Audio Productions are a music-on-hold and customer engagement business committed to helping companies deliver a more comprehensive satisfaction strategy in the age of customer experience. As an organisation committed to helping their resellers thrive in today's changing business environment, Audio Productions has plenty of insights to offer into what the future might hold for channel partners.
I caught up with Andrew Jones, the Director for Audio Productions UK, to talk about how we can expect reseller strategies to evolve in 2019.
What Was 2018 Like for Audio Productions?
The first thing that Andrew told me was that 2018 had been a positive year for Audio Productions, which allowed the company to learn more about their network.
"By the end of 2017, our priorities had shifted. We were going out and doing more face-to-face visits with our partners so that we could get a better feel for what they needed to stand out in the current marketplace."
Jones noted that Audio Productions had quickly realised that everyone in their community seemed to approach the market in their own unique way. While many resellers offered the same products and solutions to their clients, the way that they went to market with those strategies was often unique, with some embracing aggressive, outgoing sales approaches, and others relying on inbound opportunities.
"We found that trying to create a single product to suit everyone didn't really work. We needed to go out and find out how we could help our resellers on a more individual level, rather than just throwing another product into the mix for them."
How Has the Drive for Better Customer Experience Affected Resellers?
Jones told me that he had thought their research teams would have spotted a trend of people moving to the cloud or embracing specific technology. However, the truth was that the only key trend in the marketplace seemed to be the pervading need for better customer experiences. That's a positive thing for Audio Productions, as engagement is at the core of their offering.
"We're giving resellers the first thing that customers hear when a business answers a phone. Our services offer companies professionalism and fantastic initial interactions between brands and their customers."
Last year, Audio Productions also launched a "music on hold as a service" solution to give their resellers more freedom over how they welcomed new customers. "We saw a lot of popularity for this service among smaller resellers and new entrants to the Comms market, although bigger resellers seem to prefer sticking with the pay-as-you-go model for now."