Lightspeed Voice offers tech
solutions beyond a VoIP service
By Christopher W. Cook
Could you imagine moving 299,792,458 meters per second? And I thought the lap around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a two-seater IndyCar going close to 180 mph was fast.
The lengthy number shown above is the universal physical constant for the speed of light. (Please don’t make me explain “science stuff”; I was an English major.) While scientifically not that fast, Lightspeed Voice helps agents and brokers speed up their workflows by offering multiple tech solutions.
Lightspeed Voice was founded by Brad Fuller, CEO, in 2009, to solve communication challenges in the insurance industry.
“[Lightspeed] came about by supplying managed services to some insurance agencies, the big one being Allstate,” says Joel Poythress, chief revenue officer and senior executive leader of Lightspeed Voice. “There was an opportunity to take that technology further with voice over internet protocol (VoIP) that was coming out in the mid-2000s.”
Lightspeed developed its own platform in-house and started selling it to thousands of Allstate agencies across the United States. “That blossomed into fulfilling the need for other insurance agencies,” Poythress says. “We now have over 50 integrations with agency management systems and CRMs across the insurance space that support agencies and brokerages, both independent and some national brands.
“We have our own development team in the United States; we do not go offshore. We’re a very innovative and prolific updater of our own software. We do a two-week cycle under an agile software development release, so we are constantly updating, addressing feature requests and deploying new capabilities every two weeks. Some of the times this will be minor, some are more major releases.
“Over the last five years, we have really hardened the product and created a lot of additional integrations with key partners of ours across the insurance space, and also some customizations around AI that we didn’t have a year ago,” he continues.
With 4.9 stars on Google ratings, customers of the firm appreciate its readiness for assistance. “We really focus on the customer journey and the customer experience. We’re maniacal on white glove service and support,” Poythress adds.
Along with Fuller and Poythress, the executive team is rounded out by President Lourdes Fuller, Chief Operating Officer Khanh Nguyen, and Chief Financial Officer Raymond Ipjian.
VoIP solution
Lightspeed’s communication platform accomplishes more than a simple phone system. Available for Windows or Mac, as a mobile application for iPhone Apple or Android, or as an option for in-browser softphone, “there are many modalities you can leverage with our platform, and it goes much deeper into inbound call trees and inbound call center capabilities,” Poythress says. “We also have the ability to do custom routing for certain clients if they need certain agents to be supported over multiple locations. The customization is truly inflexible, nimble, and supports our customers.
“On top of that, [we have] the ability to look at outbound calling and setting up calling plans, with some core capabilities to manage your existing accounts, prospects and key customer profiles in your CRM. We do a deeper integration with the agency management system, and this is where the real phone value comes in. When you have a call come into your customer service rep, account manager or agent, if you’re integrated with one of the 50 platforms we integrate with, you can pull up that customer’s record in the management system; you can see who’s calling [and their client information] before you even answer the phone.”
“[W]e do something unique in the VoIP industry. If you have a router issue, … rather than saying, ‘hey, it’s not a Lightspeed problem,’ we’ll help you, even though it’s not a core service we offer.”
—Joel Poythress
Chief Revenue Officer and Senior Executive Leader
Lightspeed Voice
“I like that … [Lightspeed is] specifically related to the insurance industry. It takes a special company to understand the level of difficulty that we deal with when it comes to getting things to integrate and connect.”
—Nikki Ostrander
Owner
Vault Insurance & Risk Management
Customers who sign up are assigned to an account implementation team for the first 30 days. “We will do true white glove hand-holding training, onboarding, answer any questions, provide multiple training sessions if you choose and record those for your staff, and ensure that you have the full capabilities of the platform,” Poythress says. “We, do not just send a guide and say, ‘here, figure it out on your own;’ it’s truly a partnership.
“That focus on support and responsiveness is key. Additionally, even after the first 30 days, you have the ability to contact any support rep that you need. We have close to 20 dedicated support reps in Venice, Florida, who will answer live calls, typically in less than 60 seconds.
“On top of that, we do something unique in the VoIP industry,” he continues. “If you have a router issue, maybe with your internet service provider (ISP), rather than saying, ‘hey, it’s not a Lightspeed problem,’ we’ll help you, even though it’s not a core service we offer. We will get on a joint phone call with the ISP and our client and try to help get that issue to resolution.”
Another perk that comes with the core product offering is the inclusion of a call center training module. “This is the ability for a supervisor, team lead or manager to listen in live on a sales or support call; they can whisper some guidance into the agent’s ear without the customer knowing, or they can actually take over the call,” Poythress says. “It’s real-time ability for a supervisor to provide feedback and coaching on the fly. It’s a very powerful tool that you can turn off and on; only admins can have it.”
To train their teams to ask better questions and provide appropriate follow up, “we have several clients using some of the call summaries to see how they are corresponding with certain customers,” Poythress adds. “We also have the ability in the transcription of the call to do a keyword search.”
When using the call summaries and transcriptions for training purposes, all personally identifiable information, like Social Security and credit card numbers, birth dates and addresses, is automatically removed.
More than phones
Aside from its VoIP solution, other products and services are available from Lightspeed.
“We also have a product called Automate, which is a CRM product with some basic functionality around customer prospect lists, account lists, address books and phone books that you can either download, upload, and dynamically update as you see fit,” Poythress explains. “You can upload a CSV (comma-separated values) file from a prospect list and then create calling plans [that include] reminders and follow ups.” The product can also set up customized voicemail drops.
Deployed in the third quarter of 2024, Lightspeed also entered the AI scene with its NOVA (Next Generation Office Virtual Assistant) product. “It saves agents time, money and resources by summarizing and [providing] training on call activities,” Poythress says, noting that the service provides call summaries, transcriptions and acknowledges the sentiment of the person on the call. “Customer service reps do not have to [write up] a post-call summarization, which saves reps anywhere from five to 15 minutes per call, letting them take on other activities that are a more effective use of their time,” he adds.
The recorded calls are saved into the agency management system or CRM and can be leveraged by an agency for training purposes. For example, one agency client indexed off call summaries in which the sentiment showed that the customer was not happy. After reviewing the words used in transcriptions of the phone calls, a training error was discovered showing that CSRs had been providing bad information.
“Through the AI summary of our NOVA product, there is a huge opportunity to correct processes and procedures that are inaccurate,” Poythress says. “And we’re enhancing it. We’re going to be adding some more capabilities around real-time transcription and we’re looking at bullet point call summaries. AI is evolving, and we’re constantly innovating based upon the customer’s feedback and interests.”
NOVA, which was recently recognized as a winner in the 2025 Artificial Intelligence Excellence Awards by Business Intelligence Group, is an add-on product to Lightspeed’s other offerings. “Most agency and brokerage customers of ours today love it, and they want more of it. It’s completely configurable; you can turn it on and off per call or per user,” Poythress says.
In 2023, Lightspeed launched a subsidiary called Lightspeed Solutions, offering cybersecurity services and IT support. “It can be bundled with our VoIP platform, so we have a lot of customers buying both to make sure they are covered from cyberattacks, phishing schemes, and Trojan horses,” Poythress says.
An agency perspective
A Lightspeed customer for over a year, Nikki Ostrander, owner of Vault Insurance & Risk Management in Lincoln, Nebraska, also serves on the company’s customer council. Even while tackling personal issues that kept her out of the office during the implementation process, Ostrander has been extremely satisfied.
“I found out about Lightspeed through Virtual Intelligence (an insurance-focused staffing firm),” she says. “I love working with [Lightspeed Voice’s Sales and Operations Manager] Geoff Hamrick, because he seems to always get the problem completely fixed, and he doesn’t make me feel stupid when I ask an IT question—even if it’s very simple.”
Recently, Vault Insurance began the process of upgrading its tech stack and found a partner in Lightspeed, which offered multiple services the agency was seeking. “I like that the phones and the managed IT servicing were both the same company, and that they were specifically related to the insurance industry. It takes a special company to understand the level of difficulty that we deal with when it comes to getting things to integrate and connect,” Ostrander says.
“It’s nice that they now know what kind of computers we have, so whenever there’s a new hire, they order it, get it ready and send it to us. It’s minor, the things that we have to do to get them working. Even though they’re not on site, they do the best that they can to make it feel like they’re on site.”
As for the Connect platform, “my absolute favorite feature is that the phone calls are recorded and then dropped into our management system as an activity, so when we have to review phone calls, they’re easy to find,” Ostrander says. The agency also uses recorded messages when training new hires.
Even more so than the VoIP product, Ostrander appreciates the speedy IT services. “When you need help with your IT, you don’t need help in an hour; you needed help probably five minutes ago,” she says. “I thought we were being hacked once, because all my files started showing that they were opening, and I could see that it looked like somebody was opening them somewhere else. I literally panicked, because it was all the good things you don’t want other people to open.
“I messaged Geoff, I was totally panicking; it was after hours, and he even handled it then. It turned out to be a bug.
“I’ve been super happy with Lightspeed Solutions and Lightspeed Voice. There might be some challenges getting set up, but I think in the long run, it was the best decision for us,” she concludes.
For more information:
Lightspeed Solutions
lightspeedsolutions.net
Lightspeed Voice
lightspeedvoice.com
