Google Voice Creator: With Virtual PBX, Don't Forget the Mobile Workforce

Google Voice creator Craig Walker and a few of his former Google teammates have partnered to create a cloud-based enterprise phone system solution in an attempt to modernize the seemingly outdated phone call.

The new service, called Switch.co, is partially backed by Google Ventures and runs on Google Apps for Work.  It is designed to work with a company's existing office phone system and its employees' mobile devices.  Because the service is cloud-based, companies are not required to purchase new hardware.

The service allows for greater flexibility and provides the addition of new features, like the ability for users to switch between devices mid-conversation, from landline to cell phone, and set business hours to make sure people don’t get work calls during their time off.

Each person's newly assigned phone number can be added to their contact record which gets imported from the Google Apps user directory to Switch.co after running the initial setup.

The benefit of Google Apps integration shows when a call connects.  Switch.co uses information from Google Apps to show the last three emails, documents and calendar appointments shared with a person.

Walker cited stagnancy in the marketplace as his motivation to create Switch Communications, explaining, “The market consists of the legacy PBX companies and IP PBX companies who moved their services to the cloud, and no one is doing a really cool useful products for the mobile worker.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, The Weather Channel is the first major tester of the Switch.co project.  Nicholas Gardner, the television channel's senior director of internal systems, told the publication that the frustration of having to buy and maintain its own rack of computer servers and related software from Cisco Systems is the motivation behind testing out the new Switch.co software.

If tests go well, Gardner said he is likely to begin slowly rolling out Switch.co next year.

Switch.co will cost an organization $15 per user, per month and as of right now the company is only accepting sign-ups through a private beta program. 


Edited by Alisen Downey