Channel Superstar Eric Martorano Is Now Americas Managing Director For Videoconferencing Systems Integrator Kinly

‘It’s thrilling and exciting to be at the forefront of enabling remote workers and hybrid work with AV (audio visual) and collaboration tools like Teams, Webex and Zoom,’ says Kinly Executive Vice President Eric Martorano. ‘Kinly is at the forefront of using these tools to enable customers to communicate more effectively with their customers, employees and vendors.’

Eric Martorano, who has led successful channel build outs for the likes of Microsoft, Nextiva and Intermedia, has taken a new job as executive vice president and managing director of the Americas for global video collaboration systems integrator Kinly.

The $300 million Amsterdam-headquartered Kinly is one of the top video collaboration managed services providers in the world, supporting a wide range of vendor collaboration offerings including Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, Zoom, and Poly.

Martorano told CRN that the move to the solution provider-side of the business is a “coming home” of sorts since he started his career right out of college 28 years ago as a telesales rep for Southern California systems integrator Ambertek Systems.

“This puts me directly in front of customers again as a solution provider which is where I started my career,” he said. “It’s thrilling and exciting to be at the forefront of enabling remote workers and hybrid work with AV (audio visual) and collaboration tools like Teams, Webex and Zoom. Kinly is at the forefront of using these tools to enable customers to communicate more effectively with their customers, employees and vendors.”

Kinly, in fact, has worked with some of the world’s biggest companies as a trusted advisor delivering end-to-end collaboration solutions with a full portfolio of hardware, software and managed services. “We are integrating and managing market leading collaboration services that make businesses more successful,” said Martorano, who was named a technology disruptor on CRN’s Top 100 executive’s list this year.

The pandemic has sparked a collaboration revolution, forever changing how businesses in every segment of the market communicate and collaborate said Martorano,

“We are never going back to work as we knew it before the pandemic,” he said. “The workplaces have changed and what we are doing at Kinly is helping our customers innovate to enable more effective collaboration in this new world.”

Martorano – who is based in Seattle – will be on the front lines of the remote workforce himself, collaborating from home with Kinly employees, while also traveling regularly to Kinly’s New Jersey Americas headquarters and the European headquarters in Amsterdam.

Martorano – who will have full profit and loss responsibility for the Americas business – said at this point he is focused on getting out in front of employees, customers and vendor partners. “I am spending time listening and learning, trying to understand how we can continue to drive customer value,” he said. “Key to me in the first 90 days is really engaging with customers, partners, vendors and employees. I am doing everything I can to learn from them and put into action ways we can add increased value to make our customers successful.”

Martorano said he is going to focus on driving new avenues of growth for the Americas business which is already experiencing significant growth. “My responsibility is to look at how we can continue to expand,” he said.

That expansion could include a deeper dive into new vertical markets throughout the Americas and new services to help Kinly’s Americas customers with a global footprint. “I want to make sure we are supporting these Americas customers globally,”he said.

The Americas expansion could also include potential partnerships with other solution providers in “pockets of the Americas” where Kinly does not have a strong presence, said Martorano. “We are going to look to partner with other solution providers and systems integrators who can deliver the same high quality of collaboration services that Kinly is known for,” he said.

Michael Goldstein, CEO of LAN Infotech, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., solution provider, said he would definitely look at partnering with Kinly given Martorano’s impressive channel track record.

“Eric is a channel superstar, wherever he goes he draw partners,” said Goldstein. “That because partners trust him and know that he will put together a compelling and profitable program for partners. We are definitely going to look at partnering with Kinley now that Eric is leading the channel charge over there. We have followed Eric from Microsoft to Intermedia to Nextiva. I see this as another potential opportunity for the channel.”

Martorano said there is a significant “opportunity” for true partnerships in the video collaboration services market with other service providers where “one plus one equals three.”

The future is rich for all partners driving next generation hybrid work environments with next generation collaboration offerings, said Martorano.

“We have come a long way in a short amount of time with collaboration, but if you look at where this technology is going into the future it is super exciting,” he said. “What we are doing at Kinly is looking at new innovative ways to enable collaboration in this new world. It’s really exciting to be here with an amazing group of people that are thinking about the future of collaboration and the customer. We are developing the next generation of collaboration solutions.”