2. MaryTom Hofer, Kairos

Channel Futures’ 2023 TA (Agent) outlook tackled several issues, including partners getting certified and performing more implementation services.

MaryTom Hofer, director of operations at Kairos Data Communications, predicted that more technology advisors will obtain the training required to perform professional services on behalf of their UCaaS and CCaaS vendor partners.

Hofer made waves when she said that it stems in part from the money partners can save their clients.

“Some of these suppliers are charging between $5,000 and $15,000 for what they call ‘professional services’ on deals that are less than 100 seats, and some aren’t very complex solutions,” Hofer told Channel Futures.

Not only can partners save customers money on implementation, they can do a much better job.

“If agents actually looked at what these implementation packages include – or rather, what they don’t include – they’d be shocked. ‘Guided implementation’ sounds fancy and helpful, but most of the time that just means the customers get a link to 600 videos and are expected to build the platform themselves,” she said. 

Read more from James Anderson’s reporting.