In the early 2000s, the Swedish IT and telecoms company Telavox consisted of four young people sitting in a loft space where everyone did everything. Today, several awards and appointments later, Telavox has 220 employees and offices throughout the Nordic region. In March, it took on its first customer in the UK.
IP telephony combined with cloud services have been the recipe for success for Telavox. Its founder Viktor Karlsson was only 19 and just out of school when he started the company. At first, none of the competitors were looking his way. Now, 15 years later, there have been several approaches to buy the growing company. But they have all been turned down.
- I don’t think Viktor Karlsson’s main purpose with Telavox is to make money. We are driven by challenging, developing and having fun. That culture allows us to attract the right talents and develop services despite the fact that we do not have big owners behind us, says Richard Jones, Head of channel at Telavox.
“We don’t have to compromise on our vision”
And it has always been a given for Telavox to develop everything itself.
- We want control. That’s why we are keeping development in-house, so we don’t have to compromise on our vision. Having full control of the entire product makes us the most adaptable and fast-moving player on the market. That helps our customers be more competitive by giving them the latest features in an easy-to-use format, says Richard.
Viktor Karlsson, who is the founder and CEO, came up with the idea of a cloud-based PBX together with a friend who was a switchboard operator during his military service. There he worked with a software-based switchboard, which at that time was expensive and only affordable for big companies.
- Viktor was interested in technology and immediately thought they could do the same thing. Then they got in touch with an experienced management consultant, who also contributed good advice and start-up capital, and the rest is history, says Richard.
Can handle both IT and telecoms
Richard believes that Telavox’s success lies in being able to handle both IT and telecoms.
- We are an IT company in the telecoms industry which combines the best of both worlds – the speed of a software company and the stability and high quality standards of the telecoms industry.
Telavox’s guiding star is simplicity and ease of use. The whole customer journey and the digital experience should be permeated by this; from the first contact with the salesperson/dealer and clear packaging to smooth onboarding with a minimum of detailed choices to be made.
- We take responsibility for the whole customer chain and have everything you need in our communication platform. Why have six or seven apps and as many providers when you can have just one, says Richard.
Telavox does not compete on price but on technology and user-friendliness.
- It is not enough just to have a niche; if you want to survive in the telecoms industry you have to be able to offer a complete communication solution, says Richard.
“The more ways in, the better”
He emphasises that this applies to all communication, both internal and external, and stresses the importance of being able to communicate on the customer's terms.
- The more ways in, the better – phone, live chat, email, everything should be easily accessible in one place on the website. Instead of callers being met by an engaged tone, you can set up a queue facility and a welcome message. Many sales can be rescued with this simple measure, says Richard.
Several companies now want to measure and adapt their solution and staffing according to customer behaviour, launches and campaigns in a completely new scale.
- With Telavox you get a PBX function and a statistical tool that shows you, for example, how long your customers had to wait before your colleagues responded – and how long the calls lasted. With our solution, the user receives real-time information via his mobile app on the state of the queue, the number of agents logged in, how many calls have been answered within one minute, and so on, says Richard.
The feedback in UK is positive
Richard is confident that Telavox’s flagship product and communication platform Flow, with over 250 000 users in the Nordic region, can also be of great benefit to small and large companies in the UK.
- We have already signed up our first partners and customers. The feedback we have received so far is overwhelmingly positive. We are convinced that the UK is ready for Telavox Flow and that we are ready for the UK, concludes Richard.
If you’re interested in becoming a Telavox reseller, contact Richard Jones on 2030261012.
