SoundConnect Gets Partner Program Moving

By Cara Sievers

Tom Sullivan, president of SoundConnect, a global provider of audio, video and Web conferencing technology solutions, which he launched with Shaun Chambers on Aug. 1, 2009, said the reseller’s partner program is in the works and so far, they’ve brought on 10 channel partners. Sullivan said SoundConnect is in the midst of a massive recruiting initiative, hoping to onboard several partners over the next year. The company is primarily interested in telecommunications partners with some previous conferencing sales experience.

“The main goal is to be a market leader in providing the tools and knowledge that enable the partners to achieve their goals and objectives through more solutions, more personal attention, more support, more innovation, more reliability and more experience,” said Sullivan, adding that 100 percent of SoundConnect’s sales will be generated by the indirect channel. “In the telecommunications channel, I think it’s rare to find individuals dedicated to supporting the partner and client the way Shaun and I are.”

Sullivan, with 13 years of conferencing experience, mostly on the channel side of the house and most recently with InterCall, and Chambers, equally experienced in the conferencing industry and most recently one of InterCall’s largest partners, partnered to create SoundConnect, which they hope will have “one of the best channel programs in the conferencing world,” Sullivan described. Based on the business Chambers has built with InterCall, it will be SoundConnect’s primary provider.

“My goal was always to have my own business and over the last few years, it really started coming together – I wanted to have a startup business,” said Sullivan. “Anywhere I’ve been over the past 13 years has been more or less a startup business. When I was at Dialog, we started up the channel, and then we brought it to a different level at Genesys. When I came over to InterCall, we started a channel,” he continued. “Finding the right partner is very key – someone with the knowledge in terms of selling, development, finance, etc., is what I found in Shaun Chambers.”

Chambers, who serves as the company’s CEO, operates out of the company headquarters in Reston, Va., while Sullivan operates out of a satellite location in Boston. SoundConnect has another satellite office in Pompano Beach, Fla.

Sullivan said SoundConnect’s goal over the next three to five years is $1 million per year in top-line revenue. He said the company’s other goals include building systems that are second to none in the partner industry in getting a customer from end to end in the shortest time frame and with the easiest navigation. “If we can’t be easy to do business with, we’re just going to be another reseller out there, and that’s not what we’re going to be,” said Sullivan.