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 Welcome to the latest edition in our series of profiles where we shine the spotlight on AireSpring’s amazing partners. This time we’re speaking with Dan Lockwood, CEO of DGI.
Hello, Dan. Thank you for agreeing to speak with us today. To begin, please tell us a little about yourself and your background and the history of DGI.
My business partner, Jason Eatmon, and I started DGI in 2009 in the midst of the financial recession. Despite the challenging business climate, in the last seven years we have become a $25 million company with 35 employees. We are proud of our growth and the amazing team that helped us get here. We have a large Cisco practice—we are a next-generation integrator with a focus on delivering business outcomes. Rather than simply installing hardware, we focus on the goals of each organization and we show them how technology can help them get there. Telecom fits nicely into our practice as a piece of the puzzle that helps our solutions to be strategic and holistic.
How long have you been partnering with AireSpring?
We have been working with AireSpring since 2007, before DGI even started. We were initially interested in the AireSpring local SIP trunking product. At that time, AireSpring was one of the only carriers that offered that product at scale. Our business success was based around that product and technology and it represented an appreciable part of our revenue. We did a lot of work around Cisco collaboration, call manager, WebEx, and LD. We were one of the first companies to get involved with these CISCO products and were one of the first AireSpring partners working with that product. We actually collaborated with AireSpring on the research and development work that was done on the original integration with Cisco.
What do you like about working with AireSpring?
We like AireSpring’s flexibility and customer service. AireSpring is a big enough company in the telecommunications universe to have the horsepower to get things done. However, AireSpring is still responsive and provides personalized customer service that Tier 1 carriers do not offer. If I do have an issue, I can pick up the phone and talk to any number of executives and get assistance immediately. I am on a first name basis with many managers at AireSpring. I can connect with them whenever I need to. I can get a hold of someone who can make a decision and solve a problem if needed, on the spot. I am not at the mercy of some entry level tech support person at the end of an 800 number like you find with most carriers.
AireSpring listens to what customers need, listens to what agents are asking for, and internalizes the feedback that we offer. AireSpring is responsive to the needs and wants in the marketplace, and their R&D cycle is a lot shorter than larger Telco companies. They can be more nimble than the large carriers and bring products to market more quickly than the Tier 1 companies. As a master agent, we like the power of being able to query pricing and information from multiple carriers on the QuoteSpring platform. There have been multiple times over the years where we’ve had specific technical challenges and needs and AireSpring has been responsive and addressed them admirably.
What would you say is the secret to success in this industry and being a successful agent/VAR?
Agents and VARs are faced with many challenges today. You need to be able to discuss what business value your products and/or services provide to each particular customer’s situation and business enterprise. The days of being able to call up companies and win business by offering to cut their telephone and data expense by 30% are quickly coming to an end. In order to be effective, relevant and valuable to customers you need to talk business value and business outcomes. You can’t lead with, “So you are going to buy some ABC circuits, you need a bigger pipe,” or, “My red widget is better than the other guy’s blue widget.” If you open up the conversation in that manner, you force yourself into a commodity price conversation, which is not the formula for long term business success.
You have to do your research and teach your prospect or customer something new about their business that they didn’t know prior to your conversation. For instance if you are talking to a school district, ask them, “If I can positively affect your average daily attendance by 1%, would that matter to you?” Or if you are talking to a hospital, ask, “If I can reduce patient wait times, improve doctor utilization, or improve doctor realized rates, would that be of interest to you?” Whenever you are talking about improving business metrics, you are having a business conversation with a prospect which pulls through the technology. It’s all about understanding how the customer is consuming the service, as well as understanding the technologies associated with that consumption. You must be an expert in every facet of the solution in order to understand the customer’s objectives and meet their business requirements.
You have to understand there are strategic shifts that have taken place in the market and get training or find a good mentor to help you get to where you need to be. Whatever you are offering must have business value.
What is the “next big thing” you think agents and VARs should be aware of in 2016?
 The number one macro trend that I see in IT and telecom in general is a dramatic shift to a consumption economics model. This is where the customer pays for the capability, the amount or type of services they need at the time and place that they need it. For example, when I am consuming bandwidth from Amazon I am paying per Gigabyte of data that I transfer, there is no conversation about how big is the loop, how big is the port, or a five year commitment. That is a very legacy, capital, Big Telecom consumption model and customers are moving away from that. There are all kinds of opportunities in the marketplace where they can buy exactly what they need, when they need it and only pay for what they use. You need to be aware of how your customer-base is consuming technology now that so much is in the cloud. Some companies want to dynamically adjust their port size on demand. They want companies to drop a gig loop, drop dark fiber, allow them to log in and say, “For the next week I need 100 MBs on this loop,” or. “I need a Gig on this loop.” They want something more than the legacy purchase model we have lived with for the last 30 to 40 years. Companies are increasingly interested in consuming IT resources, circuits, telephone calls, servers, storage, etc. under this type of model.
What are some of your hobbies and interests outside of telecom?
My biggest interest outside of telecom is adventure racing. I am very competitive by nature. I have participated in all classes and categories of races like Tough Mudder and Spartan races. I usually participate in a couple of those per year all across the country. I have run races this year in Northern and Southern California, Tampa, New Jersey and the Midwest. I am also a business junkie. I am fascinated by all aspects of business strategy and the nature of business operations.
Thank you, Dan, for sharing your insights with us!
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