FreedomVoice Phone Service Coming to GoDaddy: Why Should You Care?

Small Business Trends recently reported that GoDaddy is in the process of procuring cloud-based FreedomVoice phone service to add to its suite of small business marketing communications products.

The article also mentioned that GoDaddy has set up a new telephony business unit led by Intuit veteran Barry Saik, who serves as its general manager and SVP, to oversee the company’s communication products’ strategy and execution.

Reasons for Acquiring FreedomVoice Phone Service

In an email exchange with Saik, Small Business Trends learned that GoDaddy’s interest in acquiring FreedomVoice is two-fold:

“Many of the 210 million small businesses around the globe struggle to find simple, affordable telephony solutions for their business, so the company saw a growth opportunity,” Saik said.

“Also, GoDaddy’s mission is to provide services to small businesses that enable them to build a strong digital identity, and the FreedomVoice acquisition fits that model. Both companies are harnessing the power of the cloud to deliver tailored products for small businesses, and they believe in providing customer care that goes above and beyond to ensure customers’ needs are met.”

Why Should Small Business Owners Care?

In a world full of cloud-based phone solutions — Grasshopper and Nextiva to name just two — why should small business owners care about the new GoDaddy service? Also, what makes it different from the many other options out there?

Saik said this, in response: “There are a few reasons why this is great for small business owners. First, we have a lot of experience delivering mission-critical services to small businesses, and voice services are absolutely mission-critical to them. In fact, a key reason we were attracted to FreedomVoice is that they are equally obsessed about delivering products customized to small businesses.”

Another reason small business owners should care, according to Saik, is the high level of customer service GoDaddy is recognized for providing.

“We set a very high bar when it comes to personal, empathetic customer care and we’ll be extending the same excellent service to our telephony products,” Saik said.

Telephony Unit Signals Continued Shift in Product Offerings

Of perhaps greater importance is the fact that the development of GoDaddy’s telephony business unit signals a continued shift away from services directly related to the company main sectors of activity — domain registration and hosting — toward the introduction of allied products specifically tailored to small businesses that, as Saik suggested, are mission-critical.

“We spend a lot of time listening to our customers, and we know that voice communications are of paramount importance to small businesses,” Saik said. “We also know that business phone numbers and customer service are notoriously poor. This dynamic creates a great opportunity for GoDaddy’s telephony business unit to disrupt things in favor of small businesses, much like what we’ve done for domains, online presence and productivity.”

FreedomVoice isn’t the only product not directly related to GoDaddy’s main service lines. In fact, it represents a course the company’s compass has been set on for some time.

In 2012, GoDaddy acquired the financial management application company, Outright, to offer online bookkeeping. In 2013, it added online invoicing as part of the bookkeeping product through the purchase of Ronin, an invoice application service. And, in 2015, the company developed an SEO product called Search Engine Visibility, to make increasing a small business’s digital presence easier.

Most recently, GoDaddy announced the launch of a new mobile app, Flare, designed to serve as sort of a social network where entrepreneurs can share business ideas and get feedback from fellow entrepreneurs and experts.

Regarding plans for the telephony unit, Saik said that FreedomVoice signifies just the first generation of voice communications products.

“GoDaddy will introduce bundled offerings and next-generation products in the near future,” he said.

Image: FreedomVoice

This article, "FreedomVoice Phone Service Coming to GoDaddy: Why Should You Care?" was first published on Small Business Trends