Readycrest Ltd Partner Story

29 April 2024

We have well over 1000 users on the Wildix phone/communication system now, and the majority of those extensions weren't on our Panasonic systems originally. It's been mainly new business within the past 18 months — about 75% by my estimation. Only 25% are users that we've moved over from our Panasonic systems. In the pipeline, we have at least another 500 users to roll out before the end of the year. That is without any other business from the last two quarters.

In just 18 months after signing up with Wildix, Readycrest finished Q2 2022 as the number one partner in the UK and was one of the TOP 5 Wildix global partners

Readycrest is an established provider of IT solutions to SMEs, and since its founding back in 1989, it has actively expanded its portfolio to voice, data, access control, IP CCTV and various other infrastructure solutions. Matt Dansey, the senior solutions specialist at Readycrest, was almost blindsided by an announcement from their previous vendor, and after careful consideration, he chose Wildix as the solution that they needed to offer to their clients.

Readycrest became a Wildix partner on January 13th, 2021. What led you to discover new solutions and new vendor relationships?

It happened simply because Panasonic (previous long-term vendor) decided to pull out of the telecoms market. I was due to have a meeting with them on the day they decided to pull out, so I was up at about 3 o’clock in the morning to have a chat with Japan.

Half an hour before that meeting, I got an email cancelling it. I had no idea why.

Later that morning, they informed me what was happening.

My immediate thought: What do we do? We were in the process of installing two 1,000-user systems, and we were waiting for crucial information. While they claimed they would give us enough time to let people know, it was only about 3 ½ hours before Comms Weekly found out, and at that point, everyone knew.

About a year before, Wildix tried to contact me about potential partnership, and because I was with Panasonic, I was hesitant moving forward with any other vendor, thinking I had a long-term solution already. It was at this point we realised that we had to move to a new model.

We’d received one of the Wildix Blue Boxes with the backpack. I thought “okay, go on”, and I sent an email: “Show me what you’ve got.”

After trying out 69 different hosted systems, the Wildix solution came out on top — it was a busy Christmas. Ultimately, it came down to the simplicity of the platform: so many have too many bolt-ons with very large merged systems, but the Wildix solution allows the use of individual systems. If a company knows they want a specific solution, they can integrate it — it’s simple. And if another company wants something different, they can have it. It doesn’t matter. This creates flexibility and resilience from one platform.

The support from Steve (Steve Yates, UK Channel Manager) has been brilliant — I can’t speak highly enough of him. When you know something is right, it’s right. At the end of the day, it is not about making lots of money. I just want to make our customers happy, and then they trust us with all the other things.

What convinced you to become a Wildix partner?

It was the right time, and it ticked all the boxes that Panasonic wasn’t able to — even things like the Wildix mobile app being a fully featured one, and of course, Wildix weren’t abandoning the market and had ambitious plans instead.

Wildix also doesn’t have the pushiness of 3CX — or the run-to-the-bottom pricing — and the solution is different. It does everything that a phone system needs to do, but there are elements of it that are far better than alternatives on the market. That’s what gives Wildix its edge.

What impresses you about Wildix the most?

Resiliency and speed of reaction to any issues. With any comms system, if you’re dealing with every continent around the world, you’re dealing with thousands of potential browser security settings. That means fixes must come fast, and Wildix delivers — normally within the next day. We appreciate that it is difficult when you don’t have the spec of every single PC, laptop or mobile phone, and the whole idea behind the company seems to be once you find something, you get it changed. It’s spot on, and Wildix listens well. That’s crucial in telecoms.

How has your business changed in the 18 months since offering the Wildix solution to your customers?

Our reach has expanded beyond recognition. We had some smaller satellite installations in Europe — a handset here or there — but most of our business was focused in the United Kingdom. We’re now confidently growing around the world: Australia, Singapore across the EU and the US.

We have over 1,000 users on the Wildix system now, and most of those weren’t on our Panasonic systems. It’s nearly all new business within the past 18 months — about 75% by my estimation. Only 25%, so far, are users we’ve moved over from our Panasonic systems.

When it comes to the speed of rolling up a new system, it gives you so much more flexibility. This is one of the core benefits. It was quite nice when one of our customers said, “If you recommend it, it must be good.”

We also asked Matt about the most impressive installation Readycrest have done up to date, and here what he had to say: “One of the multinational financial services companies where we’ve been able to integrate two European, six UK and seven US sites, so far. They’re on one WMS network, and they couldn’t be happier. x‑caracal is a major benefit to their vertical too; they’re obviously pleased with their communication system.”