Are you an MSP interested in reselling phone systems to your clients from a white-label provider but don’t know where to start? Reinvent has you covered in our guide to white-label phone systems.
So, you’re a managed service provider (MPS) looking to either begin offering telecommunications and phone system services to your clients or ensure you’re delivering the right technology available in today’s market to keep your customers satisfied and stay up to date on leading-edge solutions. VoIP services are a great addition to your portfolio, given the VoIP services market is expected to reach $354.7 Billion US by 2032 and the global unified communications (UC) market size is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.4% from 2023 to 2030.
The voice and network experts at Reinvent have put together this guide to white-label phone systems to walk you through what encompasses a white-label phone system today and the considerations you should make in selecting the right white-label phone system provider for your own business.
What is a White-Label Phone System?
A white-label phone system, also known as white-label VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), is a phone service where one company, the white-label VoIP provider, offers VoIP infrastructure and services that can be rebranded and sold by a reseller as their own services to their base of end customers.
Key Aspects of White-Label VoIP
So, we’ve roughly defined a white-label phone system; now, let’s go deeper and cover the characteristics of white-label VoIP that MSPs and resellers like you need to know about before building a go-to-market business plan.
Key Aspect #1: White-Label VoIP Infrastructure and Technology
White-label VoIP providers handle the backend infrastructure and admin for MSPs, including:
- Provisioning of voice services
- Providing cloud-based systems for call management
- Transmission of calls over IP networks
- Local number portability (LNP) between carriers
- Multi-jurisdictional taxation, filing and remittance
- Federal and state regulatory compliance
- FCC registration, disclosures and regulatory filings
- Tax mapping for products and services
- Marketing support materials
- Application and demo support
Key Aspect #2: Build Your Brand and Own Customer Experience (CX)
Beyond handling the back end and technical functions of delivering voice services to end customers, white-label VoIP providers allow resellers to build their own brand and truly own the entire customer experience from end to end.
In a white-label VoIP go-to-market motion, MSPs will be able to:
- Customize the VoIP service with their own branding
- Deliver pre-built and branded sales and marketing campaigns
- Maintain their unique brand identity without exposing the white-label VoIP provider to end customers
- Control the customer experience by providing front-line support to end customers and handling the sales, onboarding and installation processes while receiving additional support for these deployment phases from the white-label provider
- Pick and choose the services to deliver to end customers from the white-label provider’s portfolio of product offerings
- Receive co-selling and comprehensive sales engineering support from the white-label provider, even so far as functioning as a representative of the MSP company on meetings and technical calls
Key Aspect #3: White-Label VoIP Features and Capabilities
White label VoIP systems are designed with both standard and advanced communications functionality in mind. These systems typically offer:
- Voice calling functionality
- Messaging and fax services
- Call forwarding and routing
- Call recording
- Call reporting and analytics
- Interactive voice response (IVR) systems
- Mobile applications
- Business SMS/MMS
- Unified messaging
- Presence and instant messaging
- Visual voice mail and transcription
- Web and videoconferencing
- Location intelligent emergency calling
- Centralization of contacts
- Multilevel browser-based management portal
- Single sign-on (SSO)
- Two-factor authentication (2FA)
- Softphone for desktop and mobile
- Local and long-distance calling
- Integration with other business tools, including CRMs, PMSs, Microsoft Teams and other workflow automation and productivity applications
Types of White-Label VoIP Solutions
White-label VoIP providers offer several types of VoIP or voice-enabled solutions to MSPs. A provider with a comprehensive portfolio will typically deliver the following distinct services:
- Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS): Modern businesses need to communicate over multiple channels, including voice, video, email, chat, text messaging and more. MSPs can deliver these capabilities in one app that is accessible anytime from any internet-enabled device.
- Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS): Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) is a cloud-based software platform that allows businesses to manage customer interactions across multiple channels. CCaaS helps companies provide a consistent customer experience by enabling them to manage interactions across phone calls, emails, text messages, web chats and social media.
- SIP Trunking: SIP Trunking, with unlimited calling nationwide, offers a flexible and lower-cost alternative to traditional services such as POTS lines and PRI. SIP Trunking delivers high-quality connections, plus optional features, such as call recording, reporting and business continuity.
White-Label Phone System Benefits for MSPs
So, why should MSPs go through the process of partnering with a white-label provider and selling phone systems to their end customers? In our experience, MSPs work with white-label VoIP for these key reasons:
- Cost-Effective: Partnering with a white-label VoIP providereliminates the need for significant upfront investment in infrastructure and technology development from the MSP.
- Quick Market Entry: MSPs can rapidly deliver VoIP services to customers without delays in developing new technology.
- Focus on Core Business: MSPs can concentrate on marketing, sales and customer relationships while leaving the technical aspects to the provider.
- Scalability: MSPs canquickly expand services as their business grows and their customers’ businesses grow without investing in new infrastructure.
- Comprehensive Solutions: MSPscan offer customers various communication tools to enhance their service portfolio and make existing customer relationships stickier.
How to Pick the Right White-Label Phone System Provider
So, how does your MSP or reseller business select the best white-label phone system provider? You’ll first need to evaluate your business needs and then map them to the selection criteria of your provider.
Evaluate Your Business Needs
The first thing is to evaluate your own business needs and ask yourself these questions:
- Do you know how to troubleshoot VoIP and voice systems already? Or do you need to rely on the white-label VoIP provider to handle all technical requirements?
- Do you offer complimentary services to VoIP already? Or do you need to source companion solutions from the provider?
- Are you targeting a specific vertical or geographic market? If so, the white-label provider needs to meet the needs of that vertical or service that geography. Not all providers are created equal, so for example, if you’re servicing healthcare organizations, look for a provider that complies with HIPAA.
- How fast do you need to go to market? Are you trying to get onboarded fast, or will you phase in voice services slowly over a long period of time?
- Do you already have voice customers and are looking to move them over to a more reliable service with more features or integration functionality?
- What margins do you need on your voice service to sell VoIP profitably?
Key Selection Criteria
Delineate between white-label phone system providers by assessing the criteria below:
- Reliability and Uptime – Does the provider guarantee service uptime through a service level agreement (SLA)? Look for a provider that offers ‘five 9’s’ or 99.999% uptime in their SLAs. The service should have geographic redundancy between multiple data centers. If the service goes down, ask the provider what they’re willing to do to compensate for the outage with you and the end customer.
- Feature Set and Functionality – The provider must offer a complete feature set to keep you competitive. Do they offer business SMS and MMS texting functionality within the service, not just SMS? Do they have forms of SOC compliance? Do they have PCI DSS and/or HIPAA compliance available so you can meet the technical requirements of various customer types? How does the system work with other communications systems?
- Scalability – Is the provider in the geographic market you serve and how fast can they help you deliver new services to new customers you’re onboarding? Look for a provider that services customers nationwide, so you’re not capped as you expand to new regional markets. Is the system flexible enough to create customized seat deployments and expand and contract as your customers grow and shrink?
- Integration Capabilities – Does the provider integrate with popular services like Microsoft Teams and well-known CRMs like Salesforce? If you service a specific vertical, does the phone system integrate with that particular vertical’s most popular CRM or PMS? If not, is the integration on the product roadmap?
- Support and Service – Does the provider have a deep bench of technical expertise with reasonable support response times? Can they provide a one-call resolution to issues? Are they proactive in alerting you of service issues so you’re not unaware when customers ask questions? Does the provider offer a white-glove onboarding to take you by the hand through new sales if you’re new to VoIP, or does it let you hit the ground running and sell immediately if you’re an expert with decades of VoIP experience?
Consider all of these factors carefully before signing up with any white-label provider. Unlike other VoIP partnerships, a white-label one is more close-knit and often requires daily communication between your organizations to ensure success in servicing and growing your customer base. So, choose wisely.
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