Southern Ohio Communication Services

How one internet and comms provider is serving a wider range of customers with innovation and PBXware

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Aware that fast-paced innovation is the key to success in a changing world, Southern Ohio Communication Services (SOCS) has been evolving with industry trends since 1979. From paging to cellular phones, wireless to Voice, SOCS has done it all. Today SOCS is using PBXware Multi-Tenant to reach a wider range of customers with favorite features like auto-provisioning and mobility. They also used gloCOM to save the day for a local police department that lost communication during a move.

Chris Harris

Chief Operations Officer, SOCS

[PBXware] is very robust. Options are pretty much unlimited about call flows, recordings, etc. With a little bit of knowledge, it’s pretty easy to set it all up.

Much has changed in the communications industry since 1979. Much has stayed the same. While technology has evolved rapidly and drastically, the goal of enhancing and improving communication methods has been shared by business owners for decades. 

For SOCS (Southern Ohio Communication Services), this journey into the business of communications began in 1979 with paging services. Since then, SOCS has dabbled in IMTS, cellular services, and continues to provide paging services for organizations that still use it today. 

Today an industry expert, SOCS is well aware that “communication is changing.” Always innovators, SOCS found another niche as a Wireless Internet Service Provider when the industry was in its infancy. This smart move paid off with thriving business. But having been witness to the changing landscape for over 30 years, the leaders at SOCS know the key to this industry is acting fast when new technology emerges.

Around 2010 wireless technology began doing more and more. VoIP in particular was the hot trend and its technology was ever improving. 

Aware of market demand and the potential for their business, SOCS expanded their wireless offerings to include voice packages. They purchased an IPiFony system and began offering Hosted PBX and Residential VoIP services.

This decision immediately paid off as the demand for Voice was high and SOCS was an established vendor. But as business took off, SOCS began questioning their choice of vendor…

  • While they liked the IPiFony solution, its development was stagnant. For 3-4 years there was no innovation, no development, no keeping up with VoIP trends. Throughout their time selling IPiFony, SOCS received less than a handful of updates.
  • IPiFony uses Skinny Client Control Protocol (SCCP) instead of SIP Protocol. A proprietary protocol owned by Cisco, this limited SOCS to using and selling only Cisco telephones. If a client already had SIP phones, SOCS would have to replace all of their hardware before installing the hosted solution. 

Held back by these shortcomings, SOCS began looking around for a new vendor that could better support their growth into the future.

SOCS found its next step by partnering with Bicom Systems. Following a few conversations with Eric Johnson of Bicom, Bret Childers, Technical Manager for SOCS, made the decision to move everything over to PBXware Multi-Tenant in the Cloud.

PBXware Multi-Tenant is a feature-rich, turnkey telephony platform that supports business growth with unlimited tenants, easy setup, integration, and branding. It is available in the Cloud or on-site. 

For now, SOCS is using Cloud services hosted on the Bicom Systems Cloud SERVERware platform and buying extensions as needed. They would like to shift to an on-site model eventually. With such a rich and dynamic background, SOCS has the technology and ability to embrace on-premise PBX.

By partnering with Bicom Systems, SOCS was able to resolve both of their challenges and more. PBXware supports a wide range of telephones, so SOCS is now in control of what hardware they use based on unique customer needs and situations. 

Innovation with Bicom Systems is a given. The development team is one step ahead of industry trends and works with partners on an individual basis to achieve ongoing success. 

“Auto-provisioning is a really nice feature too” says Bret Childers of SOCS in an interview with Bicom Systems. “All you have to do is reboot to have it do new things.” He also mentions the advantages of supporting BYOD (Bring Your Own Device).

What do they like most about Bicom Systems? Chris Harris of SOCS says “[PBXware] is very robust. Options are pretty much unlimited about call flows, recordings, etc. With a little bit of knowledge, it’s pretty easy to set it all up.” 

Chris goes on to share an example of a SOCS customer that knew exactly how he wanted his phone system to act and handle incoming calls, but had no clue how to set it all up. SOCS was able to set up the system and call flow so that the customer could just plug in his phones and get back to work.

This type of customer is not uncommon. Bret reflects that “there are many people and businesses out there that would love to be in the communications industry but don’t have the backend and the ability to do all of the taxes and paperwork.” 

From entrepreneurs that are great at sales but not at technology to older companies still using legacy systems to Internet Providers that do not want to deal with all of the phone regulations, SOCS sees an opportunity here to help. PBXware, and especially the auto-provisioning feature, allows SOCS to serve these types of companies with systems that are quick and easy to install and use. 

Looking forward, SOCS expects continued growth and expansion. With their extensive industry knowledge, reputation as leaders in innovation, and partnership with Bicom Systems, the future is bright no matter what the industry brings us next.

After writing this case study, SOCS solved a pressing problem for a very important customer. We found the story interesting enough to come back and share. 

A local police department was moving to a new office and decided to switch to a whole new phone system at the new location. They contacted SOCS and after seeing gloCOM decided to use them as their new voice provider. 

SOCS helped them prepare a plan for moving day. The cable company that provided Internet and analog lines moved everything to the new location and the department would be able to use the new SOCS solution as soon as they stepped into the new office. Behind the scenes, SOCS forwarded their old landlines to a dedicated number while porting those numbers directly into the new solution.

Everything was ready to go. Then SOCS got an unexpected call. A final inspection from the State of Ohio did not come through in time and move-in was delayed by a week. With all of their communications set up and ready to use, they could not access the new office. 

This type of problem would be an inconvenience for any company or organization, but for a police department it was especially concerning. Of course 911 was still 100% functional, but the ability to get a hold of individuals directly was gone. 

A city council member called SOCS asking if there was anything they could do to help get the department back up and running. They had no Internet or phone lines, but desperately needed the ability to communicate. Aaron Swango and Chris Harris of SOCS put their heads together and, four hours later, the police department had a working solution. 

The key to the solution? Mobile phones. While the department no longer had Internet or landlines, they did have personal cell phones and mobile data. And SOCS had gloCOM GO, Bicom Systems’ Unified Communications mobile app. 

gloCOM GO is designed to give users all of the communicating abilities they have in the office, right in the palm of their hand.

Long story short, SOCS was able to set up tenants and extensions and install the gloCOM GO app on each officer’s mobile device so that they were back in contact. Did we mention they did this in just four hours? 

Part of the reason that SOCS was so quick to find and implement this solution was that they had installed gloCOM GO many times before and are very familiar with its capabilities and implementation process. They always encourage customers to use the mobile app and this story is a perfect example of its benefits. 

A happy police department not only made it through the week, but actually found this mobile solution to be even more efficient than their traditional solution. For the first time they could take and make business calls while away from their desks. 

“They were in love with that feature,” Chris recalls. “They thought it was great that we were able to come up with that solution for them while this whole thing was unfolding.” 

Aaron adds that “one of the big selling features with Bicom is your versatility and the speed with which you can respond to people.” We applaud SOCS for their quick thinking and acting in a critical situation that turned into a success story for everyone involved.

What's Next?

We are excited about the future of Southern Ohio Communication Services and cannot wait to continue collaborating with them for many years to come. And what about you? If you would like to pursue this kind of phenomenal revenue growth through a collaborative partnership, we would love to support your journey.

Contact Bicom Systems today to share your story and begin crossing your own bridges on the quest for recurring revenue and financial success.
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