At Solgari, we truly believe in the power of partnerships. In the first of our Partner Spotlight series we spoke to Lewis Barnes, from UK-based boxxe, about how their mission-driven organization is working to ‘make tech human’.
What is boxxe?
Based in York, in the north of England and with a team of 350 IT professionals, boxxe has been providing hardware, accessories, software and managed IT services for businesses for more than 35 years. With a strong portfolio of Microsoft solutions and security services, boxxe primarily serves the defence and public sector industries. The company recently acquired Total Computer Networks, expanding its reach into the corporate market. It caters to a diverse clientele, including SMBs, mid-market and large enterprises.
What is boxxe’s company mission?
Our tagline is ‘make tech human’.
As a team, we’re committed to transforming complex IT solutions into something far easier to understand, explaining how these tools can enhance the daily lives of our customers.
Aligned with the standards of B-Corp, boxxe is a force for good, actively involved in charitable causes. The company offers its employees 11.5 days per year to volunteer and participate in community initiatives. These efforts include volunteering their time, teaching IT to students, assisting with CV writing, and various other community outreach programs.
Tell us about your partnership with Solgari: when did it start and why?
Our partnership with Solgari commenced in April 2024, and it was such an easy decision. Our shared commitment to helping customers get the most out of their Microsoft solutions meant we were a natural fit.
Many of boxxe’s customers are Microsoft Enterprise Agreement holders seeking to maximise their Microsoft investments. Being able to offer them solutions for customer service, telephony and AI within the Azure marketplace, along with enhanced Microsoft Teams usage, means we can help them simplify their operations.
In fact, roughly 90% of our customers have expressed interest in extending their Microsoft Teams usage. Our approach has resonated well with customers so far.
What top 3 challenges do your customers face and how does your partnership with Solgari overcome these?
Integrating external partners into their tech ecosystems can be challenging for customers – there’s a natural teething period when they have to place their trust in something new. However, leveraging a solution like Solgari that lives within Microsoft Azure helps alleviate these fears. The inefficiency of having separate applications for contact centres and internal operations via Teams is eliminated through Solgari’s unified application.
Customers also struggle to monitor employees remotely, and team leaders are therefore unable to report on their agents’ activities. Solgari’s solution bridges the gap by bringing everything into its centralised Microsoft Teams application.
Finally, reporting and data analysis is extremely limited by the legacy solutions in place, meaning teams often resort to bringing in additional tools to extract the insights they need. However, metrics that were previously hard to report on, like dropout rates and first-call resolution, are made far more accessible through Solgari.
What are your short- and long-term goals for your partnership with Solgari?
In the short term, we’ll continue to build on our strong sales pipeline and get the first few wins under our belts. Looking ahead, our goal is to fully integrate the Solgari app into our internal operations and take part in extensive training so that we can effectively guide our customers on how to get the most out of this valuable solution.
Our joint aim is to co-develop new features and applications for the solution to enhance our offering, combining Solgari’s impressive technology and boxxe’s expertise in delivering solutions to customers with context. Our partnership enables us to provide a complete service wrap.
Why is the Microsoft ecosystem such an exciting place to work?
Microsoft is what boxxe lives and breathes. Finding a partner who aligns with our mission and strategy makes it that much better!
Why do you think great customer experience is so important for brands?
So many public sector organisations are stuck using outdated legacy systems due to limited funding. This includes old CRM platforms, custom-built solutions, and aging call centre or telephony infrastructure that is just about keeping the lights on.
To trigger change, we need to help customers understand the art of what’s possible. They’re not moving with the times, and are instead being held back by budget constraints. By showing them their options – not all of which will break the bank – we can support them as they explore ways to improve their operations.
Are you seeing demand across your customer base for AI solutions?
While we have witnessed a growing interest in AI among our customers, many are still wary about implementing new solutions without understanding them properly. Some customers have purchased licenses for AI tools, allowing specific individuals, such as super users or administrators, to test and evaluate their capabilities. However, few have rolled AI out across the entire organisation.
We are actively involved in campaigns for Microsoft Copilot, as we know full well that AI will play a significant role in the future.
