Telarus Vendor Awards: Partners Vote Dialpad Best Supplier

TELARUS PARTNER SUMMIT – Dialpad and two members of its channel team won big in the first installment of the service brokerage’s vendor awards.

Telarus on the third day of its annual partner summit handed out honors to suppliers and channel managers based on partner voting. Partners ultimately picked Dialpad as the best overall supplier in the Telarus portfolio. The unified communications and contact center-as-a-service provider also saw two of its channel managers – Michelle Hermann and Kaitlin Boughton – earn individual recognition.

In addition, partners voted for MSP Thrive Networks as having the best engineering team. They also chose Vonage as the most improved supplier.

CRM provider Kustomer got the nod for best new supplier. Kustomer’s presence in the channel itself is new. Channel Futures profiled its foray into the space in 2021. Facebook/Meta in the last few years purchased and then spun out Kustomer.

Below are the 11 winners of the Telarus Partners’ Choice awards.

Best Overall Supplier: Dialpad
Best Engineering Team: Thrive Networks
Most Improved Supplier 2022: Vonage
Best New Supplier 2022: Kustomer
Top Local Channel Manager: Brian Perdue, Quest
Top Local Channel Manager: Clint Ellis, CommandLink
Top Local Channel Manager: Michelle Hermann, Dialpad
Charlie Lomond Award 2022 (formerly Top National Channel Manager Award): Kaitlin Boughton, Dialpad
Charlie Lomond Award 2022 (formerly Top National Channel Manager Award): Rich Fry, Lumen
Charlie Lomond Award 2022 (formerly Top National Channel Manager Award): Todd Holsombeck, Epic IO
Top Channel Chief: Jake Butterbaugh, Five9

On the partner side, Telarus on Tuesday announced the addition of two technology advisors to its Hall of Fame. Overland Park, Kansas-based Strategic Telecom Partners and Millcreek, Utah-based Invite Networks accepted the honor on stage, joining a handful of other partners who have built a “consistent body of work” over the years. The members have been placing deals with Telarus for more than 100 consecutive months.

Telarus will unveil its top partners based on sales performance Wednesday night.

Telarus on Monday presented data from Constellation Research that shows increasing interest from CIOs and CXOs in the technology advisor model. In technology advisor model, otherwise known as the agent or broker, partners match customers with a wide portfolio of  software and services, relying on the vendor for managed services, customer billing and residual commissions. The partners use technology services distributors (formerly known as master agents) like Telarus for vendor agreements, commission protection training and sales support. Telarus on Tuesday announced updates to tools partners use to consult on technology and track their commissions.