Video: 10 Minute IT Jams - Who is Access4?

Access4, an Australian company specialising in cloud communications, has made significant strides in supporting managed service providers (MSPs) across Australia and New Zealand. Founded in 2016, the company's central aim is to help MSPs unlock the benefits of unified communications while overcoming technical and commercial barriers.

Tim Jackson, Managing Director at Access4, explained that the company's vision is to become "the ICT industry partner of choice for the communication sector". He added, "We're channel only, so we sell through MSPs, which we feel are the trusted advisors to businesses."

Access4 offers a broad suite of products and services built for the modern workplace. These include cloud-based voice, hosted PBX systems, unified communications solutions such as Teams and Webex, and omnichannel contact centre platforms. "We saw a really big gap in the market around MSPs wanting to offer voice, and it was extremely complex and expensive," Jackson explained. Recognising this issue, Access4 set about developing its own proprietary platform to allow MSPs to deliver enterprise-grade voice solutions without prohibitive costs or complexity.

"At the time, MSPs were used to handling data and IT-related services, but voice was the part they couldn't get across. So, we built the platform with SaaS Boss as our proprietary front-end CPaaS," Jackson said. This approach enabled MSPs to offer recurring revenue services, ensuring their customers were well-supported while keeping costs manageable.

According to Jackson, Access4 has achieved considerable growth by continually innovating and listening to the needs of partners and customers, particularly small and medium-sized businesses. "We focus a lot on what partners and customers want in the SMB [market] and obviously modern workplace has now come into that since the pandemic," he said.

He stressed that Access4 differentiates itself from other providers through its focus on value-added frameworks and customisation. "We don't just resell [off-the-shelf solutions]. We put a lot of framework around how that's provisioned, a lot of add-ons, and make that a more usable and better customer experience for not only the end customer but the partner as well," said Jackson.

Access4's solutions are tailored to modern workplace requirements, including hybrid environments. "A customer may want Microsoft Teams in the boardroom but they want Zoom Phone on the desk or Webex on the desk, and we allow customers to mix and match and have hybrid environments which is pretty unique," Jackson added.

As part of its ongoing innovation drive, the company is now exploring ways to make IT more visual and user-friendly. "We want to bring that into a visual and you can drag and drop and be able to do that across not only provisioning but support and the sales and quoting process as well," Jackson explained.

Access4 also places strong emphasis on business intelligence (BI) tools, offering partners and customers greater visibility so they can make informed decisions about their communications environments.

Looking ahead, Jackson said the company is sharply focused on two major trends: harnessing best-of-breed technology partners and empowering MSPs. "We don't try and build products that vendors have already built, but what we do is try and integrate those and make them seamless and easy to consume," he said. He described Access4 as a "consultative vendor", partnering with its clients on product hypothesis and testing before bringing new solutions to market.

Advancing the prospects of MSPs is a critical part of Access4's mission. "They want to focus on looking after their customer, not necessarily building solutions, so we're really fixated on building those solutions, innovating, and making sure that makes their life easier," Jackson said. "If we're going to be more successful, it's because our partners are more successful."

The company's commitment to its partners and the region is evident through its investments in local infrastructure. "We've invested heavily across ANZ, and that comes from not only the tech stack and data centre and providing geo-redundancy across the area, but we also look at other areas that we invest in," Jackson said, noting ongoing initiatives in its partner programme and distributor network.

Access4 has recently appointed Pete Alden as Sales and Marketing Director, a move Jackson said will bring "some really great ideas on how to drive that component of the business" and provide fresh opportunities for the partner community.

In addition to technical investments, Access4 has pledged to reinvest 7-10 percent of its revenue into research and development. "Investment in product and development, and we've committed in our last strategy to reinvest seven to ten percent of our revenue back into R&D and invest back into those best of breed products and tools that will hopefully make us the vendor of choice for MSPs out there," Jackson said.

For MSPs, partners, and service providers interested in engaging with Access4, Jackson said the best approach is to visit their website. "There's a huge amount of information there around why we think our channel programme is great and really spells out the benefits," he said. If end customers are seeking a better collaboration or unified communications experience, Access4 also provides a referral system to connect them with suitable partners.

Summing up the company's ethos and ambitions, Jackson was clear: "We're really fixated on building those solutions, innovating, and making sure that makes their life easier."