The POTS Box is a company that has spent decades in wireless and IoT solutions and now helps a variety of industries, such as healthcare, hospitality, education, retail, and other midsize and large companies, replace copper without tearing out existing equipment. Pulse 2.0 interviewed The POTS Box CEO, Robert Garry, to gain a deeper understanding of the company.
Robert Garry’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Garry said:
“I have been in wireless technology since 1986. I have built multiple companies selling solutions initially in the 2 way radio world and then moved into creating and selling business solutions over broadband and cellular. I began focusing on POTS Replacement in 2020 and I am currently the CEO of The POTS Box.”
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for the company come together? Garry shared:
“As I began working in the telecom world, I was surprised to learn that many businesses were still using old copper lines for their fire alarms, elevator phones, fax machines and many more specialty lines. Many telecom companies replaced the standard business phone lines from copper to VOIP, but they did not want to touch the specialty lines. We saw that channel as being perfect for us to bring a complete solution to so they could service their customers for these lines too. In addition, we saw an opportunity to go after new channels. Elevator companies, fire alarm companies, security companies and more could replace their existing clients old copper lines, make a lot more revenue and become stickier with their customers. We can do almost everything on their behalf or enable them to do it themselves.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Garry reflected:
“Creating significant recurring revenue opportunities for our partners with their existing customers. It is easy money for them, and they are grateful for our part in the process. And helping our channel partners get the word out to their customer base that they’ll need to replace these old analog lines before their service gets shut off, while saving money at the same time.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Garry explained:
“We provide a One-Box solution that enables a business customer to replace up to 8 lines per building with these specialty lines we referred to earlier. More lines can be replaced by simply adding another box. It allows for connectivity for both broadband or cellular, depending on the end customers’ needs or desires.”
“Top capabilities/features of our solution are:
- No matter the use case, we can replace that line
- Our device meets all compliance and regulations needed for any of these type of lines
- A built-in backup battery that lasts a minimum of 24 hours in case of a power outage
- We offer it in 4G or 5G technology
- Our device can be used for other services, such as internet backup with hot failover capability (no current phone call or session gets dropped when switching from one type of connectivity to another)
- We offer our partners 24/7/365 technical support when needed; our culture is based on a customer-focused mentality
- We offer superior marketing support and services to our partners, including:
- Collateral and presentations for end-user prospects that can be white labeled
- Outbound sales and marketing utilizing LinkedIn, emails, and telemarketing
Challenges Faced
Have you faced any challenges in your sector of work recently? Garry acknowledged:
“Some companies come in with cheap hardware and use technology that can create life threatening situations. For example, lines that connect to central alarms cannot have occasional jitter or latency during the call. This can cause false alarms. Regular internet backup is not good enough for emergency lines. For example, if a broadband connection is cut the customer will lose the call. The call can be made again over cellular but having to make the call again may be too late. As well, they usually do not meet safety codes. The customer has no idea because the companies are not explaining these things to them. We must educate partners on how to properly educate their customers on the differences between our solution and the cheap and dangerous solutions in the marketplace that do not meet codes. . In this scenario with our offering to our partners, if broadband fails then the call immediately switches to cellular with no lost connection. These are critical components when dealing with life-or-death situations. There are many more examples of this.”
“We also have to continually improve on how we educate the channel and their business customers that need to cut their reliability on copper.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Garry noted:
“As mentioned before, we added hot failover to avoid calls being disconnected. Our manufacturer has added a 5G box so the unit can be used for more solutions than just POTS replacement. We also implemented 24/7/365 day US based support.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Garry cited:
“Being able to put a VoIP or UCaaS provider into this business that allows them to grow their service offerings with their customer base and at the same time keeping competitors out.”
Customer Success Stories
Can you share any specific customer success stories? Garry highlighted:
“As far as an end customer example, being able to provide significant savings to a school district in North Carolina with 47 separate school buildings who were paying exorbitant monthly fees for each of the old copper lines still in use for lines such as fax, phone, elevator and fire alarm panels.”
“We have also had significant success in the Healthcare industry for assisted living facilities that needed their old lines replaced, particularly ones that have life safety aspect to them. We are able to provide a much more reliable connection for these lines at a significantly reduced cost for them.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Garry affirmed:
- All components in one box
- White label the offering for all of our partners
- Offering 5G (most others only offer 4G)
- First-rate technical support whenever needed
- A robust and easy-to-navigate User Interface for our partners and their customers
- The router in our solution can also be used for internet failover for the customer’s entire company, plus SD WAN solutions
- Create marketing materials that can be white labeled
- Offer outbound marketing programs
- We do not compete with our partners in the marketplace; we do not sell directly to end users.
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Garry concluded:
“To continue to build the channel and provide this complete solution to service providers who otherwise would not be in this business, and to educate the business community around the need to get these lines replaced before it’s too late!”
