You'll never be able to tell you've arrived unless you know where you're going.

Channel Partners

September 3, 2013

2 Min Read
Are We There Yet?


By Kyle Miley

“Are we there yet?”

As I was driving down the road, I started wondering how often parents have heard those words. And that led me to wonder if those of us in the communications technology business have ever asked ourselves the same question. Of course, for us to be able to answer that question, we must know where we are going.

By now, most of us have been bombarded by cloud services, hosted phone systems, SaaS, etc. Have you done anything to indoctrinate yourself in the new technologies? If not, why? We all come from the technology sector which is ever-evolving, ever-changing. Are we digging in our heels and not seeing the overall picture?

I come from a background of premises-based services and products. My company is a large national ShoreTel Partner. So what does it say when ShoreTel invests heavily in purchasing hosted provider M5 (now ShoreTel Sky)? It shows that they too are looking forward as to the direction in which the industry is heading.

And that leads us back to the question “Are we there yet?”

In order to arrive safely” we have to know where to look have the right map if you will. Take a look back at the inception of computer-based phone systems. There were a ton of build your own” systems in the market. How many are left? The same principle applies in looking at cloud solutions. There are cloud services coming out of the woodwork. Look to the solid performers to partner with to be sure you are not going to be left hanging in the breeze after you have brought them to your customer base. It is not worth damaging your customer loyalty and your reputation as a trusted adviser for them.

With some planning, and forward thinking we will see a true blend of cloud-based services and some premises- based systems in the market.  Do your homework. Partner with the right companies to be sure you are caring for your customers properly. That way we will all be able to look back after arriving to our destination safely!

Kyle Miley is president and CEO of Phoenix-based

Sonoran Integrations
, a Certified Gold ShoreTel Partner with offices in Arizona, Colorado, California and Costa Rica. During his more than 20 years in the industry, Miley has grown multiple communications companies from startups to companies with in excess of 40 employees. He is a member of

the 2012-13 Channel Partners Advisory Board.

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