Join us on a journey through 20 years of peoplefone history.
peoplefone Austria was launched in September 2006, making it the first country subsidiary of the peoplefone Group.
The signs continue to point toward growth.
Just in time for the start of our anniversary year, peoplefone Internet Telephonie GmbH is becoming peoplefone Austria GmbH. This change sends a clear message: we are a personal internet telecommunications provider for all of Austria.
In July, we moved into our new location on the market square in Altenfelden and plan to introduce additional product solutions for modern business communications.
Startup spirit after 20 years!
We’re proud to have maintained the peoplefone startup spirit over the years and to have always stayed true to our values.
We’re personal and family-oriented, treat each other with respect, actively seek out employees who are a good fit for our team, and focus exclusively on organic growth.
Cybersecurity is a top priority at peoplefone.
Protecting telephone infrastructure from cyberattacks is becoming an increasingly important issue. With our technical infrastructure, state-of-the-art protection systems, anti-hacking algorithms, and our redundant data center structure, we have the right foundation to comply with the strict EU NIS2 guidelines in the area of cybersecurity.
Since 2021, our long-time employee Nicolas Urech and his team have been leading the cybersecurity division.
peoplefone is a full-service provider.
Today, business customers expect more from a provider and appreciate having all communication solutions offered from a single source. That’s why peoplefone became an internet provider in 2016, added a data SIM offering to its portfolio in 2018, and will become a mobile phone provider in 2024.
Additional services are constantly expanding our offerings and making us a full-service provider.
peoplefone invests in the next generation of IT professionals.
peoplefone supports ETH Zurich in the fields of information technology and electrical engineering.
Through the “Best BSc Thesis Award” for students in the D-ITET program and its sponsorship of bachelor’s degree programs, peoplefone is helping to ensure that IT professionals continue to be trained in Switzerland in the future.
peoplefone has 100 employees!
In 2022, we’re thrilled to welcome our 100th employee. Of these, 35 colleagues work in our offices in Zurich and Lausanne.
It’s important to us that we can rely on support staff at all our locations who are familiar with local conditions and speak the local language.
Our V2 admin platform for partners is going live.
On this platform, installation companies can quickly, easily, and without red tape set up new phone lines and systems for their business customers.
The platform is now the industry standard in telephone communications. It is operated, maintained, and further developed by a team of eight developers.
peoplefone Opens a Location in India
peoplefone’s steady expansion requires ongoing growth of the development team. In 2020, we decided to establish a development hub in India to mitigate the increasingly difficult recruitment of IT professionals in Europe.
Our team in Pune, India, now consists of ten employees.
10,000 companies rely on peoplefone!
Our focus on SMEs, collaboration with installation partners, the phase-out of the ISDN network by 2017, and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic have led to steady growth in our business customer base.
In 2020, we welcomed our 10,000th business customer in Switzerland, and today we are approaching 20,000 business customers.
Opening of the third peoplefone data center
peoplefone operates two data centers in Switzerland and one data center in Germany for German business customers.
These data centers enable us to offer redundant systems that meet the highest cybersecurity standards. Since our founding, our Swiss customers’ data has been stored exclusively in Switzerland.
Telephony integration with Microsoft Teams
In 2017, peoplefone recognized that telephony and video calls are two forms of communication that go hand in hand. That’s why, in 2018, we became one of the first providers to enable telephony integration with Microsoft TEAMS. The first integration method, Direct Routing, was supplemented in 2022 with Microsoft Teams Operator Connect.
Today, integration with TEAMS is one of peoplefone’s key pillars.
Office relocations in German- and French-Speaking Switzerland
peoplefone is growing, and our offices are bursting at the seams. Before we moved into larger premises in Zurich-Wollishofen in 2016, our locations were on General-Guisan-Quai, Alfred-Escher-Strasse, and Sternenstrasse in Zurich.
In French-speaking Switzerland, too, we moved from Lausanne, through Mont-sur-Lausanne and Vevey, and finally to Puidoux.
Start of the partnership with 3CX
We entered into a partnership with 3CX early on and are now one of their most important sales partners with the highest partner status. With peoplefone 3CX HOSTED, we also offer a 3CX solution hosted in Switzerland.
Every month, 3CX systems are installed for several dozen companies through peoplefone.
First victory in the annual BILANZ telecommunications ranking
Six wins and a total of 11 podium finishes were achieved in the business telephony category in the following years. In 2024, the company also secured its first win in the mobile telephony category for SMEs.
In 2016, peoplefone was also honored with the award for best European VoIP provider.
Our first in-house cloud PBX, peoplefone HOSTED, is here.
peoplefone HOSTED is developed in-house by our own peoplefone VoIP engineers as a user-friendly and cost-effective cloud PBX.
Today, peoplefone HOSTED is a widely used phone system for small and medium-sized businesses and remains a cornerstone of our product portfolio. It is constantly being refined and enhanced with new features.
peoplefone is refocusing on business customers.
VoIP is being used more and more by companies. peoplefone is making a strategic shift and, starting in 2011, will focus on corporate customers through sales via installation partners (B2B2B). In doing so, we are focusing in particular on SMEs.
In Switzerland alone, nearly 20,000 companies now use peoplefone for their phone service.
We launch the first Swiss VoIP app.
This product is a true breakthrough in our history. The app is first released for iOS and becomes available for Android a year later. It generates massive media coverage for peoplefone and makes the company known throughout Switzerland.
Today, the app is used by thousands of companies every day.
peoplefone relys on installation partners
peoplefone signed its first partnership agreement with an installation partner shortly after the company was founded. Today, our sales model is entirely geared toward collaboration with installation partners. This partnership is one of the key building blocks of peoplefone’s success.
In 2021, we welcomed our 1,000th installation partner in Switzerland.
peoplefone goes Europe!
One year after our founding, we opened our office in Austria. Additional branches have been added on an ongoing basis: Poland (2007), Slovakia (2008), Lithuania (2012), Germany (2015), and France (2019).
In addition to these locations, we now hold provider licenses in five other European countries. This enables us to provide optimal service to our internationally active customers.
Laurent Schweizer is peoplefone’s first employee.
Laurent is not only our first employee but also the creator of our core technology. Today, as CTO, he is responsible for the technical development of our products.
We now have a team that includes many long-time employees in engineering, support, sales, and administration.
peoplefone opens offices in Zurich and Lausanne.
Since its founding, peoplefone has placed great importance on establishing a local presence in German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland.
These two offices have always enabled us to maintain close and personal contact with partners and customers, thanks to employees from both language regions.
Our first product is a USB VoIP phone.
The USB phone can be connected to any computer. With this product, we aim to win over individual consumers to VoIP starting in 2005.
Christophe Beaud personally led the first sales campaigns, setting up a booth at Media Markt stores. This is how peoplefone was able to attract its first residential customers at that time.
Christophe Beaud founded peoplefone.
peoplefone is one of the first companies to bring the new VoIP technology to Switzerland. Friends advise our CEO against starting the company, as they don’t believe it’s possible to run a business with VoIP.
In the years that followed, Christophe and his wife Danette proved that their friends were wrong.
