Pulse Technologies INC

Established in 2005, Pulse Technologies brings Utah a wealth of telephony expertise in large part thanks to its founder and CEO, Craig Davies. With over 30 years of industry experience under his belt, Craig began as an installation and service technician, then later moved into a sales role before establishing Pulse to better deliver modern communication functionality to customers.

At the company’s outset, however, Pulse’s exclusive relationship with a previous PBX manufacturer often complicated the sales process, particularly when trying to move on-premise systems to hosted installations.

Craig explained, “Our previous vendor dictated everything for us, including customer price, our labor rate, and the entire installation process. They did all the programming for the phone installation, they determined the date that the install would happen — it felt more like we were just selling the contract paper and then being removed from the equation.

“That was one of the reasons why we wanted to move to someone new for hosted opportunities: because they were dictating everything from profit margins to post-installation customer service with our clients. If it was a competitive deal, we had to go back and try to convince the vendor to allow us to sell it for less. Sometimes they wouldn’t, sometimes they would. We were at their mercy.”

Although not actively looking for an alternative, in 2019 Craig had a chance introduction to an existing Wildix Partner, whose use of the technology left an immediate impact. WebRTC Kite, Wildix’s widget for communications directly on webpages, proved a particular draw.

Intrigued by the system’s possibilities, Craig followed up on previous sales calls to a Wildix representative who had been reaching out to him for some time.

This partnership solidified in mid 2019, and by December of that year Pulse Technologies switched to selling the Wildix solution exclusively. Craig noted that this shifted the nature of Pulse’s partnership with their vendor dramatically.

“Wildix was a really good fit for us, because it allowed us to be in control of the customer and the PBX,” he said. “We could install it, we could service it, and we could maintain control of how the customer was taken care of post-installation. Customers who have been with us for many, many years have come to expect high levels of service from Pulse Technologies, and with Wildix as our partner for hosted unified communications, we are able to continue the ‘white glove’ service we have always offered our clients.”

Pulse Technologies first got a sense of the Wildix system by conducting smaller installations, which Craig described as highly positive:

“They went so smoothly. It was a completely different experience from what I’d had before, and that was with us not even really knowing the product. The features, the functionality of the mobile client, the web interface — all the different things that are included in it, we just fell in love with them real fast.”

Of course, switching to Wildix in late 2019 put Pulse Technologies in a unique business position for the coming year.

“Then we go to early 2020: Covid hits, and we’ve suddenly got the best solution that we can provide our customers for home office use,” Craig recounted. “We started turning up a lot of phone systems in the early Covid days, getting them off of their previous solution and onto Wildix. That was really awesome for us, because instead of having a point of decline in our business because of what was going on around the world with Covid, we ended up having an uptick in business. Everyone needed to start working from home quickly, and we were able to facilitate that with Wildix.”

As lockdowns waned and business returned to normalcy, revenue only continued for Pulse Technologies, with significant improvements under the Wildix model.

According to Craig:

“The biggest thing that we’re experiencing is constant and steady growth. In the past, we would sell a phone system as a CAPEX solution: the customer pays a large chunk of money up front, we install it, and then that customer immediately becomes a zero dollar customer to us. So we had a lot of peaks and valleys in our business. You’d sell a couple systems and have a good month, and then the next month that revenue is gone.

“And now, every month we have steady growth. We know next month we’re going to have at least the same revenue that we had this month, plus additional revenue as we continue to build our client base. If you were to graph it out, you don’t see a bunch of dips and peaks anymore; you see just a steady uptick.”

This steady revenue also comes alongside significant benefits to customers.

“It’s not us just going out and costing these customers additional money,” Craig said of Pulse’s OPEX installations. “In so many cases of these systems that we’ve swapped out, we’ve actually saved them money over their current phone bills. We’ve had multiple installations that come in less for their entire phone system than what they’re paying now for just their dial tone services.”

All of this is enabled primarily through Wildix’s approach to partnering with Pulse Technologies.

“I’ve dealt with Panasonic, Avaya, Mitel, NEC — a lot of different manufacturers in my time in this industry,” Craig said, “and a competitive advantage with Wildix is that they are very progressive. They’re very forward-thinking, and I’ve never felt like Wildix is out there to make a money grab. They’re out there with the end-user customers in mind and with their Partners in mind.

“I really feel like, from top to bottom, we’re known by Wildix. We’re appreciated by Wildix, and they want to see us grow as much as we do. It’s really what a partnership should be like, and I’ve never experienced that with another manufacturer.”

Similarly, Craig noted that from a technical perspective, Wildix serves as a stark contrast to previous experiences.

“The way that Wildix bundled their licensing and rolled into it the different features and functionalities is a competitive advantage,” he said. “They put into something as low as an essential license a lot of features and functions that other hosted providers are putting more in their top tier licensing.

“Another real standout for us is the ease of installation. Then the mobile application, the desktop application and the web integration have been really big competitive advantages. I personally haven’t seen anything like Wildix’s mobility and web interface with other manufacturers. They definitely have a leg up in the industry in those arenas.”

Recently, Pulse Technologies has earned customer interest and won further sales by promoting x-caracal, Wildix’s call analytics tool.

“What it really does, as far as a competitive advantage, is it separates us,” Craig said. “We can implement x-caracal for a very nominal fee to the end user and give them as much or more than another manufacturer might be giving them with a really large price tag.

“​​Plus, the implementation of x-caracal is just a piece of cake,” he added. “We literally clicked a button, and all of a sudden the customers have it installed. I don’t know if you can get any easier than that.”

More than two years into the partnership, Craig reflects positively on the experience, in particular what it has meant for Pulse Technologies’ growth and even longevity.

“Covid has been a big thing for us, because I just sit there and think about where our business would be right now if we had not had our Wildix partnership,” he said. “And quite honestly I wonder if the doors would be closed. We found a solution that not only helped our customers out, but it helped us through a global pandemic. It’s helped our business in its entirety going forward.”