Mitel has appointed Daniel Farrar, previously CEO of Switchfly, as executive vice president and general manager of its UCaaS business unit.

Mitel’s Daniel Farrar

Farrar will lead strategic direction and operations for the unit, focusing on the requirements for selling, supporting and succeeding in UCaaS. He brings more than 25 years of corporate management and strategic development experience, serving in leadership positions with software vendors, private equity firms and Fortune 500 companies.

Mitel has more than 4.6 million cloud seats and more than 1.3 million UCaaS seats globally.

“The value drivers, delivery model and sales motion for UCaaS are very different from UC, which involves greater customizations and a lengthier sales cycle,” he said. “For UCaaS, it’s all about speed and simplicity. Customers want flexibility, simple application integrations and a predictable monthly cost. I look forward to working with Mitel’s teams and partners as we zero in on serving these customers, providing the tools and capabilities they need to communicate and collaborate more effectively.”

As Switchfly‘s CEO, he was responsible for the organization’s strategic direction. Prior to that, he was CEO at Openlane, a privately held SaaS provider and online auction company for automotive dealers. He also served as a general partner with private equity firm Morgenthaler and held various positions with GE Capital, including CEO of GE Fleet Services and GE Capital Equipment Management Europe.

In his new role at Mitel, Farrar, who is based in Sunnyvale, California, will report to CEO Rich McBee.

“When it comes to digital transformation, companies already know whether their path is through a private cloud or multitenant public cloud solution,” McBee said. “Whichever they choose, Mitel’s vision of enabling seamless communications and collaboration remains unchanged. Daniel’s expertise in SaaS markets will help sharpen Mitel’s focus, enabling us to deliver best-in-class execution and take full advantage of the fast-growing opportunity in the UCaaS space.”