Hosting your own version of StartUp with Multi Company Mode

[David Forster]

Hi team,

Well done with the recent and forthcoming changes, Multi Company Mode is a really interesting option to accommodate very small business solutions here in the UK with the 2025 analogue copper switch off.

So I've setup a test environment and enabled multi company mode with an aim to replicate your hosted StartUp solution.

The group restrictions works really well to contain the user within their own environment (obviously room for improvement with phonebook, directory etc) , however when a manager in a group creates a new user the next available extension number is assigned. This is a different behaviour from that of your hosted solution where each group appears to have a reservation on the next 10 extension numbers and thus when a manager creates a new extension the ext numbers are all sequential for that group.

Is this something we can enable with additional parameters or is this proprietary functionality only available on the 3cx hosted version?

Keep up the good work

Regards,

David.
Also... As always overall admin ability to help end users with settings is a really useful feature, so things like group hours been editable to the admin login would be really helpful, appreciate more work for your devs to make things updatable in more than one location, however essential from a support perspective. Another option I've seen used on other systems is the ability of the admin to 'impersonate' a user, so essentially login as them (without needing their login details) and thus been able to access the settings that way.

 

[N_G]

Thanks for the heads up. However please note that we are not decided whether the startup mode will available for self hosting. Most probably we will want it to be hosted on our infrastructure.

 

[David Forster]

Thanks Nick,

Appreciate the feedback.

Maybe worth considering as it would be a win for you guys as we would need a licensed version (so revenue for yourself) and would then allow us to use our own SIP trunks which would be the way we would generate revenue, so win win for everyone

Very best regards,

David.

 

[Razvan]

Hello Nick,

I can only imagine how time consuming is for you to answer all posts in this forum. However, I am keen to find out as soon as you decide the way to go forward with the multi company mode/startup mode for situation described here by David.

More than what he already posted, in my country we do not have a Preferred or Supported SIP Trunk Provider for the StartUP product based in the country, only worldwide providers available, meaning that we will be unable to sell that as everybody here wants local ones.

But things will be different if a partner will be able to use this product hosted in his own environment and also to manage the SIP trunk a customer can have as well, I'm sure big operators will be more open to consider adding a product like this in their portfolio.

Cheers and have a great weekend!

 

[N_G]

@optiman - yes for bigger operators and for countries with no sip trunks we are considering it. There will have to be a minimum number of new customers coming to the platform for the support to be worthwhile for us.

 

[Razvan]

Hello Nick,
I'm glad this case will be considered and look forward to receive all details about it.

But don't you think it would be better to allow only to those partners that will be offering further 1st level of support to customers instead of your team offering support?
These partners should consider that unsupported SIP Trunk will not get your support for it, also hosting it in their own environment will be different that hosted by 3CX so they should have a specific level of 3CX knowledge (especially how StartUP works) to be able to offer it, this is my opinion.
Anyway, I will wait for your input on how this setup can work further on.

Thank you!

 

[robert.taylor]

If you are not sure that you want Partners / Resellers to host StartUp then you should not have released it ? What about those who have already used it ?

For us it is great and allowing us to migrate users away from a muti tenant (non 3cx) so gives you more revenue .. where we have a customer who only requires 2 concurrent calls it makes great sense !

 

[PDSS]

Hi Nick,

I have spoken with Patrick about this need for us. I already use 3CX since my time at ITSD in the Netherlands. I get the feeling that 3CX is aiming the direct market as well as going through partners.

This is something that is bothering me a bit. As I spoke to other partners, I think that this is a general feeling. The fact that there is now the startup product that is brought directly to the market without the option of having it hosted by a partner is not a positive evolution for us. Today we are hosting and managing everything from A to Z for our customers, and with the new product and without the option of us hosting it or configuring our SIP trunks, we are losing two parts of our added value as well as a part of our revenue model.

I understand that change is a natural part of business, and it can be beneficial to adapt and evolve with the market. That being said, I would like to have an open and honest conversation with 3CX about my concerns and explore potential solutions. After all, we're 3CX partners and not simply resellers. I believe it would be beneficial for us to host some partner events/trainings and have an open chat about the future direction 3CX is heading to. I would love to be more involved and provide input on the changes we as partners would like to see in order to help 3CX evolve and grow even more.

In the meantime, I will continue to offer the high-quality training and 24/7 support that my customers have come to expect from me. I am always looking for ways to add value and differentiate myself from other partners, and I believe these services are a key part of that.

Have a nice day!

 

[N_G]

We already host VIP partner events in some countries. I terms of open discussion, i think this forum can be classified as a pretty open discussion.

Now in regards to StartUP - it will be available via Partners, so there is really no threat to our indirect model. We have already clearly communicated this on many occasions and will continue to do so in VIP partner events that we will be hosting across the world in Q1 2023.

You can sell StartUP hosted on our infrastructure, i really so no reason why you would not sell a 3CX hosted StartUP solution.