ShoreTel and the Game of Verticals

September 19, 2013 by Dave Michels

The Los Angeles Dodger’s just signed … ShoreTel.

Before I get to my main point here about verticals, I want to emphasize that is dramatic news, because:

ShoreTel is based in Northern California – close to AT&T Park. They really had to overcome some emotional bias in LA to win this sale.
ShoreTel previously sold a system to, home of the Giants, AT&T Park. In fact, they flaunt this and flew out analysts to the stadium just last year. See point 1.
The Dodgers already had a great system – actually, emphasis on the had. I installed a system (IVR and attendant console) there in 1987. It was pretty darn cool, but the system couldn’t handle the load of the 1988 winning game of the World Series.

The Dodgers went all in on ShoreTel and acquired the ShoreTel IP-PBX, ShoreTel Contact Center, ShoreTel Mobility, and ShoreTel Conferencing. Ralph Esquibel, vice president of information technology for the Los Angeles Dodgers, said “We’ve gone through big changes on the stadium and the technology; the phone system, while typically complex, was a very simple project and one I didn’t have to worry about.” In other words, Esquibel wanted something Brilliantly Simple.

Next week the Giants are hosting the Dodgers in San Francisco. Unofficially, the goal was to orient the Dodgers to their new ringtones, but they went ahead and scheduled a game since they were all in town together. ShoreTel invited some analysts and media to the event to see if if their executives can successfully refrain from shouting “BEAT LA.” I will be there. I’m really looking forward to it because I haven’t had the chance to do the wave with CEO Don Joos yet.

I am not certain about which team to cheer for. As a young man it was the Dodgers for sure and Farmer John bacon. As an older man it was the Giants mostly because of my college roommate. As an old man I’m fairly neutral – perhaps there’s wisdom in that song about rooting for the home team. Got to love those Panda hats.

Verticals

What’s significant about ShoreTel winning Dodger Stadium is the vertical angle. Everyone talks about how important verticals are – which generally get counted on just three fingers: Government, Education, and Healthcare. Certainly there are more verticals. It’s best to choose a vertical strategy that involves firms that talk to each other – avoid manufacturing (they are cheap and only talk to suppliers and customers). I never really thought about professional sports as a vertical, but it certainly has game. These organizations are big and don’t mess around with infrastructure. They have money (avoid soccer). They have serious requirements around things like public safety. They see voice as mission critical, and don’t want a system that might fail during the World Series (yeah right, as if). Did I mention strong brand value on a customer list?

It seems that ShoreTel has made a sport of sorts regarding sports. Reading about the Dodgers brought back images of Tommy Lasorda yelling at me in 1988 as well as memories of other teams that Shoretel won. It turns out that ShoreTel has scored with teams. The following clubs use ShoreTel systems.

Baseball

SF Giants
LA Dodgers
Miami Marlins
Sacramento Rivercats (minor league)
Frisco Roughriders (minor league)

Basketball

LA Lakers
Washington Wizards (Verizon Center)
Boston Celtics
Golden State Warriors
New Jersey Nets

Hockey

Buffalo Sabres
ST Louis Blues Hockey Club
Washington Capitals (Verizon Center)

Football

St Louis Rams

Soccer

Rio Tinto Stadium (formerly Real Salt Lake)
US Soccer

That’s an impressive list, and that’s just the US. Head east, over the sea, to the west and there’s more orange:

Players Football Association – Soccer
Newcastle Falcons – Rugby
Sales Sharks – Rugby
National Ice Arena

Or head west to the East:

Freemantle Football Club
Melbourne Football Club

Professional Sports are indeed a vertical, one that ShoreTel plays well. It’s too bad they can’t get the coaches to wear ShoreTel headsets during the games. At least they got Gatorade to color the big cooler on the field orange.

By Dave Michels

Dave is an independent analyst and founder of TalkingPointz which is focused on enterprise communications. In addition to this (free and paid) content on TalkingPointz, he contributes to industry sites, can be found at major industry events, and provides advisory services to vendors and financial analysts.

Look ma, no ads!

Admit it! You just can’t look away. Yet, there’s so much more.

Become a subscriber to TalkingPointz for access to reports and premium posts.

There are several ways to stay informed:

Visit this site regularly.
Receive new posts in your email once a week.
Become an Insider or All Access Subscriber for alerts and access to uncensored content.

Become a Member from $49 / month

TalkingHeadz Podcast

The TalkingHeadz podcasts are @DaveMichels and @EvanKirstel chatting with interesting guests. These are unsponsored and unscripted for your enjoyment. You can subscribe on most podcast apps including iTunes.

Listen on iTunes

Podcast

TalkingHeadz with Brad Hintze of Crestron

April 10, 2023

Multi-camera video is best demonstrated in large conference rooms, and that can be a challenge in an expo hall. Crestron solved it: We’re going to need a bigger booth. I experienced Crestron’s 1 Beyond experience in an expo booth with…

Discussion

gutnick September 19, 2013

Dave – thank you for writing an enjoyable article. I look forward to seeing you next week at the game. And yes, I am more likely to yell Beat Cisco than Beat LA in the suite. You’ll have an opportunity to meet Bill Schlough, CIO of the San Francisco Giants. The most interesting thing I’ve seen over the last 5 years at ShoreTel is how much our customers love to tell other customers how tremendous the experience is. Even though the Giants compete against the Dodgers on the field, there is a tremendous personal and professional relationship between the technology leaders that share information about vendors and their overall experience. We all know that now matter what happens in the game, every CIO wants every fan to have a safe, enjoyable experience – from the time the season ticket holder calls in, and has their information on a screen for the agent to answer in a personalized manner, to the emergency respondent who needs to address a situation by knowing where the problem is in minimal time, to the entire office of the Giants who have to do a millions things behind the scenes to ensure people have a fun time with sponsored items or having the building and venue maintained. We’re proud of earning the business from every customer. It’s personally very satisfying to be part of it. Travel safe – See you soon!

Reply