Welltel signs €4m deal with Portuguese communications tech firm

2 Apr 2021

Talkdesk’s Tiago Paiva (on screen) with Welltel’s Ross Murray. Image: Welltel

The three-year partnership with Talkdesk will bring its cloud technology for customer support centres to the Irish market.

Welltel, an IT communications business based in Dublin, has inked a three-year deal worth €4m with Talkdesk to deploy the Portuguese company’s services in Ireland.

Talkdesk develops cloud services for customer support and call centres, such as interactive voice response, bots, call recording and features for workforce management.

Welltel will sell and deploy the technology in the Irish market and, as part of the deal, will invest €750,000 in training and marketing of Talkdesk’s services.

Ross Murray, chief executive of Welltel, said that these services will help improve customer support for Irish businesses and usher in greater automation.

“We are already seeing a wave of automation, robotics, analytics and artificial intelligence emerging and with Talkdesk as a key platform, we can deliver many of these cutting-edge applications to our customers right now,” Murray said.

“The pandemic has only accelerated changes to the traditional retail channel and office environment. Businesses need to offer great customer experiences in an entirely new way. Talkdesk is the perfect solution to respond to a trend highlighted by the Irish contact centre managers.”

Murray added that Welltel will continue investing in further migration to the cloud and new technologies through partners like Talkdesk.

Tiago Paiva, chief executive of Talkdesk, said that Ireland is a “critical market” for the company as it accelerates its strategic global expansion.

“Irish businesses have faced several challenges in the past year, and many have adapted to remote or more flexible working, so deploying a cloud-based contact centre will be essential to give them the ability to set themselves apart from their competition,” he said.

Welltel has more than 3,000 customers in Ireland, with both small and medium sized businesses and large enterprises. It employs around 100 people.

The company has also been expanding its reach in the last year, acquiring communications and connectivity solutions business Intellicom for €5.5m and Kildare-based IT service provider Novi for €3m.

Jonathan Keane is a freelance business and technology journalist based in Dublin

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