Being the new kid on the block sometimes has its benefits. While you might still be proving why you’re great at what you do, there is also the advantage of being current and knowing just what’s needed to succeed.
Xact Communications, a new telecommunications company providing cloud-based and traditional IP voice and data technology, is anything but ‘fresh meat.”
Headquartered in Lexington, KY, the company includes knowledge and experience from over 18 years in the industry.
Serving a nationwide footprint, it is chosen time and time again because it offers customers the reliability, flexibility and honesty so many are looking for.
We caught up with Dale Cooper, founder, CEO & president of Xact Communications, to pick his brain about the current tech space and his predictions on what to expect in the future.
Dale will participate in the upcoming MSP Expo collocated with business technology event ITEXPO. He will be presenting during a panel titled, “So You Want to Build a Successful Hosted Cloud Communications Business,” which will detail keys to success, ways to limit pitfalls and headaches and how to turn this opportunity into real revenue.
Our exchange follows.
How have technology changes over the past 12 months helped businesses grow?
Security and PCI is huge in our space. We provide a “full” service to retail location companies. These are major growth areas.
What does the term Collaboration mean to your business?
It can mean different things. We feel it means how we and our customers communicate. There are so many tools today that’s it’s a confused space. We try to keep it simple.
What elements of Unified Communications are most useful for your company?
Voicemail & Fax to Email are the most used. We have internally started using IM on the Accession Tool.
Are you using messaging technologies to communicate with your customers? How, or why not?
We do, but I feel for the business world it’s still not totally accepted. We try to touch keep in with our customers with phone calls and corporate visits.
Are you leveraging big data/analytics to operate more efficiently?
Not Big Data, but we use analytics on all of our customers in our managed services package for their network through our Xact-Link Technology.
How have the growing number of high-visibility security breaches impacted your outlook on security? Yes. It’s a large part of our growth strategy. We are heavily invested in bringing this to the SMB with automated updates for breach control & PCI Scanning.
Have you increased your investment in security technology in the past year?
The largest business concern by business owners into 2018 is PCI regulations transitioning to the business.
To what extent are you leveraging APIs to enhance business opportunities?
We committed to Salesforce in 2016 and are pushing as many vendors as possible to API’s.
What percentage of your workforce would you consider mobile?
10 percent and growing.
What technology decisions have you made as a result of your mobile workforce, to ensure they have the tools they need to remain productive?
We are a Cloud company and use it ourselves as much as possible.
To what extent are you using cloud services in your daily business processes?
We are 80 percent and better using cloud, voice data, monitoring security & cameras.
Has your use of cloud-based resources increased over the past year?
Yes and it will continue.
How has the growth in the managed services market impacted your business?
We now have about 50 percent of our customers on cloud managed services and expect that to grow at about 20 percent next year.
Is the cloud / MSP model a realistic one for reliable IT security?
Absolutely. In fact, our Xact-Link system is 100 percent cloud.
What emerging technology has the potential to have a disruptive impact on businesses in the coming years?
Cloud continues to find new methods of delivering services and technology.
How has your business’ product development evolved over the past year as a result of emerging technologies?
We are disruptors in cloud and security to SMB & SME markets.
Are channel partners keeping up with the latest trends and developments?
Channel partners are doing both good & bad to keep up with trend. While some are adopters, there are many that do what they have been always doing and adopt slowly.
Is more education needed and how can they better leverage the latest technologies to grow?
Yes, and probably best as online training.
What is your session at ITEXPO about and who should plan on attending? Why should this be a must-attend session for the week? We are presenting on hosted PBX & UC topics. We are able to deliver this product to the SMB/SME market and make it work while most companies have a high churn in this space. What we can do is help partners grow their residual in this space and we have an unusual commission plan, not a percentage, but a buy-rate and evergreen payouts.
What are you most looking forward to at ITEXPO 2017?
Meeting people that are the BEST at what they do, that are willing to look at things differently.
Edited by
Alicia Young
