AireSpring Receives TMC Award for Exemplary Channel Practices

By Christopher Mohr
Contributing Writer

AireSpring (News - Alert) recently announced that it had received TMC’s 2015 Internet Telephony Channel Program Excellence Award in Cloud Communications. The success of its channel program combined with technically superior features like a cloud that uses a private IP network both contribute to the company’s success.

Los Angeles-based AireSpring provides cloud-based communications, Internet telephony, voice, conferencing, managed network services, long distance, and wholesale services. According to its site, more than 90 percent of the company’s sales come from the channel.

Perhaps one of the biggest reasons that AireSpring has an award-winning channel program is that the company offers an escalation list that allows a customer or partner to take a complaint all the way up to the CEO. This says a lot, because CEOs don’t usually handle customer complaints, and many don’t handle them at all. AireSpring is letting its customers and partners know that they can take an issue all the way to the top if needed, while implying that their service is so good that it is a very rare occasion that an issue gets that far.

The company website claims that it has always been debt-free since it was founded 14 years ago, and that it makes all its commission payments on time. Assuming these claims are true, it’s a huge benefit to partners. Nothing is more aggravating than to put considerable effort into selling a company’s product and being the front line to handling customer problems and not getting paid when you should.  

The company also avoids channel conflict. If you become a partner, you won’t have to worry about competition from other channel partners or an internal sales staff.

Channel partnerships are a very important part of the success of many high-tech companies. One of the most successful tech companies in history, Google (News - Alert), grew largely from the channel. In just two years, TrialPay grew to having over 10,000 clients as the result of a strong channel program.

It’s easy to get lost in the crowded field of industry awards, but when structured properly, they not only recognize the companies that do things right, but provide a benchmark for others to follow. AireSpring seems to have found a formula that combines good technology and sound finances, plus it treats channel partners and customers with fairness and respect. It’s a formula that all companies should follow, not just those in the cloud communications industry. 

TMC (News - Alert) scored an exclusive interview with AireSpring at last month’s ITEXPO. Check out the full interview between AireSpring’s Daniel Lonstein (News - Alert) and TMC CEO Rich Tehrani below: