I first met Mike Hanks when I worked for one of our VXSuite partners, CONNECTIONS. Owner Jon Giberson knew Mike from his days at another call accounting competitor. When I began work for VXSuite I became the channel manager for Continuant and had the pleasure of working with Mike. Our first meeting was over eight years ago. Fast forward to now and we were able to reconnect last March at VXMadness 2.0.
Mike is quiet and thoughtful. He participated at our board of directors meeting in place of another board member who couldn’t attend. He has great insight into his customer’s needs.
He is a strong believer in building relationships and is a true collaborator as is evidenced by the many awards he has received. His awards include Continuant Employee of the Year – 2014; Continuant Impact Player of the Year – 2012; and Continuant NAM of the Year – 2010.
We had the opportunity to ask Mike a few questions at VXMadness—which you can watch below—and followed-up for some greater insight on him.
Without further ado…Mike Hanks
Where do you see the unified communications space in the next five years?
Cloud services will continue to mature. I believe UC applications will continue to advance, and customers will expect top performance from those applications. Performance will be a challenge as disparate applications, services and cloud providers work towards collaboration. Integrators will be relied upon to ensure these technologies perform well together and deliver the results customer’s demand.
What is the most common question you are asked from customers?
What are the real options available in the UC market? Continuant services many manufacturers, customer’s want to know what application truly works and will it provide a benefit to them.
What is the biggest mistake you’ve made in your career?
I learned a great lesson in long-term planning from a career mistake several years ago. Unfortunately, I took a position that provided some short-term benefits. However, it harmed me in a couple of areas. A small effect was my career planning, but a bigger issue was that it put at risk some valuable relationships I held. People and our relationships with them should always be a higher priority than short-term benefits.
What is one thing about yourself that would surprise most people?
I served in the U.S. Navy as a Radioman Second Class Petty Officer and attended the US Navy Information Systems and Satellite Communications Schools.
Where can you find Mike Hanks?
Mike can be found on LinkedIn
Continuant can be found on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Google +, and Twitter. Be sure to check out their blog and company web site.
Amy Bailey is the VP of Marketing at VXSuite has been with the product line for over eight years. Over the years she has filled may roles including Sales Manager and Project Manager. She is a graduate of San Diego State University with BA's in Speech Communication and Liberal Arts. Amy was Associated Students' President while at SDSU and has several years of sales and management experience in the high-end retail clothing industry. She enjoys knitting, country music and spending time with family.
