A new name is entering the UK unified communications market with proven technologies and a partner-first model, giving channel partners more choice and more opportunities to develop recurring revenue.
Voiceworks is based in the UK, but part of the Enreach Group, Europe’s leading UCaaS provider. This gives partners access to a fullstack, own-IPR cloud platform already trusted and relied on by 2.6 million business users across Europe, supported by local infrastructure and a UK team chosen for their in-depth knowledge of the UK market and their understanding of the UK channel.
Gareth Long, Business Development & Product Portfolio Director at Voiceworks, says this combination gives resellers a choice they haven’t had before and the opportunity to provide something new and exciting with significant growth potential. “As part of the Enreach Group, we have our own technology stack, operate with a partner-first mindset and have access to one of the most advanced UCaaS ecosystems in Europe. We are building something better from the ground up, combining local focus and European scale with a smart voice roadmap designed for the future of business communications,” he says.
A complete portfolio
Voiceworks gives channel partners all the building blocks they need to create the perfect communications solution.
Its core products are:
Coligo, an all-in-one white-label unified communications platform, offering telephony, chat and meetings with native and SIM fixed mobile convergence (FMC) and integrations for Microsoft Teams and more than 100 CRMs; and
Swyx, modular communication and collaboration software, integrating voice, messaging, video, collaboration and contact centre functionality, available as an on-premises, selfhosted or Voiceworks-hosted solution.
In addition to its own technologies, Voiceworks is partnering with leading suppliers to provide all the additional components a partner might need as part of a complete UCaaS ecosystem, from business mobile plans, through an MVNO partnership with EE, to diverse connectivity options, including leased lines, FTTP broadband, SoGEA and 5G Failover solutions.
Differentiated solutions
“Voiceworks has developed its offering to meet any customer requirement and stand out in the market with key differentials that enable partners to develop additional recurring revenue,” says Long. He highlights fixed mobile convergence (FMC) as a prime example, specifically the native FMC capability in Coligo, which allows customers with a Voiceworks eSIM to use their mobile device’s dialler and enjoy all the features and functions of the Coligo platform without the need for an app.
Swyx users can also integrate mobile devices but via an app. “The UK has the lowest FMC utilisation rate of any European country despite the huge productivity benefits and convenience of answering calls on a deskphone, softphone or mobile and, if necessary, seamlessly switching from one device to another during a call.
Not enough people in the UK understand the value of FMC, so bringing our mobile-first UC platform to market is an exciting way for a partner to add value and get more people to engage with FMC. We see this as a great opportunity for partners.” Long adds that while hosted communications platforms offer huge benefits, there will always be customers that prefer to keep everything on-site or self-hosted, a need that Voiceworks addresses with Swyx.
Smart voice technologies
As part of its roadmap, Voiceworks is enabling partners to gain a competitive advantage with cutting-edge smart voice technologies like Shomi, an AI assistant for Coligo that makes time-saving AI accessible to users in small and medium sized businesses. Its capabilities include:
Call screening – Shomi answers calls, gathers information and lets users decide whether to take or reject a call;
Call analysis – Shomi analyses calls, provides summaries and action points or answers questions on the conversations. Instead of listening to audio files or going through notes, a user can just ask Shomi;
Smart voicemail – Shomi automatically converts voicemails into text, helping users to retrieve information efficiently, whenever they need it; and
On-site meeting capture – Shomi records in-person discussions and makes post-meeting follow-ups seamless by summarising meeting results, translating notes or emailing action items to participants.
“In addition, we’ll soon be bringing out a whole overlay of software solutions that work alongside all our platforms and, in some cases, even third-party platforms,” adds Long.
“One we’re really excited about is our DialoX platform. This enables partners to create customised AI voice and chat bots through low-code and no-code tools and access a marketplace of pre-configured bots and conversational AI applications that they can use and deploy without having to do any coding and development work themselves.
“All partners want an AI bot capability, but most can’t afford £80,000 for a coder, with no return on investment for one or two years. We’re saying come and partner with us and we’ll be that AI development house for you, helping you to unlock revenue streams and reinforce your value to customers looking for AI solutions.”
Built for the channel
In a market with a vast number of commoditised products and impersonal support, Voiceworks enters with a clear mission: to raise the bar for flexibility, innovation and partnership in voice communications.
To that end, Voicework is supporting its product offering with personalised, flexible support designed to meet the needs of partners from diverse backgrounds with varying levels of expertise.
Whether scaling, pivoting, or just starting out, partners get the freedom to grow at their own pace, with no rigid tiers, no arbitrary thresholds, no inflexible frameworks, supported by commercial and operational models that prioritise progress over box-ticking.
“We want to support partners no matter what stage they are at in their evolution, from simple lead generation in return for a commission, to selling seats and leaving us to do all the back-end work, all the way through to a full white-label experience,”
explains Long. “If you can spot a revenue stream but don’t want the headache of consumption based billing, we can take you on that journey. Then, as you scale and your investment model changes, we can take you all the way through to delivering a complete managed service.
“Our core markets are the traditional telco market and the traditional IT market, but we are also aiming to attract service providers in other sectors that have the potential to create recurring revenue from telephony. We can help them absorb more of customers’ wallet spend without the need for heavy investment.”
The flexibility of Voiceworks’ approach extends from its choice of three partner models – Introducer, Dealer, Reseller/Wholesaler – to its Service Operator ecosystem, a scalable, fully integrated architecture that empowers partners to manage, customise and evolve their entire Voiceworks communication and connectivity stack in one integrated environment.
“Partners can use Service Operator purely as an ordering service for Coligo, Shomi, mobile SIMs and the FMC eSIM, or they can use it for everything including billing,” says Long.
“They can create their own webstore and use it to take their own propositions to market. They can even add their own partner layers, so if they have dealers, distributors or their own retailers, they can effectively become a wholesaler aggregator through the portal.
Partner service wrap
Other developments Long is working on to reinforce Voiceworks’ position as a strategic partner to VARs and MSPs include the creation of an extensive services wrap.
“If you’re a small reseller with limited in-house resources, it can be challenging to keep up-to-date with new regulations.
Could we help by providing a legal service wraparound? Again, not everyone has a full-on marketing function. People talk about white-label marketing, but what if we take a step back and look at how vendors work with distributors, then scale that down to give partners a different marketing spin and capability. Those are two areas we’re currently working on.
“A very successful CEO once told me that if he started his business all over again he would outsource everything. We want to create value by enabling a channel partner to concentrate on doing the things they’re brilliant at, knowing that they can rely on Voiceworks to do what they are not yet ready to invest in?”
In the meantime, Long says Voiceworks’ main aim is to establish itself as a trusted partner for UCaaS and smart voice. “Within 12 months, we want VARs and MSPs to recognise Voiceworks as an outstanding partner for voice and AI, or smart voice as we’re calling it. We want to become, not necessarily everyone’s biggest partner, but definitely everyone’s favourite partner, and to be that trusted partner people want to work with through the channel.”
To find out more about how Voiceworks can help you generate recurring revenue from its smart voice portfolio, please contact info@voiceworks.co.uk
or visit www.voiceworks.co.uk
Be First to Comment