“Our experience with the FluentStream staff has been pretty stellar."

Stefan Wilson, founder of Allevia Technology, started working with computers in 6th grade. He loved the responsibility, problem-solving skills, and the “Oh my gosh, you fixed it!” reactions of his teachers. By the time he graduated, Wilson knew he wanted to start a career helping people implement, understand, and use technology.

Founded in 2011 in Maryville, Tennessee, Allevia Technology manages and maintains network and IT investments for small businesses. The company provides on-site and remote technical support for devices, services, and networks to more than 400 customers across numerous industries including accounting, healthcare, legal, manufacturing, and nonprofit. Allevia also builds websites, provides telecom analysis, and offers affordable high-speed internet to businesses and residents in downtown Maryville.

Allevia Technology discovered FluentStream when Allevia’s business partner announced it had entered into a partnership to upgrade Allevia and its customers to FluentStream’s unified communications-as-a-service (“UCaaS”) platform. FluentStream is the fastest-growing UCaaS platform for small and medium organizations, a great match for Allevia's customer base which is made up of small and medium businesses. Intrigued by FluentStream’s Partner Programs, technology, and award-winning US-based customer services, Wilson connected with FluentStream to discuss ways the two organizations could work together.

In 2021, Allevia officially became a FluentStream Partner and upgraded 100% of its customers to FluentStream. Allevia worked with each customer account to schedule the transition based on what worked best for their organization and their staff. According to Wilson, FluentStream’s team was always available, responsive, and efficient.

“We completed over 40 or 50 upgrades with what felt like very little time and effort,” Wilson explained. “While we could have migrated all customers overnight, we opted to provide white-glove service for each of our customers through the entire upgrade process. FluentStream supported our approach throughout the entire journey.”

“Our customers are getting their phone services somewhere, whether it be the incumbent telecom or another cloud-based provider,” said Wilson. “They're going to have problems and we're going to be the ones solving the issues. It made sense for us to offer FluentStream’s services to our customers on an ongoing basis. We use it for our own business so we’re familiar with the platform and the customer service team.”

Partnering with FluentStream has enabled Allevia to offer UCaaS services to its customers. Allevia now has two full-time employees dedicated to the partnership and ensuring it’s successful for the end customers. Allevia works with new customers by analyzing their telecom setup and recommending better, more cost-effective options. For customers already on FluentStream, Allevia provides ongoing support by making changes to phone preferences and helping to address any service issues.

“We're not a UCaaS provider, but we partner with FluentStream, which provides technology and service we feel comfortable selling to our customers,” said Wilson. “We help our customers set up their phone system, sometimes provide some training, and then support our customers if they encounter a question or have an issue.”

FluentStream’s centralized dashboard is a critical element that makes it possible for Allevia to support its VoIP customers. The ease of service provisioning provided by the FluentStream dashboard is essential to Allevia being able to efficiently support its customers’ changing preferences and requirements.

“We may be a little weird in that we want to support our customers’ phone solutions,” said Wilson. “Other managed service providers may want to sell it, but they don't want to support it. And that's an option with FluentStream as well. But we've always thought, if we can sell this, it helps with customer stickiness. Allevia manages computers and the website, why not the phones too.”

In addition to the dashboard, Wilson credits FluentStream’s customer service for Allevia’s ability to provide support for its phone customers.

“It’s been so great to be able to pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, we have this accounting issue, or we have this problem. Can you guys help?’” said Wilson. “It’s like we wave the magic wand and it's done. We're not dealing with some faceless billing department in another country. We're dealing with FluentStream. They are fast, efficient, and good people.”