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Wilmac Executive Interview

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Sheri Greenhaus, Managing Director of CrmXchange, sat down with Stephen McDonnell, President and CEO of Wilmac, a leading provider of Communications Recording and Customer Experience Solutions.

Sheri: Can you tell us how Wilmac got its start?

Stephen:  Wilmac’s history is rooted in recording.  We began selling Workforce Optimization solutions (voice and screen recording) in 1992 and have since become a leader in providing mission-critical voice & digital technology to businesses around the globe. At Enterprise Connect 2023, we showcased our Continuity Replay product.

We have found that the large vendors in the WFO and CCaaS space often lock up customer data and make it difficult to transfer that data to other systems. We convert those audio files and metadata for companies in industries such as insurance, financial services, and utilities who need to retain the calls for a certain number of years. These companies can then decommission their legacy recording solution and utilize Continuity Replay for search and replay, analysis, transcription or to move their call recordings to another third-party vendor. We keep them stored in an open format so customers can then utilize the data as they wish.

Sheri: Does your tool sit in the middle of the systems?

Stephen: In a way, you could look at it like that. Sometimes customers will just use it for that, and others will utilize our Continuity Replay UI for the final destination.

Sheri: How long have you had this solution?

Stephen: It was originally built in 2015 as a service for banks that needed to store their calls for 10+ years. We would manually help them export voice data out of their recording systems.  Eventually, we decided to build a software solution so that customers could access the data themselves. Initially, we thought it would only be for the financial world, but more organizations kept coming to us and requesting access to their call recordings. I would say we got serious about developing an enterprise solution in 2021. That’s when we brought development in house and started strategizing how to properly take this to market.

Sheri: Does Wilmac's strength lie in your ability to take difficult-to-access data, store, archive, transcribe, and move it to another system?

Stephen: Yes, I think our value is having the ability and technology to give our customers access to their data. Specifically, data from their own customers that can be greatly beneficial if it’s utilized correctly. We simply give them access to make sense, store, and create value from their voice data.

Sheri: What types of companies do you sell to?

Stephen: We focus on highly regulated organizations who are in the Fortune 2000. These are the types of companies who need to put an emphasis on being responsible for their data. They are also the types of companies who want to create value from this type of data. Innovative companies who are regulated tend to be our targets.

Sheri: You are a reseller for multiple companies. Do other companies resell your own tool?

Stephen: Yes, we currently have around ten companies reselling Continuity Replay, and hope to double that this year. We have a niche solution that enhances these resellers' value to their customers. Our resellers also have a great opportunity to enhance their revenue and stickiness with their clients with Continuity Replay.

Sheri: What are your goals for the company?

Stephen: We are a professional services company that now has a software development arm. We have moved into an aggressive growth stage at Wilmac. We have high revenue target growth goals. At the same time, we are doing this organically and boot strapping the growth. We will continue to do so until we feel it’s necessary to look for outside investment. It’s an exciting time to be at Wilmac and we look forward to the next few years.

Sheri: Does your tool provide for recurring monthly revenue?

Stephen: We have a few different modules and versions of Continuity Replay. We have options for monthly or annual subscription models.

Sheri: Are there other companies that provide similar services to yours?

Stephen: Some of the large WFO vendors have similar services around their own products. We end up working with them quite a bit when they need help with their competitors’ recording systems. We believe there are a couple of companies in EMEA that have the capabilities as well.  One key differentiator of ours is that that we’re vendor agnostic.

Sheri: Who are your best customers?

Stephen: We have a lot of customers who do mergers and acquisitions (M&A). They tend to be great customers as they have many different types of recording systems that they want to be able to access all from one location. Any customer who has any sort of retention policy or wants to get more value from their voice recordings are great customers for our Continuity products.