M5 Networks (News - Alert), a provider of hosted VoIP solutions, is currently expanding its operations in the Philadelphia area. Part of the expansion involves the addition of a new regional sales director to lead efforts in the area.

 

To learn more about the expansion and M5’s latest hire, TMCnet turned to Elizabeth Vanneste (News - Alert), the company’s Chief Marketing Officer.

 

 

EV: M5 Networks was founded in May 2000 and is headquartered in New York. M5 provides phone system functionality as a service over a private IP network optimized for voice—Voice as a Service—to mid-size businesses throughout the U.S.

 

 

EV: M5 provides services to mid-sized businesses in 35 states and we determined that Philadelphia would be a great market for us because of the concentration of businesses there that align with our client profile. Our clients span a variety of vertical segments which include professional services, financial services, real estate, and retail.

 

 

EV: We have hired Doug Cooper, regional sales director, to develop the market and build out a sales team. We have established relationships with several IT consultants in Philadelphia as part of our partner programs.

 

 

EV: Doug Cooper will build a team to present M5’s Voice as a Service offering to mid-sized businesses in the Philadelphia area. He has 15 years of successful sales experience in the telecommunications and data maintenance industry. Prior to joining M5, he worked with United Asset Coverage, Inc (UAC), a leading provider of maintenance and warranty solutions for communications equipment, where he held a number of sales management roles.

 

Before joining UAC, Cooper demonstrated sales success at DecisionOne Corporation and Worldwide Telecom as National Account Manager. Cooper earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Saint Joseph’s University in 1993.

 

 

EV: Voice as a Service delivers phone system functionality as a service over a private IP network optimized for voice. M5’s Voice as a Service (VaaS) includes three major components: Active Service Management (proactive, transparent service from deployment through ongoing management and maintenance), Embedded Continuity (“baked-in” business continuity that goes far beyond simple redundancy), and On-Demand Solutions (providing actionable business breakthroughs for marketing, call center, staffing and client service functions).

 

 

EV: M5’s National Partner Program was created to enable IT consultants, value-added resellers and systems integrators across the country to bring the benefits of M5’s Voice as a Service to their clients. 

 

 

EV: M5 partners can enhance their current portfolio with a voice communications offering that is fully supported by M5’s systems design and customer service teams.

 

 

EV: M5’s Philadelphia-area partners currently include: Premier Companies, ShedNet, Zonics, and All Covered.

 

 

EV: Ultimately, M5 is very different from most companies that offer hosted or premises-based phone systems. Our network is optimized for voice, our software is customized to support Voice as a Service, and our staff is obsessed with delivering business change and client referenceability. Through an outside firm we survey every client and ask them if they would recommend us—and more than 90 percent say yes!

 

The table below summarizes the benefits of M5’s Voice as a Service compared with other hosted solutions.

 

	On-Premises	Hosted	M5
Phone System
No Costly Phone System to Purchase		x	x
No Phone System to Maintain & Upgrade		x	x
Support
Maintenance, support, changes, upgrades included		x	x
Transparently View Support Tickets in Real Time			x
95% of Support Calls within 24 Hours			x
Reliability
99.999% Phone System Uptime	x	x	x
One end to end SLA		x	x
Total Network and System Redundancy			x
Proactively Monitors 24X7			x
99.99% Location Uptime			x
Management
One Vendor/One Bill		x	x
No Fingerpointing Between Vendors		x	x
Features
Lots of Features that are not Used	x	x	x
New Features Automatically Deployed		x	x
OnDemand Solutions that Provide Business Payback			x
Client Satisfaction
94% of Clients Confidently Recommend to Others			x
Less than 5% Clients Cancel Each Year			x