Automated Transcript
Andy Herring, Product Marketing Manager at Pragma: Hi, so Andy Hearing Product Manager at Pragma. With Rich, do you want to introduce yourself?
Richard James, Head of Product Management for UCaaS and CCaaS at Gamma: Yeah, Rich James, Head of Product Management for our UCaaS and CCaaS products at Gamma.
Andy: We’re 10 months in. Specifically, what I’m interested in is when you look at the acquisition for what you gained product-wise through iPECS Cloud, how has it measured up to expectations for you and within the team in general?
Rich: It has absolutely measured up. Before the acquisition, we had gaps in our Horizon product. Things like IP-DECT, fixed mobile conversion, and some other features that we just wouldn’t get into certain bids. So, it’s very complementary to the Horizon product. And actually, when we look at the growth and how we’re enabling our channel partners to go out to market, they now have a more rounded portfolio that they can confidently sell through Gamma or Pragma.
Andy: You and I were lucky enough, quite early on in the relationship, to spend some time out in Korea with the team. For anybody that doesn’t know, we have an annual trip out to Korea with all the product teams from all the distributors globally. We talk about what’s happened and what’s going to be happening product-wise. From your point of view, obviously, you’ve just talked about meeting expectations, but from a pure product person’s perspective, where do you see the strengths of the iPECS Cloud ecosystem as we call it?
Rich: I think it’s excellent as that first step from on-prem PBX to cloud. Not to say it’s not modernised, it absolutely is, but it gives businesses confidence in what they know, how they work, and the business processes they’ve built with their communications. They’ve got that safety net there. But also, the proposition you built around that and worked with the team in Korea with Ericsson-LG, is really helping modernise their communications as well. It might not happen on day one, but they know they’ve got something there that they don’t have to rip out and bring something else that they can add to over time. The services and ecosystem built around that core proposition is great, and it builds confidence for businesses knowing they have something future-proof.
Andy: What did you think about the approach to the roadmap? We always say one of our strengths is that channel partners almost own the roadmap because it’s almost entirely based on their feedback, and where the product ends up.
Rich: 100%. I work with quite a few different vendors and have done so in different product sets over the years. That meeting in Korea, spending a couple of days with the team, not just with Ericsson-LG, but also with other providers they have, really, really open and transparent conversations. It was a case of, “This is what customers need in this market,” and then actually being able to mold that solution with the vendor before they go to develop it. I came away from that session thinking, “Wow, this is really impressive.” It’s a great way of operating. It also shows the level of trust that Ericsson-LG have got with Pragma, and also vice versa, to make sure that the solutions being developed are the right solutions for customers.
Andy: Yeah, we always say to partners, “You’re so important in this journey”, because, like yourself, got experience working with other vendors, and quite often, it’s the case that they just come to you and almost plonk a new product on the table and say, “We’ve made this, can you go sell it?”. It doesn’t feel like much input from… you know, you as the channel, there has been. But I think with us, it’s a much more living, breathing thing, it’s an LG family.
Rich: Absolutely. Spending two days going through use cases at a very low level, having debates about how things should work. But it was always done with every single person in that room where we’re putting the customer at the heart of the solution. because it might work well for us that are using this day in, day out, but ultimately we’ve got to be thinking about the people actually using these solutions at the end of it. The level of transparency and passion in that room to make sure we were doing the right thing for those customers was clear.
Andy: There were some challenging moments, but in a good way.
Rich: Absolutely, and that’s a testament to the relationship. We can have those open and frank conversations, and vice versa as well. If we thought something was a good idea…
Andy: If we think something’s a good idea, then it always is, right?
Rich: It is, but then someone else can throw something else into the mix as well and then you go…
Andy: I’ve never thought about that.
Rich: Exactly.
Andy: So, we’ve talked about the acquisition and key strengths of the portfolio. To keep this relatively short and sweet, I think for me as a kind of way to sort of start wrapping it up, what’s your vision for the next 12 to 18 months with regards to the iPECS Cloud ecosystem and how it’s going to fit into what we’re doing within the wider Gamma team?
Rich: There’s so much opportunity for the iPECS Cloud ecosystem core product. If you have a look at the opportunity that’s available in the UK market, there’s PBX manufacturers coming out of market or coming out of supporting these solutions, the NECs, Panasonics, Samsungs. That’s absolutely right for modernising, and I see iPECS Cloud absolutely winning in those spaces. You then think of things like fixed mobile convergence, which you can look at purely through a vertical lens and go “Actually, financial services, a heavily regulated industry. It’s an out-of-the-box solution to that as well”. So, there are a lot of exciting things over the next 12 or 18 months, and a lot of opportunities out there for iPECS Cloud to continue growing, and for our partners to maximise revenue and margin opportunities.
Andy: It’s interesting. I’ve had a few conversations today with people asking about our strengths and what’s our target size customer. I’m always quite keen, from a product management point of view, I know why we position stuff in certain places. But when I talk to people, I often say we can deliver for all customer sizes, whether it’s five users or 500. We’ve got a portfolio of products now where we’re really pushing the boundaries, because that’s a bit too far, we are innovating, you look at products like the Connect product and the plugins that go around that.
Rich: It’s the sidekick.
Andy: Yeah, we’re not reinventing the wheel, but what I would say to people is that we’re making that technology accessible to customers where it may not have previously been accessible. We’re opening up opportunities that we never knew existed. Like the first two contact centres we put into Thailand last year, and one of them had only six users. It’s just proof that with the right approach to customers, where traditionally people would have said “Oh, that’s not a contact centre”…
Rich: Everyone has customers.
Andy: Everybody does customer service, right?
Rich: Absolutely. One of the things you’ve got with the proposition that you’ve got, and what I was talking about today, was about how we can bring balance to organisations. What I mean with that is communications are so critical for businesses to achieve their goals and drive outcomes, but no one wakes up thinking, “I want to use a UCaaS product today”. They’re tools to enable and bring into the business, and what you’ve got with the iPECS proposition is they can mold, and you’ve got some uniqueness, like being able to integrate into a different, or wider range of CRMs than others in the market with Connect App, plus AI services. AI is everywhere.
Andy: Everybody’s talking about it.
Rich: Every event you go to, it’s number one in the agenda.
Andy: And we’re lucky because of the team we’ve got behind that with the team at Cosoft, the key thing for me is the agility. We were able to talk to the guys, turn the staff around really quickly, far quicker than we would be able to do. Maybe with more established routes to market. Awesome. One final thought to leave with people. One little nugget of wisdom?
Rich: One nugget of wisdom? I’d say it’s that point on balance again. Balancing user needs, balancing different generations communicating in different ways. I think this is where iPECS excels as well, because you’ve got people, younger generations that we want to be communicating with video and chat. You’ll have older generations that are still voice, and you’ve still got that in your proposition. You’re bringing newer technologies around there. Balancing existing infrastructure, costs that businesses may have with modern ways of working. I think that everything that you’ve got in your arsenal supports getting the right balance of these tools in the organisations.
Andy: Well, thank you for joining me. It’s been fun.
Rich: Thank you for having me.
Andy: I’m sure we’ll do this again soon.
Rich: Absolutely.
Andy: Thank you.
