In our first class of Summer School, TECH 101, we tackled the topic:
Looking back and looking forward at telecom technologies.
Joining our Moderator and Business Success Manager, Patrice Bramat, we invited two of our partners to the roundtable. James Chomen, CEO of VoIPRoute and Serge Farman, CEO, and Ronald Rondeau from TELSynergy. The speakers discussed where their companies were pre-pandemic, how COVID-19 affected their operations, and lent insights on how they will pandemic-proof their business for the future.
Are you curious to know some of the main takeaways and key highlights? Read this recap!
We started off the discussion with the popular question everyone wants to know: ‘How has the pandemic affected your business?’ Despite the geographic differences between Canadian- and US-based companies, we were surprised to find the responses from both VoIPRoute and TELSynergy were quite similar.
Similarities
📌 Both companies were able to work remotely and had employees already doing so.
📌 From a product standpoint, customers in every industry had no issues with the solutions they were provided.
📌 Customers are turning to them with questions regarding solutions, options, etc. which in turn is building trust and gaining referrals.
📌 Thankfully neither business was affected financially by the pandemic.
Differences
📌 VoIPRoute did not have any customers still operating with physical on-premise equipment. The pandemic made TELSynergy customers want to be converted to a hosted solution for more flexibility.
📌 Unfortunately, many of VoIPRoutes’ telecom projects that they had in the pipeline died so there is a pause with new business opportunities. TELSynergy has leads lined up who want to be prepared for the second wave that they expect to hit in September. It has created opportunity and pushed many organizations to take the leap.
📌 VoIPRoute customers now want to be connected all of the time because they see how convenient it is. In the beginning, they didn’t want the applications on the desktop or the mobile and only wanted to use their desk phones. Now it is the opposite! TELSynergy has a few customers who are not using desk phones, and only using the applications with a headset.
Which makes you think, do you really need a desk phone? 🤔
On the one hand, it is an unfortunate situation; but on the other, it is a massive opportunity for telecom companies to provide the services many organizations lacked pre-pandemic. Telecom professionals are not capitalizing on this pandemic; they are merely acting as solution providers.
Both partners agreed it was a major learning curve for a lot of their customers. And they found their customers realizing what the UC solutions can really do and how important all the features are. Since they have the tools needed to work from home successfully, as well as the support, could working from home be the new normal?
To complete the roundtable discussion, we asked our industry experts what advice they would give to people starting in this industry.
VoIPRoute
Do it right, get out of the gate, and you’ll succeed. But if you are missing a bunch of pieces, you will crumble, and you won’t last.
TELSynergy
You got to build your reputation on good service as we’ve done all along. And you have to be able to prove to people.
The main takeaway here is that it all comes down to a good product, good service, and good solutions. There are many options on the market, but if you can differentiate yourself from the competition with better service, that is what will make your customers stay and grow with you!
If you are interested in watching this session or want to join the next one, sign up for Bicom Systems Summer School today! Summer School is four weeks long, with an interactive session happening every Wednesday. It is completely FREE, and participants will have access to a full library of recorded content, case studies, blog posts, and more.
Learn more about Bicom Systems Summer School and how you can sign up here.