The communications world has been left in a state of shock this week, following the announcement that Grasshopper would be officially closing its UK service, effective immediately. Although the cloud communications company has shown no signs of weakness up to this point, they released a statement on the 15th of January, noting that they would no longer be accepting signups and that services will cease on the 30th of April 2018.
Like many in the industry, I was very surprised to see Grasshopper abandoning their customers in the UK so suddenly. While there are some challenges to address for US companies entering the European and UK market, a cloud solution should mean that they had the opportunity to offer service from anywhere.
Time to Migrate – and Fast
With the April deadline just over two months away, clients have been left with no option but to find an alternative provider – and fast. I spoke to Sunny Dhami, a product marketing expert for RingCentral EMEA, who told me that no-one had seen this change coming.
“Obviously the market is becoming more congested, and Grasshopper may have decided that the UK and Europe are simply too competitive, but it’s unusual for such a large and successful company to close so quickly.”
The Grasshopper statement mentioned that the brand would be willing to assist existing customers in porting away to different vendors, they have now provided a list of service providers to choose from here. It’s also worth noting that porting UK numbers to a new vendor can take time, particularly when manual processing challenges and porting agreements are considered.
Don’t be Left in the Lurch
Ultimately, the best thing that Grasshopper customers can do right now is look for an appropriate alternative for their communication needs, as quickly as possible. If you’re too slow to respond to this news, it could be that you find yourself without a service at the end of April.
Sunny told me that RingCentral is advising Grasshopper customers to choose their new partner by the end of March at the latest.
“Porting in the UK can take up to, and over 30 days, for any customer who wants to maintain their number, and strong, seamless service, it’s time to get moving.”
It’s not uncommon for RingCentral and other providers to find that their porting customers have the wrong information when the time comes to move. The quicker you decide who your new vendor will be, the more flexibility you’ll have when moving your number over to a new solution.
What’s Happening with LogMeIn?
With Grasshopper’s sudden exit from the UK market, many customers and partners will be left wondering what LogMeIn’s situation is in the industry. Grasshopper is owned by LogMeIn – a successful billion-dollar company. Looking at the LogMeIn Inc’s latest financials the business isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.
Since all signs point to success for LogMeIn and their surrounding companies, it’s difficult to imagine why Grasshopper has made such a dramatic decision. Are they cutting costs? Selling the company? Or is it just that they’re struggling to compete?
UC Today reached out to LogMeIn for a formal statement and received this from Matt Kaplan, VP of Products, Communications & Collaboration at LogMeIn:
“LogMeIn’s long-term strategy is focused on three of tech’s biggest and most transformative markets – Communications & Collaboration, Identity & Access Management and Customer Support & Engagement – and we are aligning our product development efforts accordingly to best serve our customers rapidly evolving needs. Recent changes in our Grasshopper product strategy have shifted focus to other regions and as such we have made the decision to end Grasshopper service in the UK at this time. All users in the UK are being notified of this decision and are being informed of options for porting their phone number over to a new carrier.”
