Belfast phone system generates £3.5m in 18 months with £620k of funding

Voxbit's platform, which has been developed with just over £600,000 financial backing from economic development agency Invest NI, gives businesses more control over their calls and improves inbound and outbound call handling.

The system is marketed by Voxbit as Byphone, and uses a voice over internet protocol platform (VoIP) to cut costs and support multiple types of media.

It's sold through 50 Voxbit partners around Great Britain generating contracts worth £3.5m over the last year. Voxbit is part of Clarity Telecom, which was founded by serial entrepreneur Dave Whelan.

Mr Whelan said: "Byphone is an end-to-end managed service that uses an innovative drag and drop system.

"This allows users to essentially develop their own phone system without involving their phone company. This enables organisations, for the first time, to see who is using the phones, when people are calling, and if any calls are unanswered. Voxbit developed the VoIP technology over many years and benefited from financial support from Invest NI," he added.

"Our aim is to reinvent the business phone by merging the worlds of cloud computing, web services and telecommunications."

Invest NI provided research and development funding of £621,997, part-funded through the EU Investment for Growth and Jobs Programme 2014-2020.

Dr Vicky Kell, director of innovation, research and development, said: "Voxbit is a highly innovative company that has identified areas within the communications field that are ripe for development and exploitation.

"The success of the byphone product in its first year reflects the quality of the technology and that Voxbit clearly understands what businesses want."

She said Voxbit's success demonstrated that small companies can challenge global enterprises.

Read more about Dave Whelan including his entrepreneurial journey from coffee shops to telecoms in tomorrow's Business Telegraph