As a true partner-first company, Intermedia goes to work for its partners with the products and support that help them maximize their success in the channel with the opportunity to earn up to 5x more revenue. But rather than us telling you about the Intermedia Partner Advantage, hear it from our partners themselves.
With nearly 50 years as a business communications provider, Maryland Telephone has strong local roots. The family-owned business launched in 1974 in Baltimore as a local telephone company, has evolved into the region’s “One source for total business communications solutions.”
To live that motto, the company has expanded beyond just voice, and now delivers a full set of communications and collaboration solutions to the business customers it serves. Michael Cook, President and Co-Owner of Maryland Telephone, recently shared his experience of partnering with Intermedia, and how his company’s expansion into offering cloud-based communications solutions came at just the right time for his clients, along with a partner model that offered critical benefits to his company.
Intermedia Allows Maryland Telephone to Own their Customer Relationships
In searching for a cloud communications vendor, Mr. Cook did exhaustive research and concluded that Intermedia “checked all the boxes,” including a partner reseller model that allows them to preserve ownership of the customer relationship. This program, known as Intermedia’s Customer Ownership Reseller Model (CORETM), enables partners to purchase product from Intermedia at wholesale prices, brand it as their own, and then resell at the price point, and margin, the partner sets. Compared to a traditional commissioned agent model, CORE allows partners to realize up to 5x more revenue. By white labeling the Intermedia Unite platform, Maryland Telephone is able to define the relationship, managing sales, service, and billing. Intermedia assists with this in the background, along with full marketing and onboarding support, but it’s Maryland Telephone that’s “the provider.” For a company that’s been serving some clients for decades, that mattered to them; they didn’t just want to hand over their user base to someone else.
Adopting the Technology and Rollout
After choosing Intermedia, it was time for training and implementation.
Said Mr. Cook, “The way we implemented the solution had to be easier than the current way we were doing things. We wanted improvement in our admin tools, as well as those for the customer portal, and we found that with Intermedia.”
“I’ve never received so much attention from a new partner. It wasn’t just lip service; they were extremely detail-oriented with all aspects of onboarding and training. We sent everyone to their online training portal, Intermedia University, so our technical teams could get certified along with sales boot camps that allowed us to hit the ground running.” Mr. Cook shared.
Cloud-Based Unified Communications Simplify Technology
The benefits of the cloud are many, and the urgency to migrate to it accelerated during the pandemic. “Our legacy phone clients using other providers struggled with using the system from home, and it was very expensive in some cases to try and make it work.”
Mr. Cook has long been an advocate for remote work, saying, “We’ve been talking about remote work for over 14 years now and why it makes sense. Now, it’s part of every new conversation we have with businesses, as they realize employees need to stay connected to each other, and their customers, no matter where they are working from.”
“Businesses can meet, chat, collaborate on documents, have new business pitches, provide customer support, and basically do everything they’re used to doing before the pandemic, but now can do it from wherever, thanks to the cloud and Intermedia.”
What Their Clients Are Saying
Mr. Cook expressed that customers are blown away with the technology. “Customers are overwhelmed by what we can deliver to them today. They are shocked that they can get everything they need in a communications platform for such a low monthly cost.”
The Partnership and the Technology Meet Maryland Telephone’s Needs
The best relationships encompass a mutually beneficial and respectful partnership. In choosing Intermedia, Mr. Cook said, “I’m extremely pleased with the partnership and technology. The people I’ve been working with are amazing and always available when we need them.”
Hear more of our interview with Mr. Cook and his experience working with Intermedia in this video.
Scott Anderson
Scott Anderson is Intermedia's Chief Marketing Officer, and is responsible for Intermedia global marketing, including product, brand, direct, channel, demand, and digital marketing, as well as internal/external communications.
October 22, 2021
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