Episode 11: Why IZT Cloud Made the Switch for
AI, Stability & True Partnership
What makes a SIP trunk provider leave a platform they’ve used for years? In this episode, we sit down with Cody Robinson from IZT Cloud to find out.
After the “3CX debacle,” IZT Cloud needed a white-label UCaaS solution that was actually stable, scalable, and open to partner feedback. They found it with Yeastar. Cody shares why Yeastar was “the only solution that could handle all our requirements” — from self-scheduled upgrades and open APIs to the YCM platform that makes provisioning as easy as one click.
Tune in to the episode here.
Key Discussion Points
1 [02:20] Why IZT Cloud Left 3CX & What Makes Yeastar Different
Cody Robinson [02:20]
After the whole 3CX debacle, to really have a full UCaaS solution, you need the PBX software. We were with 3CX for a very long time. With the recent shenanigans that they’re playing, we had to find something that was gonna be more scalable, something that we could white label. Yeastar was the only solution out there that could handle all of our requirements.
What makes Yeastar different from 3CX?
Cody Robinson [02:37]
One of them is stability. The platform is very stable. There’s no random bugs. We have the ability to upgrade on our own schedule instead of being forced. And then just being able to listen to feedback. Yeastar is very open to any feedback that we have, and they’ve implemented every single request that we’ve told them.
Jason New [03:18]
You guys provide SIP trunk service. I believe that YCM platform is a perfect solution, especially for SIP trunk service providers like you guys.
Cody Robinson [03:41]
YCM is absolutely fantastic. We use that and the open APIs that Yeastar provides.
Cody Robinson [03:56]
We’ve got our own management platform that uses YCM to provision the PBXs, pull statistics. The new trunk sharing feature is great because it puts the SIP trunk right inside of the PBX. Using our APIs, we provision the SIP trunks for the customer. It’s just one click.
💡Tip#1 A stable platform with open APIs and the ability to white-label empowers ITSPs to scale efficiently.
2 [05:10] What SMB Customers Really Care About: Reliability Over Fancy Features
Jason New [05:10]
End users, they don’t really care about too many fancy features. They just wanna have a basic solution which is cloud based.
What’s the #1 thing SMB customers look for?
Cody Robinson [05:10]
For SIP trunking service, the #1 thing is reliability, because business communication is really critical to every business. No one wants to have a SIP trunk provider where it sounds like you have two tin cans connected with a string.
Jason New [05:42]
Most of their customers don’t really care about what features you have on a PBX. They just care about what kind of service can you provide. I might need voice, I might need internet. You just need to provide all this to me and make sure the service is good, it’s stable. That’s what they care about.
Cody Robinson [06:24]
We’ve noticed that customers are really sticky. Moving their telecommunications is a big undertaking, especially for the SMB industry. As long as you’re providing a really good solution and the customer can see the value of that, they’re usually not going anywhere.
💡Tip#2 Reliability and stability matter more to SMB customers than fancy features. Deliver value, and they’ll stay.
3 [11:00] AI Receptionist in Action: “It Speaks Russian Better Than I Do”
Cody Robinson [10:28]
We had a demo couple days ago with a customer for the AI receptionist. They spoke two languages: English and Russian. The AI receptionist was set to English, and they just started speaking to it in Russian, and it automatically converted to Russian. She was so blown away by it. We just took her website, put it in, and it scraped her website. She said, “I think this speaks better Russian than I do.”
What industries are using the AI receptionist?
Cody Robinson [11:23]
Office workers absolutely love the solution. The AI receptionist can deal with after-hours questions or be their first line. One larger project we’ve been doing is using the AI transcription to go into a large auto chain’s CRM, taking the transcription and summary so they have follow-up notes in one place.
Jason New [12:24]
We have a WebRTC channel feature. We could set up the WebRTC channel and drop it on the website together with live chat. When someone is interested in a certain car model, they can contact the salesperson by clicking the call button on the website.
Cody Robinson [13:18]
If customers can’t get a hold of someone about a specific model they’re interested in, they’re gonna move on to the next dealership. From a business standpoint, that’s actually awesome.
Jason New [13:55]
We’re about to add another new feature for the AI receptionist: third-party integration with calendar, schedule, database. The AI receptionist could even help the customer set a schedule for a test drive.
💡Tip#3 AI receptionists with multilingual support and CRM integrations create powerful, stick customer experiences.
4 [16:10] Customer Feedback on AI: ROI, Pricing & Real-World Use Cases
Jason New [15:13]
What about the market performance of this AI solution? From your point of view, what do you think about the customer feedback on AI?
Is AI adoption positive?
Cody Robinson [15:36]
For the most part, it’s positive, as long as you have really low response times, which the AI receptionist does. It also comes down to pricing. There are unlimited amounts of these solutions on the market today, but with the Yeastar one, we found it was very cost-effective compared to some of the other solutions out there, including some really large UCaaS providers whose solutions are double or triple the price.
Jason New [16:11]
Especially when we talk about partnership with local partners, pricing is a big deal.
Cody Robinson [16:28]
No one’s gonna use something if it’s $10,000 a minute. It could be the best thing ever, but from a business standpoint, what’s my ROI? I’m not just gonna throw money at something because it’s cool. I have to get my investment back.
💡Tip#4 Cost-effectiveness and clear ROI drive AI adoption. Competitive pricing gives partners a significant edge.
5 [19:00] What Marketing Support Actually Helps Partners
Jason New [19:00]
When vendors provide marketing support, what makes it truly useful instead of just nice to have?
What marketing support works best for partners?
Cody Robinson [19:12]
Case studies is a huge one. Especially for SMBs, they wanna know, “If I’m gonna switch to this solution, I wanna be confident that it’s going to work for me.” If you have case studies from other partners or vendors in the same industry, that’s very helpful. If it works for one of their competitors, they know it’s gonna work for them.
Cody Robinson [19:47]
Number two is one-pagers. If we put all the Yeastar features on a one-pager, it might be eight pages. But one-pagers that say, “Here’s the best features and here’s how they can help your business” — when you’re dealing with a customer, they’re already doing a million other things. They don’t have time to read a whole book.
Jason New [20:26]
My colleague Kevin said there are tons of messages and information every single day for partners. If you truly wanna post something to them, make sure it’s something special. Hit the point directly. Otherwise, they don’t have time to check it.
💡Tip#5 Case studies and concise one-pagers are the most effective marketing support—partners need clarity, not clutter.
Now Over To You!
We’d love to hear your voice of this episode or anything about our UC & C Huddle podcast. Want to be the next guest? Got any topics you want to hear in future episodes? Whatever it is, feel free to drop a comment or contact us through the ways below to tell us!
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