Are you B2B? Grateful for your input on this ....

[seedubya]

I am considering starting a white-label VoIP service and installation company. We would offer a complete start to finish service to IT Co's and MSPs who do not have the expertise in VoIP or desire to acquire it in the short\medium term. They would not have to do much beyond sell the system and provide first level support e.g. how do I transfer a call? Why si my phone not ringing? (It's on DND fool!) We would assess, plan and implement everything for them, provide ongoing 2nd line support and share the recurring revenue. We would provide the hardware to them at a reduced cost so that they'd get some markup on that too. We would also share any installation revenue with them. We will also provide sales and marketing collateral and training in how to sell the product.

The VoIP service itself would be run on FOSS software on very high quality managed servers with commercial support from the software writers. I would be parterning with an individual who has 20 years of strong experience in telephony, analog, digital and VoIP including international call centres, hotel chains and government installations. We would not, ever, compete with them for clients. If approached directly we will refer the prospect back to our resellers.

We would offer this service throughout Ireland and the UK. There are approximately 65 million people within 2-3 hours travel time of our office.

I know that I needed this service and couldn't find it. Many companies claim to offer it but are actually competing with their own resellers.

What do you all think? I'm particularly interested to know if you would consider using such a service\company and what would be your requirements?

 

[Markverhyden]

Sounds like a great idea. Especially if there is nothing like that in your area. But, before diving too deeply into it, if it was me I'd make sure to do a bunch of research to see why. White labeling is not a new operating concept nor is VoIP a new technology. And you said you could not find any so makes me wonder why.

Like over here there seems to be a dearth of US based white label call centers. People come up with them and they seem to go away after a while. My guess is that it's not possible to be profitable when competing against centers in India, Philippines, etc.

Beyond that the model looks great to me accept for one item. Being a trio of me, myself and I often times it's very difficult to drop what's being done to answer a phone call of any type, much less a existing customer looking for some support. That's why I always recommend that they get extended warranties as they can get basic support almost immediately. Not sure about over there but here VoIP is pretty much the new standard for new voice installations. But none are self hosted. They are all cloud based like you are planning. Personally I'd be interested if there was L1 support included.