Dialpad-T-Mobile Team-Up 'More Than Just a Reseller Partnership'

Dialpad executives hail their new team-up with T-Mobile as a huge validation.

T-Mobile earlier this month announced its new partnership with Dialpad. Their joint solution, T-Mobile Collaborate, provides video and voice conferencing in a mobile-first fashion.

Dialpad’s Mike Kane

Mike Kane, Dialpad’s vice president of global channel sales, said T-Mobile had mulled making its own collaboration solution and also considered other UCaaS vendors. However, Dialpad’s emphasis on mobility won it the partnership.

“At the end of the day, they chose Dialpad because of the mobile solution, and when you combine that with their 5G network, which is best-in-class, and the T-Mobile for Business offering, the entire package is pretty compelling and will be a game-changer,” Kane said.

Dialpad’s DJ Gillit

DJ Gillit, who heads up Dialpad’s relationship with T-Mobile, said the partnership entails much more than a reseller relationship. T-Mobile won’t simply rebrand Dialpad’s solution. Gillit said the companies will develop backend integrations that allow T-Mobile and Dialpad to take advantage of each other’s products.

“A lot of times companies get together and take something to market, but it’s just a white-labeled version of whatever the company creates. This is more of a joint venture,” Gillit said.

Moreover, T-Mobile announced that it has made an investment equity investment in Dialpad. This means T-Mobile now holds an observer’s seat on Dialpad’s board of directors.

Dialpad previously partnered with Sprint, which finally merged with T-Mobile last year.

Mishka Dehghan, senior vice president of T-Mobile for Business, praised Dialpad for its “innovation track record.”

“And this is more than just any partnership; it’s a very strategic one. We made the multimillion-dollar equity investment in Dialpad through T-Mobile Ventures,” Dehghan said.

Background

Craig Walker founded Dialpad in 2012, seven years after founding a company called GrandCentral that eventually became Google Voice.

Dialpad earned the attention of the industry for its UberConference product, before launching Dialpad Talk in 2018. Kane said his company built Dialpad Talk to cater to mobile workers’ needs, making it a “work-from-anywhere” solution long before the pandemic.

Dialpad for a time touted the mantra of “Kill the Desk Phone.” The company also touts its real-time transcription feature, designed to make workers more productive. The company bought video conferencing provider Highfive last year.

Like much of the UCaaS market, Dialpad has enjoyed a fast growth rate. Kane said UCaaS and CCaaS revenues have been more than doubling year over year.

The firm has steadily increased its partner business over the years. Kane joined three-and-a-half years ago as Dialpad’s first channel employee. Now Dialpad employs 26 channel managers, in addition to sales engineers, enablement and marketing personnel.

Indirect sales accounted for 53% of Dialpad’s overall revenue last quarter, but Kane said he expects that number to tick upward significantly in 2021.

‘The team has grown dramatically because of all the growth partners are driving for us,” Kane said.