Intelisys Vet Rejoins Master Agent Channel, Brings Contact Center Experience to Telarus

After a stint as Serenova’s channel chief, Brandon Knight is returning to the master agent channel as Telarus‘ new vice president of business development for contact center.

As head contact center evangelist, Knight will help Telarus sales partners design, present and close large unified communications and contact center opportunities. These technologies are the fastest-growing segment of the Telarus product portfolio.

Telarus’ Brandon Knight

Prior to his role at Serenova, Knight ran Intelisys’ contact center as a service (CCaaS) practice. He designed training and directly supported channel partners with their CCaaS deals.

“We are excited to turn the keys of our CCaaS practice over to someone as dynamic and knowledgeable as Brandon,” said Roger Blohm, executive vice president and leader of the Telarus business development team. “Everyone who knows Brandon knows he is an all-star in the CCaaS industry. With over 25 years of combined experience running contact centers, consulting for contact centers, and running contact center practices, he’ll hit the ground running with our sales partner community hungry to sell CCaaS. His greatest skill isn’t just understanding the differences between the many suppliers in this space — it’s knowing exactly when and where each one is a fit. His ability to understand the customer’s needs, to design the perfect solution, and then to help present that solution directly to the client will help our partners be experts in front of their customers. For us, it’s all about educating our sales partners, giving them confidence in their ability to sell CCaaS, and allowing them to close enormous and complex opportunities. Brandon is the perfect person to do this.”

In a Q&A with Channel Partners, Knight talks about why he wanted to return to the master agent channel and his goals for contact center with Telarus.

Channel Partners: Why did you want to go back to work for a master agent?

Brandon Knight: Serenova is a great company that has a great product, but on the on the master agent side. I can kind of refer the sales partner to the best product for their customer. So I prefer to be agnostic. I think my expertise is better utilized in building the expertise in the channel from an agnostic perspective versus with one supplier.

CP: So not working with and representing a specific brand, but being able to provide an overview and expertise of what all is available.

BK: Yes. I think the partners and the channel need that a little bit more, honestly. With the experience I’ve had so far, I don’t feel like the partners and the channel have necessarily issues with a specific product feature functionality, they’re more concerned with, “How do I get into the contact center space if I’m selling UCaaS or SD-WAN, or selling network? How do I talk to my customers about this new product that I don’t know anything about? How do I become the expert?” And I think with the certifications that I’ve built already, that education and training, I really think I could have a bigger impact with partners from that perspective versus a specific product.

CP: You said you received offers from four master agents. So why Telarus?

BK: I’m really excited about where they are for what I do specifically. My expertise is in the contact center space, so it’s not a knock against the other master agents in other categories, but when it comes to contact center and UCaaS, Telarus has …