The Belco timeline
Over the years, Belco has grown from a spontaneous idea of two colleagues to a complete customer service platform used by more than 250 companies. How did this happen? We would like to take you on a journey through time.
February 2023
ChatGPT release
Belco will be the first company in the Netherlands to deploy ChatGPT to improve customer service. Featured in various media. Wolvega-based customer service software company Belco is going to deploy the AI language model ChatGPT to translate conversations within their digital customer service environment into other languages. In addition to the translation function, they plan to link more smart features of ChatGPT to their software in the future to further improve the quality and efficiency of customer services.
April 2022
Launch site
We have a new website that better reflects who we are and what we do. The website emphasises the process, the people, and the connection between our customers and our product. We are very proud of our new website, and we hope it will help everyone understand what we do and what we stand for.
December 2021
Growth over 85
In 2021, our company changed a lot for the better. We developed many new ideas and did well. Our company grew by 85% in one year! Without spending much on marketing. We are autonomous and work towards what is best for our customers. We will continue to do so in 2022, working together to achieve a 9+ rating through customer service.
August 2021
Instagram and Whatsapp
We were finally allowed to connect on Instagram after a very long wait. Since August, you can use Instagram to communicate with your customers through Belco. We have also expanded our Whatsapp portfolio by connecting WhatsApp to Belco via 360dialog. For 29,- euro per month you can use WhatsApp with Belco.
August 2021
Axeos voip switchboard
We entered into a partnership with Axeos, which specialises in VoIP environments. With this partnership we can offer our customers a high quality VoIP solution linked to the Belco environment. Our customers still appreciate a VOIP solution in addition to the softphone solution in our application.
June 2021
Webwinkel Vakdagen Summer Edition
After a two-year absence, the Belco team was at the summer edition of Webwinkel Vakdagen. In a beach atmosphere, we talked to many potential customers and made nice contacts. It was nice to be at a trade fair again. Nadjib, Madelon, and Edwin had a great time for two days.
March 2020
Strong growth by corona
When our country was hit by the corona crisis, a lot changed in a short time. Suddenly, we were no longer allowed to go to the office and the doors of shops remained closed. Because many companies and shopkeepers wanted to shift their sales to online as quickly as possible, the demand for Belco's software increased enormously. "We were really never as busy as during the beginning of the corona crisis: everyone wanted to work from home and preferably the same day. We grew from 100 customers to 200 customers within a few months. Fortunately, we were able to help everyone quickly - albeit with sweat on our foreheads."
February 2020
Most customer-friendly organisation in the north of the Netherlands (figure 9.5)
In 2020, Belco was voted the most customer-friendly organisation in the Northern Netherlands with a score of 9.5. What was special about this award was that no jury was involved, but that it was the customers themselves who judged Belco. "For us, it was a fine confirmation that we were on the right track and setting a good example for our customers."
June 2019
The milestone of 100 customers
"When we reached this milestone, we hung up a large map in our office (which we had by now) on which we marked all our customers with yellow pins. That secretly made us feel quite proud."
December 2018
Full focus on Belco
While Edwin and Eelco were still working part-time on other jobs, the time had come to fully commit to Belco. This was a logical consequence of the growth and the increasing number of customers.
August 2018
First 50 customers
Belco grew quickly and the first 50 customers were a fact. "As the customers grew, so did the expectations: customers expected 100% uptime from us and counted on us always being available for help and questions."
December 2016
All-in-one inbox
Belco continued to grow and so did customer demand. After several customers indicated that they would also like to see e-mail integrated into Belco, the all-in-one inbox was added. "To be honest, we thought email was a bit old-fashioned and saw more of a future in telephony and live chat, but ultimately it's the customer who decides what his or her requirements are - especially within Belco."
February 2016
First time at Webwinkel Vakdagen
Belco grew quickly and the first 50 customers were a fact. "As the customers grew, so did the expectations: customers expected 100% uptime from us and counted on us always being available for help and questions."
January 2016
First paying customer
After an extensive test phase, the time had come in January 2016: Belco could go live and Everlake from Sneek became its first paying customer. Nice detail: this very first customer is still a Belco customer.
2015
Calling for web shops
There was no time to despair about the failure of the original plan; in fact, it was quickly transformed into a new plan. Edwin had run several webshops from 2008 to 2010 and found that, as the webshops grew, customer service became an increasingly important part of the business and was not always efficient. Couldn't it be easier? And why wasn't it possible to link customer data to a telephone call? The idea for Belco was born: an application where all phone calls to a web shop arrive on one platform and are automatically linked to customer data.
end of 2014
Contextual telephone exchange
Edwin and Eelco, the founders of Belco, met through their work. Finding smart technical solutions to everyday problems turned out to be a shared interest. This quickly developed into their first business idea: the contextual telephone exchange. The idea was - born from an annoyance of 'always having to be available' - to develop a telephone application in which you could set your personal availability and thus determine when you did or did not want to be disturbed. The idea was worked out technically, but proved difficult to market for several reasons.