Businessmodel of Birch Communications

Customer Segments

Birch provides a range of communications, cloud, IT, and network products and solutions to small and medium sized businesses, as well as enterprise-scale commercial operators, across multiple business sectors.

The Company offers specialist solutions across the following industries:

• Construction, including large construction companies and independent contracting firms;
• Financial Services, including banking institutions, insurance companies, investment managers, and other financial services providers;
• Healthcare, including healthcare providers, medical service companies, and healthcare facilities;
• Legal and Professional Services, including multinational law firms, independent legal practices, counting firms, and other professional services providers;
• Real Estate, including real estate investors and developers; and
• Hospitality, including restaurants, spas, salons, and other hospitality businesses. Birch is based in the US, which is the Company’s core market. It offers services across all 50 US states, as well as in Puerto Rico and Washington DC. It also provides services to international customers in Canada.

Value Propositions

Birch provides value to its clients in the following ways:

• Its reputation and industry standing, with the Company established as a leading provider of communications and network services in the US, having an A+ Better Business Bureau rating, and having received multiple industry awards;
• Its security and compliance frameworks, with the Company maintaining high standards of security and compliance across its network of data centres, ensuring that client information is stored and transmitted safely and securely;
• Its extensive domestic reach, with the Company offering extensive service coverage across the US – including a presence in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington DC – as well as extending its service reach to parts of Canada;
• Its broad range of services, with the Company offering a wide range of products, services and solutions – including network services and cloud solutions – that suit the individual needs of commercial clients across multiple business sectors; and
• Its industry expertise and experience, with the Company employing specialist personnel across its various operating units, as well as a team of experienced industry executives, to ensure that it provides effective and reliable services. ### Channels

Birch operates a website at www.birch.com, through which it provides information on its products, solutions, areas of service coverage, and partners. The Company does not operate an online sales channel; however, it does allow customers to register an interest in the Company’s services through an online contact form found on its homepage. The Company also maintains an online customer portal, through which clients can access a range of tools and resources.

Birch makes the bulk of its sales through an in-house direct sales force. The Company’s sales personnel operate out of the Company’s sales and administrative offices located across the US, notably its principal sales office in Atlanta, Georgia. Customers are able to contact the Company’s sales personnel over the phone or via an online contact form.

Birch additionally makes sales through a network of third party channel partners, including various resellers and independent sales agents that market and sell services on the Company’s behalf.

Customer Relationships

While customers can register an interest in Birch’s product and services online, the Company does not make sales to clients on a self-service basis. The Company does, however, operate an online customer portal, through clients can access resources and tools without interacting directly with members of Birch’s sales and service teams.

Through its direct sales force, birch offers a more personalised service, with its sales representatives consulting closely with clients over a period of time to ensure that products and solutions are tailored and scaled, where possible, to suit their individual needs. The Company works with its clients, with larger customers having their own account management teams, with a view to establishing long-term commercial relationships.

Birch provides ongoing support to its customers, who are able to contact the company’s dedicated support personnel over the phone or online in order access personalised assistance. The Company also provides a range of resources through its online support portal which clients can access independently, including technical documentation, guides, and FAQs.

Birch additionally maintains a social media presence through accounts with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, through which it is able to interact directly with customers and can publish regular company updates.

Key Activities

Birch offers a range of communications, network, cloud, and IT products and services to commercial organisations across multiple business sectors, including the healthcare, financial services, construction, hospitality, and legal industries.

The Company’s solutions include cloud hosted phone systems, data centre environments, and file storage solutions for confidential data. It also offers a range of specialist voice and network services, such as well as basic phone lines, voice over internet protocol solutions, mobile services, network Internet services – including broadband, internet, and multi-protocol label switching services.

Birch is based in Atlanta, Georgia and provides service coverage to customers across all 50 US states, including Washington DC and Puerto Rico. The Company does not maintain any significant international operations beyond limited service coverage for clients in Canada.

Key Partners

Birch works closely with a network of partner companies and organisations that support the Company’s development and provision of effective communications and network services. These partners can be organised broadly into the following categories:

• Supplier and Vendor Partners, including suppliers of services, equipment, and technologies that are utilised across the Company and its networks in support of its core communications and network services operations;
• Channel and Distribution Partners, including the Company’s network of resellers and sales agents that assist in extending the sales and marketing reach of the Company’s in-house direct sales force;
• Referral and Affiliate Partners, including various businesses, website, and online companies that assist in promoting the Company’s services and solutions and driving traffic to the Company’s website in return for commissions on sales; and
• Strategic and Alliance Partners, including market leading companies across multiple business sectors, with which the Company collaborates on various joint projects, including in marketing, branding and development. Birch has launched a number of partnerships in recent years. This includes a partnership with Mercer Innovation Centre, an integration partnership with Renodis, and a lending partnership with CoBank.

Key Resources

Birch’s key resources are its products and solutions, its proprietary technologies, its internal IT and communications systems, its commercial IT and communications infrastructure – including its network of data centres, its sales and distribution channels, its partnerships, and its personnel.

Birch utilises various proprietary technologies and intellectual properties in the development and delivery of its communications and network services. Searches of records published by the US Patent and Trademark Office, however, identified no patent applications filed in Birch’s name, either as assignee or applicant.

Birch additionally owns a number of physical properties across the US, notably its network of offices and data centres.

Cost Structure

Birch incurs costs in relation to the development of its technologies and solutions, the operation of its sales and distribution channels, the development and maintenance of its internal and commercial IT and communications infrastructure, the procurement of third party services, the management of its partnerships, the implementation of marketing campaigns, and the retention of its personnel.

Revenue Streams

Birch generates revenue through the development and delivery of commercial communications and network solutions to companies across multiple business sectors. The Company derives its revenue under custom sales and service contracts that are agreed on a client-by-client basis.

Birch remains a privately owned company, operating as a subsidiary of Birch Communications Holdings Inc, and as such it is not obliged to publish its financial results online. Research did not identify any recent media references to the Company’s annual revenue figures.