Intermedia Expands the Teams Voice Opportunity for MSPs, Podcast

“We work for you—the partner.” In this Technology Reseller News podcast, Mark Sher, Senior Vice President of Product Marketing at Intermedia, discusses how the company’s embedded Microsoft Teams solution can help MSPs simplify business communications, strengthen customer relationships and create new recurring revenue. Intermedia is an intelligent communications provider serving small and midsized businesses primarily through the channel. More than 80 percent of the company’s revenue comes through partners, shaping how Intermedia develops, deploys and supports its products. Sher says businesses ultimately need communications technology to accomplish two things: enable employees to collaborate internally and connect the business with customers, vendors and other outside parties. Microsoft Teams has become highly effective at the first. Intermedia’s embedded Teams solution is designed to bring voice and broader external communications into the same environment. “To the extent that someone is already using Microsoft Teams for collaboration, we can bring in that second piece in a really cohesive way,” Sher says. Intermedia embeds its communications capabilities directly inside Teams while running voice on Intermedia’s own network. Customers therefore do not need to purchase a separate Microsoft Teams Voice license. That architecture also provides an additional business continuity option. If Teams becomes unavailable, users can access Intermedia’s communications services through the web and continue working until Teams returns. The offering extends beyond basic voice. Intermedia supports SMS, AI-powered call recap, archiving and broader customer experience capabilities, including omnichannel CX, AI agent assist and AI supervisor assist. Partners can also tailor the communications package at the individual-user level, allowing customers to pay for the capabilities particular employees actually require. For MSPs, Sher says the larger opportunity is economic. Many Intermedia partners operate as true resellers, purchasing services wholesale and reselling them under their own customer relationships. That enables partners to recognize top-line revenue, establish their own pricing and retain the customer relationship rather than functioning simply as agents. “The partner owns the customer relationship,” Sher says. “Our customer is the partner.” That model also allows MSPs to bundle communications with security, desktop support, networking and other managed services, creating a more differentiated offering than simply reselling another Teams license. Visit Intermedia to learn more about its embedded Teams solution and partner program.