A new offering from Iristel Inc. offers users one single phone number for all their devices and the ability to seamlessly “hop” calls between them, and offers channel partners residual income and the chance for customization revenue as well.
A wireless IP services company based in Markham, Ont., Iristel offers VoIP services to consumers and the enterprise but Samer Bishay, Iristel’s president and CEO, says you don’t need to be an Iristel VoIP customer to take advantage of its new fixed mobile convergence service. For non-subscribers, the service starts at $12/month.
“It’s a single-number reach type-concept, but taking it to a whole new level,” said Bishay. “You don’t need to be an Iristel (VoIP) subscriber. We can power all this for you and you can keep everything you have.”
The service gives users mobility, says Bishay. Say you receive a call on your landline, he says. You don’t want to interrupt the call but you need to leave your office. By pressing a star code on the phone you can seamlessly “hop” the call to your mobile phone, without the caller even noticing.
“Any company that has employees that travel will get huge savings on roaming fees,” he said. “It’s a money saver at the end of the day, so the whole enterprise market is our target.”
The service gives you one phone number which you give-out to all your contacts. Through an Iristel Web interface, you can register the mobile, landline and/or VoIP phones you want to register and use with the service. Once registered, all the devices will ring when a call is received, although you can set the preferences so that only certain devices will ring at certain times of the day.
“It’s carrier-independent,” said Bishay. “You can have a Telus Mobility phone, hop the call over to a Bell landline, and back to a Bell Mobility line…you can mix and match basically, just as long as these devices are registered on our network to allow the technology to run in the background.”
On the channel front, Bishay says Iristel is looking for VARs and PBX integrators that are trusted advisors for their clients around telecom issues.
“What we’re offering for partners is the ability to make residual income,” he said. “It’s an offering that will collect monthly income for Iristel and we’re able to pass that on as a residual to the partners that will be distributing this for us.”
Typically, depending on the size of the deal, Bishay says partners will receive a five per cent residual, in addition to a one-time bonus on customer sign-up. However, he says there’s also the opportunity for customization on top of the Iristel service, and all of that revenue would belong to the partner.
“The good thing about this solution is that it’s highly customizable and integrates well with PBX solutions,” said Bishay. “It allows VARs not just to make a straight sale but offer their expertise and integration to their customers, and charge a separate component to the customer (for the customization).”
