Troublemakers in an old power plant
Business telecom provider Voys has been living in the Mediacentrale for about 9 years. This colorful and motley group of 'rabble-rousers' provide a lot of liveliness in the former power station. It is a company that looks at work and customer service (customer happiness in their own words) completely differently than the established order and therefore experiences gigantic growth year after year. In this blog you will get to know the rebellious 'rabble-rousers' who are radically improving the telecom market.
Online telephone exchange
Ten years ago, Mark Vletter, owner and founder of Voys, developed an online telephone exchange together with his fellow students. The students' graduation project was supervised by research organisation TNO and turned out to be the first online telephone exchange in the world. Mark was the only one of his fellow students who saw the benefit of continuing the project and that is how Voys was born. The following years mainly consisted of 'tinkering with technology'. The telephone exchange that the men had developed was purely technical and anything but user-friendly. In the years that followed, Vletter succeeded in expanding his telephone exchange and the associated services and making them more user-friendly. This did not go unnoticed and the company soon grew rapidly.
Voys in 2016
In 2016, Voys is one of the most successful companies in the city of Groningen and the company is not only known for its ingenious telephone exchange for companies. The company has a very special organizational structure without managers, bosses, chefs or other management positions. How is that possible? At Voys, everyone is in charge of their own work. In order to facilitate this and to clearly define responsibilities, the progressive company works with 'roles' instead of functions. If you fulfill a role within the organization, you have full authority over that role. You decide for yourself which choices you make within that role, but you are also responsible for them towards your colleagues. If you want to know more about this special organizational model called holacracy, it is best to take a look at their employee handbook: a book in which the working methods and ideas of Voys are described in a beautiful way. An absolute 'must read'.
Voys & Guarantee
Dick Wierenga is an advisor at Voys and in his role as 'facility housing provider' responsible for the housing of Voys. He says: “The old elements of the former power plant give the Mediacentrale something industrial and at the same time characteristic. It is bustling here. And although there is not an excessive amount of synergy between the different companies, there is a good energy. As Voys, we owe a lot to that.”
Proud
Waarborg is proud to be able to accommodate a company like Voys. The company is one of the many examples of successful, fast ICT growers that originated in the Mediacentrale. The Groningen telecom provider owes its fast growth partly to the fact that it understands very well what you need to do for a good customer relationship. Not only do you need to listen very well to your customers; communicating openly about the (im)possibilities also ensures that you make the service truly personal again. That personal touch is also what Dick likes about the contact with Waarborg: “The lines are short, they listen to you well and if necessary, action is taken quickly.”
Conversely, Waarborg is also very happy with a resident like Voys. For example, the rascals at Voys have a particularly good feeling for office architecture and they understand very well that a pleasant workplace is more than just a good office chair and an adjustable desk. The office spaces of the telecom provider are spotless and reflect exactly what the company itself is: colourful, open and accessible. From characteristic Chesterfield sofas to a long, cosy dining table where you can sit with up to 20 people; you feel the homely atmosphere at Voys. Yet there is only one thing that really makes it pleasant at Voys and that is the people who offer you coffee, tea, water or even lunch from all sides when you visit them. We can therefore rightly say: a wonderful company in a wonderful building!