CRN Impact Awards: Mia Distribution automates device delivery for RingCentral

Mia Distribution used automation to streamline its distribution of hardware for RingCentral customers, earning the distie a place on the finalists list for the Distribution Performance category of CRN’s 2021 Impact Awards.

Mia is an Australian specialist distributor of unified communications (UC) with offices in Melbourne and Sydney. One of its key vendors is RingCentral, a US-based provider of UC-as-a-service (UCaaS).

In order to improve the efficiency of the implementation of RingCentral solutions, Mia undertook a range of projects that streamlined the ordering and deployment of complementary hardware. 

First, it established local warehousing for the devices, with appropriate stock levels maintained using sales forecasts and projections. This means they no longer need to be ordered from overseas, significantly cutting delivery times, saving on shipping costs, and ensuring they were covered with a local warranty. 

Next, Mia enabled pre-configuration for all the devices they supply.  After the devices are ordered, the configuration process is almost entirely automated with only firmware updates and MAC addresses needing to be manually loaded. 

Once orders are made through Mia’s online portal, shipping status and tracking numbers are automatically updated in the RingCentral service portal for customer and partner visibility.

All of this is then wrapped up under a layer of automation which was developed through a four-week project to stand up the server infrastructure and cloud-based secure VPN services required, and develop the API-based integration with RingCentral’s provisioning platform to share data between the two systems, the distie said.

These efforts have reduced the average order-to-delivery process time from four weeks to two days for Australian customers, which has, in turn, reduced the time for RingCentral to design and deploy a new customer solution into production to days instead of months.

This high level of automation also reduced the cost of configuring and provisioning each device by a third.

Mia Distribution said that it has become a complete “one-stop shop” for RingCentral fulfilment.

"Mia really played an integral role in facilitating the hardware deployment for one of our customers,” RingCentral project manager Jahn Geldenhuys said.

 “Under constricted timelines from order placement of hardware, Mia had the equipment configured and delivered to multiple customer sites in Sydney and Melbourne for plug-and-play installation within three days. It was seamless. We managed to get our customer up and running on the platform in less than a week, and the partner was ecstatic.”

RingCentral senior director and APAC channels senior director Ben Swanson said that the vendor originally chose Mia for its Australian distribution because of its focus on unified communications.

“Mia has proven to be nimble, responsive and engaged, as well as being committed to building a true partnership with RingCentral so that we can grow together. That has already led to an expansion in our relationship with Mia Distribution’s appointment as a Master Agent in mid-2019,” Swanson said.