“Most other resellers are going through their entrepreneurial stage of being set up and sold by their owners whereas Uniworld is a very stable, financially secure and mature company.
We had a very successful 2009 and whilst revenues were slightly down our profits remained steady and we created £2.0 million of free cash flow with no debt to finance.
Uniworld is in the channel for the long haul – there’s no question of our being bought, sold or integrated in to another company – we are part of the Gamma telecom Group. In 2009 we increased our headcount and achieved a customer retention rate of 98.7%. What is adds up to is certainty for our channel partners.
There are four main things that makes Uniworld unique. Firstly our relationship with Gamma Telecom provides the advantage that we can leverage their wider industry profile and technical, product and engineering resources for the benefit of our channel.
Secondly our product set, largely based on the Gamma range of services, including inbound, Feature Plus, SIP Trunking and our new relationship with ShoreTel.
Thirdly, our financial stability and lastly our customer service which has been a traditional strength. Our staff turnover is less than 5% and we have long term relationships with our partners. All of our staff have been through an NVQ in customer service. In fact 45% of our gross margin is spent on customer service.
In 2010 we are investing heavily in sales and marketing activity to take advantage of the economic upturn. We have recruited a new marketing manager, Samantha Gwynne, and expanding the marketing from one to seven people. Activities will include joint telemarketing campaigns with our resellers.
We have also formed a new Uniworld Solutions Team, and in a move away from our traditional servicing of SMB customers we have created a Bid Team for larger business – the high end of the SMB market; say those billing £0.5 million a year. It’s paying results - recently we have won four large contracts with the Solutions Team.”