Wildix UK Country Manager Rob Loakes draws a clear picture of the vendor’s evolving growth model, working more strategically with partners to unlock their potential in the thick of new market opportunities.
There are many forces at work in the market today, and Wildix’s approach to navigating change, leveraging technology and harnessing opportunities continues to pay dividends, with the UK channel at the forefront of gaining market share. Spearheading the next wave of growth is Loakes who took over the UK Country Manager role from Ian Rowan last month. Rowan is now CEO of x-hoppers (the retail sector wireless headset supplier based on Wildix technology). Loakes was previously UK Channel Manager and joined the UCaaS provider in 2017 when it entered the UK and steered an immediate course towards ongoing growth.
Fast forward to 2023, and Wildix realised its goals for the year, achieving over 20 per cent growth. The company experienced strong results across all geographies and brand awareness continues to increase globally, notably entering the APAC and UAE regions. Here in the UK, Wildix has grown year-on-year, so much so that the UK’s growth stats are equal to Italy, the vendor’s most mature market, and Loakes is targeting an unprecedented acceleration in UK gains.
He noted that Wildix operates in most UK verticals and highlighted education, healthcare and hospitality as being core (with a fourth vertical shaping up to be especially transformational for Wildix... more on that later in this article). “We have seen our average deployment size in the UK increase from circa 20 users to over 40 in the space of two years,” he stated. “We are also being introduced to a growing number of enterprise level opportunities which signifies the strength of our positioning in the UK.”
By working strategically with partners many more opportunities in the enterprise space are being brought to the table
These significant upticks also indicate that the UCaaS market is experiencing strong growth, and Loakes relishes the prospect of addressing this opportunity at ‘such a pivotal time’. “The UCaaS market is expanding rapidly, in large part spurred by Covid 19 which shifted end user priorities firmly towards hybrid working,” he commented. “The fact that we have been positioned on the Gartner Magic Quadrant for UCaaS, and are the only European UCaaS vendor to feature for the third consecutive year underscores Wildix’s strengthening influence.”
Market gains
As mentioned, Loakes has set his sights on expanding Wildix’s presence in the UK this year. “This is our main objective,” he confirmed. “We are running roadshow campaigns up and down the country and in Ireland to engage with potential new partners. 2023 got off to a flying start thanks to our growing partner network and ongoing alignment with each partners’ business strategy. Recruitment is also a priority to ensure we maintain maximum interaction with partners.”
Developing and accelerating synergies with partners in the context of a fast changing technological landscape is a challenge facing many vendors, but for Wildix this does not involve any kind of reinvention, rather a continuation of existing practices. The company currently has 130 partners in the UK&I, most of them performing strongly. And Loakes attributed the depth of Wildix’s partner network to its long-held go-to-market strategy.
“In 2017 our approach was not to flood the market, rather work closely and develop synergies with those partners who saw the value in our product,” he explained. “This collaborative stance enabled us to grow quickly. And by working strategically with partners many more opportunities in the enterprise space are being brought to the table, which is an achievement considering we have only been in the UK for seven years. Partners also appreciate that we are a one-stop-shop end-to-end vendor, from flexible licence types which can be purchased on various terms through to a hardware range with an international SIP bundle offering – all can be provided on an as-a-service model. Our channel-only approach is also appealing.”
Adding rocket fuel to Wildix’s growth journey is the release of x-bees, a sales and services focused platform aimed at companies that want to boost their sales, along with x-hoppers, the vendor’s retail solution that moves communication beyond the headset through AI assistance. Loakes reports that both propositions are experiencing high adoption rates in the partner channel. Wildix is also investing in applications of AI across the back end of its solutions. To this
For example, the x-bees platform has the ability to transcribe live calls accurately, enabling sentiment analysis for calls and video conferencing.
Loakes has an equally clear view of what the future looks like for Wildix and he expects a significant acceleration in UK growth over the coming three years, forecasting a doubling of market share with a particular emphasis on specific sector-based strategies that have introduced a fourth core vertical. “We are going into new territory in retail with x-hoppers,” he added. “That’s opening big doors.”