Published on the 15/06/2012 | Written by Newsdesk
A management buyout has given WorldxChange (WxC) a seal of approval for continuing its successful Corporate and Government SIP services. With six key managers taking a stake holding position, the company is now pushing even harder to challenge giants Telecom and Telstra…
The buyout sees former COO Glenn Johnstone take over the CEO role previously held by former WxC director Cecil Alexander. Long standing director and majority shareholder Paul Clarkin has further increased his shareholding and remains WxC’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
“Outgoing CEO Cecil Alexander had wanted to go home [to the US] for some time and he was looking for an exit strategy,” says Glenn Johnstone, now CEO at WxC. “Plus we had key staff who wanted to get more involved and more focused on the opportunities that were opening up for us. With the MBO, circumstances have aligned, and it’s allowed us to lock in a new key management team, at a time when the market is looking fantastic for WxC.”
“Over the last seven or eight years, WxC has invested a lot of money in the network side of things at the expense of broad marketing, as a result, we are regarded as a very good engineering firm, but not the best at putting our story out there. That’s about to change.”
WxC’s skill in delivering next generation IP services received an endorsement from an unexpected quarter in 2009 when Telecom appointed WxC exclusive service provider for all new fibre based housing developments. 3 years on with Fibre To The Home (FTTH) subscribers numbering in their thousands WxC continues to provide consistent ISP and voice services to those property developments.
Having its origins as a residential provider, WxC some years ago made a concerted move into the New Zealand Corporate and Government market. Having won key accounts such as IAG, Transpower, Auckland Rescue helicopter and Navman, alongside a number of large Government accounts, the company is looking to place even more emphasis on this sector of the market.
“We’ve always been a fairly low profile company alongside some elephants in the marketplace,” says Johnstone. “You’ve got Telecom obviously, Telstra and Vodafone. But because we’re a next generation provider, our struggle has been to prove not only WxC as a company, but to demonstrate that the technology isn’t bleeding edge.”
Now, with high-profile successes and SIP services being on the agenda of most CIO’s, WxC is in the prime position to deliver against its extensive network investment. “Our channel partners such as Datacom and Dimension Data have been critical to our success to date and very much remain so into the future” explains Johnstone.
“Right now it’s all about putting ourselves in the best possible position to go to market and to get our message out to those larger customers. It’s all about getting out from under the radar and building on our considerable abilities in the Government and Corporate markets. How many providers out there can decrease your costs by a typical 30-40% while hugely increasing your resiliency, capability and flexibility of delivery? We can and we do. We just need to be a little less modest about it”.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
WorldxChange Ltd
W: www.wxc.co.nz
E: info@wxc.co.nz
T: +64 9 950 1300
Tollfree: 0800 123 456