Thinking Phone Networks Secures $16.5 Million in Funding
Thinking Phone Networks Secures $16.5 Million in Funding by Paul Robinson
Enterprise cloud communications service provider Thinking Phone Networks just announced a $16.5 million investment led by Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV) and Bessemer Venture Partners. The investment will enable the company to expand its sales, marketing and support services internationally, enhance its ThinkingSuite communications delivery ecosystem, and continue to grow its global partnership network.
This funding announcement provides further market validation for the company’s UCaaS value proposition. Revenues have doubled in each of the last three years and the company was recently named by Network World as an “Everything as a Service” company to watch and twice recognized by Gartner, as a UCaaS Magic Quadrant “Visionary.” The funding announcement also coincides with technology licensing agreements which will enable service providers, technology vendors, and channel partners to access the cloud communications space to meet burgeoning demand.
About the Company
Thinking Phone Networks has been in business for six years delivering a wide variety of UCaaS solutions through its ThinkingSuite software platform including: VoIP, mobility, A/V/W conferencing, IM/Presence, UM and contact center. The ThinkingSuite portfolio’s mobile application supports iPhone and Android smartphones as well as iPad and Android tablets. The platform can also integrate desktop video with dedicated video room systems. Today, over 3000 enterprise sites have been deployed.
The Company operates on an internally developed platform designed as a multi-tenant, redundant, distributed cloud communications ecosystem. Its UCaaS platform scales from midsize solutions to the largest enterprises with highly competitive SLAs available on Quality of Service (QoS) application connections ensured via end-to-end service using its own as well as partners’ MPLS networks. For example, their March 2011 partnership with Masergy Communications delivers the ThinkingSuite UC platform and SIP trunking services over Masergy’s intelligent services platform which includes hosted network management and control software, and guaranteed global site-to-site QoS performance.
Thinking Phone Networks offers its customers various integration tools such as Web services APIs and connectors over its open-architecture to enable them to communications-enable business processes. But increasingly midmarket and larger enterprises have developed their own home grown applications which they are looking to integrate. A major competitive differentiator is Thinking Phone Networks’ ability to readily support this type of CEBP integration within the context of a full planning cycle that permits the customer to see the tangible ROI benefit earned.
UCC promises its users competitive advantage gained through increased business agility, productivity growth, and lower costs. Deriving that benefit, however, requires that customers benchmark their processes before UCC is introduced, plan the implementation of CEBP, deploy the process adaptations, measure results, evaluate the success of the changes and revise accordingly. The availability of Thinking Phone Network’s native business analytics capabilities, which historically have been primarily a contact center function, are a key to making CEBP ROI a tangible asset to business unit decision makers.
Go-to-Market Strategy
Thinking Phone Networks has a three-part G2M strategy composes of: (1) driving business through a direct sales force; (2) leveraging wholesale/OEM opportunities with service providers, PBX vendors and with other technology companies; and (3) building up and selling through its channel. The direct sales force is focused on the company’s sweet spot. These are midmarket to larger enterprise companies with 500 to 5,000 distributed employees (its largest customer has > 10,000 users) in multiple fixed or mobile locations around the globe. The direct sales team will also support the channel, as required, in conveying the Thinking Phone Networks value proposition to customers. Channel partners consist of service providers, PBX vendors and traditional channel resellers. Two recent additions who have joined the channel as master partners are Intelisys and Avant Communications.