Jim Delis: Channel Exec of the Year Finalist

Jim Delis, XO Communications

Title: Vice President, Business Operations

Years in current position: 4

Years with current company: 11

Years in the indirect channel: 16

Past jobs in the indirect channel: Director of Sales & Marketing, AT&T Wireless

Main channel goal: “[The main goal is] to be the premier communications service provider for partners and their customers.”

To what extent do you engage in activities to promote or advance the channel? XO has its own Advisory Council where we directly seek the input of our Business Partners on a regular basis. In addition, XO is a member of the Technology Channel Association, which is a great forum for agents and service providers to work together to promote the channel and develop best practices. Overall, we want to enhance the channel as a means of distribution for our services because the development of the channel is just as important to our business as our direct sales efforts.”

How do you think our country’s economic downturn has affected the telecom industry, the indirect channel and your company’s channel operations? Everyone has felt some impact from the current state of the economy, from our customers to our partners. These are times when our customers are looking to us on how to reduce costs. Because our channel partners are, in effect, consultants, they are ideally suited to offer businesses the consultative solutions that are designed to show businesses how they can save money and be more efficient with either their current assets or with less. So, while some may see the glass half empty, I see it as half full in terms of the opportunity.”

Childhood career choice: Professional baseball player.

What others are saying about Jim:

“When Jim Delis came to run the XO channel three years ago, it was broken down and leaking oil. Jim came in, asked great questions, put as many of them into action as possible and communicated the whole way on what the commitments were and welcomed us to hold his team accountable for results. Within a short time, you could see the entire culture change at the XO channel and today, they are a consistent performer and our third-largest provider. Jim’s team deserves a lot of the credit but I honestly feel without Jim, this marked turnaround would have never been achieved.”

— Rick Dellar, Co-Founder, Intelisys, Master Agent