ShoreTel CEO Don Joos is urging resellers to adopt 'unorthodox thinking' to push their businesses forward in the fast changing digital world.
At his keynote at the US vendor's UK & Ireland Partner Forum held at the Shard in London this month, Roos told reseller delegates that being unorthodox does not necessarily create chaos.
"The pace of change is staggering and to move forwards and do things differently we must detour," he said. "Great businesses constantly evolve to be comfortable being uncomfortable. You must have unorthodox thinking to create a new reality. When we are brainstorming ideas and a crazy idea comes to the table - that's when I get excited."
Talking in the context of Shortel's channel roll out of its Connect Cloud UC platform, Roos underlined his company's commitment to delivering channel partners 'people to machine' communications solutions which mid-market customers are now demanding.
"We are in a connected world now and the connections are evolving. Five billion interactions could be occurring at any minute. For Shoretel, it is now less about communications and more about interactions.
"Mid-market customers want to consume solutions and embed applications into the work flow of their organisation. Comms is still people talking to each other, but we are now seeing more interaction at a people to machine level. For example, when I walk into a room for a conference call I want to be recognised with presence via my smartphone, I want a conference bridge passcode delivered to me and my conference presentation fired up and ready to go."
Roos concluded by advising reseller delegates to start think about developing secure bespoke APIs for customers, maybe with external partners, to fully benefit from Connect Cloud opportunities.