New Jenne Cloud Sales SVP: ‘We’re Not Just a UCaaS Provider’

Jenne is working to give its VAR and broker partners customized routes to market.

So says Shawn Berry, Jenne’s recently appointed senior vice president of global cloud channel sales.

“It really varies based on the partner’s needs,” Berry told Channel Futures. “Not everyone’s going to be comfortable with a resell model, and others love it. But I think the important thing is to have all of those buckets available to a partner.”

Jenne’s Shawn Berry

The technology solutions distributor announced Berry’s hiring last month. Berry in his new role oversees field sales, business development, product management and marketing. He specifically works in Jenne’s cloud brokerage (formerly known as master agent) business.

Berry has also worked for NetFortris, Telarus, IDT, Level 3 and EarthLink.

He spoke to us about his first month at Jenne, the company’s rebranding away from a master agent and its hybrid go-to-market model.

Channel Futures: Why did you join Jenne, and how have these initial weeks been?

Shawn Berry: I’m new, but I’m learning fast. I’m getting exposure to some of the teams – some of the inner personnel at Jenne – which has been really exciting. There’s a lot of stuff that I want to modify and change and help accelerate. Coming from that “master” world, I have a lot of ideas, and I’ve been exposed to a lot of things, specifically in the kind of partners that we’re trying to target. Obviously the profile of the partners that Jenne was getting is a lot different than, let’s sa,y a Telarus, an AppSmart or a TBI, are going after today. So we’re trying to attract those types of partners to us. And to do that, we need certain tools and certain things in place to make that happen.

CF: Could you explain how those partner profiles are different?

SB: Traditionally, Jenne has really gone after a lot of those VARs and resellers — people that are installing and supporting business phone equipment. And they’ve done a great job transitioning those partners to moving quicker into the cloud and selling them cloud products. What I’m used to and the type of personnel that I’m used to working with is someone that’s 100% cloud-based. Someone that is born in the cloud. They’re used to selling RingCentral, 8×8, Talkdesk, security products. They’ve never seen equipment. Some of them haven’t even heard of Avaya or Mitel before. So there’s a change of profile there. And those partners are definitely partners that we want to attract. Those are partners that other suppliers that we have sponsoring us want to go after, and our partner community wants it as well. So we want to give them what they need and want to be successful.

CF: You have the reseller community, and you have the people that are moving toward a commission-based broker model. Do you see many in your existing VAR base making that pivot?

SB: Some will. Some will stay right where they are, and we’ll help them do that. I think it’s up to the partner. Every partner has a different way that they want to do it. Some partners love residual, and they love the SPIFF. They love that model, and we’re going to keep them where they want to be. It might be based on opportunity. It might be based on what that partner has from a technical standpoint. Let’s say an MSP loves installing PoE equipment but doesn’t really want to touch the voice piece of it. It really varies based on the partner’s needs. Not everyone’s going to be comfortable with a resell model, and others love it. But I think the important thing is to have all of those buckets available to a partner so that he can choose. Ultimately, it’s about what the partner needs.

CF: Do you want to talk a little bit about the the rebrand that Jenne’s making, calling itself a technology solutions distributor?

SB: I’m coming in right when that’s all going on. I’m all for it. We want our partners comfortable. If that’s a word that makes some uncomfortable, then we …