M5 Networks Announces National Partner Program

The regional VoIP provider is going national by working with ISPs and VARs.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [January 28, 2008]

We've written extensively about New York City VoIP specialist M5 Networks. The company's mission is to do for phone systems what salesforce.com is doing for CRM software.

In order to control quality, it has focused on its home market, New York City, expanding slowly and carefully. "It took us almost eight years to decide we're ready for the next step," says Jeff Silbert, M5's vice president, channel & alliances. "M5 has demonstrated success in the New York market but also has a presence in Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia. In the last few years an increasing percentage (over 50 percent in 2007) of M5's new installations took place outside of these markets so the company decided the time was right to leverage this success by extending their channel programs."

ISPs can be the partner, but to date M5's partners have been VARs and technology consultants. The partner program allows M5 to work with national VARs, whereas in the past it tended to work with local and regional VARs, much smaller companies.

Today, the company announces two national partners:

Crestwood, Ill.-based Singlepath is a managed services provider specializing in unified communications. Last year, Silbert points out, it won its second consecutive Cisco Partner of the Year award.

Redwood City, Calif.-based All Covered is a consulting shop specializing in "national reach with a local presence." It claims 3,000 SMB customers.

VARs, Silbert says, are eying the recurring revenue stream of ISPs and are becoming trusted providers for business customers. "It takes time to build up the cash flow," he notes, "but once it's there, it's more reliable than the old break-fix model. We look to partner with companies that are offering this value-based service model to their customers. We want to sit not on the opposite side of the table but on the same side of the table with our partners."

He points to one of the company's success stories, in which it was able to tell a restaurant owner that 70 percent of calls received between 9 AM and 10 AM were going to voice mail. The company had not realized it needed to have staff on the phone that early. The point, Silbert explains, is that the provider becomes a trusted advisor instead of just another bill to be paid. M5 Networks has a very good web page touting its success stories, one that should be studied by any ISP that's considering building a case studies web page of its own.

The program
In the partner program, the service provider, Silbert explains, is responsible for the LAN, and everything beyond the LAN outward is the responsibility of M5, which is why ISPs might not seem to be the ideal partner for M5—ISPs are already providing data connections—but any ISP that is providing business services should talk to M5.

Another adjustment for M5 has been allowing the partner to make the sale. In the past, M5 led all sales. Now, the partner can participate. The partner program allows the partner to offer more, and it allows M5 to make sales in areas of the country where it does not have a sales force.

Support can be handled by M5 or by the partner, according to the partnership agreement. Silbert stresses that M5's support is top notch, providing continuity during disaster, providing active and even proactive service (calling the customer before the customer calls to complain), and offering unexpected additional services such as the advice to the restaurant about call flow.

Will it make sense for ISPs? Every ISP business, these days, is a little different, but if you're providing service to businesses, especially small businesses, and want to offer VoIP, you should take a close look at this one.

— End