MDF

CF: Matthew Montgomery went on stage at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo and talked about Verizon’s ambitions of centering the partner more. Not just in bringing together wireline and wireless but also increasing MDF. Can you talk more about that added investment?

WT: I would tell you that almost all the investment that I talk about has to do with partners these days. Because we want to make sure that partners can deliver the same quality experience that customers have come to expect from their direct relationship with Verizon. A partner program is only as good as the experience that the customers have. So we are sitting with partners and talking to them about, “What would it take for you to be more digital? What would it take for you to fulfill customer requests faster?” And probably the thing we get most often: “How can you create more transparency for the customer along the journey?” Because customers want information in their hands. They’re no longer willing to hear, “We’ll get back to you in three weeks.” They want to know exactly where things are, where where they fall in the process, and when to expect delivery of services. And that’s what we’re building out.

For each partner, it’s different. Some partners don’t need any help. And some partners need a lot of it. But the closer our relationship is to being signature, where we are the only carrier that you work with, the more bells and whistles that we can offer. But that is that is definitely a partner-by-partner answer for us. And with over 5,000 partners, as you could imagine, the answer is different for everyone.