New Nextiva Channel Chief: Partners Must Focus on Customer Service

Nextiva‘s new global channel chief says there’s a “huge” opportunity for Nextiva channel partners to help their customers adjust to the new normal and hybrid workforce.

Nextiva hired Marc Stein as its new vice president of channel sales and global channel chief. He was previously head of channels at Splunk.

Stein is charged with managing channel sales, channel development and strategic channel partnerships. In addition, he’ll manage NeXus, Nextiva’s partner program that the company launched last August.

Furthermore, he’ll manage the overall Nextiva channel partner experience.

Stein brings more than 20 years of experience building go-to-market strategies and leading SaaS sales teams. He spent more than 10 years at Adobe, most recently as vice president of worldwide partner sales and business development.

Earlier this month, Nextiva teamed up with Five9 to deliver an integrated unified communications and cloud contact center offering.

In a Q&A with Channel Futures, Stein talks about his plans for Nextiva channel partners in the months ahead.

Channel Futures: Why did you want to take this role with Nextiva?

Nextiva’s Marc Stein

Marc Stein: I joined Nextiva because it’s a founder-driven, customer-obsessed company that is redefining customer communications. I love that Nextiva is changing the game by delivering a robust cloud platform that is purpose-built and helping businesses offer world-class customer engagement channels. I respect how the company has done so many things right, from organic growth to maintaining its culture of unique people, innovation and obsession with solving customer problems.

And, many companies may say it, but Nextiva is a true channel-first organization. Not only are indirect sales the majority and fastest-growing route to market, but the company continues to make large partner investments from their programs, marketing and continued live support models.

CF: How will this role differ from your previous role as Splunk’s head of channels?

MS: Whether it’s UCaaS, IT resellers, MSPs or integrators building practices, the common theme is not just who you partner with, but how you treat your partners like your customers. I studied and witnessed leaders at the companies I worked with in the past win partner mindshare by leading with these values and by being both consistent and transparent. At the same time, the market demand for cloud communications keeps growing. And the easy-to-use and innovative approach to technology that Nextiva is bringing to market has me excited to build a world-class partner organization here.

CF: How will your previous experience at Splunk, Adobe and Intuit come into play in this new role?

MS: I’ve had the privilege of working with category defining companies at Splunk, Adobe and Intuit, that solve major problems for mid-and-large enterprises. At Nextiva, and aided by our channel partner ecosystem, I plan on doing the same for cloud communications.

CF: Demand for cloud communications skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. How will you help Nextiva channel partners meet their customers’ evolving needs due to the new normal and hybrid workforce?

MS: The pandemic highlighted the value of delivering customer service from every communication channel. And businesses have taken note. In order to succeed and outperform their competitors, businesses are shifting the way they think about their communications. Partners have a huge opportunity to help customers make sense of the new normal. [And they can] provide a modernized way to communicate with new processes, protocols and tools to compete in any environment.

CF: Who are Nextiva’s biggest competitors, and how will you give Nextiva and its partners a competitive advantage?

MS: There are many options for connected communications, but our channel partners help customers choose Nextiva with confidence because of our four standout differentiators: our powerful solution, easy-to-use features, award-winning service and reliable network. Not only does Nextiva deliver a better customer experience for every business through connected customer communications. It also liberates company sales, support, services and finance teams from struggling to understand any situation with every customer. We help companies examine the entire customer journey to deliver the optimal customer experience.