… no more than 15 minutes focusing on a single business topic. After that, the winemaker joins and does a guided tasting. This has been a big hit, as you might imagine. Wish I could take credit for it!
CF: Diversity and the fight against racism have become critical topics for business and the nation. What actions do you see the channel taking to improve the situation?
JM: My dad had one piece of advice for me that he repeated over and over: Respect people and they will respect you. I try to practice that every day. For me, this is how we start improving as humans and as a society. Now I’m a dad and I have one piece of advice for my seven-year-old daughter: Be an ally because allies make you stronger.
CF: What plans do you have in store for the Ribbon channel for the rest of 2020 and into 2021?
JM: Our big initiative for the fourth quarter is Ribbon UC Perspectives. We are in the process of running a market research study asking 5,000 enterprises around the world for their views on unified communications, Microsoft Teams and their companies’ responses to COVID-19. We will be sharing that data with our partners through a series of virtual events that will feature country-specific data. In early 2021, we will be working with the channel to launch a number of “as a service” offers for them to take to the enterprise market.
CF: Overall, what have you learned most from your experience with the channel and partners?
JM: Channel people lead interesting lives! It has been great getting to know so many people in our business on a personal level.
CF: What advice would you give someone just starting out in channel leadership?
JM: Never promise a partner something that you don’t intend to follow up on. The business is based on relationships — build good ones.
