As MSPs increasingly deliver connectivity, cloud, security and AI services as a single offering. Having a traditional platform potentially limit an MSP’s ability to scale efficiently and deliver modern customer experiences.
These were challenges Virtualplatform founders Piers Tyler and Stuart Wallis identified with legacy systems, disconnected workflows and a lack of automation.
“Coming from a managed service provider background, I experienced these challenges from the customer side,” explained Wallis. “In the retail market, customers often switch providers based on price, but the managed service provider market is different.
“You never have just one supplier…you always have multiple suppliers.
“When I was selling services to customers, one of two things would happen. The supplier had no systems for me to use.
“I had to speak with someone directly, creating delays and limitations around business hours, or they had a portal.”
For Wallis even the best portal only solved their problem and didn’t improve his customer’s experience.
“I still had to use that portal, and my customer still had to come through me,” he added.
For Tyler, who comes from a telecommunications background, he had seen the commoditisation of the telecommunications industry.
“It’s been quite a ride… I remember coming to Australia in 1995. At the time, I was charging $2,000 per megabit per second for wholesale IP transit,” he noted.
“Nowadays, that’s about 20 cents, if you’re lucky. It’s a massive change.”
What that meant “What that commoditisation means is that you can no longer run the same sales, marketing, operational and billing systems that existed back then, which were largely manual. That shift has completely disrupted the industry.”
“Some businesses have tried to automate where they can. Many of the larger, older telcos have not, and that presents huge challenges.
“They have non-integrated systems, a lot of manual processes, and extensive swivel-chair work between applications.”
While, both Wallis and Tyler see many providers start their own internal automation initiatives, they often struggle with the process.
“In many cases, still are [struggling],” Tyler added. “I saw this from the service provider side having worked at telcos… I could see a significant opportunity.
“There was a clear need for telcos to embrace automation and move away from older, highly manual sales processes. Even today, we encounter suppliers that require interaction through email, PDF forms and other manual processes.”
Portal difficulties
Even when telcos launched new portals, the reaction was often, ‘great, that’s one more portal I need to use’, said Wallis.
“Many managed service providers were already managing a dozen or more portals across different suppliers,” he noted. “Providers responded with discounts, free service periods and promotional offers, creating a race to the bottom.
“Eventually, they lost their differentiation and began focusing on systems and customer experience instead.”
This is why Wallis and Tyler combined their experiences and knowledge to create a unified platform, Virtualplatform, to simplify telco procurement and management.
“Wallis was experiencing the same problem on the managed services provider side,” said Tyler. “He owned a managed services provider in Brisbane and was trying to interface with telcos.
“[This was” to purchase services, determine availability and obtain pricing. Much of that process involved manual conversations with people.”
“Over the following years, the industry reached a point where telecommunications providers began offering application programming interfaces.
In the background, Wallis’ platform interfaced with multiple telcos rather than just one.
“Through it, service providers could qualify services, obtain pricing, place orders and manage services online,” explained Tyler. “For internet service providers and managed services providers, that’s critical because it removes cost from their businesses.”
Before meeting Tyler, as an outsider to the telco industry Wallis assumed that a similar type of system was already being used.
“I believed they were either available or being developed. What surprised me was how traditional many telecommunications processes still were,” he explained. “Once I understood that, it became obvious that there was an opportunity to build something different.”
That was how Virtualplatform — 2024 ARN Innovation Award for Start-Up Industry Winner – came into fruition.
“When we started the business, we initially operated as an aggregator,” explained Wallis. “Smaller providers often lacked the knowledge, buying power or supplier relationships needed to enter the market.
“Once we built the platform, we began delivering services directly to help those customers get started.”
For Wallis even now many telecommunications providers discuss concepts such as network-as-a-service and artificial intelligence, but they typically stop short of delivering the complete platform. With customers still expected to build something on top of that.
“That is where our platform fits,” explained Wallis. “It works for both telecommunications suppliers and for the providers purchasing services from them.
“The software handles the multi-tier complexity telecommunications companies often overlook and allows providers to go to market quickly.”
In the beginning of the business, Virtualplatform initially operated as an aggregator.
“Smaller providers often lacked the knowledge, buying power or supplier relationships needed to enter the market,” explained Wallis. “Once we built the platform, we began delivering services directly to help those customers get started.”
Virtual growth
Since then, Tyler and Wallis have been working on building trust with their customers – which was difficult in the early days.
“Our biggest challenges was trust,” said Tyler. “We were asking customers to hand over what are effectively their crown jewels: their ability to generate revenue.
“Awareness of who we are has grown considerably. We still have a long way to go, but that challenge has become easier over time.”
That trust is paramount as Virtualplatform looks to help service providers launch, scale and automate their businesses.
“Traditional operators often rely on people-intensive support models,” Wallis noted. “Those models become increasingly difficult to sustain as margins continue to shrink. Software changes that equation.
“Our platform includes customer relationship management, connectivity management, billing, ticketing, notifications and artificial intelligence capabilities.
“Businesses can deploy artificial intelligence agents that interact directly with customers, explain technical issues in simple language and automate support processes.”
For example, an AI agent can retrieve technical information from the National Broadband Network and translate it into language that a non-technical customer can understand.
“If the customer still needs additional explanation, the system can continue refining the response,” Wallis added. “The platform is carrier-independent, it also works well for organisations outside telecommunications.
“A large retail organisation could use the platform to offer connectivity services without building a large telecommunications support capability.”
Ultimately, Wallis and Tyler see the platform’s value in simplifying service delivery, not just for the telco industry, but for others as well.
To do that they will look to bring in more staff as the demand for Virtualplatform continues to generate interest.
“We intend to continue growing,” said Tyler. “As customer demand increases, we will need additional people to support that growth and deliver the services our customers require.”