We’ve got a lot of momentum going into the end of the year, and this month, we’ve been focused on preparing for Lightwire Week at the start of December. Lightwire Week is where we get the whole team across Australia and New Zealand together in person and run workshops, training, and hackathons with the goal of us all working together to drive value and improvement for our customers and partners.
I hope to share some outcomes of that in the new year with you. In the interim the latest details you should be aware of:
- Our new Channel Account Manager who joined us in AU
- Enhancement for Wholesale Self-service number provisioning.
- Overhaul of our Internet Service Qualification tool
- Upcoming embargo period and public holidays
As always, thanks for your ongoing support. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have an idea or need assistance.
Nick Phillips
Head of Partners & Alliances
+64 21 230 0997 | +61 4 47 593 682
New Channel Account Manager
Jordan Kendall
This month we’ve welcomed Jordan Kendall to the team as our newest Channel Account Manager in Australia.
Jordan comes from a technical background, having worked both in-house and in the MSP world. His prior hands-on experience and technical skills (especially around 3CX) will provide invaluable insights into solving the challenges our partners face.
We can’t wait to see what great things he’ll achieve with our partners.
Connect with Jordan and say hello on LinkedIn.
Wholesale Partner Marketing Assistance
The marketing team is here to help you succeed by making the most out of your sales and marketing efforts. Let them know how they can help.
Coming Soon:
Wholesale Channel & DDI Management
Building on the already popular self ordering tool for voice services, we’re expanding the tool to process additional DDIs across Australia and New Zealand for you, which we will be rolling out in the coming months.
Above is a little teaser of the added functionality. Please note the tool is currently in testing and the final version may look different than the above teaser screenshot.
The next phase of this project will allow you to upgrade or downgrade your clients’ voice channels inside illume.
Need a quick refresher on illume?
Jump on a call with your Channel Account Manager to find out what’s new and how to make the most out of your partner portal.
Tool Update
Service Qualification Tool
Over the last few months, we’ve made a series of updates under the hood to make the Service Qualification (SQ) Tool even more powerful.
It’s got updated service qualification for New Zealand and Australia, and now includes the new vendors that we’re interconnected with, which will result in easier service qualification for you. We will be rolling out a few more enhancements in the next few months.
The SQ Tool is a great place to start if you want to know which services are available at your clients’ location. If you need any assistance at all get in touch with your Channel Account Manager.
Read of the month
Guide: B2B Internet in New Zealand
Business internet services in NZ don’t have to be complicated. The B2B internet services in NZ guide covers all the detail you need to get up to speed on everything from high-level market intel to service specific details, and all the gotchas in between.
We want to help our partners succeed, because we win when you win. That’s why the guide is 100% free, no forms, no spam, no cold calls.
2023/2024 Embargo Period
Local Fibre Companies (LFCs) will be implementing a level of change restriction on some parts of their networks environment over the 2023-24 Christmas holiday period.
They do this to minimise the risk of customer impacting events occurring at a time of reduced staffing levels across their organisation and suppliers.
Make sure you plan any upgrades/builds well in advance to avoid delays.
As a rough estimate, most carriers have their embargo periods between 22 December and 8 January for more detail check out the blog.
Public Holiday Diversions
December is pretty much here already. Get your clients’ phone system diversions in place for the holiday period before it’s too late.
Here are the upcoming public holidays:
- 24 December – Christmas Eve (AU – NT, QLD, SA)
- 25 December – Christmas Day (AU & NZ)
- 26 December – Boxing Day (AU & NZ)
- 31 December – New Year’s Eve (AU – NT, SA & NZ)
- 1 January – New Year’s Day (AU & NZ)
- 2 January – Day After New Year’s Day (NZ)
- 10 January – Devonport Cup (AU – TAS)
- 26 January – Australia Day (AU)
If Lightwire hosts your clients’ PBX(s) we can do this free of charge. Open a ticket via illume or send an email to support@lightwirebusiness.com with the following detail:
- Account name and number
- Date and time you would like calls diverted
- Date and time you would like calls returned to normal
- Diversion destination (voicemail, mobile, etc)
If you require a special recorded message to be played, please include the audio file with your email as these cannot be recorded by Lightwire staff.
Please send through your request as soon as possible to ensure that your clients’ diversions are in place for the public holiday.
