‘There’s always risk in changing platforms, so we weren’t 100% sure of success. Where I felt confident was the backing [from Access4]. We knew we weren’t alone; there was genuine willingness to engage our business and customers on the cutover experience. We hadn’t seen that before in the telephony space or MSP world. It was quite unique and different.’
—Clinton Carey, Cicom Founder & Managing Director
Background
Cicom is a managed IT services provider based in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. Like many regional technology businesses, Cicom began as a computer retailer and repairer supporting residential and small business customers.
Around ten years ago, the business transitioned into managed IT services — at a time when the MSP model was still emerging outside major cities. As managed services grew to represent half of the company’s revenue, Cicom rebranded, exited its retail roots, and became a fully B2B-focused MSP.
With a lean team of four staff, efficiency has always been critical. As Founder Clinton Carey puts it, ‘When you’re small like us… being efficient is pretty important.’ The business needed systems that enabled responsiveness, scalability and growth — without adding unnecessary complexity. We spoke with Carey to discover how Access4 helped his team achieve this.
The Challenge
Cicom’s move into managed communications was driven by frustration. Dissatisfied with high business telephony costs and limited alternatives, Carey decided to build a solution internally.
By deploying a 3CX environment on Google Cloud Platform and sourcing SIP trunks independently, Cicom significantly reduced its own costs. That success revealed an opportunity to replicate the model for customers. ‘We thought, ‘We can do this for other people as well’’, Carey explained.
However, as customer adoption increased, the operational burden quickly grew. Each customer required a separate cloud instance, PBX environment, SIP services, and billing configuration. ‘We had four components from four different suppliers that we were managing,’ Carey said.
With around 30 managed environments, the model became difficult to sustain. Making changes meant logging into individual customer instances, each with different credentials. ‘When they’ve all got different logins, that becomes cumbersome over time,’ Carey noted.
Cicom needed a simpler, more scalable way to provision and manage UC – ideally through a single platform that supported future growth.
The Access4 Partnership
While reassessing its approach, Cicom received a cold call from Access4 – one that stood out immediately. ‘It was something a little bit different… it wasn’t just a sales call. They were looking for a partner that fit their environment – you could tell,’ Carey said.
What resonated most was Access4’s understanding of regional MSPs and the value they bring. ‘Access4 sees value in regional commerce,” Carey explained. “The fact Access4 sees value in servicing 30-odd customers gives you a bit of hope that your business has value.’
That partner-first mindset helped validate Cicom’s growth ambitions. ‘You feel like you’ve got someone there that sees you as a valued partner, so you feel valued and validated,’ Carey said.
Business Outcome
With the partnership in place, Cicom began transitioning more than 30 customers onto Access4’s cloud communications platform, consolidating provisioning, billing and management through SASBOSS®.
Access4 handled much of the technical heavy lifting during the transition, including replicating configurations from 3CX — freeing Cicom to focus on customer communication and continuity. ‘It was something we didn’t have to do,’ Carey said.
The introduction of SASBOSS® delivered the simplicity Cicom had been seeking. With a true single pane of glass, the team could manage almost all customer activity independently.
‘It’s a single pane of glass through which we can do basically 99% of the work ourselves,’ Carey said, noting the difference this made to responsiveness and service quality.
Rather than spending time navigating multiple systems, Cicom could focus on fine-tuning customer environments, making fast changes, and improving the overall level of service. Ongoing improvements to the platform continue to enhance usability over time.
Conclusion
With Access4 now underpinning its UC offering, Cicom has reclaimed time, reduced complexity, and created a platform for sustainable growth.
‘We’d rather be working on fine-tuning those systems for customers… rather than fumbling our way through products that take our time away from really being responsive to customer needs,’ Carey said.
The partnership has also created new commercial opportunities, enabling Cicom to expand geographically and deepen customer relationships. ‘We definitely see this relationship as a way to get a foot in the door with customers and to create a relationship with them, before we show them what other services we have.’
For Cicom, Access4 provides the confidence, efficiency and partnership needed to scale UC – particularly for regional MSPs looking to grow without added operational burden.
