Key Action Items Trusted Advisors • Don’t be too attached to outdated Trusted Advisor is a technology company that translates legacy gear. the offerings of technology vendors and service provid- ers into integrated solutions that further the interests • Compare the UCaaS feature set to your of the customer, typically by reducing costs or building current system. productivity. They often are called “agents,” “resellers,” integrators,” or “managed service providers,” each of • Evaluate UCaaS in the context of digital which has its own business-model variation, as defined transformation and rapidly shifting by the individual company. Trusted Advisors are third work patterns. party entities; neither owned by the vendor nor part of the internal IT department. They advise their clients and • Consider differentiators, TCO, com- make recommendations that are then decided upon by patibility with existing applications, the customer. contract terms, availability of POPs in your desired locations, reliability, and Their role is to understand the products and the key user-facing simplicity. differentiators. However, their knowledge of technolo- gy must interweave with their knowledge of business • Make sure security is baked in to your functions in order to devise technology solutions that preferred solution. successfully resolve business problems. Their strategies are therefore highly consultative in nature, and they • From early on, rally support from your seek to maintain a direct line of sight into the needs of users. the customer. • Turn to your Trusted Advisor for They typically have a technology specialty, or a vertical guidance. market specialty that spans multiple technologies, al- though most will offer a wide assortment of services in allied sectors, either directly or via partners. How those specialties align, combined with the resources and foot- print of the company, generally determines the portion of the market they serve, ranging from small business to large enterprise. Trusted Advisors specializing in the technology-of-in- terest are generally the first step taken by enterprise decision makers in their technology acquisition pro- cess. While each customer brings different values to the equation, and therefore seeks different types of compa- nies, their presence in the technology lifecycle is gener- ally viewed as a practical necessity. 28 Copyright © 2020 AVANT Communications, Inc.