What is your name and your organisation?
Richard Buxton, Node4
What is your role at Node4?
I work within Node4’s OCTO (Office of the CTO) as the Collaboration Director. I’m responsible for our group-wide Collaboration strategy. I stay close to the technology by being involved in product management, vendor engagement, sales, solution delivery, and ongoing support.
How long have you been working for Node4/been in the industry?
I’ve been in the industry for 25 years. I started with Nitsuko/NEC in 2000, helping introduce VoIP technology to their core PBX platforms. Back then, we were using ISDN and E&M gateways and H.323 interface cards to interconnect systems—quite a different world!
I joined Node4 in 2007, when we were a small MSP based around a single Data Centre in Derby. I was brought in by our founder, Andy Gilbert, to manage and grow a new SIP Trunk platform and hosted Cisco Call Manager solution. At that time, there were 11 of us and today we are over 1,000 strong—so it’s been an incredible journey of growth and constant transformation.
What is your company’s USP/key focus areas?
Node4 offers a broad portfolio of services across Data Centres, Hybrid Cloud, Connectivity, Security, and Collaboration. We also have deep expertise in Microsoft’s ecosystem, which plays a big role in our solutions.
From a Collaboration perspective, our focus is on delivering reliable, scalable, and feature-rich solutions by combining the best of vendor technologies with our own network and SIP capabilities.
We offer Microsoft Teams and Webex Calling and Contact Centre as SaaS platforms, but layer in our own SIP services and connectivity to ensure end-to-end quality and customer experience. Ultimately, our USP is in our ability to bring together multiple solutions to meet real customer needs—effectively integrating and managing complexity so customers don’t have to.
What are the key trends that you are experiencing currently in the market?
One of the biggest shifts we’re seeing is the convergence of UC and CC platforms into unified cloud-native services. Previously, many customers were using our SIP platform with their own PBX as a replacement for ISDN, now we are seeing more demand for connecting our SIP services to hosted UC/CC platforms – for example, Direct Routing, ACS, Webex CCP, etc.
Another noticeable trend is the shift in user behaviour—what used to be ad-hoc phone calls are now often scheduled video meetings using tools such as Teams and Webex. Whilst this reduces the volume of voice minutes consumed, businesses still see an importance in telephony, so the need for reliable telephony platforms is still there.
We’re also seeing a growing interest in AI-powered tools, particularly in Contact Centres, where automation and insight-driven engagement are becoming key differentiators. Many customers know that they want to adopt AI, but haven’t yet worked out how they will use it in real world to deliver real benefits. They are looking to service providers to help guide them through this journey.
What do you see as the main industry challenges at present?
The pace of technological change - making sure we’re investing in the right areas that will deliver long-term value to us and our customers.
If there was one thing in the industry you would change or want to resolve, what would it be?
Number porting remains a pain point. Despite being such a basic requirement, the process is still slow and inconsistent across the industry. It's often difficult to explain to customers why something so seemingly simple is so frustratingly complex and prone to delays and errors.
What opportunities do you foresee for the sector?
There’s a real opportunity to add value by helping businesses unify their UC and CC/CX platforms, and to connect these tools with reliable networking and telephony services.
Also, as organisations embrace AI, analytics, and automation, service providers can play a critical role in guiding their strategy and delivering real world solutions.
What benefits do you get out of Comms Council UK membership?
The regulatory briefings are incredibly helpful and it is invaluable to connect with other providers, share experiences, and collectively help shape the future of the sector.
