BCN's growth and technology solutions

Adam Edwards hosts this Telarus executive interview, with guest Jeanne Duca, the chief marketing officer of BCN. They discussed the company’s impressive growth, having more than doubled sales last year. She highlighted the strategic focus on technology advisers and geographic expansion, particularly in the West, led by new VP of sales, Dan Solomon. BCN is recognized for its strong managed SD-WAN offerings and high customer satisfaction, boasting an NPS score of sixty-five, which is double the industry average. Duca emphasized that BCN is not just an aggregator but a managed technology solutions provider, catering primarily to mid-market and enterprise customers. The company is gaining national recognition for its comprehensive solutions and exceptional customer support.

Transcript is auto-generated.

Introduction to Jeanne Duca and BCN

Welcome, everyone. My guest today is Jeanne Duca, chief marketing officer of BCN. Jeanne, welcome.

Thank you, Adam. It’s a pleasure to be here.

You know, it’s always fun having meetings like this on the end of a stellar year. More than doubled sales last year with BCN. Mhmm.

I gotta ask, what from your perspective is causing such a rise in, sales activity?

Well, I’ll tell you, it’s really a focus on getting closer to your technology advisers. We’ve had a dedicated effort to do that, and we’re really seeing it pay off. So between our sales directors, your channel managers in the field, getting us in touch with those technology advisers, once they give us that first opportunity to make a difference for them and for their customer, we see them coming back for more. So that’s really been positive.

We’re also making a really concerted effort to focus on the West. We just brought on a new VP of sales in the West, Dan Solomon, an industry veteran. He brought on Jason Wagg, a sales director from the West Coast. We’ve got someone in Arizona.

We’ve got someone in California. So we are really putting our effort behind that and making a real difference for BCN in the West.

We’re seeing it. I think BCN has been a well kept secret on the East. You’ve been around for thirty years, but we’re seeing this absolute surge in activity. I think a lot of that has to do with your geographic expansion. Even though you’ve been there, I think your presence and being in front of advisers, has really made a difference. We’re seeing it in the numbers.

I couldn’t agree more. Thank you.

Market Trends and Connectivity Insights

So, Jeanne, what are you seeing in the market of trends that, advisors should be aware of?

Well, Adam, what I would say to you may sound odd, but we think connectivity is still king. You might say, but Jeanne, connectivity’s been at the heart of technology solutions for decades. And I would say, yes. You’re right.

But this is not the same kind of connectivity that customers need today. With the advent of AI based applications and digital transformation initiatives, and more bandwidth than ever before, and they want it unbreakable, and they want it secured. That’s the big difference. So when you think about, well, what does that mean?

That means multiple connections at every locations. At least two, maybe more depending on the use case. They want SD WAN overlay. They want security.

They want network monitoring. What does that mean for the technology advisor? That means a stickier solution, adaptable, scalable, something that’s probably gonna be around for a while and provide extra opportunity for growth.

So we’re big fans of Bandwidth. Happens to be our largest selling category. There you go. We do see that some advisors move on and forget to bring network along with them, which we still think is core to a solution. But I’m curious. What what customers are you targeting in your, ideal customer profile? What do they look like?

Understanding the Ideal Customer Profile

Absolutely. The ideal BCN customer is mid market to enterprise, multi location, primarily domestic locations, but we can accommodate international as well. BCN partners with hundreds of network and technology partners with direct contracts. And through our partnership with ConnectBase, we can bring hundreds more to the table. So it’s really, again, multilocation, mid market to enterprise, connectivity, overlays, IP voice, whatever their requirements are, we can satisfy those.

So that’s where we’re seeing significant growth as well. It’s the mid market enterprise. The advisors playing there are seeing the biggest tailwinds of these customers coming through. So you mentioned a few things.

You mentioned network. You mentioned securing the network. You also mentioned voice. What other products are you selling that we’re not aware of?

Revitalizing SD WAN Offerings

Let me tell you about our SD WAN offering. In twenty twenty four, we completely revitalized and redefined that offering. And with the addition of adaptive networks, which we brought on just last month, I would go as far as to say we have one of the strongest managed SD WAN offerings in the marketplace today.

Got it. So from a competitive standpoint, there are a lot of folks out there offering network.

How do you stack up or or more importantly rather than better versus best, how are you different, than a lot of the folks out there?

Well, I would say, again, it it’s the number of providers that we can bring to the table, whether we’ve got direct contracts with them or they’re coming through our partnership with ConnectBase. When you think about multilocation, our commitment to the customer and to the technology advisor is we’ll have a solution for every single one of those locations. So whether it’s DIA, broadband, a wireless connection, or most recently, low earth orbit satellite, STARLINK, which we brought onboard about six or so months ago, seeing a lot of success with that. So it’s really Internet connectivity in whatever form the customer needs it. And then with that SD WAN overlay, the network monitoring, I mean, you’re really looking at a total bespoke solution tailored to the needs of each customer.

Defining BCN’s Role Beyond Aggregation

So we earlier today, we were talking, and you don’t like the term aggregator.

I do not.

But it looks like you’re bringing all these services in and aggregating them in a sense. What don’t you like about that phrasing?

I think aggregator has a little bit of a of an old time, appeal.

I think it’s laziness in some part that we can’t come up with a better word, but we really believe we’re more than an aggregator. We are a managed technology solutions provider.

We do that by aggregating the services of all those providers I just talked to you about into a customized solution in which we add tremendous value working both with your technology advisers and the customer themselves. So this is no cookie cutter solutions are coming out of BCN. This is every single solution is specifically designed to meet the needs of that customer. That’s not aggregation. Aggregation is a practice that you use to bring things together, but we’re really talking about providing a technology solution based on the unique needs of each customer.

Evidence of Custom Solutions and Customer Satisfaction

So what evidence do you have that you’re more than aggregation? You’re you’re bringing this custom solution. What evidence do you have that it’s more than aggregation?

Well, I would say that we see that in our NPS scores, both overall.

So we have an overall NPS score of sixty five, which if you know anything about the technology industry is about double what is typical. So we’re very, very proud of that. We think that speaks to our commitment to the experience. We think that speaks to being more than just someone who puts things on one bill, even though that is an advantage.

We have a service delivery NPS score of one hundred. So we survey customers and technology advisers post a project onboarding implementation.

And so far, it’s a hundred percent NPS score across the board.

Well, that that’s strong. Okay. That’s strong. Good evidence. Last question for you. What advice would you give to technology advisers who are pitching BCN?

Advice for Technology Advisers

Well, I think it all starts if you go back to our original discussion about the need for increased enhanced connectivity. I think it has to start with the vast array of solutions we can bring. We talked about hundreds of direct contracts, hundreds of carriers and and solutions we can bring through connect base network and technology partners. That’s the table stakes.

When you’ve got a multilocation opportunity, whether it’s mid market or enterprise, the first thing a technology adviser needs to know and needs to be able to tell their customer is this company can do it. They have the resources. They have the solutions. They can address the opportunity that you have.

Once you’ve got those table stakes out of the way, it’s really about the experience. It’s selling BCN, our culture, our company, our team. We’ve got some of the longest tenure in the industry, ten plus years among our, employees. So it’s really about us working with the customer every step of the way from the first discovery question to the crafting of the solution to the flexibility and agility in the contract process to the service implementation, whether it’s program, onboarding for customers anywhere from five k and MRC and above.

For select customers, they’re gonna move right into our major accounts group where they have dedicated support. So there are a lot of things that we do differently and better. It’s not necessarily a uniqueness in the pieces and parts. It’s a uniqueness in how it all comes together.

Conclusion and Future Outlook for BCN

Very good. Well, there you have it. BCN making a tear across the nation. Best best kept secret of the east. Now the central and the west is finding out. Certainly, at Telarus, we’re seeing the upswing. Jeanne, thank you so much for your partnership, and thanks for being here.

Thanks so much.