President and Chief Executive Officer, Calix

I promised you 2023 would be filled with transformational stories that underscore how broadband service providers (BSPs) leverage the power of the Calix platform and services to refocus their value propositions around tailored Wi-Fi experiences. The launch of Calix SmartBiz™ is an important next chapter.

Calix is once again disrupting the industry with a purpose-built small business productivity service that unlocks a massive expansion opportunity for BSPs. There are more than 30 million small businesses in the U.S., but until now, there has yet to be a custom-built solution to the broadband pain points of small businesses in rural communities–until we built one. SmartBiz is a ground-breaking new service, placing your organization at the heart of the small business market.

Moving Beyond Speed to Transformational Small Business Productivity Services

Existing enterprise solutions are too complex and costly for most small businesses. As a result, there have been limited options for BSPs to serve that entrepreneurial spirit beyond basic connectivity or repackaged residential services. But small businesses have unique needs. These may include managing part-time staff, providing easy access to branded guest Wi-Fi, and ensuring always-on connectivity for business-critical applications such as point of sale. And they have little or no IT resources. Until now.

With SmartBiz, we’re equipping BSPs with everything they need to meet the needs of this significant market opportunity:

• Dedicated owner, POS, staff, and customer networks that isolate business-critical systems.
• Mesh Wi-Fi that extends high-speed Wi-Fi coverage to every far-flung room and outdoor space.
• Network security and content restrictions that keep hackers at bay while keeping the business free of inappropriate online content.
• Small business branded customer Wi-Fi portal that drives customer experience and business loyalty.
• Network resilience with mobile backup and secondary network connections
• CommandWorx™ mobile app that gives small business owners self-service capabilities, business analytics, and remote network access.

With this foundation, BSPs can quickly launch and deliver personalized services for small businesses, creating tiered packages from “white glove” IT manager-type services to self-service via the CommandWorx app.

SmartBiz Heralds an Exciting New Era of BSP Growth Addressing a huge new and underserved market segment has never been easier. SmartBiz leverages the same Calix end-to-end platform and cloud solutions you’re already using for residential services. By extending the value of your Calix investments and leveraging economies of scale, you can unlock significant new growth opportunities that the small business market has to offer.

The reality is only half of small businesses survive more than five years, and almost 20 percent don’t make it past the first year. Access to world-class broadband services is often a challenge, especially in rural markets. Now with SmartBiz, you can be the GIANT for businesses in your community, delivering much-needed capabilities that give them the best shot at success. Small businesses are the lifeblood of our communities, and with your help, they have the chance to thrive.

Keep Growing Value with Managed Services

SmartBiz marks another industry first for Calix. Helping BSPs like Hunter Communications service differentiated market segments with SmartBiz is amazing, and we’re incredibly proud to have designed a solution from the ground up that is tailored to small businesses. It also moves BSPs beyond speed to grow revenue, achieve Net Promoter Scores℠ (NPS®)* far above industry averages, and dramatically lower operational expenses. And we’ll keep innovating, evolving the SmartBiz ecosystem with additional managed services so you can continue to grow value for your small business customers and take a share of that 30+ million small business opportunity.

It’s all part of our broader strategy to grow our portfolio of Calix SmartLife™ managed services to address the needs of three unique markets: residential (SmartHome™), community (SmartTown™), and now, small businesses with SmartBiz. At this rate of Calix innovation, there are limitless possibilities for BSPs to deliver experiences that improve subscribers’ lives and support business growth in increasingly competitive broadband markets.

Wishing you continued success,

Michael

As always, if you have any comments, questions, or concerns, please reach out to me at michael.weening@calix.com and connect with me on LinkedIn.

* "Net Promoter®, NPS®, NPS Prism®, and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld. Net Promoter Score℠ and Net Promoter System℠ are service marks of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld."

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Senior Manager, Product Marketing, Revenue EDGE—Calix Marketing Cloud, Calix

What if you could increase average revenue per user (ARPU) by 16 percent and achieve 10 times the return on investment (ROI) in just six months? That’s exactly what Cambridge Telephone Company (CTC) did, thanks to the combination of Calix Marketing Cloud (Marketing Cloud), the Electronic Content Builder (ECB), and Calix Customer Success Services. CTC ran highly targeted campaigns to promote a better Wi-Fi experience and increase uptake of SmartHome managed services. The result? They drove service-tier upgrades that added more than $325,000 of customer lifetime value (CLV) in six months, while increasing adoption of ProtectIQ® and ExperienceIQ® by 174 percent in one year. Now that’s marketing impact.  
 

Making it Easier to Deliver New Experiences and Execute Marketing Campaigns 
Calix is focused on extending that impact. Last quarter we marked an industry milestone with the launch of powerful new subscriber acquisition capabilities in Calix Marketing Cloud. The platform is the industry’s only subscriber engagement solution that enables BSPs to enrich their subscriber experience insights with demographic, psychographic, and geographic data. Following on that breakthrough, we’re introducing new capabilities to make it even easier for marketing teams to deliver new experiences and execute wildly successful campaigns:
 

1. Create custom audience segments to enable more targeted, effective campaigns. Marketers can upload their own subscriber or prospect lists into Marketing Cloud to create custom audience segments. A marketer can upload a list of subscribers that signed up in February and use that new segment in a “welcome” campaign on email, the CommandIQ® mobile app, and social media. A year later, they can use that same segment for a campaign celebrating subscribers’ service anniversary. This highly requested feature helps marketers deliver tailored communications that resonate, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.

2. Streamline access to the ECB so marketers can grow their brand—and their revenue. Marketers can now access the ECB—with hundreds of customizable, agency-quality marketing materials—directly within Marketing Cloud, helping them match creative assets to the audiences they’re targeting. Single sign-on lets marketers quickly reach the campaign materials they need to promote their brand and increase uptake of revenue-generating managed services.

By simplifying your marketing and tailoring your approach, you can deliver transformative business growth—just like CTC. 
 

Learn how to differentiate your brand and drive growth—watch the webinar replay “Top Trends That Will Change How Broadband Marketers Drive Revenue Growth in 2023.”

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Director, Product Marketing—Support Cloud, Calix

Offering an exceptional subscriber experience based on managed services has become a competitive differentiator for many Calix-partnered BSPs. This can translate to higher ARPU and, for BSPs offering five or more managed services, an average NPS of +60, about 70 points higher than those BSPs that offer no managed services at all. (1)

“We’re transforming our value proposition as we grow with Calix SmartLife managed services and deliver an exceptional subscriber experience leveraging Calix Support Cloud,” said Wendy Crenner, Marketing and Customer Service Manager at SCTelcom. “Our support team has end-to-end visibility into the subscriber experience and can easily troubleshoot remotely. As a result, we’ve reduced internet-related trouble tickets by 29 percent and cut truck rolls by 24 percent. Moreover, the combination of Support Cloud and Calix Customer Success Services helped us get to market 50 percent faster with new services. This holistic support process positions us to offer additional managed services—like Calix SmartTown—and deliver even more value to our subscribers and community.”
 

Support New Managed Services—Without Adding Complexity

As BSPs roll out new services such as Calix SmartBiz, it’s critical to align support systems, processes, and people for greater efficiency and a better subscriber experience. The latest release of Calix Support Cloud (Support Cloud) addresses this in three key ways:
 

1. Leverage a single support system for new market segments without increasing workloads. Support teams can rely on one familiar support system to serve all subscribers and managed services across residential, community, and small businesses. Additionally, with expert guidance from Customer Success and Smart Start for Managed Services, support teams can optimize their support process for new managed services like SmartBizWorx and Calix Wi-Fi systems, existing and new. So, adding new services doesn’t automatically mean more complexity. 

2. Simplify support processes to speed troubleshooting. Calix streamlines escalation processes for partner-based services such as Arlo Secure and Bark. With less manual intervention, customer support representatives can resolve issues faster, increasing subscriber satisfaction.

3. Automate workflows to increase efficiency and proactivity. With automated call outcome workflows, it’s even easier for support teams to track key performance indicators and gain insights into subscriber experience. Less time spent logging call outcomes means more time for proactive support.  

By partnering with Calix, BSPs can easily grow their portfolio of managed services and the markets they serve. By leveraging the Calix platform and systems already in place, BSPs can reduce support complexity and barriers to expansion. Now, even the smallest BSPs can become the “giants” in their markets by delivering an exceptional experience with managed services.

Learn how Support Cloud can help you grow your business with managed services—watch the webinar replay “Managed Services with Exceptional Experiences: How Broadband Providers Win.”

 (1) Source: Parks Associates

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Director, Revenue EDGE Product and Solution Marketing, Calix

Calix continues to add new cutting-edge Wi-Fi systems to its Revenue EDGE portfolio, allowing you to more effectively expand and scale into new markets while delivering differentiated value that your competition can’t match. 

The new GigaSpire BLAST u4xg is perfectly suited for small single-family homes or apartments, enabling XGS WAN while providing the ultimate Wi-Fi experience in an integrated “one box solution” that is easy to deploy and support. We also have more new additions coming soon tailored to subscribers with different needs and priorities. You won’t need to re-engineer your network to take advantage of these innovations because building and growing your business on the Calix platform allows you to:

• Innovate on a common operating platform. Leverage a software-defined common operating model to deploy the latest Wi-Fi systems faster than ever before—and at a lower cost. All GigaSpire BLAST systems are pre-integrated, which simplifies setup and installation.

• Provide a launchpad for exciting new SmartLife managed services. Roll out and introduce next-generation managed services simply and easily with access to open APIs and common standards-based deployable northbound interfaces. Plus, Calix offers the most extensive portfolio of SmartLife managed services in the industry, so you can differentiate from the competition. 

• Simplify your service delivery network. Accelerate time to market with our containerized architecture that allows you to develop, add, and update features and capabilities independently. 

• Remain “Always On”: Target specific functions for upgrades while keeping the rest of the network operating. This “always on” stateful nature means you can perform live network upgrades with zero downtime and no subscriber interruptions. 

Driving Growth by Delivering Differentiated Value 
Service providers such as Ponderosa are leveraging the power of the Calix platform to move beyond competing on speed—and instead, driving subscriber loyalty and increasing revenue by delivering differentiated services and an exceptional subscriber experience. 

“Wi-Fi capacity in some of our rural communities is critical,” says Chad Rupe, general manager of Ponderosa Communications in Northern California. “Our subscribers don't want to have to worry about whether or not they're going to have the capability to work from home, play from home, or to be able to have those point-of-sale systems that are reliable and working.” 

Discover more about the power of the Calix EXOS platform—visit our Experience Innovation Platform page.

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Senior Manager, SmartTown Wi-Fi Solutions Marketing, Calix

The growing portfolio of Calix SmartLife managed services are enabling broadband service providers (BSPs) to grow beyond the residential sector into adjacent markets. This includes reaching communities with SmartTown™ and, most recently, addressing small business needs with SmartBiz™. A perfect example of an untapped opportunity that all BSPs can serve is the education market—with new SmartTown managed services, you can offer solutions like EduRoam that schools in every town need to close the digital divide.

With community-wide Wi-Fi, enabled by SmartTown, BSPs can:  

• Build strong relationships with the public sector.
• Differentiate—and beat—residential-only competitors.
• Drive greater subscriber loyalty and increased “stickiness.”
• Enhance brand visibility across the communities that they serve. 
• Unlock new market and revenue opportunities.
• Maximize return on investment (ROI) on existing infrastructure.

It’s easy to get up and running with SmartTown because it’s offered on the Calix platform as a managed service like any other. That means seamless onboarding, troubleshooting, and customer support, using the Calix Cloud tools you already have in place. Thanks to the power of the Calix platform, you’re able to dramatically reduce the cost and complexity usually associated with deploying commercial Wi-Fi. 
 

How One BSP is Expanding Beyond Residential Wi-Fi With Calix

The Tombigbee Electric Power Association in Mississippi began deploying fiber across its footprint in 2020 on the Calix platform. Today, Tombigbee Fiber is adding around a thousand new fiber subscribers every month. Differentiated customer experience is a key driver for this BSP, and taking care of its members is priority one–including ProtectIQ® home network security and ExperienceIQ® advanced parental controls at no additional cost as well as offering BARK and Arlo starting in 2023 as managed services are some of the many ways Tombigbee Fiber demonstrates its commitment to its subscribers.

Now, Tombigbee Fiber is poised to extend this Wi-Fi experience beyond the four walls of the home and into the community with Calix SmartTown. By connecting its existing installed base of GigaSpire BLAST systems, SmartTown will bring secure, high-speed community Wi-Fi to the people of Mantachie and beyond, spanning the entire community, including public gathering areas, event centers, and private locations. It will drive community engagement, enable new public services—and could even push up real estate values.

“Calix SmartTown is an amazing concept that will enable us to bring a world-class offering to small towns across Mississippi, powering everything from smart water meters to connectivity at civic events,” says Tombigbee Fiber CEO, Scott Hendrix. “By using our existing Calix platforms and cloud products, we can roll out SmartTown quickly and cost-effectively.”

So, what are you waiting for? Are you ready to become a GIANT in your community? 

Discover how you can transform your community into a SmartTown—visit the SmartTown solutions page

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