Windstream Enterprise Hits Milestone With Cloud UC

Windstream Enterprise has surpassed 500,000 seats across its cloud-based UC solutions, including OfficeSuite UC, Mitel, Avaya, Hospitality VPBX and xCaas.

The company said the milestone is a “testament” to its commitment to develop and support enterprise-class xCaaS services. The number of installed seats represents a 20 percent year-over-year growth rate as businesses move to offerings aimed at reducing complexity and enhancing productivity.

Curt Allen, Windstream Enterprise’s senior vice president of channel, tells Channel Partners that his company’s partners have played an “integral role in achieving this milestone by selling a lot of business across our entire suite of UC solutions.”

Windstream’s Curt Allen

“Our focus has been on guiding our partners through the strategic shift taking place in the telco landscape, from a traditional POTS and T1 sales hierarchy to cloud-based solutions like UCaaS and SD-WAN,” he said. “Windstream Enterprise has made it a priority to educate and serve as the subject matter experts for partners who are on this cloud migration journey with us, and our partners are responding above and beyond our expectations.”

Not only are the cloud-based solutions generating opportunities, but “also the way we are working with our partners in promoting them,” Allen said.

“In 2018 we put together a team within the channel to specifically target (a) large Avaya UCaaS and CCaaS deal with our partners,” he said. “We added a full-time sales manager and a full-time Avaya sales engineering title for this effort. Within three months we had engagements with 25-plus partners with an opportunity pipeline exceeding $2 million in monthly revenue. These types of technology specific efforts will drive our success in the future.”

Windstram Enterprise UCaaS continues to evolve with enhancements including full omnichannel capability, self-service functionality and customer journey mapping, the company said. Portfolio development also includes allowing greater mobility, rapid integration of SaaS applications and workstream collaboration, it said.

“Businesses are recognizing the economic benefits of moving communications to the cloud, as well as gaining visibility, control and speed of delivery through client portals and apps,” said Layne Levine, president of Windstream Enterprise and Wholesale. “UCaaS/CCaaS can be scaled to meet the needs of small to enterprise-size businesses with a focus on compliance-driven verticals like healthcare, retail and financial services via our secure and encrypted solutions.”