What's Inside

  1. AireSpring Honored with Two New Awards!
    • INTERNET TELEPHONY 2019 Friend of the Channel Award!
    • 2020 Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award!
  2. AireSpring Launches New Website for Global Managed SD-WAN!
  3. AireSpring Announces Support for Microsoft Teams Direct Routing
  4. AireSpring Central Region Virtual SD-WAN Boot Camp, August 20, 2020
  5. August Promo - Sell the Stack
  6. Partner Training - How to Make Your Customer Relationships More Sticky
  7. Join AireSpring at these Upcoming Events
  8. Partner Spotlight - Jason Para, Founder, Broadstring
  9. Meet the Team - Scott Hailey, National Director of Channel Programs
 

AireSpring Wins the INTERNET TELEPHONY

2019 Friend of the Channel Award!

AireSpring is proud to have won the INTERNET TELEPHONY 2019 Friend of the Channel Award, honoring our world-class channel program. This award recognizes organizations that attract the top telecom and communications professionals to their programs. AireSpring is well-known for our 100% channel business model selling exclusively through master agencies, VARs and MSPs. We have recently added four new Channel Managers to further support our partners in regions across the U.S.

Channel partners benefit from AireSpring's broad product line, offering innovative solutions at competitive rates; QuoteSpring™, the popular real-time online quoting tool; concierge style white glove service and support, and an escalation list up to our CEO. On top of generous evergreen commissions and SPIFFs (even on renewals), we continue to build the most advanced resources, with a growing team of Solutions Engineers, available to our channel partners and their enterprise clients; a growing team of Managed Services Engineers, and Project Coordinators to manage each order as a project with personalized communication throughout.

 

2020 Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award!

AireSpring was honored to be chosen for one of TMC's most coveted awards, the 2020 Communications Solutions Products of the Year Award. AireSpring's AirePBX UCaaS Solution with Managed Connectivity was recognized as exceptional among products that facilitate voice, data and video communications. 

In a crowded field of one-size-fits-all UCaaS solutions from competing telecom providers, AireSpring stands out by employing an in-house UCaaS design team to work with each customer. AirePBX is offered in two versions, Business or Enterprise, with the ability to mix licenses to accommodate the new Work from Home (WFH) environment faced by businesses today. Additionally, AireSpring offers its own managed circuit to deliver UCaaS with guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS) over its advanced, nationwide, fully meshed network. 

 

Explore the new AireSpringGlobal website and learn about the advantages of our Global Managed SD-WAN solution built on our powerful Global Private Network (GPN), an SLA-backed, carrier grade, Layer 2 network, with 18 PoPs distributed around the world.

Discover our Global Internet Sourcing services. AireSpring is now a Global ISP procurement provider. We can source, implement, and support broadband or DIA Internet in over 100 countries. Businesses demand high-quality Internet connectivity to guarantee high-performance access to cloud applications in every branch office, in every country and we can fill this need. Global Managed Internet Access is a critical component of an overall Global Managed SD-WAN solution and we provide the flexibility necessary to mix-and-match your last mile provider along with your customers' Global SD-WAN deployment options.

 

Watch the video to learn more:

 

Download the whitepaper:

Ten Essential Elements for a Successful Global SD-WAN Deployment

For more information about AireSpring Global Managed SD-WAN, please contact your AireSpring Channel Manager.

 

AireSpring is happy to announce that our SIP trunks now support Microsoft Teams Direct Routing. This provides customers with a solution through a single carrier. Enterprises can now take their numbers with them if they move to Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Teams customers can now make calls via AireSpring SIP Trunks and:

  • Retain E911 support
  • Have AireSpring port their new and existing phone numbers
  • Obtain new DIDs nationwide

For more information, please reach out to your AireSpring Channel Manager.

 

Earn Certification in AireSpring's SD-WAN Solutions and

a $150.00 Amazon gift card for completing the Boot Camp!

  • Attend a full day's training session via MaX UC Webinar on SD-WAN, the go-to technology for improving control, management, business agility, uptime, security and data encryption of Wide Area Networks. 
  • Learn from our SVP Solutions Engineering and SD-WAN guru, Mike Chase, J.D., CCIE #7226, aka "Dr. Cloud."
  • Leave with a better understanding of how AireSpring's solutions, like Platinum SD-WAN by VeloCloud™ now part of VMware, serve your customers' changing business needs.

Reviews from our recent Boot Camp:

"Mike Chase did an exceptional job presenting! Best training I've attended, by far, in my 12 years in this industry."

- Justin Duffy, SKS Communications

"Mike's insight and industry knowledge helped me to gain a different perspective on future opportunities for SD-WAN. Thank you!"

- Lori Norton, Telstrong

"Probably the best training webinar I've attended in my 25 years of telecom."

- Julie Gilbert, Digital Management Solutions

"Great training event with SD-WAN guru, Mike Chase. Mike is amazing and has so much knowledge."

- Paul Feather, Founder, IT Compliance Services by Compu-Netics, LLC

What: AireSpring Central Region Virtual SD-WAN Boot Camp

Presenter: Mike Chase, J.D. CCIE, SVP Solutions Engineering

When: Thursday, August 20, 2020

Boot Camp: 10:00 am to 2:30 pm (CT) 

Break: 12:30 pm to 1:00 pm (CT)

Space is limited! Deadline to Register varies by date of Boot Camp.

Reserve your spot and your Amazon gift card now!

Previous 2020 Boot Camp attendees not eligible.

All attendees must register in advance!

 

August Promotion

Sell the Stack

Sell the Stack with AireSpring solutions to build customer relationships that really stick. We are in the relationship business, and what better way to build a long-term connection with your customers than by stacking up AireSpring solutions that help grow their business-and your income? Customer retention is key to your long-term success, and building on existing business by layering on relevant solutions is one of the easiest ways to grow.

Get sticky with our complete lineup of high-value solutions together with AireSpring's reliable Managed Services. We never take our partners for granted, so we've added an extra reward, on top of our regular SPIFFs and bonuses:

During Q3 2020, sell 100 or more Poly phones and earn a $500 Amazon gift card. Even FREE phones count towards your total!

Industry-leading AireSpring SPIFFs are still working on your behalf! Get rewards for your hard work as you grow into the future. AireSpring Partners earn an amazing: 

  • 1X MRC on SD-WAN Services
  • 1X MRC on Global SD-WAN Services
  • 6X MRC on Voice/Cloud Services
  • 1.5X MRC on Connectivity Services & MPLS
  • $1600 Cash Bonus on Toll-Free Services
  • $800 Cash Bonus on LD Services

Earn even more with ongoing extra bonuses on these deals: 

  • 5% EXTRA Bonus Residual Commission on AireSpring Network & SIP LD underlying it all.

AireSpring provides everything you need to fulfill your service and support requirements, including:

  • Project coordinators & managed services engineers assigned to each order
  • Free consultation with solutions engineering team
  • 24/7/365 NOC Network Monitoring
  • 20-second response time to support calls
  • Escalation list up to our CEO

Orders must be submitted by midnight Monday August 31, 2020 to qualify. Contact your Channel Manager for details.

 

Customer retention is one of the most important goals in business. The more customers that you keep and continue to sell to, the more likely you are to grow your business. Selling to an existing customer is 6-7 times cheaper than the cost of acquiring a new one. The easiest sales are products or services that are complementary to your initial solution.

Take your customers to the next level and continue demonstrating value by Selling the Stack. AireSpring adds value, not just through the delivery of products, but also through our many Managed Services that boost customer retention and growth for our Channel Partners. Our broad product line, and managed services save both time and money and deliver a competitive advantage to your clients.

Now more than ever Managed Services are a vital component of any Telcom or IT Solution. AireSpring provides extensive service resources with which you can quickly and cost-effectively expand your offerings, seamlessly transforming your company into the single-source provider and trusted advisor customers need and want.

Join AireSpring SVP Channel Sales, John Young, for an overview on how to SELL THE STACK.

Enter our drawing at the end for a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card.

What: How to Make Your Customer Relationships More Sticky

Presenter: John Young, SVP Channel Sales

When: Thursday, August 27, 2020 | 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM (PT)

 

AireSpring's Central Region

Virtual SD-WAN Boot Camp

August 20, 2020 | 10:00 am - 2:30 pm (CT)

REGISTER HERE

Telarus Golf Championship

Ballantyne Hotel

Charlotte, NC

August 31, 2020

 

To begin, please tell us a little about yourself, your agency, and your professional background in Telecom?

I started out in telecom about 18 years ago, as a Channel Manager at Network Innovations- now Nitel. I was Nitel's first employee and was tasked with growing their agent and reseller channels through our flat rate T1 products (MPLS, Private Line and IP) for rural markets as well as extremely competitive larger bandwidth solutions up to 10 Gig. While at Nitel, I provided training on services to partners and supported them in any way possible to help them close deals. If an agent needed me to get on the phone with one of their customers, I was more than happy to do it. I was with Nitel for 10 years when I decided to move on and explore my options. 

At the very start of my journey, I had begun talks with several master agencies, one of which was Telarus, where I had come to know Patrick Oborn, Telarus Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer. He gave me some great advice, including the idea of becoming independent. Patrick walked me through the steps and helped me get started as an independent sales agent. That's when I founded Broadstring. I started Broadstring over eight years ago and I have never looked back. I was the #1 Telarus agent in my first year and won a lot of top awards. 

Today I have a number of people under the Broadstring umbrella, representing us and producing at very high capacity. They're located in both southern and northern California, with offices in Michigan and Washington D.C. Initially, our focus was heavily on the healthcare vertical. Now, we are looking at things differently, focusing more on our regional area where there are openings for new services. These include customers in underserved markets and rural areas where we have identified a lack of service, in cities like Rockford, IL or Paducah, KY, as well as cities in Indiana or even in Downtown Chicago.

What do you like about working with AireSpring?

I've been working with AireSpring almost since I started Broadstring, so it's been about seven years. Initially, I worked with Charlie Lomond, National Channel Director. Now, I work with Chris Abbot, Regional Channel Manager - West, a terrific strategic thinker. I really like working with AireSpring, especially for its ability to bring in multiple carriers like AT&T or Frontier, and I can get Tier 1 quality with voice layered on top of that. Add in the solid customer service and it is a great value having everything under one umbrella. I like the way AireSpring manages that. You can turn a project over and feel comfortable it will be well handled, and then you can move on to the next one. We recently did a big VeloCloud SD-WAN with SIP trunk deal with AireSpring for one of the largest cities in Michigan. We used AireSpring throughout with Comcast as a secondary failover. Next, we will leverage this deal as a reference to appeal to other cities and counties in the region.

"I really like working with AireSpring, especially for its ability to bring in multiple carriers like AT&T or Frontier, and I can get Tier 1 quality with voice layered on top of that. Add in the solid customer service and it is a great value having everything under one umbrella."

"I learned years ago that sales is a numbers game. Things as simple as making a lot of dials, working a full day every day deliver results. It means I never have time for a good golf game, but it works. There's no secret sauce, I think it's just the work ethic, networking and making calls."

What would you say is the secret to being a successful agent in this changing economic environment? 

I'm totally an old school person. I even write thank you cards to customers, just as they did 30 years ago. I learned these tried and true marketing strategies from my old boss, Tim Basa, who served as VP of Sales and Marketing at Nitel and is now VP of Sales and Operations at AppSmart. I learned years ago that sales is a numbers game. Things as simple as making a lot of dials, working a full day every day deliver results. It means I never have time for a good golf game, but it works. There's no secret sauce, I think it's just the work ethic, networking and making calls. The smartest thing to do if you are just starting out is to sign up with a Master Agent. Get to know a few of them, each one has its own strengths. We do a good amount of work with Telarus, and some with Intelisys as well.

What is the "next big thing" you think agents should be aware of for 2020 and 2021?

In short, they should be aware of how Covid-19 has changed the way we all do business. Quite a few customers are delaying installs. One of our biggest customers is a provider of senior assisted facilities. They're on pause for anything new due to deep concerns about possibly exposing patients to illness. So that entire vertical has slowed down. Now, we've turned our focus to setting up smaller offices with UCaaS services as opposed to their old school premise-based PBX services. Many had been reluctant to move to the cloud and off the old PBX systems, but COVID-19 has not left many of them with another choice now that their employees are working remotely. Security is top-of-mind for many customers, so we're selling more Microsoft Teams due to its increased security features that allow more customers to be on calls together as an alternative to Zoom. There is much greater demand for UCaaS now and that will continue. The need for SMBs to adopt UCaaS has accelerated as more and more businesses are working remotely. Instead of the bigger clients who hesitate because they are unsure of what the next few months will bring, more and more we are hearing from the smaller companies that are making changes. At the same time, many businesses are carefully monitoring the expiration date of their commercial leases and considering a total or partial work-from-home scenario. They are planning their IT portfolios and telecom needs with this change in mind.

"Now, we've turned our focus to setting up smaller offices with UCaaS services as opposed to their old school premise-based PBX services. Many had been reluctant to move to the cloud and off the old PBX systems, but COVID-19 has not left many of them with another choice now that their employees are working remotely."

The next focus for Broadstring is helping businesses improve IT security for their remote users, as well as SD-WAN services. Customers and businesses are seeing more productivity from remote workers, and seeing cost savings. Lots of people are struggling with inadequate residential broadband service and having issues with their Zoom video app. We are focusing resources on providing SD-WAN services and layering product onto residential networks, where there are so many security issues. We have found that Microsoft Teams is very competitive with Zoom, offering better security and taking up less bandwidth. There are problems when the whole neighborhood is on Zoom, choking up the total available bandwidth for business use. I have three kids at home doing Zoom meetings every day between 9:00-9:30 a.m. Imagine the 4,500 kids in my area doing this all at once! That's a lot of bandwidth. Many people don't realize that some residential networks prioritize Netflix, Amazon and other streaming services over business apps. That's why a lot of remote users are struggling.

I'm now taking advantage of trainings like AireSpring's, as well as some from Telarus and Intelisys. It's a way to learn what will work best and what companies will find attractive. The conversion to everyone adopting SD-WAN is happening gradually, it's not as if businesses are ripping out MPLS. We see more of them choosing to add SD-WAN layered on top of MPLS.

What are some of your hobbies and interests outside of telecom?

I was fortunate to win an athletic scholarship to the University of Illinois. I ran collegiate cross-country and track, and I still run today. I prefer fairly short runs rather than marathons, no more than two to three hours. I got into cycling after getting some running injuries, and now I race bicycles. Currently, I take our kids out for a bike ride every morning, going for miles and miles. I'm also teaching the kids how to jump rope-they don't teach that in school anymore! We have nine-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, and our seven-year-old daughter. Together with my wife Nicole, who has been a tremendous support over the years, we try to keep up a good, healthy routine. It's a little more challenging in these times, so we are adapting and thinking of applying for the Country Time Lemonade "Littlest Bailout" program for kids whose lemonade stands are affected by the pandemic rules.

 
 

Tell us about your role at AireSpring. 

As National Director of Channel Programs at AireSpring, I have numerous objectives, but my top objectives are to build and expand our relationships with the top Master Agencies and Strategic Partners, so AireSpring becomes a provider they trust and will recommend to their partners without hesitation. I want to make sure every agent out there has the opportunity to hear the complete AireSpring story! As soon as we can travel again, I plan to get out into the field and meet with each of our Master Agents' Senior Leadership, and then meet with all the Master Agent Channel Managers, region by region. In the meantime, I will be working remotely with top master agencies and strategic partners to further develop and empower relationships and revenue. My desire is to help AireSpring bring extreme value to each agency, so it becomes in their best interest to choose AireSpring as one of their most trusted providers. The result will be significantly increased revenue for each of our Master Agencies, Master Agent Partners, and Strategic Partners.

When agents actually hear our story they begin to understand that AireSpring offers even more than they knew. For example, AireSpring has built a Global Private Network (GPN) for SD-WAN and offers a Managed Global SD-WAN platform as well as a Multi-Cloud Connect platform, enabling AireSpring to serve customers of all sizes worldwide. In fact, many people may not realize AireSpring operates one of the largest SIP networks in the country and processes more than 4.5 billion calls per month.  


What attracted you to AireSpring?

Initially it was the role itself, because I truly enjoy the strategy involved in becoming part of a team that is committed to taking their Channel Program to the next level. AireSpring has proven itself over the last 19 years to have strong, effective leadership, to be financially sound and debt-free, and to be constantly forward-thinking, with new innovations as technology continues to evolve at a faster and faster pace. It's also a company that is easy to do business with, both from a Channel Partner's perspective and an end-user customer perspective. While no provider is perfect, AireSpring has a commitment to excellence from its top leadership down which is not found with many providers. The result is a company culture that is built to serve. I really enjoy the high level strategy side of this business. This role offers me the opportunity to not only strategize as a leading provider in the marketplace, but to strategize in concert with all of the top Master Agencies in the country.

AireSpring is an extremely well-run company from the operating ownership down to the field, and is a true Managed Services Provider with one of the most complete portfolios of services (Managed Network, Cloud & Voice Communications, Managed SD-WAN, Multi-Cloud Connect, 4G/5G wireless, Security, CCaaS, POTS, LD and much more). Now that AireSpring has built out its Global Private Network for SD-WAN, it can truly service the world offering a Global Managed SD-WAN solution.

How have you found your experience at AireSpring so far? How does it compare/contrast with prior telecom experiences?

My experience at AireSpring so far has been very positive. Every department I've interacted with has been very welcoming and ready to help. I'm really excited that we are becoming known as true domestic and global SD-WAN specialists. In previous roles I have been strategically responsible for helping Channel Partners, MSP's, VAR's, System Integrators, and IT Consultants nationwide expand their business into the multi-location/multi-service client markets, so in my new role I will leverage a lot of that experience. I believe that as AireSpring is a 100% Channel-only provider, we can only succeed to the level at which we help our agents succeed.

What are some of your hobbies or interests outside of the office?

I'm very family focused, so most of my time and energy is directed that way. I have two girls in college, one in Oklahoma and another at Texas A&M. My oldest in Oklahoma plays college soccer, so we travel quite a bit to see her games. My youngest is also an exceptional soccer player, but decided she didn't want to play college soccer. Both of my daughters were competitive athletes at an early age, so for the last 15+ years we've traveled as a family to more than 20 states for soccer tournaments and/or cross country races.

My personal hobbies and interests include soccer, skiing (snow and water), white water kayaking, and music. I've been a music worship leader for our church for the last 20 years. I'm also an avid reader. I typically read two to four books per month (primarily philosophy, theology, business related or science fiction).

 
 
 

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AireSpring is an award-winning Managed Services Provider specializing in Unified Communications, Managed Network, and IT Services, serving thousands of businesses nationwide with solutions including:

AireSpring's services are delivered over its revolutionary nationwide MPLS Mesh Network, providing customers a fully integrated, end-to-end solution from a single vendor.