Deutsche Telekom’s Formula for Retail Partner Engagement and Sales Growth
Learn how Deutsche Telekom bridged communication gaps and built brand connections among its independent retail partner salespeople to drive sales growth, earning the 2025 Innovator Award.
By: Simone Somekh, Content Marketing Manager at Centrical
Deutsche Telekom, Europe’s leading telecom provider, has won the 2025 Centrical SELECT Award in the Innovator category for its transformative approach to engaging thousands of salespeople across its independent retail partner network in Germany.
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Through innovative use of gamified engagement, personalized learning, and direct recognition, they bridged communication gaps and fostered deeper brand connections with their external workforce. At a recent Centrical event, we had the opportunity to catch up with Daniel García Catalán, Channel Expert Telekom Partner at Deutsche Telekom, who shared the company’s journey and insights.
García Catalán led this transformation with a clear vision: creating a direct connection with partner salespeople who had long been invisible to the organization.
The Challenge: Reaching the Frontline in a Multi-Tiered Partner Network
Deutsche Telekom faced a critical engagement gap within its retail partner network. The company operates through a complex retail network that includes exclusive partners, multi-brand partners, and company-owned stores across Germany. While DT did maintain strong relationships with shop managers, a critical gap emerged: it had no direct contact with the thousands of frontline salespeople who interact with customers daily.
“We have good communication, strong relationships with the shop managers on a daily basis. We know exactly what they need, what they want, and vice versa. But we don’t have any connection to the front line. And this is the bridge we want to build,”said Daniel García Catalán.
The challenge was further complicated by data governance and compliance requirements. With multi-brand partners also selling competitor products, Deutsche Telekom needed a solution that could engage external salespeople while respecting information sensitivity boundaries. Traditional training and communication methods created a “black box” where the company could see training attendance but not actual learning outcomes or skill development.
Key Innovation: How Deutsche Telekom Built a Unified Engagement Hub for External Salespeople
Deutsche Telekom partnered with Centrical to create the Telekom Partner Hub, a mobile-first engagement and enablement platform designed specifically for their external retail workforce. The platform became the single source of truth for relevant information, training, and recognition for over 900 partner stores.
The company focused on defining the problem statement and ensuring organizational alignment.
The Telekom Partner Hub delivered several breakthrough capabilities:
Personalized, performance-driven learning
Recognition driving motivation
Direct communication and connection
Personalized learning with performance visibility: Unlike legacy training solutions, the platform provides real-time insights into how well salespeople are learning and where skill gaps exist.
“Here, we can really see how they’re performing, where maybe they have gaps in skills. We can see it. The shop managers can see it as a completely new way of coaching,” García Catalán explained.
Recognition driving motivation: The leadership team was surprised by the impact of a feature they initially viewed as secondary: the kudos system for peer-to-peer recognition.
“Personally, I thought it’s just some gimmick, some nice feature. But turns out this is helping so much [with] motivation. We have a constantly high rate of kudos being sent, being received among the shop managers and the sellers. Also, the shop managers are now using it and it’s really helping a lot for motivation,”said García Catalán.
Direct communication and connection: For the first time, Deutsche Telekom could reach its external frontline salespeople directly, sharing updates, celebrating wins, and collecting real-time feedback without relying on shop managers as intermediaries. This has created a stronger, more personal sense of belonging.
The mobile app enables the salespeople to engage with the platform on their own terms: during their commute, before their shift, or whenever convenient. The gamification elements create friendly competition between peers, motivating salespeople to level up and earn points while simultaneously improving their product knowledge and sales skills.
The Results: Driving Sales Growth through Engagement
Deutsche Telekom achieved transformative outcomes across engagement, learning, and business metrics:
+10-20% in sales across mobile, fixed lines, and TV subscriptions
89% satisfaction rate among sellers
High daily login and engagement rates from salespeople using their personal devices
Thousands of kudos exchanged monthly among team members, creating a culture of recognition
Managers gained real-time visibility into team progress and skill gaps
Salespeople described the experience as “motivating,” “beautifully presented,” and featuring “a playful structure that helps me learn”
The company specifically focused on leading indicators that would drive sustainable performance.
“This is not a sales machine [where] you put money in, and you get money out. It’s the logins, the acceptance, the engagement rate, and also the learning. And I think if you have [these metrics] high, sales will come automatically,” said García Catalán.
The platform fundamentally changed how shop managers coached their teams, providing data-driven insights that enabled more targeted and effective development conversations.
What’s Next: Expanding Across Multiple Sales Channels
After successfully rolling out the Telekom Partner Hub for exclusive partners, Deutsche Telekom is now planning to expand it to multi-brand partners who also sell competitor products, seizing the opportunity to build more brand connections. The company also sees significant potential to expand the platform across other external partner channels.
Additionally, Deutsche Telekom is exploring how to integrate AI more deeply for coaching and training purposes, particularly to simulate real-time customer conversations and enable salespeople to navigate complex interactions.
Deutsche Telekom exemplifies forward-thinking innovation in how organizations can engage and empower external workforces.
Their approach demonstrates that when you invest in people—even those who aren’t direct employees—and provide them with the tools, information, and motivation they need to succeed, exceptional business results follow naturally.
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Madeleine Freind
VP, Customer Success
Madeleine Freind is a senior Customer Success leader with deep experience building and scaling SaaS and managed services businesses. At Centrical, she leads the Customer Success teams across North and South America, partnering with clients to drive measurable business impact through the platform.
Before joining Centrical, Madeleine was Head of Customer Success at Quantifind, an AI-powered analytics company, where she led strategic relationships with brands like Hershey’s, KFC, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Dunkin’ Brands. Her ability to translate complex data into clear, actionable solutions consistently helped customers achieve their goals.
Earlier in her career, Madeleine spent over a decade on the agency side, managing CRM and digital marketing programs for Fortune 500 companies through smart, data-driven strategies.
Michael Ciancio
CMO
Michael Ciancio serves as the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Centrical, bringing decades of experience in marketing and go-to-market strategy. In this role, he leads the company’s global marketing efforts to drive brand growth and market expansion.
Prior to joining Centrical, Michael held marketing leadership positions at notable technology companies, including IntelePeer, Infor, and Vonage. Throughout his career, he has successfully guided teams in scaling products, strengthening brands, and significantly expanding market presence.
Michael’s expertise lies in scaling high-growth software companies, particularly in AI, performance management, and employee engagement solutions for customer experience teams. His strategic vision and leadership continue to be instrumental in advancing Centrical’s mission to transform how organizations engage and motivate their frontline teams.
Michael holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Gettysburg College and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Marketing from Montclair State University.
Natalie Roth VP, Corporate Marketing
Natalie Roth brings over 15 years of experience in brand and product marketing for SaaS solutions. Before joining Centrical, she was Senior Product Marketing Manager at Frontline Education, where she led go-to-market strategies for enterprise K-12 solutions and played a key role in integrating and positioning products following multiple acquisitions.
Previously, Natalie served as Director of Marketing at Accelify Solutions, where she drove marketing strategy, new product launches, and customer communications. She played a pivotal role in business growth, expanding market presence, and deepening client engagement, contributing to the company’s success and eventual acquisition by Frontline Education.
Natalie holds a BA in Creative Writing and Digital Media from New York University, graduating magna cum laude.
Linat Mart
VP, Product Management
Linat Polak Mart has more than 15 years of expertise in managing product strategy and operations in high-volume organizations.Previously, she held the role of Head of Product Experience and Communications for LivePerson, a leading Conversational AI platform, where she played crucial part in delivering significant product innovation and customer growth. Prior to her time at LivePerson, she held multiple senior product roles at NICE, a leading enterprise customer experience (CX) software provider, including Director of Product Portfolio and Director of Product Management.
Linat holds an MBA from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Computer Science from Reichman University (IDC Herzliya). She graduated magna cum laude from both institutions.
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Tompkins comes to Centrical with more than 25 years of experience in software and hardware sales. Prior to joining his role as Chief Revenue Officer at Centrical, he was CEO at Workspot. He held the position of Chief Revenue Officer at IGEL as well as senior sales leadership positions with Red Hat, Hewlett Packard (now Hewlett Packard Enterprise), and Citrix.
Tompkins holds an MBA in Business Administration and Management from the University of Virginia, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration and served in the US Navy as a Nuclear Propulsion Technician.
“To start, give customers a choice: digital or live support. And if they go digital first and can’t get what they want, make it super-easy for them to connect to a live agent.”
“Knowledge Management: It is not exactly underrated but it will be bigger than what it is in 2025. Vendors are likely to boost R&D investment in knowledge management for contact centers in 2025.”
“Human-centered AI, where AI is used not just to automate and drop money to the bottom line, but used to service up insights to support team members and delight customers. I see generative AI with conversational context and tonal analysis as pretty critical here.”
“The future? Goodness, there’s so much, but I really believe 2025 is the year of community. We’re not just taking tickets anymore—folks we’re drawing people in, getting proactive, and co-creating with customers. Community will become a normal service channel, with customer service workers facilitating and adding value.”
“The myth that technology/AI is a quickly implemented CX superpower. Companies will realize that we can’t harness a lot of these gains without quality data that is clean and well-organized.”
“By 2025 the buzzword omnichannel may be on its’ last leg. Customers want their issues resolved quickly and accurately and they would prefer not to need to contact us in multiple channels that we can see at one time.”
“For 2025, the main trend I’m watching is ‘AI agents’—bots powered by AI that are becoming more autonomous. Unlike basic responses, these AI agents can handle end-to-end customer interactions, reducing the need for human intervention. Expect significant developments from vendors.”
“Stop talking about AI. It’s like talking about the internet being a thing. It’s here. The better focus is start thinking about how AI enhances the lives of your team. So stop talking about AI and start doing something about it.”
“AI and CX will drive hyper-personalization, using consumer data to segment customers, deliver key messages, and provide fast, accurate responses. Technologies like chatbots and predictive analytics will close the gap between brands and consumers.”
“The blending of CX and EX will accelerate. The days of reducing friction for customers at the expense of employees are over. Indeed, because AI-enabled customer experiences often require AI usage by customer-facing employees, leaders will have to ensure a frictionless work experience to drive AI adoption and deliver value.”
One myth that will be debunked in 2025?: “Customers are on the edge of their seat waiting to hear what you have to say. We need to learn about what’s important to customers by asking more questions.”
Doron is a seasoned R&D professional with a a deep expertise in SaaS and enterprise software. He leads product development at Centrical. Prior to joining the company, he was Director of R&D at Tipalti, where he was part of the team that designed and developed the Tiplati product and the infrastructure it uses. Prior to that he was Director of R&D Sensor Management, which joined from Orsus, which was acquired by Nice Systems. Prior to that he held various R&D positions at Orsus. Doron holds a B.Sc in Computer Science from the Tel Aviv Yafo Academic College and a MBA degree from the University of Tel Aviv.
Gal Rimon
Founder and CEO
Gal founded Centrical (previously GamEffective) in 2013, with the vision of helping companies empower their employees’ performance, making them the center of business success.Prior to that he was CEO of Gilon-Synergy Business Insight, a national leader in Business Intelligence. In 2010, Gilon-Synergy was acquired by Ness Technologies (NASDAQ:NSTC) and Gal went on to serve as Senior VP at Ness, and was member of its executive management.
Prior to that he was VP customer relations and operations at Deloitte Consulting. He also worked at EDS and Bashan. He holds a MBA degree in Marketing and Information Technologies from the Tel Aviv University.
Daphne Saragosti
Chief Customer Officer
Daphne has over 15 years of experience in Customer Relations and Retention in both B2B and B2C environments. Her area of expertise is leading customer success, consulting and global professional services teams within public and private sector companies. She is focused on leading teams to grow the partnership with our clients.
Prior to Centrical, Daphne worked software and service companies in the online marketing and gaming industry.
Daphne holds MA in Statistics – Specialization in Operations Research and a MBA degree, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Ella Davidson
VP Global HR
Ella Davidson is responsible for managing Centrical’s employee relations worldwide, including organizational development, talent management, benefits and recruitment. Ella has more than 18 years of human resources management experience. Prior to joining Centrical she was vice president of human resources at myThings and OpTier – leading SW companies, and consulted numerous entrepreneurs and startups in the Israeli hi-tech industry and Israel and in the US.Ella holds a B.A in Psychology from the Hebrew University and MSc in Organizational Behavior from Recanati Business School at Tel Aviv University.
Ariel Herman
VP Research and Development
Ariel has over 16 years’ experience in a wide variety of R&D leadership roles. He is highly experienced at building R&D teams from the ground up, driving high levels of accountability and ownership and setting up automation infrastructures. For the past 10 years Ariel has managed both in-house and offshore development teams at companies ranging from startups to enterprise organizations.
Prior to joining Centrical, Ariel served as VP of R&D at Worthy.com where his team dramatically improved product stability, quality and execution. Before that, he was VP R&D at Applicaster where he led infrastructure changes from project to product. Ariel has also held various R&D positions at Retalix (later acquired by NCR).
Ariel holds B.sc in Computer science & Math, and MBA degree in Information Technologies, both from Bar Ilan University
Ronen Botzer
CFO
Ronen is a Finance and Business Development executive with 20+ years of leadership experience in startups and global companies across all aspects of management. He has direct experience with companies in the areas of software, services and capital equipment, including fund raising as well as M&As across different continents. Ronen is a CPA and holds an LLM degree from Bar Ilan university and B.A in business administration from the College of Business Management.
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