Mitel Launches Two New Partner Programs Targeting MSPs, Agents: Exclusive

“Mitel’s very bold changes — and they’ve been very inclusive of partner opinion — makes it feel like a true partnership,” one Mitel partner told CRN on the channel program changes.

Unified communications provider Mitel is zeroing in on the needs of two different partner groups with the addition of two new, specific partner programs.

The Mitel Amplify and Velocity programs will let partners work with Mitel and serve their end customers in their preferred sales model, Lana King, vice president, partner programs, training and enablement at Mitel, told CRN exclusively.

Channel partners are instrumental in helping businesses emerge from the pandemic and reassess their communication needs. That’s why now was the time for the new programs, King said.

“As we looked at our partners and what they need, these two programs really highlight and give our partners that choice and flexibility to deliver our solutions,” she said. “Where we’re headed with customer experience, there’s a huge opportunity for partners to have programs that they can step into that are clear and enable them to be effective.”

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Mitel in February introduced a new sales motion for partners who want to create personalized offerings and have more control over the sale and management of their customers’ cloud services. The MiCloud Connect Partner Managed Program puts Mitel partners in-charge of the relationship with their customers, with control over marketing, sales, onboarding, and administration of their clients, while earning predictable recurring revenue, the company told CRN at the time.

The MiCloud Connect Partner Managed Program is a sales motion within the Velocity program, King said. “Velocity is really the umbrella program that encompasses our partners that have a very distinct, unique value add that they’re providing with our cloud solutions,” she said.

Mitel Velocity is broadening resources, rewards and recognition benefits for partners who want more control over their relationship with their clients and those that are building out their managed services practices, King said. Certified Velocity Partners receive dedicated business planning, executive support, recognition of advanced cloud certification, and the opportunity to participate in Mitel’s Partner Advisory Council, according to Mitel.

“Velocity recognizes those partners that are going above and beyond with the overall delivery of the solution,” King said. “These partners are highly trained to deliver these to deliver services out to their customers. These partners are not only identifying the customer, but these partners want a deeper relationship with their customers.”

Velocity is now available for Partner Managed partners with plans to extend program coverage to include additional partner delivered models for MiCloud Connect and Mitel’s private cloud offering, MiCloud Flex, the Ottawa, Canada-based provider said.

“Mitel’s very bold changes — and they’ve been very inclusive of partner opinion — makes it feel like a true partnership. It’s the best out there in terms of allowing the partner to maintain their consultative, supportive value, whether it’s a UC premise deal or a UCaaS cloud deal,” said Alan Burdine, president and COO of Communication Resources, Inc. (CRI), a Mitel partner.

Chattanooga, Tenn.-based CRI, a VAR-turned-MSP, is involved in Mitel’s Partner Advisory Council and is taking part in the Velocity program. The new program, said Burdine, will give partners “total visibility” to clients inside the Mitel cloud.

“Mitel has invested a lot in providing secure, but full access to each partner, to their customers, so that we can have full visibility of billing of services, of issues, of additions and changes, and truly offer a full managed solution for the customer,” Burdine said. “That’s a biggie.”

The new Mitel Amplify program, on the other hand, was designed with the agent partner in mind. This program is offering competitive benefits and centralized cloud resources to help agents close deals faster, King said.

Amplify agents will have access to free sales and technical enablement certifications, a dedicated account manager, specialized sales, marketing and technical support throughout the deal process, and competitive commissions, incentives and promotions. The program also provides deal protection through Mitel’s FastTrack opportunity registration model as well as an agent-focused online resource center, the company said.

“The amplify program is designed to enable our agent advisor community to identify those UCaaS opportunities, register their opportunities very quickly, in a tight, concise way, to get that extra sales support, and then move on,” King said.

Mitel is already working to expand the benefits and rewards of the Amplify program, King added.