PARTNER CHANNEL: WorldxCh-Ch-ChChanges

Posted: 07/2002

WorldxCh-Ch-ChChanges

By Tara Seals

WORLDXCHANGE COMMUNICATIONS has announced a three-pronged company redirection and agent program relaunch, which will take the company to new service sectors.

The carrier will make its redesigned agent channel the primary focus adding new services such as presubscribed long distance for the residential market and dedicated circuits for businesses, and it will target small and medium-sized businesses.

The company historically has had a strong wholesale focus, a direct-sell dial-around product and a multilevel marketing (MLM) agent strategy for the residential market. However, since emerging from bankruptcy more than a year ago, WorldxChange has been shifting its resources to concentrate on the alternate channel.

In April, WorldxChange recruited its new CEO, Ken Hilton, from Excel Communications Inc. to spearhead the companywide shift. Hilton was executive vice president for North America and headed up Excel's immense MLM-based agent channel for almost five years.

"Wholesale margins are small and bad debt is a problem, and coincident with that we found the agent channel to be very successful," Hilton explains the reasons for WorldxChange's new direction. "It's a natural progression given the environment."

The new agent program still contains a significant MLM component, but the compensation plan and residual commissions structure places an emphasis on bringing in customers rather than subagents. "There are rich rewards for personal customer gathering," says Hilton. "It's a strong message that you need to go out and get customers."

Also, Hilton says the program is tailored for traditional, professional telecom agents in addition to MLM partners. "There are a lot of switchless resellers going out of business, and we want to be a stable home for those true-blue telecommunications agents looking to move business in shifting sands."

One way WorldxChange will attract those agents is by expanding its portfolio. It has launched 1+ service for small business and residential customers, and it plans to offer data lines such as T1s and other dedicated services. The offerings also reflect a new customer target for the company: small and medium-sized businesses.

"Agents will be instrumental in leveraging us into that market, and so, we clearly understand that our success is 100 percent based on our dedication to the agent channel, and we will provide all the support, training and back office that we can to support agents," says Hilton.

The carrier's agent intranet offers CDR information updated daily, live ordering and subscription and online commissions tracking. Hilton notes WorldxChange is funded well and is stable financially. It also has a strong network and infrastructure.

This is not the last word on WorldxChange. The company plans to announce mergers and acquisitions during the next year that will enhance its service offerings.