Voxox Fuels Channel Push With New Agent Partnerships, SMB-Focused Virtual PBX

Hosted communications specialist Voxox this week introduced a new partnership with master agent MicroCorp, in a deal the company said will open up its SIP trunking and hosted PBX offerings to roughly 1,500 new telecom agents.

San Diego-based Voxox -- which until last year operated under the name Telcentris -- also this week unveiled its Cloud Phone, a virtual PBX offering for small businesses that will create new recurring revenue opportunities for partners.

According to Voxox, the partnership with Marietta, Ga.-based master agent MicroCorp will propel its channel strategy, adding more than 1,500 MicroCorp subagents to its partner ranks and significantly expand its geographic footprint.

[Related: Cogent Seeking Master Agents For Its First Channel Program]

Through the partnership, MicroCorp and its subagents will resell Voxox wholesale services for enterprise and carriers, including a range of IP termination and origination solutions, in addition to Voxox's SIP trunking and hosted PBX offerings for the SMB market.

Tad Nikolich, vice president of business sales at Voxox, said the company now does the majority of its business -- with the exception of its consumer line -- through its 10 master agent partners, which also include WTG and Alpha Omega Telecom. Voxox works with about 150 direct subagents as well, and Nikolich said he would like to see this number grow.

"We are continuously working with these master agents to market directly to their subagents, and do webinars and training sessions to inform them that we are a vendor, about the products we offer, and why they would want to do business with us," Nikolich said.

Voxox's Cloud Phone, meanwhile, is designed specifically for small businesses and the SOHO market. Nikolich said the service provides features beyond the scope of Voxox consumer applications, but it is more basic than the company's full-fledged hosted PBX.

Nikolich described Cloud Phone as an "auto-attendant in the cloud." The Web-based service works by giving subscribers a dedicated business telephone number, providing an auto greeting and directory for callers dialing that number, and then routing those calls to subscribers' cellphones. It supports multiple users per account and offers other features such as voicemail-to-email delivery.

"It's for somebody that's maybe not ready to have an actual premise with phones and employees, but also doesn’t want to take calls to their cellphone without a professional greeting," Nikolich said.

Jay Adams, president of Alpha Omega Telecom, Tampa, Fla., said Cloud Phone will help round out Alpha Omega's portfolio with a hosted PBX offering for businesses that have a high number of remote or mobile workers.

"The shift is going to continue to keep going more and more toward mobility and less toward a brick-and-mortar environment," Adams said. "[Cloud Phone] is a great fit for that."

Voxox is offering Cloud Phone for $19.95, $39.95 or $49.95 a month, depending on the number of users. Partners selling Cloud Phone will receive a 15 percent residual on the sale, Nikolich said.

PUBLISHED FEB. 27, 2014