VOIPFONE WINS PRESTIGIOUS QUEENS AWARD FOR ENTERPRISE
Voipfone, a pioneering telephony company that uses the internet to send and receive telephone calls, has won a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise
– the UK’s highest accolade for business success.
The award, in the Innovation category, is the latest in a long line of recognition for the ground-breaking company that was created by its joint owners, Colin Duffy from Brighton, Sussex and Lee Rose from Ashford, Kent.
The firm’s innovative internet telephone system allows customers to set up an account in minutes and use their own number anywhere – home and abroad – from as little as £2 a month.
The founders saw a niche in the market to take on the huge multi-national companies and create a cloud based system that helps small businesses.
Voipfone’s service gives even the smallest businesses the features and functions previously solely available to very large companies, but for a tiny fraction of the price: telephone extensions for £1 per month, call queues for £2pm, “Press 1 for sales” for £2pm – many free features, such as music on hold, voicemail, call transfer and free calling between all Voipfone customers and extensions – wherever they are in the world.
‘I’m extremely proud that Voipfone has won this award,’ says Colin Duffy, the firm’s CEO whose company has spent nine years developing the technology that makes it unique in its field.
‘It seemed very unlikely at first that we could qualify – after all it’s the most prestigious award in UK business – but as we completed the very detailed application, it became increasing apparent that the innovations in technology, finance, organisation, operations and customer service that we’d worked so hard on over the years, are special,’ says Mr Duffy, who lives in Rottingdean, East Sussex.
VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol and is a way of sending telephone calls over the internet and other networks. It’s a new technology, which is transforming telecommunications globally. Until VoIP was invented, telecommunications was the province of governments and large corporations but, since the turn of the millennium, it’s being used by a few innovative companies to provide new and unique telephone services and is changing the way the industry is structured.
• Voipfone is a virtual company with no main office. It employs 25
staff – up from seven in 2008 – and turned over £2.3m last year, making a profit of £400,000.
• Winners of The Queen’s Awards are invited to a special reception at
Buckingham Palace. They can also use The Queen’s Award Emblem in advertising, marketing and on packaging for five years as a symbol of their quality and success.
• The awards are made annually by HM The Queen, and are only given for
the highest levels of excellence demonstrated in each award category.
