Three Months In

AT&T’s Channel Chief Randall Porter has seen a lot of change throughout his impressive tenure in the telecom space. He stepped into his new role leading the carrier’s indirect efforts in June and since then, has been focusing his energies on simplification and business transformation in the channel — two undertakings that he’s no stranger to.

Porter has served in a variety of positions for the carrier giant during his more than 24-year tenure, with more than 10 years spent in the channel. He worked in several finance and marketing roles before becoming assistant vice president of marketing looking after the company’s wireless, applications and IP portfolio. Prior to his current position, he served as vice president of strategic alliances at AT&T Business and before that, vice president of partner management and business development. All that to say, he understands that customers, perhaps now more so than ever, are relying on channel partners to help with their own IT transformations. He also understands that partners want their trusted vendors to lean into the channel and mean it. That means resources, and in AT&T’s case – three different programs that give partners the flexibility and choice they need to grow their businesses.

Three months into his tenure as AT&T’s channel chief, Porter sat down with CRN to talk about his vision for the channel, the big opportunities around 5G, fiber, UC and contact center that are “selling faster than you can imagine,” and what he wants partners to know about AT&T’s commitment to the channel.

What follows are excerpts from the conversation.