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Metaswitch Business Communications Gives Access One New Capabilities

February 05, 2016

By Steve Anderson, Contributing Writer

Communications tools are the kind of things we don't really think about, though we often use. For managed service providers (MSPs), this is a different matter, and Chicago's own Access One has just made a substantial change in its lineup. Metaswitch announced that it was bringing its Business Communications solutions line to Access One, giving the company plenty of new matter to work with.


Metaswitch Business Communications comes with voice infrastructure and a set of support services, including not only unified communications (UC) tools but also hosted private branch exchange (PBX) tools. Access One's vice president of engineering, Rick Wagner, noted that the company was making a change from reselling from a cloud voice provider that offered its services wholesale  to completely deploying infrastructure systems itself., built around the Metaswitch systems. Interestingly, Access One made the jump from reseller to infrastructure provider in under 150 days thanks to Metaswitch.

Access One has been a name in the field for over 20 years, reports note, thanks in part to its high-end breed of deeply personalized customer service. Prompting the change, meanwhile, was a consideration of the economics; the benefits of becoming a builder versus a reseller were, as Wagner notes, “very favorable,” and Metaswitch helped put Access One on the path to being a builder. Now, Access One can bring a slate of new services to its customer base.

Chris Carabello, who serves as Metaswitch's senior director of product marketing, noted that Metaswitch was eager to offer support programs, as well as training and technology, to providers like Access One. Metaswitch even offered the ability to help clients create services, which would provide a new revenue stream as well.

That last is what's particularly noteworthy; with Metaswitch backing it up, Access One can not only offer a whole new line of material as an infrastructure builder, but it can also turn around and offer services to its new customers as well. That's two income streams instead of one, great when compared against its previous efforts as a reseller only. It may have to stock some materials it didn't have to previously, but the expanded revenue should more than make up for the expanded costs, where applicable. Throw in Access One's positive reputation, and likely ability to get its former clients to offer some referrals on potential new business, and this should be the start of an impressive expansion effort.

Access One's new market strategy should prove to be a winner; new services and new offerings bringing in major new revenue to offset some hikes in expenses adds up to expanded profitability. A company that's willing to change to accommodate opportunity has the right idea in the end, and that's a title Access One can likely claim for itself.




Edited by Maurice Nagle

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