TA Introduces New Vendor EnTelegent (Interview transcript, September 2009)

D: Hello!, this is Dan Baldwin and today we’re speaking with Bo Wheeler, President of EnTelegent Solutions, a managed solutions provider focused on bill consolidation and telecom activity management, as well as providing voice and data carrier services headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Bo thanks for talking to TA today.

B: Thanks for having me Dan.

D: Now Bo, our first question in order of priority what are the main services that you want channel partners to distribute?

B:  You did a very good job in your overview.  You mentioned the three product sets that we have.  The biggest value I think that we are going to bring to the channel is managed services.  Managed services has many definitions, and our value is the ability to inventory a customers current environment, audit that environment, offer optimization options including voice and data carrier services and then to consolidate their billing environment and manage their telecom activity across the enterprise.

D: Wow. Nice solutions there. What end user target markets are most attracted to this service?

B: We have had the most success in the large enterprise space, specifically a good profile would be multi-location enterprises who take advantage of multiple services from multiple providers, that’s really our sweet spot. Our tools can be leveraged to simplify the customer’s life and also add a really powerful tool into our agent’s bags.

D: Is there a target customer that you are looking for in the number of dollars they spend per month so our agents know, hey this is too small or this is too big.

B: No, not really.  We’re fairly flexible and like crafting solutions for specific opportunities, so we welcome the opportunity to look at all types of solutions. 

D: But the key then is having multiple locations and multiple services and then distilling it all down to one billing report.

B: Yeah, it’s more related to the level of complexity. There needs to be either a resource issue or a level of complexity in terms of multiple providers across multiple services where we can really come in and add value by consolidating that environment and centralizing service desk type activity.

D: Well, Thanks. Question number three, what type of channel partners are having the most success selling your services?

B: We are building relationships with carriers. Specifically we have a private label capability that can augment their out of territory needs. We can provide them additional products and services as well.  We’ve had a lot of success partnering with those entities as well as larger VARs and larger interconnects as well. MSPs and of course day to day activities we have with telecom master agents as well.

D: Good, Good. Now question four, who are the primary competitors for both end users and channel partners, who are you taking business from; or whose trying to take business from you?

B: That’s a good questions, Dan.  We have a different kind of approach. We’re here to develop long term relationships. Our focus is on loyal partners who know their interests are being protected. We work very closely with our master agents and focus on supporting their downstream agents and subagents. We really look to compliment and partner with carriers that we deal with, and as I mentioned before to expand their footprint and add to their portfolios. As well as with our agents there is always opportunity to augment their value added services and just see what we can add to their bag.

D: Ok. Question five. Now can you specifically tell us or give examples of how your services are better than your competitors both end users or channel partners?

B: We’re always looking to do three things. First and foremost to make it easy for the agents, make it easy for the agents to do business and be successful. We pay high commissions and we provide a secure place to do business. Those are really the three differentiators that we see bringing to the market place. We are a managed solutions provider; our services are value added and they’re designed to reduce the workload on both the agent and the customer. An example of that would be one of our tools, our portal; our website is designed specifically to help agents to make life simpler. They can manage the commissions of their agents and their subs as well. A lot of flexibility and a lot of back end tools for our agents.

D: Great, Question six, what is the geography of your marketplace, do you have on and off net footprints?

B: That’s a pretty straight forward answer, our services are available nation wide, we are not restricted by any facility based footprint.

D: Okie dokie. Question seven; does your channel partner program have different commitment levels?

B: Yes, yes we do.  We are typically going after bigger deals, our approach is less contact points provides laser focus on our partners, we are able to go deep in our relationships. Our commissions are targeted to be several points higher than other top agent programs for like products at like price points; and we negotiate based on commitment level and of course building long term relationships. We do have multiple tiers.

D: Good, Good. Question eight; do you have retail or wholesale distribution channels that partners may find themselves competing against?

B: No Dan, we do not. EnTelegent is focused solely on selling through the channel by providing those value added services we have been talking about with superior products, commissions, support and a really great end user experience.  That’s what our focus is.   

D: Alrighty. Question nine; do you run retail pricing or agent commission programs?

B: Yes we do.  Similar to the other providers out there.  Periodically we will also offer deals that we get from our upstream carriers as well. We really look at special pricing also on a deal by deal basis. We want to develop the best solution at the right price for the agent to win the business.  We’re very flexible in that area.

D: Good, Question 10, any significant program or product changes coming up in the near or distant future?

B: We talked about our full suit of voice and data services; those have been rolled out… DIA, MPLS, Private Line, nationwide CLEC capabilities, POTS.  And our focus in the immediate future is getting our PRI product out, getting our VoIP product out into the market place; and also our first, the first of our offerings in the Saas product line.  Specifically a disaster recovery option for secure data back up and restore. We’re very excited about that product line.

D: Great! Question eleven; our favorite, can you give us a little bit of biography of the company; the owners, the executive or the agent support staff that our members will be working with? How long have you been around? How long have you been doing this? Quite frankly do you know what you’re doing?

B: Oh, absolutely, good question. We are in our second year. EnTelegent Solutions grew out of the identified need for larger VARs and carriers to fill in their footprints as we talked about before. We have that private label capability for regulated services and the compliments to their product portfolios so they can offer a complete solutions to their customer. We have found that many cases that piecemeal option is not really a good solution for customers, they’re looking for someone who can present them with a complete solution.

Entelegent is privately owned.  We are privately funded.  There’s no VC or hot money.  We have no debt, and the principals in the business are myself, Bo Wheeler, and Dave Gibson.

My background includes 20 years in the carrier space.  I have held various leadership positions in sales marketing, technical and service delivery organizations in environments such as MCI, Verizon and Qwest.

Dave Gibson brings a lot of operational and IT experience, specifically in billing and managing networks of IXCs, CLECs and MSPs and also Saas providers, as well.

So the other aspect of our company I think that would be relevant to the agent partner community is that we have solutions engineers and solutions analyst as well as channel managers here to assist our partners in selling and implementing EnTelegent Solutions.

D: Great, Great this has been Dan Baldwin; I have been speaking with Bo Wheeler the president of EnTelegent Solutions managed solutions provider based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bo I appreciate you talking to TA toady. Is there anything else you want to share with us? Are we going to see you in Miami at the trade show?

B: Yes, we will be in Miami we will have a booth on the floor, so please stop by and see us or you can visit our website as well www.entelegent.com to get further information and that’s EnTelegent spelled with all E’s and one L.

D: Thanks a lot Bo and we will talk to you again soon.

B: Thank you very much Dan. I appreciate it.