Polycom Taps Former ShoreTel Exec As New Global Channel Lead

Polycom Monday named Mark Arman, a former ShoreTel channel executive, as its new vice president of worldwide channel sales.

Arman replaces former Polycom global channel chief Mike Conlon, who has left the company. Conlon had been in the role 10 months and with Polycom since 2009, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Arman joins Polycom most recently from L.E.K. Consulting, a global strategy consulting firm, where his title was Executive in Residence. Before that, Arman spent six years at ShoreTel, where he was most recently vice president of international sales and worldwide distribution and, prior to that, vice president of strategy and global channels.

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In his new role at Polycom, Arman, who could not immediately be reached for comment, will be tasked with overseeing the UC vendor's global channel strategy and partner program.

"I look forward to leading Polycom’s channels organization and building even stronger relationships with our partners," Arman said in a statement. "Polycom’s leadership position in video, voice and content collaboration solutions is unparalleled, and I am committed to making Polycom, our partners, and our joint customers extremely successful."

Brad Johnston, COO of Solutionz Conferencing, a Brentwood, Calif.-based Polycom partner, said Conlon's departure shouldn't have too big of an impact on his business, especially since Arman's channel track record looks strong.

"[Arman's] pedigree has a lot of global channel leadership in it," Johnston told CRN. "ShoreTel is a disruptive player in their own marketplace, so there is a lot familiarity between how Polycom competes against the likes of Cisco and how ShoreTel competes against the likes of Cisco. So I think there is a lot of commonality in terms of strategic alignment."

Arman joins Polycom as the San Jose, Calif.-based company continues to shift its focus from hardware-based UC appliances to the cloud services and software model. In March, for instance, Polycom unveiled RealPresence One, a bundle of video, voice and content collaboration software that customers can purchase as an annual subscription, rather than a onetime up-front cost.

Polycom told CRN at the time that it is also preparing to launch its RealPresence Cloud Managed Services (CMS), a cloud-based meeting room and videoconferencing service, in the channel. Partners will be able to resell the service and then wrap their own managed services offerings around it, Polycom said.

Arman's appointment also comes on the heels of other executive moves at Polycom. In May, Polycom named Laura Durr, its longtime principal accounting officer, as its new CFO. In December, former Motorola executive Peter A. Leav replaced Andy Miller as Polycom CEO.

PUBLISHED JUNE 2, 2014