Masergy to Drive UCaaS in Channel with New Leasing Program

Masergy is expanding channel initiatives for its unified communications-as-a-service (UCaaS) offerings with a new leasing program. The company has worked with channel partners for some time through an official partner program, and the new leasing program is intended to help partners accelerate enterprise adoption of UCaaS.

The managed networking and cloud services company launched the program with the intention of providing a cost-effective way for enterprises to deploy UCaaS without the necessity of purchasing business media phones. Although not singularly the most costly element of a unified communications solution, next-generation phones can be a significant capital expense, particularly when one takes into consideration the hundreds or thousands of such phones required for an enterprise

According to the company, the new program enables enterprises to get easy access—and more importantly, by using opex spending instead of capex—to the entire line of Polycom (PLCM) business media phones. Included in the leasing program are the Polycom VVX 300/310 and 400/410.

“A significant inhibitor for embracing UC has been assuming the cost burden of replacing desktop phones,” said John Dumbleton, senior vice president of Business Development for Masergy, in a prepared statement. “Masergy has directly addressed this issue by allowing organizations to lease high-quality Polycom phones in a ‘pay as you go’ model—preserving funds while increasing employee productivity.”

The Polycom VVX 300/310 phones are entry-level phones with six programmable line keys that were designed with the needs of cubicle workers that handle low-to-moderate call volumes. Meanwhile, the VVX 400/410 models are midrange phones with 12 programmable keys and a larger screen.

“Polycom’s VVX business media phones are flexible, enterprise-grade solutions. They can seamlessly connect into an existing call control platform, thus allowing organizations to fully leverage previous IT investments,” said Shawn Puddester, vice president of North America Sales for Polycom Global Cloud and Service Provider Solutions, in a prepared statement.