Lantre Barr, Founder & CEO of Blacc Spot Media.
The success of Blacc Spot Media and Vinix are testament to the opportunities for small businesses in programmable communications around the world.
Lantre provides a package of consulting and development services for enterprises. And in April 2021 Blacc Spot Media will be 10 years old 🙂
The core of Lantre’s offer is being a trusted advisor to businesses, especially mid-market enterprises in cloud communications. Most of their business comes from partners, for example Twilio. As the market in programmable communications has matured, they’ve ‘productized’ some of their offers to help businesses get what they need faster. Though it’s important to note that there’s lots of flexibility to meet the businesses specific needs thanks to the offer being programmable.
This is an inspiring interview on the opportunities available in programmable communication; the positive impact COVID-19 has had on the industry in accelerating adoption; and the importance of focusing on delivering what the customer needs as a trusted advisor in the often noisy and confusing cloud communications space.
Agenda Description
I first met Lantre at the WebRTC Global Summit in London, we’d just run a TADHack-mini London, and some of the winners were presenting at the WebRTC conference. What impressed me with Lantre’s presentation was his practical focus. While many geeked out on the technology and its potential, Lantre focused on the challenges in building a WebRTC team. Which remains a significant issue today, as discussed in the WebRTC Status Review at TADSummit Asia in May.
Lantre is the founder & CEO of Blacc Spot Media, an Atlanta-based Cloud Communications consulting firm. Blacc Spot Media solves it’s client’s toughest communications challenges by providing unparalleled services in strategy, consulting, technology, customer experience, and business operations. Specializing in Web Real-Time Communications (WebRTC) and Cloud Communications, it develops custom web and mobile applications that deliver impactful results for their clients focused on building effective communication strategies.
Lantre is Atlanta born and bred. And like many of my friends in Atlanta did a ‘tour of duty’ in real estate development. Since 2011 his focus is Blacc Spot Media, the Smart Communications innovators.
If you have questions for Lantre please let us know. Here are some:
- Would you please introduce Blacc Spot Media and the services it provides?
- As a small company operating in the over-marketed US enterprise communications market, how do you survive?
- What is your vision for Blacc Spot Media? What are the greatest risks to Blacc Spot Media?
- Multi-part question here: What’s your view on the current positioning of bundling UCaaS, CCaaS, CPaaS and longggggg lists of features. Is the premium one-stop-shop the end game? How do you view the US enterprise communications / telecoms market evolving? Will RingCentral and Twilio be like the Borg, ‘You will be assimilated. Resistance if futile.’ Or will diversity reign?
- Would you please share your experiences with FLEXFIG (your configuration of Twilio FLEX)?
- We’ve had several mental health hacks at TADHack over the years. I think we’re just scratching the surface on what programmable communication can do in mental health. I’m keen to learn about your experiences with Regroup Therapy is a mental health service provider.
- Given all your chatbot deployments do you have some does and don’ts?
- Given COVID-19, how has that changed your business?
Thanks Lantre for making the time to be interviewed. I hope you inspire more people around the world to found businesses in cloud communications. Given your experiences over the past, close to, 10 years. What advice do you have to people thinking about following your lead?
Alan I had a great time, thank you.
Given the growth expected in the cloud communications market over the next 5 – 10 years, I suggest that those entrepreneurs and business leaders who are looking for ways to create or expand services for their customers, to look no further.
Cloud communications will continue to help companies deliver better customer experiences (CX), drive value, decrease costs, and build brand loyalty for those that harness its power. I recommend focusing on niche services to start, after which you can add additional services that complement your existing offerings.
Always listen to your customers and their business requirements, it will shine a light on the best solutions to provide in the market. We built FLEXFIG (https://www.flexfig.com) to help solve the challenge some of our customers faced who wanted to deploy a cloud-based contact using Twilio Flex without having to develop it themselves.