Abacus Group Acquisition Part of Telesystem's Move to Managed Services

Telesystem is continuing its shift away from legacy voice and data services, and into managed solutions with its Abacus Group acquisition.

Abacus Group is a nationwide provider of unified communications (UC) and managed IT services. It provides service to customers in 30 states.

Telesystem isn’t saying how much it’s paying for Abacus Group.

Bruce Wirt is Telesystem’s chief revenue officer. He said the vast majority of the acquired customer base consists of multilocation customers needing managed technology solutions.

Telesystem’s Bruce Wirt

“This move also demonstrates to partners that Telesystem is investing in growth and is in great financial standing,” he said.

In addition, partners will benefit from more brand awareness as Abacus Group customers are introduced to Telesystem, Wirt said.

Added Customer Base

Telesystem didn’t acquire any new product sets in this acquisition, Wirt said. However, the added customer base helps to increase its buying power with vendors. That should free up more money for better pricing for future customers, more competitive spiffs and promotions, and market development funds.

“Last year following the acquisition of Voxnet, Telesystem announced that it was looking to acquire VoIP resellers and MSPs that would add to Telesystem in the way of regional presence of the acquired company, expert technical talent that comes with the acquired company, increasing the percentage of VoIP customers in our customer base versus legacy technology customers, and potentially adding new technology of points of presence that Telesystem does not have today,” he said.

Telesystem is poised to accelerate its growth in 2022, Wirt said. Recent and potential future acquisitions, and investment in organically growing its network, product set and nationwide staff will fuel this growth.

“We did a lot of grassroots brand building in 2021, really doing a lot of work showing partners our capabilities in the area of Wi-Fi engagement and analytics, managed communication and networking services, and most importantly, our ability to build an intelligent, customized solution for our customers and give a high-touch managed experience,” he said. “I have never been more excited in my career to be part of something as special as we’re building.”

Abacus Group Had Many Options for Selling

Mary Mulloy is Abacus Group‘s CEO.

“We had quite a few options on the table when it came to selling our company,” she said. “And the decision came down to finding the right buyer that we knew would care for our customers the same way we do. We are excited to work together to open our clients up to their wider product portfolio.”