Melbourne-based Unified Communication-as-a-Service provider, Access4, has today announced the acquisition of Perth headquartered BroadWorks provider, Novum Networks.

The acquisition will result in the consolidation of Novum’s network and platform into Access4’s industry leading Voice and UC environment headlined by its internally developed OSS/BSS platform, SASBOSS™.

Access4 Managing Director, Tim Jackson, said, “There are natural synergies between the businesses and a great culture fit. We believe we are better together and with Novum’s presence on the west coast and our growing presence on the east coast and New Zealand, this is a great outcome for the MSP community.

“With both businesses focusing on a channel only model, we believe we can integrate the businesses with relative ease to recognise a stronger and larger footprint in the region.  At the same time, with growing demand for voice and UC services in small to medium businesses across ANZ, the MSP channel is actively seeking quality and affordable solutions to increase its recurring revenue.”

Access4 has partnered with MSPs since 2016 and has seen its partner base grow close to 400 partners in both Australia and New Zealand, while Novum commenced operations at a similar time and has grown to service a significant proportion of the communication services provider (CSP) and MSP markets in Australia with around 50 partners.  Access4’s acquisition of Novum Networks will result in the company having more than 80 employees around the country.

Novum Networks Managing Director, Nigel Keswick, explained the acquisition would enable the combined entity to rapidly scale.

“We compete directly with Access4 and have done so for a number of years.  Their approach to growing the business and investing in their own IP with SASBOSS was a different model and one we didn’t embark on.  We saw the benefits in combining the entities and bringing the unique skill sets of both businesses together to ensure we continue to be the leaders in voice and unified communications for the channel in ANZ.

“We are both long term BroadWorks providers and although we have recently expanded our product portfolio, Access4 has a significantly larger SaaS catalogue for our partners to utilise and broaden their customers’ recurring revenue spend. We look forward to joining the Access4 business with our highly skilled team, further enabling our partners and customers to grow and succeed, and helping the combined entity drive growth in a mature UCaaS market that has latent demand post the pandemic.”

Access4’s approach to servicing the channel has evolved since inception in 2016, with dedicated teams to acquire, onboard, train and support partners in the sale and support of their UC products. With a broad range of carrier grade voice products and industry leading UC products coupled to analytics and contact centre solutions they have become a recognisable brand in the UC and channel.

When asked about further acquisitions, Jackson said, “We have an active mandate to acquire channel focused businesses with similar synergies that can leverage our significant investment in SASBOSS and our growing reputation as a channel first business that invests heavily in the success of our partners. Access4’s mergers and acquisitions strategy, led by our Executive Chairman, Scott Carter, is actively on the lookout for complimentary businesses that will add to the strong organic growth we have experienced over the past seven years.”

About Access4 www.access4.com

Access4 delivers the power of cloud communication and collaboration tools with advanced PBX features to transform business communications across ANZ. Purpose-built to support partners, Access4 offers a truly multi-tenanted solution, automation and invoicing with global leading vendors and integrations.