When Auckland-based software firm Vista Entertainment Solutions went looking for a VoIP system it didn’t have to look very far — just down the hall, in fact.
Vista, which develops and sells cinema management and other industry vertical software, shared the same floor with New Zealand VoIP exchange developer Vadacom.
“We started talking to them and they offered a good, economical solution. We liked them as guys and to deliver what they said they would,” says Vista Entertainment finance and legal manager Brian Cadzow.
“Cisco is a heck of a lot more expensive than Vadacom,” he adds.
Cadzow says both Vista and Vadacom are small New Zealand companies and it seemed their values aligned.
Vista wanted VoIP because, firstly, it is a technology company and VoIP seemed to be the future. Also, it has people, partners and customers all around the world, so VoIP had the potential to offer something genuinely useful and to lower communications costs.
Vadacom’s CEO, Igor Portugal, says his company’s VadaXchange delivers the advantages of being able to communicate across the internet as well as through traditional PSTN. He says it is also his company’s policy to provide an unlimited number of free extensions for customers and clients to use.
Vadacom was installing its system at another nearby company when Vista bagan considering a VoIP change, so they were able to see it being rolled out and working successfully.
“We had to buy a new phone system at a certain point in time,” Cadzow says. “And Vadacom got theirs ready in time.” Vadacom’s VadaXchange isn’t just about cutting costs. Vista has been supplying partners and customers around the world with softphones and is now able to reach these people in the UK or Canada as if they were just another phone extension.
Cadzow says the company is on a VoIP journey and has been making sure the new system is fully functional before adding new features. For now it’s all about rolling out more softphones to partners but in the future, integration with desktop applications and of the company’s voice and data networks are on the agenda.