At ULTATEL, we are taking telecommunications services to the cloud. Before COVID, there were still many businesses that were afraid to migrate telecommunications to the cloud, but at the same time, according to Gartner, 90% of IT decision-makers will not purchase on-premise equipment by 2021. Here’s a good analogy — in your house, do you still have an answering machine? Likely, no. But you still have voicemail, correct. You just don’t have the equipment, it’s hosted in the cloud with your service provider. The same is true for business phone systems, naturally they should be moved to the cloud and have better infrastructure and support from the service provider. ULTATEL is helping businesses of all sizes looking to consolidate and simplify their enterprise communications and contact center services across multiple locations and devices. We help them migrate and use technology more efficiently. This leads to more savings, better quality and the ability to work from anywhere. I’m very excited to be in this field.
The telephone totally revolutionized the way we could communicate with people all over the world. But then came email and took it to the next level. And then came text messaging. And then came video calls. And so on…What’s next? What’s just around the corner?
In this interview series, called ‘The Future Of Communication Technology’ we are interviewing leaders of tech or telecom companies who are helping to develop emerging communication technologies and the next generation of how we communicate and connect with each other.
As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Amr Ibrahim, Founder and CEO, Ultatel.
With 20+ years of experience in software development, telecommunications and management, Amr prides himself on helping businesses of all sizes become more efficient to compete in today’s corporate world. He recognized the value of great customer service and tapped into his entrepreneurial spirit to found his own telecom company, ULTATEL. Since then, the company has been recognized as a Top 10 VoIP Tech Company by Enterprise Networking Magazine.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
Mytechnical background is in software development. I moved to the telecommunications sector early in my career and helped establish a CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier) in Florida, growing from 0 to 300,000 customers. Having a startup mentality in the telecommunications industry at that time was not typical, but I saw opportunities for innovation. I knew that I wanted to start my own company, and I saw an opportunity with the move to cloud and telecommunications. I was and remain committed to solving business pain points. My current company, ULTATEL, has a vision to completely change how companies conduct business by delivering the most comprehensive suite of unified cloud-based telephony service to help today’s businesses effectively compete both today and in the future.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
While working at the CLEC, I was called as an IT expert witness (I was managing the software development team at the time) in a legal battle between my company and a telecom giant that we suspected was overbilling by millions of dollars. I put my heart and soul into that case, and we won. This solidified my belief that if you give customers the right support and price your products right, start-ups can work.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Persistence and consistency are the secrets to success. Even if you slow down, always move forward
None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I would not go this far with my career without the support of my wife, with 20+ years of marriage, I can tell that every important move in my career was a result of valuable advice and a great amount of support from her side.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I believe strongly in the value of technology and how it can help others succeed. I help my local community organizations on IT and technology projects, and I hire and invest in young people. Outside of work, I am a robotics coach for my children and their friends. I enjoy instilling the spirit of competition in them, while helping them learn at the same time. This keeps me close to my kids and it helps me teach them about the values and dangers of technology.
Ok wonderful. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Can you tell us about the cutting-edge communication tech that you are working on? How do you think that will help people?
At ULTATEL, we are taking telecommunications services to the cloud. Before COVID, there were still many businesses that were afraid to migrate telecommunications to the cloud, but at the same time, according to Gartner, 90% of IT decision-makers will not purchase on-premise equipment by 2021. Here’s a good analogy — in your house, do you still have an answering machine? Likely, no. But you still have voicemail, correct. You just don’t have the equipment, it’s hosted in the cloud with your service provider. The same is true for business phone systems, naturally they should be moved to the cloud and have better infrastructure and support from the service provider. ULTATEL is helping businesses of all sizes looking to consolidate and simplify their enterprise communications and contact center services across multiple locations and devices. We help them migrate and use technology more efficiently. This leads to more savings, better quality and the ability to work from anywhere. I’m very excited to be in this field.
How do you think this might change the world?
Remote work is here to stay, and I think that’s a good thing. It helps with current employees (you save time and money) and allows you to acquire better talent in the future. If you have the infrastructure built up, you can recruit employees from anywhere. If your business is not ready for remote, you’ll always be missing out on talent acquisition.
Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
In the beginning, people were afraid of the cloud for security reasons, but I believe the cloud is actually more secure. Companies don’t have to worry about hiring talent to protect their business. Their providers now have to do that, so the cloud essentially is more secure and more in compliance.
Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this breakthrough? Can you tell us that story?
The breakthrough started internally. We ran a contact center to cut costs and built out features that helped us do our jobs better. We’ve been using our products since 2003 and launched the commercial product in 2014 after we realized that other companies might be looking for the same kinds of enterprise-grade communications systems.
What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?
Right now, we are in the early adaptation phase, meaning that there will be exponential growth over the next three years. There’s always the obstacle of migrating — how do you move from an old system to a new one with minimal downtime. The migration part always scares prospects and customers, but this is where ULTATEL shines. We understand the issues, we’ve already been through it, and we are here to help you manage the transition.
The pandemic has changed so many things about the way we behave. One of them of course, is how we work and how we communicate in our work. How do you think your innovation might be able to address the new needs that have arisen as a result of the pandemic?
The pandemic rapidly accelerated the move to remote work, and this forced adaptation took the industry by surprise. We realized that we have the solution for work from anywhere on any device model and we have been busy helping businesses of all sizes to be ready for the challenge.
Fantastic. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
- Do not wait for perfection to do anything perfection is an obstacle to growth, always act on your ideas, start your dream project and keep improving along the way.
- Learn to embrace your mistakes early, no two journeys are equal, you will make mistakes along the way, embrace them, learn from them and move faster.
- surround yourself with like-minded growth minded people who can push you further.
- Activity does not equal growth; prioritize your goals, identify and work on the most important ones first. Keep updating your list of priorities.
- Focus on helping others, helping your customer succeed,, helping your employees succeed, everything will align nicely after; your companies’ growth, profit and your self-satisfaction
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would promote technology education for young people. If we invest in technology education, we will have a generation that is equipped for the worldwide challenges that we are currently facing.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can follow ULTATEL on our website, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Thank you so much for the time you spent doing this interview. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success.
About The Interviewer: David Liu is the founder and CEO of Deltapath, an award-winning unified communications company that liberates organizations from the barriers of effective communication. Liu is known for his visionary leadership, organic growth strategies, and future-forward technology. Liu is highly committed to achieving a greater purpose with technology. Liu’s business insights are regularly featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Tech Crunch, and more.
