they can refocus those resources into what I consider a profit center, not a cost center, for IT.
What are some of your interests outside of the office, any hobbies, etc.?
Family is critical, and it comes first! I’ve been married for 5 years to my lovely wife, Kate, and we have an 18-month-old daughter, Eloise. We’re very fortunate to have all of my family and extended family on both sides within a 10 mile radius of where we live in Atlanta. Beyond that I am a member of the local Capital City Club so I play golf as often as I can so I can get my cost per round down. We enjoy the social and professional opportunities the club facilities offer to us. We’ve been a member for 10 years and just really enjoy that. We live within a couple miles of a facility so a big part of what we like to do is to be social through the different activities at the club, whether that be tennis for my wife or golf for me. Those are things we both enjoy doing as we’re both fairly competitive and that’s a good outlet for us. I’m also an avid fisherman. I grew up fishing on the Chattahoochee River here in Atlanta and have continued that passion throughout my life. So if I’m not on the golf course and I’m not fishing and I’m not at home, I really don’t know what else I’m doing. Those are the three most important personal items for me. And certainly family first.
Thanks for speaking with us, Robert!
I got my start in technology in the 70's working in the aerospace industry for California Data Systems as a robotics programmer. I designed and built software for control technology that was used on military aircraft, spacecraft, and satellites. We made non-destructive testing systems, which used ultrasonic waves to test the durability of aircraft parts. 
