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Michigan Telecom Company on the Rise
by Lisa Diggs
Wouldn’t it be totally amazing if there was a Michigan company that has been around for a long time, is growing, adapting to technological changes, saving their fellow businesses money, AND helping entrepreneurs carve out a successful path for themselves?
There is, and it’s called Telegration, Inc.
Founded in 1990 and now headquartered in Clawson, it is the brainchild of CEO, Denis Raue. He grew up in Michigan where he built a successful career that eventually led him to Washington DC and a new idea. It was there that he first decided to partner with multiple companies selling telecommunications in order to save customers money.
In time, he moved his company back to Michigan, and now reduces costs and improves efficiencies for over 30,000 small, medium and large organizations, including Fortune 500 corporations, cities, government agencies, and others. Detroit Newspapers, EPrize, and TaTa Technologies are just a few of the Michigan businesses taking advantage of the savings opportunities presented by Telegration.
According to Raue, “We’re out there helping Michigan businesses. We’re nationwide, but I’d say 50% of our business comes from inside the state.”
Telegration uses engineers who can analyze network needs and sales agents who can analyze client bills in order to determine the best service combination for each of its clients. They offer a complete range of local, long distance, and Internet services from a growing number of leading providers, such as AT&T, XO Communications, US Signal, Level3, Qwest, TDS Metrocom, Global Crossing, Cavalier, TNCI, CBeyond, Paetec, 123.net, New Edge Networks, TelNet Worldwide, Masergy, Grid 4, Time Warner Cable, First Communications, Nitel, One Communications, Buckeye Telesystem, and more.
Because those providers compensate the company whenever it sells their services, clients of Telegration can benefit from expertise without service fees. In fact, in addition to twenty four hour customer service, Telegration also offers something it calls Proactive Customer Service.
After 90 days of service, the assigned account team will review a client’s account to ensure they are completely satisfied and obtaining the cost savings desired. They monitor each account on an ongoing basis at no charge to ensure optimized telecommunications usage, and proactively recommend new services or calling plans if they can save the client money.
These days saving money is naturally a big attraction for organizations, but so is advancing technologically.
Telegration has been selling long distance for less for years, but now bandwidth, clouds, and mobility applications are the most important emerging concepts. Mobile devices, for example, can be used to increase productivity in a variety of ways from automatically tracking miles driven and submitting expense reports to processing orders while still in the field.
“We’re out there selling the new applications that make businesses productive,” says Raue. “You can make money helping people use the new technologies to be more effective.”
It’s easy to see why, in addition to helping other Michigan businesses grow, the company itself is on the rise and affords a unique opportunity to individuals with the right experience and an entrepreneurial spirit.
Currently composed of 28 direct employees and approximately 150 independent agents, Telegration is poised for growth. According to Raue his company paid over $2 million in commissions to agents in 2010 and is actively looking for more partners.
“Somebody who has a telecom background can make a good living. Ideally we look for somebody who has maybe 5 years sales experience in telecom and can build a good residual business.”
Telegration shows all the signs of a Michigan company on the move, despite current economic conditions.
As to the vision for five or ten years down the road, Raue says he intends to “Keep on a northeast path, doing more application and cloud stuff, and looking for some of our younger folks to take over for us as we retire. We’ll keep changing as the industry keeps progressing. It’s amazing all the things you can do today.”
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Click HERE if you’re interested in learning about the Telegration agent program.
If you’re interested in finding out if Telegration can save your organization money on telecom services email info@BuyMichiganNow.com and we will be happy to connect you with an agent.
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