Comcast Business Channel Chief On How Nitel Buy Is Helping ‘Fast-Track’ The Telecom Toward Advanced Networking, Cybersecurity Sales

‘We built a great foundation of connectivity. Our growth is really coming from layering solutions on top of that connectivity now. … We’ve invested multibillions of dollars with the acquisition of Masergy and now Nitel, [and] no other providers have done that. Nobody is more invested in the channel than we are. It’s not even close,’ Matt Fassnacht, Comcast Business’ channel chief, tells CRN.

Matt Fassnacht, vice president and channel chief of Comcast Business, is urging partners to rethink what they know about the telecom behemoth.

Namely, that Comcast is simply more than a connectivity provider. Comcast Business in April completed its acquisition of Nitel, a provider of Network-as-a-Service technology, in a deal that is aimed at helping the telecom expand its networking and cybersecurity capabilities. Nitel’s entire organization has joined Comcast Business, and Comcast has spent the last 90 days creating a unified, partner-centric channel organization that’s designed to speed growth in solution selling and simplify engagement for partners and end customers. Comcast Business’ enhanced partner program now includes three new segments: Executive, Signature and Trusted Advisor, the latter of which presents a significant opportunity for Comcast. The program also includes an all-important unified commission model, Fassnacht said.

The Nitel deal is “turbocharging” Comcast’s shift toward solution sales, which include more complex technology layered on top of Comcast’s proven connectivity offerings, such as SD-WAN, SASE, managed detection and response (MDR) and endpoint detection and response (EDR). That approach, along with the massive scale that the telecom can provide, is helping Comcast “leapfrog” the competition, Fassnacht said.

With that in mind, Fassnacht, Comcast Business’ channel chief since December 2023, is looking to dramatically increase the share of channel sales within Comcast Business. Here’s what he told CRN about the Nitel integration, the resulting, brand-new channel structure and his priorities for the channel.

How will Comcast Business’ revamped channel program meet the needs of partners right now?

Craig [Schlagbaum, former Comcast Business channel chief for 13 years], a dear friend, built a fantastic program. From my perspective coming into the role, I believe there’s an evolution happening right now in the channel. We hear it from the [telecom service providers], we hear it from channel partners—it’s moving more upmarket into solution sales, whether that be SD-WAN, SASE, MDR and EDR; complex solutions. I think my first task was really to position Comcast Business, specifically the Comcast Business channel, to play in that space. Over the last year and a half, we took a look at our resources, our people, our tools, and really took a step back and said, “Hey, are we really positioned well from a product, ease of doing business [standpoint] to play in this space?’ And that really required us to really look at the channel differently. I think what happened at the end of last year and into early this year was that we really segmented those partners that can actually play in that strategic space that are bringing at-bats to us, [and can] sell solutions. We’ve stood up the Executive segment within the channel. Those are 45 strategic partners that have a ratio of five-to-one channel manager to partner, so really delivering a high-touch experience.

We had asked late last year for additional resources from the company to scale more into the solutions, upmarket space. I didn’t know the acquisition was happening at that time, and I was told, ‘Hold off. We’ll get back to you.’ And then I found out that we were acquiring Nitel and, quite frankly, it allowed us really to kind of fast-track beyond the friction points when it came to ease of doing business, speed and simplicity. And what used to be gaps really are now competitive advantages for us. So we stood up three [new channel program] segments. We’ve got our Executive segment, we’ve got our Signature segment, and then we have a Trusted Advisor segment and, frankly, I think that’s another significant segment for us from an opportunity standpoint. There are, I think, six new partners that come to us every single day. There are 3,000 partners that sell for us every single year, and some of our largest deals over the last two years have come from that Trusted Advisor segment. These are folks that may not do a lot with us, or may not know a lot about us, but I think there’s a real opportunity to build a different engagement model there. That’s really been the priority, along the lines of positioning Comcast Business for what I think is the evolution that’s happening in the channel, and I think the Nitel piece really just fast-tracked that.

Is it safe to say that Comcast Business’ channel strategy is shifting toward strategic solutions as opposed to leading with connectivity?

I would say it’s not either/or, it’s both. I think connectivity is foundational. In fact, I think the Nitel acquisition has been a turbo boost for us. Our on-net and off-net compensation were different. We’re now compensatory with on-net and off-net now. We weren’t able to realize opportunities if it had a propensity to have off-net. Now we’re part of those conversations. Nitel really allowed us to solidify ourselves when it comes to connectivity. [Schlagbaum] built the great foundation, [but] the important piece is what I see happening in the channel right now, [which] is layering on all those solutions on top of the connectivity. I think when you look at us as a provider, I don’t think anybody can do what we can do. There are a lot of folks that play really well in the SASE and SD-WAN space. You know who those players are, but you always have to come back to somebody else for the connectivity and the aggregation. Now we do that, and I think when it comes to the solutions that you layer on top of that, I don’t think there’s anybody that is equal to us as far as being able to provide those, so to answer your question, it’s really not either/or, it’s really both right now and Nitel really allowed us to accelerate in that space.

Now that the integration with Nitel is complete, what can partners expect?

For partners, it’s really about ease of doing business. It’s faster quoting, it’s bringing broader solutions to partners, it’s a smarter digital experience. Nitel, as I said earlier, just really allowed us to kind of turbo-boost where we were at. We kind of skipped our place in line, quite frankly. And it’s exciting, but a different digital experience. I think for the channel partners, it’s more value. It’s more efficiency, really, than ever before. Nitel provides us with rapid quoting, really robust aggregation, [and] a great platform. That’s faster deal cycles for us. They do a phenomenal job as far as service delivery. Those things are all really key to channel partners when it comes to ease of doing business. I think when you combine what they do with us, it’s a really good, comprehensive suite of connectivity, cybersecurity and cloud solutions, and just best-in-class technology vendors [such as] Cisco and Fortinet all in one place. I think the other piece on Nitel, which is really unique— MyNitel is really a best-in-class digital platform when it comes to that experience for a partner. That was a big need for us that really allowed us to leapfrog where we were at. It allows a partner or customer to gain critical network visibility, performance metrics, and the interface is super easy to use, so it’s a much better experience, I think, for the customer and the partner.

One of the other pieces to call out is the unified commission, where in the past we were offering a different commission rate for on-net and off-net. It’s now a unified commission, and I think that is going to really allow partners to take that second look at us when it comes to multisite opportunities.

What has the feedback from partners been like on the new partner program structure?

When we have an opportunity to sit down and engage them and really talk about all the benefits of the Nitel acquisition, as well as the segmentation, it’s been very positive. I’ve had a number of partners reach out to myself and my leaders asking, ‘Hey, how do I become part of the Executive segment? Or how do we become part of the Signature segment?’ And really trying to understand everything that comes along with that. So, it’s been very, very positive. And frankly, I think we’re trying to get out in front of where the channel is going. The [telecom service providers], I think, are in the same position we’re in. They’re trying to get into a place where they’re identifying partners that can really play in the solution sales space, the upmarket space, the strategic solution space.

Why is Comcast still profitable with businesses at a time when some competing telecoms are struggling in their business services segments?

I think it’s just the investments we’re making. We’ve got an unparalleled foundation, which is our network, our footprint. I think the other component is we’re making strategic acquisitions like Nitel and Masergy, really, to go into the solution space. I would tell you I think the sweet spot really in the channel is that lower end of the Fortune 1000 to the higher end of SMB. I think there’s a white space out there, and we’re determined to go get it and we’re really focused on that. I think that differentiates us from some of the other suppliers out there, and that’s really our emphasis. Our focus is really to go more at the market in the SMB space. We built a great foundation of connectivity. Our growth is really coming from layering solutions on top of that connectivity now.

If you look over the past four years, we’ve invested multibillions of dollars with the acquisition of Masergy and now Nitel, [and] no other providers have done that. Nobody is more invested in the channel than we are. It’s not even close. … I truly believe we have something out there right now that no other supplier has in the channel.

What are your main goals for the Comcast channel?

I would say right now, when I look at the channel percentage of Comcast Business overall, my No. 1 goal is to dramatically increase the percentage of channel sales within Comcast Business. [Schlagbaum] did a phenomenal job building the channel. One of the things that [we realized] was the channel was pretty much siloed, so I want to integrate the channel as much as I can within Comcast Business as possible. I want [partners] to know that Comcast, from senior leadership all the way down, is invested in the channel and you’re going to see senior leaders more involved in the channel.