DSL Telecom - Blog , DSL Telecom Partnerships & Collaborations

Zoho Voice Launches In South Africa - Highlights From The DSL Telecom Webinar

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 13:50:34 +0200

DSL Telecom recently hosted an insightful webinar introducing Zoho Voice to the South African market, showcasing how businesses can now enjoy seamless, Zoho-integrated telephony with local VoIP calling rates. The session offered a deep dive into the platform's key features, integrations, and cost-saving potential for local businesses.

About Zoho Voice

Zoho Voice is a cloud-based telephony solution that allows businesses to manage all calls - inbound and outbound - directly from within the Zoho ecosystem. Whether your team works remotely, in-office, or across international borders, Zoho Voice ensures smooth communication through an intuitive interface and rich integration options.

One of the highlights of the session was Zoho Voice's "Bring Your Own Carrier'' (BYOC) capability, now available in South Africa through DSL Telecom's SIP integration. This allows businesses to:

Use their existing business numbers or port them to DSL Telecom.
Access true per-second billing for more accurate cost management.
Benefit from superior call quality and lower latency, as calls are routed locally instead of internationally.

Key Features And Integrations Showcased

During the live session, attendees were guided through some of Zoho Voice's most powerful features and real-world use cases.

1. Centralised Communication with WhatsApp Integration

Zoho Voice integrates seamlessly with WhatsApp, allowing teams to communicate with customers via calls or messages from a single unified interface. This not only improves response times but also enhances customer satisfaction by meeting clients on the platforms they already use daily.

2. Call Transcription and Sentiment Analysis

The webinar highlighted how Zoho Voice's AI-driven transcription converts voice calls into searchable text while also detecting sentiment. These insights help businesses:

Improve training and quality assurance.
Identify customer sentiment trends.
Make data-driven decisions based on real conversations.

3. Deluge-Powered Automation and Integrations

Through Zoho Deluge scripting, Zoho Voice can automate key processes and integrate with both Zoho and third-party applications. For example:

Automatically create a follow-up task in Zoho CRM after a missed call.
Trigger customer feedback surveys once calls are completed.
Update deal stages based on call outcomes without manual output.

4. Advanced Telephony Tools for Teams

From IVR menus and call queues to whisper and barge modes for coaching and escalation, Zoho Voice equips businesses with advanced tools to manage more calls more efficiently.

Affordable Local Calling with DSL Telecom

With the new Zoho Voice + DSL Telecom SIP setup, South African businesses can now enjoy local VoIP rates, improved call quality, and flexible billing options. Businesses can even port their existing numbers to DSL Telecom without service interruption, ensuring brand continuity and minimal downtime.

Q&A Highlights

During the live session, attendees had the opportunity to submit their questions. Here's a summary of the top questions and answers from the webinar:

Question 1: Does Zoho Voice integrate with Zoho Desk?

DSL Telecom Team: Yes, Zoho Voice offers native integrations with several Zoho applications, including Zoho CRM, Zoho Desk, Zoho Bigin, Zoho Recruit, and ManageEngine Service Desk. Additionally, integrations can be extended beyond the Zoho ecosystems using Zoho Deluge scripting, allowing Zoho Voice to connect with third-party platforms and custom workflows.

Question 2: When does call transcription start in Zoho Voice?

DSL Telecom Team: Immediately. Call transcription begins from the first second of the connected call. This includes IVR messages and all interactions throughout the conversation, ensuring a full and accurate record of each call from start to finish.

Question 3: Will Zoho Voice be included in the Zoho One licence in the future?

Question 4: Can Zoho Voice integrate with WhatsApp for sending and broadcasting messages?

DSL Telecom Team: Yes, Zoho Voice supports WhatsApp messaging integration through approved message templates. However, broadcast messaging is subject to Meta's policies and restrictions, so bulk or promotional broadcasts would need to comply with WhatsApp's official API rules. DSL Telecom can assist clients in setting up approved templates for compliant usage.

Question 4: Does Zoho Voice integrate with Zoho Analytics for reporting?

DSL Telecom Team: While Zoho Voice already includes comprehensive built-in reporting, you can push data to Zoho Analytics using Zoho Deluge scripting. This allows businesses to create custom dashboards and combine call data with analytics from other Zoho applications for deeper insights.

Key Takeaways

The webinar gave attendees a clear understanding of how Zoho Voice can enhance business communication through seamless Zoho integrations. advanced telephony features, and affordable local VoIP calling rates powered by DSL Telecom.

If you missed the session or would like to revisit the insights and live demo, you can watch the full recording or contact our team for personalised guidance on getting started with Zoho Voice.

Ready to explore Zoho Voice for your business?

If you'd like to learn more about Zoho Voice or need help getting started, our team is ready to assist.

Why Zoho One Is At The Core Of Client Success: A Testimonial By Dean Schreuder

Fri, 09 May 2025 09:01:55 +0200

In January, Dean Schreuder, Founder and Managing Director of DSL Telecom, travelled to India to attend an exclusive Zoho Partner event at Zoho's global headquarters in Chennai. While there, he shared a powerful testimonial about his experience as a Zoho Premium Partner in South Africa - a relationship built on innovation, trust, and consistent customer success.

In this blog, we unpack his story, highlight his favourite Zoho application, and share why DSL Telecom continues to be the partner of choice for businesses across South Africa.

Who Is DSL Telecom?

DSL Telecom is a leading Zoho Premium Partner in South Africa, helping local businesses adopt, integrate, and maximise Zoho's suite of software applications. From CRM to finance, inventory to support - DSL Telecom delivers hands-on service with expert technical support and implementation.

With over a decade of experience in cloud communications and business software, DSL Telecom has helped hundreds of businesses streamline operations and grow faster with Zoho.

What Is Your Favourite Zoho Application And Why?

In his testimonial, Dean shared why DSL Telecom strongly advocates for Zoho One - an all-in-one business software suite that replaces disconnected systems and brings everything into a unified ecosystem.

With over 45 integrated applications, Zoho One allows teams to collaborate, automate processes, and gain end-to-end visibility across the entire customer journey. Whether it's tracking a lead from first contact to closed deal, managing support tickets, running marketing campaigns, or generating business reports, Zoho One powers it all - efficiently and intelligently.

''If I had to choose just one Zoho app, it would be Zoho One. It's also one of our top-selling bundles in South Africa. When we show customers the value of paying a single, rand-based price - and how quickly they can replace multiple existing apps with Zoho's integrated suite - they quickly realise the true benefit of a simplified, cost effective solution that avoids the pitfalls of currency fluctuations while reducing complexity.''

What Value Does DSL Telecom Bring As A Zoho Premium Partner?

As a long-standing Zoho Premium Partner, DSL Telecom has helped hundreds of businesses streamline operations, improve productivity, and grow faster using the power of Zoho. From hands-on implementation and custom development to data migration and support, Dean highlighted several key areas of value:

Rapid implementation tailored to local business needs
Custom integrations between Zoho and third-party tools
Dedicated success plans to ensure customers never feel stuck
Expert consulting from certified professionals

'' Our customers know they're not just buying software - they're partnering with a team that walks alongside them on their digital transformation journey and genuinely cares about their success. ''

Watch Dean's Full Testimonial

Ready To Experience Zoho The Way It's Meant To Be?

Partner with South Africa's leading Zoho expert.

Book my free consultation

iLEAD Et Al Podcast: Navigating CRM Systems: An Interview With Paul Wilson, Technical Director Of DSL Telecom

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:37 +0200

In this Mastering Digital podcast, Nadine Swart, Business Development Consultant Of iLEAD et al welcomes her guest, Paul Wilson. Paul is the Technical Director of DSL Telecom, an award-winning Zoho Premium Partner in South Africa.

Nadine: Welcome to the Mastering Digital podcast hosted by iLEAD et al.

A challenge faced by many growing businesses is managing customer relationships effectively, and streamlining business operations becomes a crucial aspect of scaling the business. An effective CRM system can do just that. Joining us today is Paul Wilson from DSL Telecom, who will be guiding us through the intricacies of CRM systems. We will explore what they are, why they are essential in today's business landscape, and gain practical insights on choosing, implementing, and maximising their potential.

Welcome, Paul.

Paul: Hi Nadine, thanks for having me.

You can tune in the the complete podcast episode here!

An Introduction To Zoho CRM And Zoho One

Nadine: So Paul, you specifically specialise in a CRM system called Zoho One. I have personally used Zoho's various features like Zoho Invoicing, Zoho Books, Zoho Inventory, and I know there are many more. Can I please ask you to just start by giving us some context on Zoho One, exactly what it is and what it includes?

Paul: Sure, no problem. Zoho One is a product launched by Zoho, probably about five years ago - Zoho being a software company based out of India.

The way we see Zoho One, is it's a basket of products. So it's a suite for businesses to utilise, to run any sort of digital application. With Zoho, CRM was always the flagship product. And then Zoho launched Zoho One which houses 70 plus applications, ranging from invoicing, finance, inventory, CRM, and online chat systems - a full suite of applications that really integrate tightly into each other.

Nadine: I've recently started playing around with Zoho One, here and there with a few products available, with my husband's business. And for exactly this purpose, it's gotten to a point where it's really needed to start automating things and start streamlining operations. And I've just been dipping into it a little bit and obviously exploring different options.

We've decided on Zoho's suite of products, and just starting to roll that out one after the other, and I have been extremely impressed with the capabilities of these products. So excited to be chatting to you today.

Paul: Fantastic. And obviously, we've been doing this for 13 years. We've seen how these systems have evolved in that time. And it's very exciting to see, and it's very exciting to see where it's going.

Nadine: So Paul, you have the benefit of working with various businesses and assessing exactly what they require for a more customised solution. And therefore, I think that you have keen insight into the CRM market. So, can you tell us, when choosing a CRM system, what are the fundamental features that businesses should look out for?

Paul: So when choosing a CRM system, all businesses are slightly different, but CRM systems as a whole focus on contact management. We look at the contact interaction and life cycle. We look at marketing automation, sales automation, and at really understanding the customers.

What we ideally want to get out of a CRM system is a 360 degree view of the customer. So that is being able to manage customers at scale. So if we have a customer in our system, we want to be able to see when last this person was contacted? What are the deals that they've got in the system? What are the deals that they didn't purchase? What are the deals that are still open? What was the last email? What was the last phone call? When last did they visit our website? All of these things are very important in contact management and the contact lifecycle, and allowing us to really understand the customer and therefore market to them effectively, and help the customer, nurture the customer down the pipeline.

Zoho CRM Customisation And Onboarding

Nadine: So I think as a business for iLead, we've been looking into CRM systems and we're actually busy onboarding with Zoho One at the moment and it's been quite a journey and it's quite a lot of work that needs to go in before the process even starts to make sure, because if you're onboard with the system that doesn't necessarily support everything you needed to support for your business, somewhere down the line deciding to move, it's a very big schlep. So it's very important to do your homework ahead of time.

And I've personally been involved in research in quite a few of these systems. And something that I've just found also is that there are two reasons that we have decided to stay away from certain systems. The one being customisation, its ability to customise, which I think is exceptionally important for most businesses because a lot of these off-the-shelf products.

It's very, very hard to take that into just seamlessly integrated with any business because every single business operates differently. It has a different business model. And what we really love about Zoho Suite and Zoho One specifically, is the customisation and its ability to be customised to suit your business specifically.

And then further is of course, integration. I've had many integration issues with other systems before, you know, like integrating with your accounting systems and so forth. And it's very important also, choose a product that has integration with the most popular systems and stuff that the business essentially used just to make it easier for yourself. So I think obviously when onboarding also, can you shine some lights on some of the challenges business face when implementing a CRM system and how they can be overcome? Because I think we've also run into quite a few of them, not just implementing it for ourselves, but also having clients as an advertising agency also onboarded with some of these systems and seeing some of the challenges that they have faced?

Paul: Sure. Look, when onboarding a CRM system, there's one major challenge that we face, and sort of nine out of ten failed CRM implementations always come down to the same thing, and that's change management. Change management and getting the users to effectively use the system. Remember, if the system's not used properly, it's useless. Right? So garbage in, garbage out is the term we use. And if we can't get the people to really understand why we need to input information.

So in marketing, we talk about return on investment. When we implement CRM, we often talk about a return on time. So when people utilise systems, often we see with salespeople and certain people that aren't admin, they don't like to get into the admin side of things. They say it's a waste of time, it takes too much time. But if we teach them that there's a return on that time, so inputting data now saves an exponential amount of time later, right? They really understand the power, and they start to like and advocate the system. And that's very powerful in the change management side of things.

Other ways we try to work with this is to get the users involved early on in the implementation. So while we're scoping, typically we work with the managers or we work with the heads of department or we work with directors.

They want their system to work in a specific way. And while that's very important from a business perspective, it's also important to hear what the users want, hear what the users want, and let their voice be heard. One, it gives them the buy-in, so they feel invested from day one, right? When it comes to saying now that they need to use the system, they're really pre-invested in it, and they're now excited and they advocate the system. And this, if we can get that right, typically we have a successful implementation.

When it comes down to the nitty-gritty and the technical, you know, these systems are really flexible. We can do so much. We can do so much really cool stuff, but if the users don't use it, won't work and never will work, so we always try to focus on change management and the user experience. We often get so fixated on the customer experience, which, don't get me wrong, is extremely important; that's why we implement CRM Systems, but we should never forget about the user experience. And that's the users that are actually operating the system and working on the system. We take that into account, typically. we have a much higher success rate in the implementation.

Also, then with Zoho One, because it's such a big system, we're talking about 70 plus applications. You know, Rome wasn't built in a day. Let's not try and do everything at once. Let's try and get the fundamentals. What is the need? What is the absolute need? What is the minimum viable product to get going for a business to start operating effectively and allow that to evolve?

These systems, firstly, when we implement them, they're not a single once off implementation. All these systems are living evolutionary systems that work with a business. Businesses change at a rapid rate. We saw during COVID, businesses had to change immediately. On the spot, things changed, and the systems needed to evolve with them.

Nadine: Exactly, yeah. So I just want to go back to two because you made two very, very good points now. And that's something that I've also experienced myself is change management. And I think, yeah, for most employees, it's a bit of extra effort. But what I've found is also, it's very important. In most of these cases, I find that kind of management makes a decision and is involved in setting up the system and all of that. And it's also very hard for employees to use a system where they don't really understand the bigger picture, they don't understand the why. And I think there comes the buy-in that you were talking about.

You really need someone to understand why we are doing this. How does it fit in with the bigger picture? What will we be using the data for at a later stage? Because I think that also goes a long way in situating the concept mentally for the people who are actually going to be using the system. It's very hard to use the system and to use it effectively if you don't really understand why you're doing what you're doing.

And the other thing is when it comes to scoping, I think that's a really good way to get people involved, to get that buy-in, and get them involved earlier. But the other reason for that is I have also dealt with businesses that have gone on this massive journey of onboarding a CRM system. And then only later on when the system's actually being used, realised that it's actually not set up as effectively as it should be because the people on the ground who use the system every single day were not consulted and were not involved in that process. So I think those were two very, very good points.

Measuring Zoho CRM's Effectiveness

Nadine: Can you tell us how businesses can actually measure the effectiveness of the CRM system once it's been implemented?

Paul: So measurement typically comes out of reporting. So when scoping and then building systems, especially from dealing with management, we always work backwards. So what do we want to get out of the system? What do we want to visualise in the system?

And typically, what we want to see is we want to see sales conversion. We want to see marketing. Where's our marketing being spent? Where is it being, where's it most effective? So we can actually track through the system where the leads are coming from and then how those leads are converted, which will show us our marketing.

And then customer sentiment. I think customer sentiment is something that's new, and it's coming more and more and more as we get more into the world of AI.

I'm not a big fan of the term AI, but we are seeing it more and more and more. And customer sentiment, we're able to see that in systems now because we've got a 360 degree view. So we're looking at phone calls, we're looking at support tickets, we're looking at emails, and with AI, they're able to understand the content of these and understand the customer sentiment. So we can actually know if a customer is happy, are they neutral, or are they unhappy, who needs the attention, are our sales effective. So, what is the conversion rate? Is that conversion rate increasing?

And this is how we manage the effectiveness of a CRM system. It really is through reporting and seeing how things are scaling. Before implementing CRMs, everyone uses a CRM in some other way, right? It could be a diary that they write in. It could be an Excel spreadsheet. But with modern day CRMs like Zoho CRM, we're really able to scale. So, you know, in a diary, you can maybe keep track of five customers. And with something like Zoho CRM, we can keep track of thousands of customers easily because it's so streamlined. And if we reporting on it properly, we can see how things are growing and how that scaling is happening.

Zoho CRM's Integration Capabilities

Nadine: So I know that a CRM system, most CRM systems, don't begin and end with customer relationship management. And something that I'm particularly excited about when it comes to these systems is their capabilities and abilities to integrate with whatever advertising you're busy with. So what role does a CRM system like Zoho One play from an advertising perspective and maximising advertising investments?

Paul: Firstly, the CRM system; we thought of one as a whole. I want to focus on the CRM system because that's where typically we, our data enters the system. That's where we manage our customer database. From a perspective of CRM, because leads are our marketing leads, and our marketing spend is entering the system, we can understand exactly where these leads are coming from. So we've got to track things like lead source. We can integrate back into platforms like Google AdWords. We can integrate back into Google Analytics.

So we're able to target our spend better because we've got this information. And if we're able to target our spend better, we're able to nurture better. So now that we've got customers sitting on our pipeline, we understand the pipeline, and working back with our marketing team, we can help move those customers down the pipeline. So we use things like email marketing, website pop-ups, and this can all be very specific to the contact or the lead that sits in the CRM and based on where they are in the buying cycle.

Nadine: That's so powerful.

Paul: It is powerful. And with Zoho One, that's just what we do with CRM. But now there's Zoho Social, which is social media marketing. We can manage the social media better. We've got Zoho Marketing Automation, which we can use to set goals on our website to understand our customers: we can understand if they're online, and we can start to set goals to say if they visit this page more than three times in a week, then deliver them content X or Y. So it gives us a very, very, very strong contextual awareness of where our customers are at and the marketing team, the ability to talk with them better.

An Industry Use Case

Nadine: That's such an incredible way just to consolidate everything because I think something that I've also seen happen so many times is such effective marketing strategies, but yet very disjointed.

Like each platform and each channel that advertising spans are being put on are kind of being managed in isolation. And I know that everyone knows that they should be looking at it as a bigger picture because the one does influence the other at the end of the day. And they can also be very effective in working together towards a common goal. But I do think it begs the question of how to do this because I do know a lot of people get stuck there, and this is just such an effective way of actually consolidating all of your advertising into one place and essentially making them work for you.

So I really, really like this feature. Paul, can you share a practical example of how a business has used the CRM system before? I'm sure that you guys have many case studies.

Paul: Well, we've got so many, and on our website, you can see we've actually got some case studies that we've published. But if I think back, instead of focusing on a specific customer, I'm gonna focus on an industry, an industry that we've worked quite a lot with, and we've worked with a fair amount of customers in this space, and that's the solar industry.

Now in South Africa, obviously with load shedding, there was this need for renewable energy and for PV systems and in houses. And this happened at scale. This was something that happened, probably started happening about eight years ago, but about five years ago, this really started scaling. And what we saw as we helped a lot of these businesses on board with systems, with the Zoho One suite, especially, it allowed them to scale and allowed them to scale quickly. So we were able to create a strong connection between the office and the guys on the road. The guys on the road that bring the surveys, go to the houses, and give the quotes, were able to build systems that they could get out there. They could have tablets, they could have phones, they could take pictures, and they could effectively quote very quickly, right? Without the need to take notes, come back, get on a computer. Yeah, that manual process. 100%. And we saw this, and it really streamlined the way they did things.

Along with allowing them to, you know, there's a lot of calculations and a lot of elements that go into a quote, you know, how many kilowatts do you need and how many, how many cells and how many photovoltaics. Like I'm not a solar guy, so it's not my forte, but there's a lot of calculations and formulas in place, and we can do this in the system automatically. So they go in and they say, this is the roof space, this is how many panels, and it can spit out how many inverters they need, how many, how much kilowatts it should spit out, and I can do that almost instantly. That allowed these businesses to scale and allowed them to operate quicker and effectively get more customers.

Zoho CRM Trends

Nadine: So there are obviously a lot of changes and a lot of evolution happening within the technological environment. So with that happening, what trends in CRM systems do you believe will have the most impact on businesses in the future? You mentioned AI earlier, so I'm interested to hear whether that's one of your points.

Paul: I think you know, I mentioned it earlier that I'm not a big fan of AI.

Nadine: I'd like to ask why.

Paul: So I am a big fan, just to get this clear, I am a big fan of AI. I'm just not a big fan of the term AI just because I feel it's been way overutilised. I think, you know, people throw the word AI on any product. What does it really mean?

Nadine: I think it has become a bit of a buzzword.

Paul: It's a bit of a buzzword and I feel it's been overutilised. But I've seen what they're bringing in, especially what Zoho is bringing to the market in terms of AI, and it's powerful. It's extremely powerful, and it's to a point, it's a bit scary, you know? But it's exciting, and we've got to embrace it. So the trends are definitely going to be AI, 100% AI is where things are going. My opinion, AI will have as big, if not bigger, impact on business and the way we do things than what the internet did in the early 90s.

If we look at how internet revolutionised business in the early 90s, email and just completely new way of doing things, I think AI will have as big, if not even a bigger impact. It's exciting.

Zoho's got in the suite of apps that we get in Zoho one, there's a product called Zoho Creator which is a low-code platform allows us to build apps. We can go and spin up any app that we want. If we talk about Zoho one being powerful because there's 70 plus apps. We just look at the Creator app, this fills the gap for anything in between that we don't have available. So from its perspective, as a one, it's the only suite that businesses need. There's quite a lot of customisation and Creator is a bit more pro. But what we're seeing with this AI trend is we're able to contextually talk to it and say, I need an app that does X, Y, and Z, and the system will go and build and code in the back.

And it's exciting. It's still got a way to go, but we've seen it. We've seen it in operation, and it's very exciting.

Nadine: That's incredible, but I think just the fact that the foundation is there already, I can only imagine where this could potentially grow to.

Paul: 100%. And the second part of AI that is gonna be, in my opinion, super powerful is things like support and sales. We see these chatbots a lot. And I know that some people find it frustrating doing these chatbots. It is very early days, but if we understand the power of what a contextually aware AI system can do.

If we really train it correctly and we give it the power to be able to support our customers, this is something that's got extreme knowledge or contextual knowledge on the business, and it's available 24 hours a day, and it doesn't complain and it just operates. It doesn't replace; we must never see AI as a replacement, we must see it as a tool to provide better service. So it's exciting; it's super super exciting.

It's scary in many ways because we don't know what to expect. I think we're really just at the tip of the iceberg, but I'm super excited to see what's going to come and especially what Zoho is going to bring to the market.

Nadine: Incredible. Paul, it has been immensely insightful talking to you today. Thank you so much for joining us.

Paul: Thank you Nadine. Always a pleasure.

Zoho Books SA Edition: How To Migrate With Confidence - Webinar Recap

Wed, 27 Nov 2024 16:42:06 +0200

Our recent webinar '' Zoho Books SA Edition: How To Migrate With Confidence'', hosted by Paul Wilson and Matt Mederer from DSL Telecom, provided valuable insights into the new VAT-compliant Zoho Books SA Edition and its benefits for South African businesses. If you missed the session, here's an overview of the key points discussed, along with answers to some of the most common questions raised during the Q&A.

Webinar Overview:

A major highlight of the session was the practical guidance from our team, based on real migration experiences to Zoho Books SA Edition. These insights helped attendees understand the steps and best practices for a smooth migration process.

Here's what was covered:

Zoho Books SA Edition Overview: Key features, VAT compliance, and other enhancements designed for South African businesses.

In the session, we highlight how Zoho Books SA Edition simplifies VAT compliance with features like VAT 201 and Audit Reports, payment tracking, and custom VAT rates. It also streamlines shipping with a Bill of Entry function and integration with The Courier Guy, making financial management effortless.

Migration Process: A step-by-step guide on migrating from Zoho Books Global to Zoho Books SA Edition, with actionable tips.

We share a few important tips to consider before migrating, such as disabling all unsupported preferences by ticking the appropriate boxes, and making sure to back up your data for added security. The new VAT configuration feature allows you to validate VAT registration numbers, ensuring compliance. Additionally, you can now map your existing tax rates to the corresponding default rates in Zoho Books SA Edition, making the transition smoother and more efficient.

Q & A: We also addresses several common questions related to the migration.

Q & A Highlights:

During the interactive Q & A, we addressed several key concerns from the attendees.

Here are some of the most frequently-asked questions:

Question 1: Will there be more integrations into source vectors in this release?

DSL Telecom Team: At present, there's no direct integration with source systems. However, Zoho Books SA Edition includes VAT number validation, and direct filing integrations are expected in future updates.

Question 2: How will this pull through to the CRM if customers are pulled from the CRM?

DSL Telecom Team: You can integrate Zoho CRM with Zoho Books by updating the mapping settings. Ensure VAT numbers are correctly mapped between systems for seamless data flow.

Question 3: How far back can I migrate my data?

DSL Telecom Team: The VAT structure will apply from the date of migration. It's recommended to start at the beginning of a tax period for smooth transition. Previous transactions will remain under the old VAT structure, but can still be accessed in Zoho Books.

Question 4: If a client is not yet VAT-registered, can we prepare by adding their VAT number once they become liable?

DSL Telecom Team: Yes, you can still prepare the client or supplier profile by adding their VAT number once they become liable for VAT. This ensures seamless updates when their VAT registration is finalised.

Question 5: If an organisation is initially set up as non-VAT registered, can VAT numbers still be added for clients later?

DSL Telecom Team: Yes, you can add a client's VAT number once they become VAT-registered, and the system will update automatically.

Question 6: Do I need to migrate if I don't use VAT?

DSL Telecom Team: Even if you're not using VAT right now, we recommend migrating to ensure compliance with future tax regulations.

Question 7: Will migration to Zoho Books SA Edition affect my financial statements?

DSL Telecom Team: The migration shouldn’t affect your financial statements, but new VAT-related accounts will be added. Ensure you adjust your financial reports accordingly.

Question 8: How will the subscription module's billing be affected by the migration?

DSL Telecom Team: After migration, all invoices and transactions will follow the new VAT rules. Any necessary changes will be handled during the migration process.

Key Takeaways

The webinar provided attendees with a clear understanding of the Zoho Books SA Edition migration process and benefits. If you missed the session or want to revisit the information, feel free to watch the full recording or reach out to us for further assistance.

Ready To Migrate To Zoho Books SA Edition?

If you're ready to get started with your Zoho Books SA Edition migration, contact our team today for more information or support. We're here to help!

DSL Telecom Featured in MyBroadband Article on Yeastar

Tue, 18 Jun 2024 12:40:53 +0200

We're excited to share that DSL Telecom has been featured in a MyBroadband article about Yeastar's 2024 roadmap. The article covers Yeastar's new flexible pricing model and their plans to support Yeastar resellers in South Africa, along with highlighting their advancements in the telecommunications industry.

Celebrating 13 Years as a Yeastar Partner in South Africa

As a proud Yeastar Partner for over 13 years, this recognition shows our dedication to providing top-quality Cloud PBX solutions to businesses across South Africa. Yeastar is known for its innovative telecommunication solutions, and their 2024 roadmap reinforces their leadership in the telecoms industry.

Yeastar's New Pricing Model

Yeastar also unveiled a new flexible pricing model for the software edition that charges users based on concurrent calls rather than users, making it more affordable. Yeastar's new pricing model is designed to give Yeastar Partners in South Africa greater flexibility, enabling them to enhance customer service.

DSL Telecom's Perspective

Being featured in this article underscores the importance of our work in the industry and reinforces our role as a trusted Yeastar Partner and provider of cloud-based PBX solutions. Through our partnership with Yeastar, we are able to deliver high-quality Cloud PBX products and services to our clients, and we look forward to continuing this successful collaboration.

To read more about Yeastar's 2024 roadmap and our feature in the article, click the button below.

Read The Full MyBroadband Article

Inside DSL Telecom's Latest Interview With Yeastar

Tue, 07 May 2024 13:13:12 +0200

In a recent interview, Dean Schreuder, founder and MD of DSL Telecom joined an insightful discussion with Yeastar. Representing Yeastar were Jason New, Senior Training Instructor, Shirley Xie, Head Of Marketing and Elly Cai, Country Manager for Yeastar South Africa.

In this blog post, we'll explore the key points from the interview including the long-standing partnership between Yeastar and DSL Telecom and gain deeper insight into Yeastar's Cloud PBX offering and the evolving Cloud PBX market.

Yeastar: Can you provide a brief overview of DSL Telecom and how long you've been a Yeastar partner for?

Dean: Yeah, our company, DSL Telecom, we're a company based in Cape Town, South Africa, and we offer cloud-based services to business customers in South Africa predominantly, but also internationally. We've been in business for 15 years and we've been a Yeastar partner for around 13 years. We sell Cloud PBX Voice over IP services to companies, as well as connectivity: LTE, Fibre-To-The-Home, Fibre-To-The Business - these kinds of services.

Yeastar: What are your thoughts on Yeastar's progress?

Dean: Those first on-site PBX's were important because we could mix a fixed line with a better Voice over IP, give customers a taste, and obviously offer them an IP-based solution on their network. As the internet has got faster in South Africa, Yeastar's products have evolved as our needs have. If I fast forward to today, we're pretty much predominantly selling Cloud PBX.

Internet is a lot faster here. Also cloud adoption is a lot faster in South Africa. People understand paying for software as a service, and Yeastar's products have kept up with the market's requirements, actually kept ahead of them. Now, I feel it's one of the top platforms available in South Africa

Yeastar: What industry do most of your client base come from?

Dean: We service a whole range of customers - a lot a people in healthcare, services and we've got some hotels that are on our books, and anywhere from real estate to manufacturing.

Yeastar: What factors contribute to your preference for Yeastar over other options in the market?

Dean: I like Yeastar because it allows us to continue offering transparent, contract-free services, and on top of that, amazing security. But those are the things I like most about the Yeastar product, and I think that's what customers are attracted to. If I can't go on your website and get a fair understanding of what I'm going to pay within 10 to 15 minutes, I'll lose interest, and I think customers do as well.

Yeastar: Since collaborating with Yeastar, what positive changes has the collaboration with Yeastar brought to DSL Telecom?

Dean: It's hard to pinpoint a single thing, but two big changes for us were one, when we moved onto our own turnkey cloud solution. I felt like we were able to mobilise PBX's a lot faster. We were able to manage and change them better for customers, so they got a better end experience. I think that was a big turning point when we moved to our own turnkey. We've got quite a few extensions on there now, and we're growing rapidly.

A second great thing for us is being a Zoho partner. We found a lot of people moving to a CRM system, had a requirement to talk about telephony and collaboration tools etc, and communication.

Naturally, we had a lot of conversations coming out from our Zoho customers that the demand is so high. They wanted a telephony solution that could integrate into their Zoho CRM, Zoho Desk and other applications and Yeastar was very fast to market with the integration to these platforms.

We had a first-to-market advantage, I feel like we have a couple of first-to-market advantages. First IP PBX, then cloud-based with Linkus mobility, and then obviously the Zoho CRM integration with Yeastar Cloud PBX.

Those two things were really great because we had a captive market for Zoho customers, and we moved a lot of them over to Yeastar PBX.

Yeastar: How do your perceive the Cloud PBX market?

Dean: I definitely see the Cloud PBX market growing. There's still a lot of people sitting on legacy systems and the nice thing in South Africa is the internet has moved to a point where we can support Cloud PBX even over mobile telephone networks. People are now used to paying for software as a service, where 10 years ago, people wanted to buy PBX and pay cash for it or go on some kind of finance rental or asset financing with the bank, and over time, as we've seen not just with Yeastar software as a service and our offering, but other products like the Zoho software as a service and others, people are used to that now.

Yeastar: Could you kindly share some of the most effective marketing methods you have employed?

Dean: I'm a conversion guy. I'm a lead-generation guy. Luckily, I've been focussed on generating leads through digital platforms for many years. We've got a lot of strong capabilities. We actually offer lead-generation services to some of our customers. It's not on our website, but it's a need-to-know basis. It's a unique service that we offer.

Our success has been going on to digital platforms and generating leads for our team, inbound leads, and we hand those over to our sales team. We've collaborated with some of our partners, and they've subsidised the cost of that lead acquisition and we've reciprocated by closing good business, so those partnerships have worked well.

Yeastar: How has the Yeastar Partner Program been beneficial for your team?

Dean: I think it's great. I think all the resources that are provided are fantastic, especially the certification, so I can get my team certified in the Yeastar products.

It's important that they know how to configure the systems correctly and apply the right security, so the certifications and resources have been very valuable. Then I'd say the support from the Yeastar team, it's incomparable and from a technical support point of view, fantastic.

Watch the full interview here!

Zoho MEA Podcast: Decoding A Decade As A Zoho Partner: An Interview With Dean Schreuder, Managing Director Of DSL Telecom

Fri, 02 Feb 2024 17:13:05 +0200

In this Zoho MEA podcast episode, Kelly Payton, Partner Account Manager, from Zoho South Africa, welcomes her guest, Dean Schreuder. Dean is the Founder and Managing Director of DSL Telecom, a Zoho Premium Partner and a Zoho Partner since 2012..

Kelly: Hello and welcome to another episode of Partners in Success. I'm your host Kelly Payton and we are thrilled to have you join us for another exciting episode. In today's episode, we are diving into the journey and the team-building story of DSL Telecom in South Africa.

We will discuss how they started and their approach to keeping their successful team motivated to keep serving their customers as premium partners. Whether you are a business owner, employee, or freelancer, today's session is bound to change your view on how you, arriving at work with a winning attitude makes all the difference to your success as an individual. Enjoy. So today we are thrilled to be hosting a podcast from the DSL Telecom office and we have Dean Schreuder here as our guest. Thanks so much, Dean, for joining us.

Introduction

Dean: I'm Dean Schreuder from DSL Telecom, Founder and Managing Director. We do quite a few things here. We've been in business for 15 years and we're a Zoho Premium Partner. We've been a partner for around 12 years now. So we've got quite a large team, or at least it feels large to me, 55+ employees.

We not only know Zoho Applications well, but we've got a lot of other expertise and other divisions like VoIP, internet connectivity, digital marketing and I think we offer quite a robust set of expertise to our clients.

Kelly: That's amazing, so it's quite nice that you can provide a whole ecosystem to the customer, not just Zoho. How did it all start? What is the founding story?

You can tune in to the complete podcast episode here!

The Founding Story

Dean: I mean, it goes back to when I finished varsity. After going through institutions like school and then employment and having this feeling that I didn't really like the way it was structured. I wanted to start my own company, and I wanted to change all the things that I didn't like about my experience. The way it was all structured just didn't make sense to me to try and get people to do what they needed to do. So I thought, let me build a business that will be a place where I, myself would like to work at.

Kelly: That's awesome. So we've had a few conversations about your company's culture, and obviously, the people are what drive the business forward. You have a very unique culture, can you tell us how this culture started?

DSL Telecom's Team Culture

Dean: The culture actually developed over the years. In the beginning, I was just hustling around trying to sell products and services to bring money into the business. As I started to recruit people and started to make mistakes, I started learning, and that's when I took a step back and had a look at what was holding my people back from being successful.

I asked myself how do I get them to be more successful in my company and that's when I looked at what the normal structures are in employment and in companies. I looked at how I can reverse engineer those structures or get rid of those things and change the way people look at things.

We started to identify what makes salespeople unsuccessful and what makes them successful, so we needed to have an approach to sales in order to educate the guys to choose the sales career. We did quite well at that and then later on I identified that people have a lack of enjoyment for employment or for working at a company, due to them complaining about their boss, how much money they make and that there's no growth.

After interviewing hundreds of people, I realised it can't just be the companies, the business owners, or the managers that are the problem but potentially it's the way that the employees are approaching employment.

Kelly: The Mindset.

The Mindset Shift

Dean: Yes, the mindset. I started looking at the employee mindset and how people are indoctrinated to think about employment, knowingly or unknowingly, with most people it's unknowingly. It's a bit of information or memes that have been passed over from parents, family, friends, or social media. So I look at how people approach employment and if I can change their view on employment, then hopefully they can be more productive, and I think we've been quite good at achieving that with our team.

Kelly: That's amazing. So by flipping it on its head, guys approach memes and the employment mindset in a different kind of way?

Dean: Yes, so I can't teach somebody to be positive or build a positive culture unless I know what a negative culture is. It all starts off with what is the approach to employment? How do I get a healthy, productive employee? And that starts with the relationship that we have with the guys. When I recruit new people, I try to find out if they are generally nice people, that they communicate well and make sure that they don't come with any legacy or employment poison in them.

So I am in every first induction that we have with new recruits so that I can convey my message. I start my training off by asking everyone how they're doing, and I'll get answers like okay and good and then I respond back by saying well I am amazing, I am doing flippen amazing. It's so powerful, what you say, you become. If you say that you're okay then you're only going to have an okay day, and the day that you have is all that you have got. Yesterday is a memory and tomorrow doesn't exist. So all you've got is today. So what are you going to make of the day?

Kelly: That's amazing.

How Do You Start Your Day?

Dean: So, it starts with what you say to yourself in the morning. I coach my team in crafting effective approaches not only at the onset of each day but also as they commence each week. This guidance extends seamlessly into the broader context of monthly planning and eventually, long-term strategising for the years ahead. If I can guide them to think in the right way, they'll be happier, more productive, and, consequently, my job becomes easier.

Kelly: That's awesome. You're actively involved in the initial induction period to imprint your culture and initiate the building of this culture with new recruits right from the start. Can you share some unique practices you follow to maintain that momentum and energy?

Dean: Certainly. Initiating momentum is crucial because it sets them on the right path. It begins with their mindset in the morning. Do they say, 'I've got to go to work'? Many people don't even have a job, so instead of saying 'I've got to go to work,' encourage them to say 'I get to go to work.' We work to sustain a good life. Working in a place where you're valued and part of a team, leveraging relationships, is preferable to working alone. Life is challenging enough - work doesn't need to add to the difficulty. It all starts with how their day begins. Do they get to go to work or have to go to work? When you start saying 'I get to go to work,' you develop gratitude for waking up, making the process smoother. If I get the team thinking this way, I've set the groundwork. Once they grasp the concept of starting their morning with gratitude, I can transition to analysing their entire day and explore ways to cultivate and maintain a positive mindset throughout.

Can we look at some employment memes?

Kelly: Yeah, sure.

Employment Memes

Dean: Maybe if I explain some of these memes, it'll make more sense. So on a Monday, people say, "Oh, it's a blue Monday." Now, if you're saying to yourself that you're having a blue Monday or it's a blue Monday when you start the day, what type of Monday are you going to have?

Kelly: Yeah, it's going to be negative.

Dean: It's going to be negative - it's going to be blue. So what we do is we flip that on its head. We call Monday a 'Green Monday.' If you're in sales, you have the opportunity to make commission. If you're in any other role, including sales, you can learn a skill, make a connection, compliment a colleague, make them feel better about themselves, help someone, train someone, or watch a webinar. The point is, you're either going to start and end your Monday as a better person, or you can start and end your Monday as the same person you were in the morning, and that's just a waste of a day then. We should say, 'I get to go to work on Green Monday because I can make money if I sell with a positive mindset or if I learn a skill, and I can add value to the marketplace because that's what people pay for.'

Kelly: Yeah, and starting the week off like that just gives you so much more trajectory that the rest of the week is going to be better.

Dean: It's so much better. So you have a productive start to your Monday. Then on a Tuesday, we've got 'Choose Day,' where you get to choose if you continue to be productive or just let the day slide by and do the bare minimum. On Wednesdays, there's Hump Day Wednesday. What does hump day mean?

Kelly: Downhill Wednesday.

Dean: It means it's downhill, coasting to the weekend. Yes. Now, if you and I were in a cycling race and we're both cycling up to the top of the hill, and at the top of the hill, you decide to coast down the hill, and I'm still pedaling.

Kelly: Yeah.

Dean: I'm going to win the race. I'm going to be more productive. I'm going to get more out of it.

Kelly: Yeah.

Dean: Thursday rolls around, most employees just kind of get through Thursday. Where we've got 'Thunder Thursday,' and we're going to bring the thunder on Thursday as well. Obviously, Wednesday, we call it winning Wednesday.

Kelly: That's great. So you kind of got to reject the employee memes?

Dean: Yeah, it's a stupid concept because you're going to be unproductive if you've got that mindset. Whereas if you change it to winning Wednesday, Thunder Thursday, and then what happens with normal employee mentalities, you wake up on a Friday, what do you say? "Thank God it's Friday."

Kelly: Yeah.

Dean: Which is dumb because it's the first time in the whole week you've delegated something to the good Lord. You haven't been religious the whole week, and now you're delegating it out. Thank God it's Friday.

Kelly: Yeah.

Dean: So what are you saying if you say thank God it's Friday? You're saying thank God that it's over with. But guess what? You're going to do it again next week. So you're not setting yourself up for success for the next week, and then what happens is by 12 o'clock you mentally clocked out on a Friday and you're mentally braaing. If you think about it, there are 52 weeks in the year. So if you poison yourself with the idea of a blue Monday 52 times in one year, imagine if you're employed for five years or 10 years, how toxic are you going to be at the end of that? And if you think hump day's rolling down to the weekend and you say, "Thank God it's Friday," or "Thank goodness it's Friday," whatever people are saying, they don't actually understand what they're poisoning themselves with.

Kelly: So basically, every day there's some negative connotation.

Dean: Yes, and it doesn't serve you if you're in employment because you want to make it the best experience that you can. What happens if you get in that cycle on Blue Monday, Tequila Tuesday, Hump Day Wednesday, Thank God It's Friday mentality? You're going to be unproductive for the entire week, and yet production is what yields happiness. Being productive doesn't necessarily mean work. It could be going for a hike, going for a run, doing a chore, doing the dishes. You'll feel a lot better, and nobody can contest that. That's the truth.

Kelly: Yes. Yeah. No, definitely. So you guys have created this almost winning culture that you guys are constantly trying to change the mindset.

The Approach To Employment

Dean: Yes, so we kind of give them the information, and then they can make a choice. I'm like, you can go down this toxic route for weeks and months and years, but you're not going to be of any value to yourself. You're the one that's going to end up being depressed, unhappy, and not where you want to be because your outlook from the get-go is wrong. The way that you approach employment, just by saying, like, I have to go to work, rather than I get to go to work, it changes everything and focuses on how you view each day because you've got to battle against all the negativity that's out there.

If you've got the information, if you choose to engage and go, 'Thank God it's Friday, and hump day, and Sunday fun day,' that's your choice, but it's not going to serve you in employment. You're not going to get anywhere in the medium or long run. And with my employees, I'm investing in them. A lot of companies go, "We're a family." In my company, we're not a family. Your family wants you to be safe. Yeah. I want you to be successful. There's a difference.

Investing In People

Dean: So I look for partnerships in people. I know that at the very base level, especially during the first one or two years, it's challenging to gauge whether such collaborations are feasible with new employees. But if I go in as if it's like going on a date, it'd be much better if I go on a date with someone that I actually do have an interest in eventually being serious with. If I start off like that, my actions and my flow are going to be a lot more conducive to actually getting that end result than if I were to go into it with the intent that's a possible end destination.

Kelly: Yes. So the partnership, you invest in the guy in the beginning, and then they become partners.

Dean: Yeah, and that's why I say it's not family because I'm not trying to make sure you're safe. Obviously, we make sure you've got a safe environment to work in and so on, but my job is to make you successful. So I'm investing money, time, energy, resources, and you're also investing time, money, energy, resources. It's actually a better partnership than family because we're making money together. That's way more fun to make money together than it is to be a family member. But it's also a choice in how you want to approach it.

Kelly: Yeah, yeah, definitely. I love that. That's a very interesting way of looking at it. And I think that it gives the employee ownership of their success. It's not just happening to them. It's something that they can take hold of and work with.

Setting Yourself Up For Success

Dean: Yeah, 100%. They are now aware that the choices they make can impact where they go. Instead of life happening to you, you can turn around, and you can happen to life. If you empower them like that, then my job's pretty easy. It doesn't work with everyone, but if the person hasn't been poisoned with this employee mentality over time, that's why I like hiring younger people. The chance of them having that poison of being in the workplace or the wrong workplaces is less likely to be there. I'm not going to give them a framework and say that you must do this. I'm saying, here's the framework that everyone else is following, and they're unhappy and they're depressed, and those companies don't do well. In my role, it's more about guiding them and encouraging a different perspective on work and life choices.

I like my job, but there are parts of my job that I don't like. Overall, I like my job - there's no job that's gonna be perfect out there. It doesn't matter what you do. There are hard things that you have to do. It's terrible because it's setting us up for failure, and that we have this perception that you should look for this dream job that's perfect, but no job is perfect.

So if I can get my employees on the right path with me, just how to start the day, how to approach the week, and then obviously we've got longer-term cycles, monthly, yearly, and so on. What happens is that they get on their lane in their framework, and they start to dismiss all the negativity that's out there.

Kelly: Yeah, it's so true. You're kind of setting yourself up for failure before you've even started. It's so interesting, and I love how you give them the choice to decide as to how they want to run their careers. And then kind of, we've spoken about this before, but they're kind of carrying the culture for you, and the momentum rubs off on everyone, and the staff carry it for you.

Flying Their Own Flag

Dean: Yeah. So if enough of the employees run with that suggested framework for long enough, then I get key people in the organisation that are perpetuating that culture. They're rejecting negativity; they're rejecting excuses. I mean, an excuse is just a reason not to perform. Now, if you've got, especially in sales, if you've got a sales-driven organisation, which every organisation should be sales-driven, otherwise you're not going to go anywhere, you've got to have people that are perpetuating the culture for you. The culture takes over. I don't have to be the person preaching it the whole time. I can preach in the beginning, but everyone's singing the same gospel in the choir.

We achieved a little critical mass in terms of those people that run with that type of framework, and it's not just me. When we went to the Zoholics here in Cape Town, we took about 30 of our team members, and the culture that we've kind of created, it just kind of took over.

Kelly: They were flying their own flags.

Dean: It's got us to a certain point where we're achieving certain levels of success. We've got some awards and accolades, which are really cool. It becomes part of that, but it all starts with your mindset and your approach, because otherwise you're just inhibiting yourself from moving forward. They were flying the flag of the business and their own flag. Yeah. And it was beautiful. I could sit back and eat the chicken and rice and the dessert, and it was a beautiful thing. It's the first time I've actually been able to sit back and enjoy it. And it's because it's been perpetuated. To me, it is the right way to go. Well, it's at least been the right way to go for us.

Kelly: Yeah, no, that's so true. And with you and Paul traveling to Chennai with the partner team, I think you kind of saw a similar culture narrative in the Zoho Head Office.

Dean: 100%. I saw the same thing happening there. We've noticed the same thing happening from many years ago. It's also one of the reasons that we chose to be a Zoho partner. One was the software was great to use and you know, comparatively what else was available in the market 12-13 years ago wasn't working for us, so it was a good product. But if you attach that to Zoho's culture, there's a lot of similarities I suppose. And I learned a lot from Zoho's culture itself and I incorporate a lot of it into my culture as well.

Kelly: And how the people are just running with what was originally kind of created. Similar narrative, which is quite cool.

Dean: Yeah. And I think that's what the culture is. If you let them run with it, they will manage it. I don't want to manage it - it's boring. They want to manage it, and they don't want to be managed either. Some people can't manage it, but those people just don't last long. Most people will step up, and they will operate within the parameters and the vision of the culture. It's quite nice now because I can put new people in, and it's kind of like an incubator for the culture. Even if I wasn't involved, they're still getting quite a bit from it.

Kelly: Yeah, like we were just talking about this example of the guys just organising some analytics training and taking initiative and assisting each other.

Dean: It's fantastic. They do things. I'm like, oh, whose idea was that. I used to have to ask someone to drive things, and now they drive it themselves.

Kelly: Yeah, that's very, very cool.

Dean: And at the end of the day, it's more rewarding for them. They learn more skills, they become more valuable, and that translates to our customers too. So I always tell my staff that, you know, who pays your salary? And sometimes they go, you do, or the accounts lady does because she pushes the button on the bank account. But it's not me that pays the salary. I might, between the two of us, I might dictate how much it's going to be. Yeah. But the customers are actually paying your salary. Money is flowing from the customers, businesses, and pockets, and it's flowing to our business and flowing to their pockets. The more customers that we can get or retain, the more opportunity there is for them to increase their salary should they bring the value and that's because we've connected them with who pays them.

Kelly: And that's so great because now they want to serve the customer, give them excellent service.

The Employee Curve

Dean: Yes, so every engagement, every time they've got a ticket, every phone call, every meeting, there's a direct correlation. They're looking at the person that's actually paying them. That's why the culture is so important. But what happens in organisations if you don't control that? The people start to disassociate from the company, and that's when they're not successful. When they're given those employee cycles, of Monday to Friday mentality, I call it the employee curve that's a long three to five year cycle and they're not where they want to be, and then they start to go, "There's no growth."

There's no growth. Just look around you. There's growth everywhere. You just have to go and take it. But if you wake up every morning to this long-term cycle of this employee mentality, that daily, weekly that we spoke about, and you move to a yearly, what happens is you end up on something called the employee curve. And that's when people do the job, and they might do a good job, and they might be a nice person, and they fit in with the company, but long-term, their life will change. Like they'll move out of their parents' house, or they'll get married, or they'll have their kids, life is going to change, and your financial situation will change. But what people stop doing is they stop creating value once they know how to do their job. They get paid to do their job, but they stop creating value in terms of learning new skills, making new connections, connecting with the right people, finding mentors and learning from them, and accelerating. They stop doing that.

Kelly: Yeah. It's like they are kind of coasting downwards.

The Comfort Zone

Dean: Yeah, it's kind of being comfortable, I suppose. It's not a negative thing. I think you get to a comfort zone, and it's cool to chill there for a bit. Then you must keep moving, and it's like climbing a mountain. You can stop and you can have a breath and look at the view. You must actually, but then you must start climbing again. So if you go into this long-term cycle, you get into this employee curve, and it's very negative because you're not where you want it to be. It starts with the day, the week, and the month. And they don't understand that they need to continuously work on themselves.

They must be their side hustle. I mentioned side hustles the other day. You've got to work on yourself in the evening to learn new skills or connect. So if you're just going home at five o'clock and watching Friends Monday to Sunday, like how are you growing? How are you learning?

Kelly: Yeah. I mean, in terms of like a person looking at where they are going, or what their next steps are, or how they're going to advance themselves. I wanted to also bring it back to that conversation we had about when you take employees to Zoholics and they can see the opportunity and the energy and where the growth is.

Dean: Yeah. The line with Zoho is amazing because to retain my employees, all I need to do is send them to Zoholics. And if they don't get it then, well then that's on them. You know, Zoho has a big vision. It's way bigger than even probably what I can understand at this stage. I'm trying to see what their vision is and all the different applications of products and what's happening in the market. If they can't get that from attending Zoholics, then they shouldn't be in my company. So that's my best retention strategy.

Kelly: That's so great Dean!

Dean: At the end of the day, to sum up, it doesn't have to be like that. You can approach employment differently and you can actually have partnerships with your employees because you can't build anything by yourself. You've got to build things together. And the better your teams get, the stronger you can build, the more customers are going to come, the more customers are going to stay.

Kelly: That's very cool. Thanks for that. That's a great example and yeah, definitely something that we all need to be working on as partners and changing, at least inspiring our staff to change that employee mindset.

Is there any kind of advice for someone starting a company, if you were to look back, if you would do anything differently or if you think that yeah, this has been a good kind of journey to take.

Advice For Business Owners

Dean: Would I do anything differently? I mean, you're in business, things are going to go wrong, you are going to make mistakes, you're going to learn. Just in the last two weeks, I've had a lot of learning experiences that, you know, have made me better. The one thing I would say is, approach every person that you hire or relationship that you've got with the best intent. What will happen over time in business, not everyone's got the best intentions. People are going to mistreat you, lie to you, sue you, try to get money out of you. That's happened to me multiple times. And the key thing is just because one or two people don't work out or are not maybe as forthcoming or honest. Just because you have a bad experience, don't limit giving that to the next person.

A lot of people will backtrack and say I got damaged or I got hurt by giving too much to this person. And you're going to get irritated, you're going to be pissed off, and it'll pass. But don't give that to the next person and hold yourself back because that next person could take what you're offering them and they'll be with you for the next 10 years and be part of your team, and your life will change because you can lean on team members like that when times are good and when times are bad.

Kelly: Yeah, so bring the energy to every encounter.

Dean: Every encounter, like every single training that I go into, every single one I have with my team, I use the same energy and at times I thought about, you know, why am I giving so much and then some people let me down, but you can't actually think about it like that.

You've got to think about who hasn't let me down. You've got to look at the great stars in your organisation and then that should be your motivator and just to remind yourself, no, it's not going to work for everybody, but remember it's worked for eight out of ten people. Not everyone's going to treat you with the same type of reciprocal energy and loyalty and approach that you do. So that would be my advice.

Kelly: Very cool. Well, thank you so much. It's been so interesting to chat and to get a little bit of a taste of the DSL Telecom culture and how you guys started. And yeah, I'm sure that the audience will take some insights or some interesting learnings from this and definitely be able to apply it to their company or to their career going forward. So thanks, Dean.

Dean: Cool, thanks for having me.

Kelly: So that's a wrap on our episode with Dean and his journey to building a winning team like DSL Telecom. I'm sure you took away many interesting learnings and we thank you again for joining us, and we hope to see you soon for another interesting episode of Partners in Success.

DSL Telecom's Valuable Partnership With Liquid Intelligent Technologies

Wed, 11 May 2022 13:02:03 +0200

Here at DSL Telecom, we only partner with the best in the industry. We wanted to be a part of something big and that's why we joined forces with Liquid Intelligent Technologies in 2013. Our partnership with Liquid gives our customers access to Business Grade Fibre solutions that stretch's over 70 000km.

The advantages of this powerful partnership for DSL Telecom's business customers

Direct line of communication with Liquid's Operations Centres

We have a direct line of contact with Liquid Intelligent Technologies which means that we are the first to know if there are any promotions and updates for Liquid business fibre products. We can report any issues that may occur and escalate them directly to Liquid, to ensure fast resolution.

Superior business fibre network

A partnership with Liquid Intelligent Technologies gives DSL Telecom's customers the choice of connectivity solutions that suits their needs and budget. We are able to better serve our rapidly growing customer base and not only with a high-speed business grade fibre connection but also cost-effective solutions. We also work directly with Liquid Intelligent Technologies to ensure that our customers have a seamless internet experience with no congestion and with equally fast upload and download speeds.

Highly skilled team of FTTB experts

DSL Telecom's business fibre specialists have the skills, knowledge and expertise to ensure that they are connecting your business to the best-suited solution. DSL Telecom's has had years of experience in the connectivity world, having successfully connected over 200 customers onto the Liquid Intelligent Technologies Fibre Network.

Accelerated sign up process

DSL Telecom will assist in the entire sign up process. We will do a fibre feasibility check to ensure that fibre can be installed at your premises. We will gather your supporting documents along with your customer order and send them through to Liquid Intelligent Technologies to speed up the process for your business which ultimately saves you time.

Second layer of high-quality support

DSL Telecom offers effective help-desk support to our customers if and when they need it. We are there to lend a helping hand, offer an extra layer of support, advice and guidance. Our sales and customer services teams are highly collaborative from start to finish in the process of getting you connected onto Liquid's fibre network.

Value-added services from DSL Telecom

Choosing DSL Telecom as your trusted partner means extra benefits like the fact that you can add on voice lines for a truly converged solution, clean up your voice infrastructure and simplify billing when you switch over to Liquid's network. DSL Telecom can also supply you with either an on-site phone system or a cloud-based phone system. Click here to get a cloud phone system quote: www.pbxcapetown.co.za

DSL Telecom's business fibre customers

In conclusion

DSL Telecom is excited about the ways in which they can better serve their growing business customer base, with high-quality and cost-effective business internet solutions from Liquid Intelligent Technologies.

Speak With A FTTB Specialist

Announcement: DSL Telecom Is Now A Zoho Premium Partner And We're At Your Service

Wed, 24 Mar 2021 15:51:32 +0200

Since partnering with Software Development Giant, Zoho Corporation in 2012, we at DSL Telecom have stepped up the Zoho Partner Status tiers and this year, we're exhilarated to have been officially recognised as a Zoho Premium Partner - the first and currently the only Zoho Premium Partner in South Africa.

Only a handful of companies in the world can call themselves a Zoho Premium Partner, which is Zoho's top-tier recognition status. We’re one of those delighted few. As a Premium Partner, we don’t just leverage the Zoho tools to serve as your Zoho-vetted companion in the cloud, we also work with Zoho's consulting crew as often as we work with each other. You could even think of us as an extension of the Zoho consulting team.

So what does it mean to be a Zoho Premium Partner?

For Our Customers

Zoho Premium Consulting Partners enable customer success by identifying the right set of Zoho tools to address the unique needs of each business. We owe it to our customers to be the best. Our Zoho Premium Partner status is a badge of accomplishment that we proudly wear for our expertise in all things Zoho.

For DSL Telecom

Our Zoho Premium Partner status means that our Zoho sales and technical specialists gain access to extensive Zoho training programs and certifications. We also receive dedicated partner support and early access to new product features and releases.

For Zoho

Zoho’s Premium Partner badge is an accomplishment only provided to the top partners in quality, delivery, and complexity in delivering Zoho's solutions. We work with Zoho on a daily basis across all of their departments to ensure this badge is ours for the keeping.

If adopting Zoho's products is a dream for your company, but limited people-power and a tight budget have been holding you back, your best bet is to hire a Zoho Premium Partner like DSL Telecom.

From start to finish, we take care of your needs, and ensure a seamless, cost-effective solution that promises fast results. To learn more about working with DSL Telecom, book a free meeting.

Book Your Free Meeting Today 👇

Book My Free Meeting

DSL Telecom, the leading Telkom Partner in South Africa

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 15:35:15 +0200

If you haven’t heard yet, DSL Telecom joined forces with Telkom in 2016 and has subsequently become one of the largest post-paid partners in the country. With Telkom's ever-expanding LTE and Fibre coverage, DSL Telecom has had the opportunity to connect even more customers to better internet deals.

So, let's dive into what a Telkom Partner is, how it benefits customers and why you should choose DSL Telecom as your Telkom partner.

What is a Telkom Partner?

Telkom primarily uses dealers and partners as part of their sales distribution channel.

Telkom dealers operate under their own brand or under the Telkom brand. If you are dealing with a Telkom call centre, online channel or even a physical Telkom store, chances are you are dealing with a Telkom dealer/partner.

Always ensure that you are dealing with an authorised Telkom partner when signing up for a Telkom LTE, ADSL or Fibre connection. Telkom partners are trained to provide you with the right information and keep your personal information safe and secure.

5 Benefits of choosing DSL Telecom for your next Telkom internet connection:

1. Full range of products and services

Choosing DSL Telecom will not only give you access to Telkom's full connectivity stack, but also access to DSL Telecom's suite of services including: Zoho Software services and Business Cloud Phone Systems, all backed by rock-solid support.

Telkom's connectivity stack includes:

Telkom Fibre To The Home
Telkom Fibre To The Business
Telkom LTE
Telkom Uncapped LTE
Telkom ADSL
Telkom Mobile

2. Seamless sign up and installation

DSL Telecom works directly with Telkom's teams and has direct access to Telkom's systems. This means that the application process for our customers is fast and efficient and we can almost-instantly schedule an installation/delivery to get you connected quickly. We also have a direct line of communication with Telkom and are the first to know about special promotions and updates for all of Telkom's products including Telkom fibre internet packages and Telkom LTE internet deals.

View Telkom's internet deals here:
Uncapped LTE: www.uncappedlte.co.za
Capped LTE: www.ltedeals.co.za
Uncapped Fibre: www.uncappedfibre.co.za/telkom/openserve

3. Laser-fast customer service

Experience an extra layer of customer service with DSL Telecom as a Telkom Partner. You can contact Telkom or DSL Telecom directly to assist you with anything you need. Partnering with Telkom, who is one of the biggest internet service providers in South Africa, offers us better capacity as well as more online access points to better service our customers.

DSL Telecom's exceptional customer service is backed up with high-star ratings across various review platforms:

4.8 out of 5 stars

4.2 out of 5 stars

5 out of 5 stars

4. Experts in Connectivity, Telephony & Software

DSL Telecom has been building a unique service culture to offer more than 10 000 customers better deals on internet products in South Africa. We have extensive knowledge in the connectivity, telephony and software landscape in South Africa.

Here is a snapshot of some of the customers we have connected to Telkom products in South Africa since 2016.

5. Largest post-paid & award-winning partner

Since partnering with Telkom in 2016, DSL Telecom has become the largest post-paid Telkom Authorised Partner in South Africa and has subsequently won numerous awards, for exceptional sales & service capabilities.

DSL Telecom is proud to be a Telkom Authorised Partner. Telkom is a company that has proven over the years to be client-focused and innovative in their approach, not to mention having been South Africa's leading telecommunications company for many consecutive years.

Some of our recent awards & achievements include:

- Top performing LTE Dealer January 2018

- Top performing LTE Dealer November 2017

- Top performing LTE Dealer October 2017

- Gold performing LTE Dealer January 2017

- Gold performing LTE Dealer December 2016

- Gold performing LTE Dealer November 2016

- Silver performing LTE Dealer October 2016

- Silver performing LTE Deal February 2017

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