Oh, what a tangled web telecom services weave for small businesses

Small business owners have enough on their plates, without having to worry about telecom services. Wiresurfer attempts to remove this annoyance from entrepreneurs’ stack of concerns by providing a comparison engine for business communications.

Whether it is a neighborhood Italian restaurant or a “big data” startup, businesses need phone and Internet services. Navigating the tricky waters of network providers is confusing and time-consuming. Packages are difficult to decipher and no consolidated place exists for small business owners to view all their options.

Wiresurfer functions similarly to Expedia or Kayak and compare deals and details side-by-side. You go to the website, pinpoint your location, and then see what plans are available and at what terms and prices.

According to a Gartner report, the average small business owner spends about 25 hours deciphering and procuring telecom services for their company.

Cofounder Jeff Kaufman spent years of his career in the telecom industry. Talking to customers, he realized that they often defaulted to the most familiar provider and were unaware of the full scope of their choices.

“Telecom carriers make it virtually impossible to do an apples to apples comparison of their deals with other deals,” he said. “There is also not a single place to find all the deals offered by all the carriers. On Wiresurfer, ou click on a map, browse deals, and order the right one through us.”

The site’s design should be very straightforward and user friendly. Twelve carriers have already signed on, and the team will continue to add more. Ultimately, they hope to offer the No. 1 resource for telecom services in the world.

Wiresurfer is one of 75 companies and 6 student “alpha” startups chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Fall 2012 event taking place this week in Silicon Valley. After we make our selections, the chosen companies pay a fee to present. Our coverage of them remains objective.

Top image courtesy of Blend Images, Shutterstock