Intelisys To Partners: The Whole Customer Experience Means Including CRM In The Conversation

Intelisys and its parent company ScanSource are helping solution providers offer a full customer experience solution instead of only "pieces of the puzzle."

ScanSource in August acquired Canpango, a solution provider with a strong Salesforce practice, to help partners with consulting and Salesforce implementation. The ultimate customer service solution isn't Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), and CRM products sold separately, leaders from ScanSource, Intelisys and Canpango told partners during Intelisys' annual Channel Connect event Thursday.

"So often, the products that have been available are really pieces, and we want partners to put the whole puzzle together for their customers. They no longer need to be point solution providers," Matt Lautz, CEO of Canpango, said. "Now with Intelisys and ScanSource, we are able to go in and help them sell this entire customer service solution to their end customers."

[Related: Intelisys Channel Connect: Customer Experience The 'Next Frontier' For Partners]

Master agent Intelisys has seen CCaaS and UCaaS sales skyrocket over the past two years. In fact, Intelisys' top supplier partner in 2018 by growth percentage was UCaaS provider RingCentral.

Frequently during CCaaS and UCaaS discussions, customers ask for these products to be integrated with their CRM solutions, such as Salesforce. However, many partners have been skipping out on CRM integration deals completely, said Andrew Pryfogle, senior vice president of cloud transformation at Intelisys.

"Most partners weren't necessarily even thinking of having that conversation or asking that question," he said. Instead, partners have instead suggested plug-ins being offered by CCaaS and UCaaS products to CRM tools.

"It was really up to the customer to solve that problem," Pryfogle added. "Now, our partners can own those conversations, and I think it’s a significant game-changer for them and a big revenue opportunity for them," he said.

Canpango specializes in integrating Salesforce into CCaaS and UCaaS products to give users access to actionable data and analytics to change how they interact with their own end customers.

"We believe you're flying blind and not looking at the whole customer experience if you're not engaging with [customers] on their CRM," Lautz said.

Access Technologies, a Portland, Ore.-based IT consultant, is selling CCaaS to its end customers today but isn't selling CRM yet. Many customers are interested in a cloud-based CRM solution, said Trey Lackey, CEO of Access Technologies.

"We believe it's something we need to be talking to our customers about, and I think by extension of us building our entire operation on Salesforce, our customers want to know what our experience has been," Lackey said.

Lackey is interested in offering Salesforce integration and learning about the revenue potential.

"I'm still trying to figure out what exactly the next step is, how it will fit into the portfolio, and where we add value to the customer," he said.

For partners, offering a full customer service-focused solution will help differentiate them and keep them relevant with customers, rather than simply being relegated to their solution provider that sells telecom services and connectivity, Pryfogle said.

"Salesforce has really embraced the channel, and most implementations are being done through partners, so it might as well be you," Lautz said.

Intelisys and its parent company ScanSource are betting big on customer experience. To that end, the master agent on Thursday introduced a new educational program, CX Summit. The new series of events slated for 2019 will feature Intelisys' CCaaS suppliers and Salesforce executives providing education on customer experience to partners, their end customers, and new prospects, the company said.