2019 has been a year of incredible growth and change for 3CX. Most important for our partners, however, was the introduction of a new tier of the partner program; The Titanium Level.
For 3CX, this meant we could offer new goals to our partners who continued to exceed all expectations, and reward them with even more benefits. Since then, a number of partners have already begun to reach the Titanium level, and Canada’s 1st Choice Business Phones by Lifeline Total I.T. Solutions was thrilled to become the first to reach the status in the country. We asked the company’s president, Jonathan Rapoport, a few questions about 1st Choice Business Phones and how 3CX has been integral to their success.
Can you introduce 1st Choice Business Phones, the first 3CX Titanium Partner in Canada?
We are a group of Telephony and IT professionals who love what we do, and nothing makes us happier than a satisfied customer.
Starting as an I.T. company in 1997 we began selling what are now called “legacy phone systems” in the early 2000s. When VoIP phone systems came to market, we were in the perfect place to marry our I.T. knowledge with our telephony expertise. While many I.T. companies now sell phone systems, and all phone companies now sell VoIP systems, most companies don’t have the same, deep level of expertise in both skill sets.
We service a diverse range of customers including municipal governments, utility companies, libraries, fire halls, manufacturing facilities, software companies, Doctors’ offices, insolvency companies, car dealerships, parking garages and places of worship, among others.
What solutions did you offer before joining the 3CX Partner Program? And how did you start selling 3CX? What motivated you to change your offering?
Before 3CX we were selling legacy systems (mostly Nortel CICS/MICS/BCM). With Nortel’s bankruptcy and the rising popularity of VoIP based phone systems we started to evaluate what was on the market. We started selling 3CX in 2010 with the release of version 9. 3CX is a modern system that isn’t tied down to having to support legacy digital telephone sets like Avaya and Mitel. We find 3CX an excellent fit for all businesses; very feature rich with an excellent ecosystem of existing third-party applications, as well as an architecture where custom add-ons can be built to meet the needs of any business. The pace of 3CX’s updates and innovations is staggering, there really are no competitors that can match the speed that 3CX will support new operating systems (server, mobile, desktop). We are so confident in 3CX, it is the only phone system we sell.
What do you offer your customers in terms of services/hardware in combination with 3CX?
Our go-to telephones are the Yealink T4x and now the T5x model phones. The most common handset is the Yealink T46S with the T54W starting to be the new standard of recommended go-to office desk phone. For on-premise PBXs, we leverage our existing partnership with HP and HPE for the computer or server to run 3CX Phone System. For hosted clients we use a combination of Amazon Lightsail for the smaller clients and Microsoft Azure for the enterprises. We offer monthly support packages as well as hourly support depending on customer requirements.
We design, build and support our 3CX based systems from the ground up. Additionally, we have rescued numerous systems installed by others, where the customer was not satisfied with the existing deployment. Companies that have an existing in-house I.T. department can leverage our expertise to design/build their system and then use their own I.T. department to provide front end support, with the comfort that we will be there, should they need us.
As a business, what benefits have you seen internally since you became a 3CX reseller?
3CX PBX software is very reliable and, when deployed properly and with properly scheduled routine maintenance, it can run independently for a long time. The end result is that most support calls are related to changes and not problems with the system itself.
What would you say are the ingredients to your success as a Titanium Partner? What would be your advice to other telecom resellers?
For customers that you service directly, keep communication open and schedule major version upgrades when required. For customers who you just sell licenses to, keep a pro-active watch on their licenses so that they keep active maintenance and aren’t running with an expired license or an unsupported/obsolete version. We also provide “white label” services to resellers across Canada and the US. We can assist them with all stages of design, build and installation where we can quote, install, and support systems for their clients under their company name.
