{"id":10177,"date":"2016-11-17T16:10:20","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T12:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/?p=10177"},"modified":"2016-11-17T16:10:20","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T12:10:20","slug":"seacom-to-white-label-saicoms-voip-in-its-managed-services-offering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/2016\/11\/17\/seacom-to-white-label-saicoms-voip-in-its-managed-services-offering\/","title":{"rendered":"Seacom to white label Saicom\u2019s VoIP in managed services offering"},"content":{"rendered":"

End-to-end telecommunications and networking solutions provider Saicom Voice Services has entered into a strategic partnership with Seacom, a provider of internet, connectivity and cloud based services, to allow Seacom to provide Voice over Internet Protocol VoIP<\/a> and Cloud PBX services<\/a> over a white-label platform to corporate and SME customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are looking to build long-term relationships with trusted partners and the strength of our partnerships have been key to the success of our business right from the beginning. Our strategy is to build our channel platform in order for resellers to partner with us and in turn extend their service offering to their customers with voice solutions,\u201d says Greg de Chasteauneuf, Chief Technology Officer at Saicom Voice Services<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Through the partnership, Seacom will offer voice services to its growing customer base, in addition to its existing high-speed internet access and cloud services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were looking for a voice partner that uses reliable and high-quality infrastructure, and Saicom Voice Services\u2019 Broadsoft carrier-grade platform gave us the quality assurance that we needed. Having a full-fledged IP telephony solution completes our service offerings to customers in terms of data and voice,\u201d says Grant Parker, Head of Seacom Business<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur platform allows Seacom to operate autonomously and to support its clients on an end-to-end basis without having to own the infrastructure. The confirmation of the strength of our channel platform<\/a> is in how quickly Seacom could sell and deliver services to their customers. They were able to deploy their VoIP and Cloud PBX offering within a couple of months as opposed to a couple of years,\u201d adds de Chasteauneuf.<\/p>\n

Another factor that clinched the partnership was Saicom Voice Services Cloud PBX portal<\/a> for customers. \u201cThe premise of our offering to our business customers is that they need to have an effortless experience when doing business with us and the Cloud PBX portal is easy to interact with, which was another criteria we had when we evaluated potential voice partners. We want to make sure that we have an outside-in approach, meaning that we look at what customers want, how they want to interact with us, and then we make it easy for them to do business with us,\u201d says Parker.<\/p>\n

With the ability of fibre to scale bandwidth, Seacom is well positioned to offer fully-converged services<\/a> that enable both data and voice<\/a>, and other value-added services, on one medium. \u201cWe own the undersea fibre cable system and supply all Tier 1 internet service providers in South Africa as well as all Tier 1 ISPs in countries where our cable system lands, including Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya and now also Uganda. We may look at extending these new services into these markets in the near future,\u201d adds Parker.<\/p>\n

Seacom\u2019s new voice offering forms part of its suite of value-add services that enable businesses to unlock the power of the internet and cloud<\/a> in order to grow and support their operations. \u201cThe feedback we have received is that customers are happy with the service and impressed that the installations have gone so smoothly,\u201d says Parker.<\/p>\n

Corporate and SME customers are going to reap the benefits. \u201cSeacom\u2019s stature gives us added credibility in the marketplace and its fibre coverage across the country allows us to open our voice channel to all areas of South Africa,\u201d says de Chasteauneuf.<\/p>\n