Channel Partners 2025 and the Power of Partnership 

The energy at Channel Partners 2025 was electric, with over 300 vendors and 7800 channel professionals, and ZIRO was proud to sponsor one of the biggest, if not the biggest, partner event in the world to share why ZIRO is the right partner for Microsoft Teams Phone and Copilot projects. 

The 4-day conference in Vegas was jampacked with sessions, speakers, and sponsors from top industry channel leaders, and we were excited to connect with partners and innovators shaping the future of business communications. 

From ZIRO to 100: The Ultimate Partner Case Study Featuring Microsoft  

During our keynote session with Microsoft, we presented a real-world case study session, in partnership with Arun Subramanian, Director of Partner Marketing for Microsoft, and Ultimate Partner CEO Vince Menzione, to share ZIRO’s journey to becoming a top Microsoft partner. I shared our Microsoft partner story with all the big bets, game-changing moves, and the lessons learned. 

The Microsoft opportunity is massive; for every $1 of revenue that Microsoft makes, their services partner should make about $8 of revenue. 

Microsoft is aiming for over 20% growth through its partner ecosystem—translating into a $500 billion Total Addressable Market (TAM) across multiple industries. With continuous innovation in Modern Work and Copilot, betting on Microsoft isn’t just smart—it’s strategic. 

At ZIRO, we’re starting with what we know best: voice. It’s our foundation, and it’s also where AI is making the biggest impact—especially in customer service, sales, and other voice-driven experiences. The integration of AI with voice data opens doors to powerful insights and customer prompts. Even if that data lives outside a tenant or Copilot today, partners have the opportunity to bring it into play—securing, managing, and leveraging it for real business outcomes. 

With over 400 million users on Microsoft Teams, the AI journey begins there. Teams—and the voice data within it—is the key to real value. 

ZIRO is the enabler of channel partners’ business. Our goal is to make this so easy that you don’t have to be a Teams expert to take advantage of this next shift in the industry to grow your business. There isn’t one partner that can do this alone, and the opportunity for partners is bigger than ever. 

Tech Advisor Deep Dive: Pick Strategic AI Partners to Supercharge Your Future 

During this technology advisor panel, Keith Dennis (SVP, Sales, UJET), Roger Hurst (Global Solutions Director, Connex.ai), David Wright (Founder & CEO, Disruptive Innovations), and I discussed how tech advisors can prepare for intense sales training so that they can grow as thought leaders in the burgeoning AI market. 

For partners looking to lead in the AI space, now is the time to lean into platforms your customers already use—like Microsoft. To maintain the trusted advisor status, be clear with your customers on their needs, focus on your area of expertise and use common language (not jargon) when talking to customers about AI. 

Choosing the right AI partner is critical. It’s not just about flashy features—it’s about long-term strategy. How will this AI solution apply to your customer’s world? Can the vendor support adoption, training, and iterative improvements over time? The most valuable partners are those that can help guide, train, and evolve users through every phase of the AI journey. 

One common barrier to adoption is fear—fear of change, of complexity, of losing control. That’s why successful implementation starts with education and support. AI isn’t just a tool; it’s a skill. And like any skill, it takes time and training to build confidence. 

Take integrating AI in collaboration and communication solutions, for example. Customers don’t want any barriers in communicating with businesses —they want seamless, consistent experiences across every channel. AI can play a huge role in delivering on that promise. 

Just last week at ZIRO, we helped a client activate Copilot and meeting transcription in Microsoft Teams. While it might sound basic, the executive team was amazed by how accurate and detailed the notes were—even with multiple speakers from different countries and accents. What once took hours to document now happens in minutes, automatically. 

Another powerful use case is introducing AI prompts for customer support agents while they are having real-time conversations with customers. These intelligent suggestions help agents respond faster and more accurately—essentially creating “super agents” who can handle 2–3x the workload without sacrificing quality. By offloading repetitive tasks, agents can focus on complex issues and deliver better customer experiences. 

Transparency is also key. Trusted advisors should be upfront about how data is used, stored, and secured. Data is the foundation of AI—and it requires coordination between multiple partners, from readiness and governance to training and integration. 

These AI applications are not plug-and-play solutions. They require experimentation, iteration, constant refinement. This is something that channel partners are going to have to get used to. There is complexity here and partners will need to collaborate closely with their customers to ensure successful implementation and adoption. 

Our advice? Start by mastering the foundations. Use AI every day. Test, learn, iterate. The more familiar you are, the better you can guide others. 

At ZIRO, our superpower is speed and simplicity. And that’s exactly how we help our partners stay ahead—by making AI adoption faster, easier, and more impactful. 

Channel Partners 2025 made one thing clear: the future of UCaaS is about simplicity, automation, and security. ZIRO is leading the charge, and we invite you to join us in transforming enterprise communications. 

Ready to partner with ZIRO? Let’s talk.