Linda Kiely
Co-founder, Voxpro
Proud Cork native Linda Kiely co-founded Voxpro alongside her husband Dan. “When we started out, there were just six of us in an office over a pub on Marlboro Street. We were a paging company at first, and we could always pop downstairs for a drink if things were tough,” she recalls fondly, admitting that she could never have imagined the journey the company would take them on. She and Dan met at the Irish Examiner, where both worked in sales. The economic downturn saw the couple out of work and, moving in a new direction, they joined Pageboy Communications, a small-scale paging company, which the pair would go on to buy. Identifying additional needs within their customers, Voxpro was born, transitioning from paging to a fully outsourced customer support solution for Irish businesses.
Another recession saw Voxpro shift its focus from the local market towards the rapidly growing, and seemingly recession-proof, multinational tech companies. They pitched first to Google, and, after winning a key contract, took on more staff to grow from six to 30. This pivotal deal marked the beginning of a brand new approach to customer experience, and the arrival of a fresh new disruptor in the world of customer services. “Being agile enough to scale was key to our success,” Linda explains. “And it’s the advice I’d give to any company today. If you don’t scale fast enough, you’ll lose your advantage, and others will swoop in. Agility allowed us to do more than anticipate our customers’ needs; it meant we could always meet them.” Voxpro’s ability to scale has ensured that Google is still a client, alongside other multinational partners like Airbnb and Wix.
Never afraid of hard work, Linda had both her children before she was 20 and suggests that, when it came to education, she did things back to front. She loves working with her husband, believing she is lucky to do so, though admits they both take care of different parts of the company’s operations. She also says she’d never expect an employee to take on any job she wouldn’t do herself. “I like getting stuck in wherever I can.” A maverick and, by her own admission, queen of reinvention, the secret to her success is a tireless work ethic and drive for excellence.
With a deep understanding of customer services, Voxpro tore up the rulebook, replacing the one-size-fits-all approach with a f lexible, customer-centric vision. “Customers have to be more than simply satisfied with a brand – they have to be delighted.” This conviction is at the core of Voxpro’s successes and underpins its mission statement. “Our partnerships have grown because we constantly exceed expectations.”
In August 2017, Canadian firm TELUS International acquired a majority stake in Voxpro, resulting in Voxpro becoming part of a truly global business. Spanning almost 30 locations, the company combines an offering of multilingual customer experience and technical support solutions. Voxpro now has offices in Dublin, San Francisco and Folsom in California, the Philippines, Romania and Latin America. Just one week after Linda’s IMAGE win, it was announced that TELUS bought out the remaining stake in Voxpro in a multi-millioneuro deal. Strategic and tenacious, Linda’s all geared up for new challenges in 2020. “I’m starting an exciting new company, which I can’t divulge details on just yet.” Suffice to say, she’ll bring her unique brand of hard work, vision, innovation and energy to the fore, and we can look forward to the birth of another successful home-grown business.