Channel Integration

CF: When we spoke earlier this year, you shared your vision for building synergies between direct and indirect. How’s that going?

WT: It’s been amazing, actually. One of the things that we had to be careful about is setting the right expectations for partners. If we’re gonna bring you in on day one, then you’re going through the growing pains with us on day one. And that means that 99.9% of things will be right. And we’ve got to work together on anything that’s not working the way we intended on day one. Actually, what’s been helpful is, it’s helped us identify issues faster.

So when we’re launching new plans, when we’re launching new routers, as we turn toward launching services next year, you will see that we are deploying those services with our partners. At the same time, we’re doing it with our direct teams. And we are taking feedback from both. And more information is a gift when you’re starting out on new things and new new products. And I have found that the partners have been wide open to it. They’ve been vocal. This is not a shy group. They’ve been vocal, but they’ve also been appreciative as they’ve seen us solve problems faster than they’ve been used to. So my job is not to make sure everything is perfect on day one. My job is to make sure we never stop pushing toward a better outcome for our customer. And that relentless focus — that relentless commitment — customers and partners seem to appreciate it.