TSI has launched Sessions, a new licensing option for Cross Connect designed to give Partners greater choice in how they build and grow their communications business.
Until now, Cross Connect has been licensed on a traditional per-seat basis. Sessions introduces an alternative approach, allowing Partners to license the platform around concurrent usage rather than the total number of users.
It means Partners can now choose the commercial model that best fits the type and scale of business they want to build: per-seat or Sessions.
A different approach to licensing
Traditional per-seat licensing is straightforward: each user requires a licence.
Sessions works differently. Rather than licensing every individual extension, a Partner purchases a pool of concurrent Sessions that can be shared across their customer base.
When a user is actively on a call, a Session is consumed. When the call ends, that Session becomes available again for somebody else to use.
This can be particularly effective in environments where there may be large numbers of extensions but only a proportion are making or receiving calls at the same time — such as hospitality, education, retail, healthcare and other distributed organisations.
Because Sessions are pooled across the Partner estate, capacity can be used where and when it is needed rather than being tied permanently to an individual user or customer.
Sessions is also provided on a Bring Your Own Carrier (BYOC) basis, giving Partners the flexibility to combine the Cross Connect platform with their chosen voice carrier and calling arrangements.
Per-seat or Sessions: one model across your estate
Sessions isn’t an additional licence that sits alongside per-seat licensing within the same Partner estate.
Instead, it is an alternative commercial model for Cross Connect.
Partners choose whether their Cross Connect estate operates on a per-seat or Sessions basis, giving them a clear and consistent licensing structure across their customer base.
The Sessions model is particularly suited to higher-volume Partners, larger resellers and MSPs with substantial estates, where pooled concurrent capacity can create a very different commercial model from traditional per-user licensing.
That doesn’t mean a Partner needs to start with Sessions. A reseller may initially find that per-seat licensing is the best fit for its business and customer base, and then consider moving to Sessions in the future as its Cross Connect estate grows and the economics of concurrent licensing become more attractive.
Jack Michalski, Channel Director at TSI, said:
“Sessions gives our Partners another way to build a successful Cross Connect proposition. Per-seat licensing continues to work extremely well, while Sessions gives higher-volume Partners and MSPs the opportunity to structure their estate around concurrent usage instead. It also creates a natural progression for Partners whose Cross Connect business grows to the point where a Sessions model becomes the better commercial fit.”
Built for Partners looking to scale
The introduction of Sessions is part of TSI’s continued development of Cross Connect as a platform built around the needs of the channel.
Rather than prescribing a single way for every Partner to take Cross Connect to market, the two licensing options allow Partners to select the model that is most appropriate for their business strategy, scale and customer base.
For larger estates and deployments in particular, the ability to separate the number of users from the amount of concurrent calling capacity can create opportunities that would be difficult to address using traditional licensing alone.
Combined with a BYOC approach, it also gives Partners greater control over how they construct their overall communications proposition.
Martin Coleman, Operations Director at TSI, commented:
“The important thing for us was not simply introducing a different price point. Sessions changes the way the platform can be commercially structured. A Partner might have thousands of users across its estate, but those users aren’t all making calls simultaneously. Pooling that capacity across the estate, while also allowing the Partner to bring its own carrier, creates a very different proposition and can become increasingly compelling as a Partner grows.”
The same Cross Connect platform
Whichever licensing model a Partner chooses, the underlying Cross Connect platform remains the same.
Partners continue to benefit from the same platform, features, support and wider TSI Partner proposition. What changes is the way the service is licensed and, with Sessions, the use of a BYOC model.
Cross Connect can also be delivered as a white-labelled service, allowing Partners to take the platform to market under their own brand. This gives Partners control over the customer relationship and proposition while TSI provides the platform and support behind the scenes.
That gives existing and prospective Partners a clear choice:
Per-seat or Sessions — choose the model that best fits your business today, with the flexibility to evolve as your estate grows.
Sessions is available to TSI Partners now.
Want to understand whether Sessions could work for your business? Talk to the TSI team to explore the model and the opportunities it could open up for your customer base.