Bill “PhoneBill” McClain

You can call Gates, Joel, Murray, or Clinton…but only this Bill has the answer 💪 UCaaS Provider - VoIP- ☎️

Pioneering the intersection of AI and business communications as a 3X founder. 

Currently revolutionizing voice technology through UponAI while leading innovative UCaaS and CCaaS solutions at StratusDial, backed by extensive experience at Networking Solutions.

At StratusDial, I've transformed business communications by:
• Implementing cost-saving solutions that reduce operating expenses by up to $9,000
• Developing seamless Office365 integrations and advanced VoIP systems
• Building a 24/7 technical support infrastructure that maintains 99.9% uptime
• Creating custom UCaaS/CCaaS solutions for diverse enterprise needs

Through UponAI, I'm pushing the boundaries of:
• AI-powered voice recognition and natural language processing
• Intelligent call routing and automated customer service solutions
• Machine learning algorithms for enhanced communication efficiency
• Voice-enabled business intelligence and analytics

My entrepreneurial journey spans:
🔹 Advanced Telecommunications
🔹 Enterprise Network Architecture
🔹 Cloud Communications
🔹 AI/ML Implementation
🔹 Business Process Automation

Proud to be recognized by industry leaders, including Eric Hernaez, Founder & President of SkySwitch, for maintaining exceptional service standards and driving continuous innovation in business communications.

Specialties:
#AIVoice #UCaaS #CCaaS #CloudCommunications #NetworkingSolutions #VoIP #BusinessIntelligence #EnterpriseNetworking #ArtificialIntelligence #DigitalTransformation

Looking to connect with:
• Business leaders seeking communication solutions
• Technology innovators in AI and voice tech
• Enterprise clients exploring digital transformation
• Fellow entrepreneurs in the tech space

Let's discuss how AI-powered voice solutions can transform your business communications. Open to partnerships, collaborations, and innovative ventures.


Founder -

Networking Solutions 29 years
StratusDial 13 years
UponAi 2 years

3X Founder - 0X Exits

Founder President & CEO

Does the idea of switching phone providers for your business sound like a permanent migraine? Here’s what’s worse:

Turning your customers away because you’re unable to provide a good phone customer experience because of lousy support from your business phone provider.

When you entrust ☎️PhoneBill (& the team at StratusDial) with your company’s new voice, here’s what you get:

✔️ Pre-installation audit to locate savings (sometimes $9000!) & lower your operating costs
✔️ Take care of allllllllll the prep, installation, routing, testing… everything done-for-you
✔️ Hold your hand through set-up & advise you on phone experience best practices
✔️ Latest phone features for maximum efficiency (hello, Office365 integration!)
✔️ Custom set-up the big providers won’t do (e.g. overhead paging system)
✔️ 60-day and 90-day check-ins to make sure you love your new system
✔️ Eager-to-help technical support, 24/7

As a smaller (but mightier!) provider, we can deliver the type of boutique service that the large competitors wish they could deliver. 😉

Ready to have your business phone system work for you (not against you) in bringing more clients to your business?

Message ☎️PhoneBill on LinkedIn. I’ll sort you out.

Bill (PhoneBill) McClain

Thank you for registering your phone number with the National Do Not Call Registry. 

You successfully registered your phone number ending in 6500 on November 19, 2010. Most telemarketers will be required to stop calling you 31 days from your registration date.  

I remember reading that message and feeling hopeful.  

Peace.  

A quiet phone line.  
Fewer dinnertime interruptions.  

That was the dream.  

Here is the dry truth.  
Registering a phone number with the Do Not Call Registry tells legal telemarketers to remove that number from their call lists.  

It does not stop scammers.  
It does not stop every robocall.  

The Registry gives people a choice.  
People can say no to many sales calls.  
People can gain some control back.  

In my world, voice and AI can help.  

Smarter call routing.  
Better spam detection.  
Clear rules for teams that want to stay trusted.  

Business needs to reach people.  

Respect needs to reach them first.  

Thoughts on how the Registry works for you today?

#PhoneBill ☎️

You can call Gates, Joel, Murray, or Clinton…but only this Bill or AI from UponAi has the answer ☎️🤖

No alternative text description for this image

Last fall, StratusDial brought on two new automotive dealerships running their phone system with another provider.

That sounded like good news we know the NetSapiens system they had inside and out. We’ve been running it for over ten years.

But within minutes on site, we learned how bad things had gotten.

Calls dropping. Delays connecting. Terrible voice quality.

The dealerships had been on the system only about six or seven months and it had been a disaster. 
Multiple tickets opened with the previous provider and their IT support team.
 No resolution.

The buy/sell of those dealerships went through on a Monday. 

My team was onsite immediately to handle the migration and full acquisition of all technology.

As they went desk to desk setting up our complete tech stack, nearly every employee had the same question:

“Can you do something about our phones?”

We were patient and empathetic, but knew the priority 👉 the migration and new tech stack came first. 
My team was absolutely slammed but we were up for the challenge.

I arrived on Tuesday to assist wherever I could. 
Our team leader, Eric asked me to look into the phone issue.

So I called the provider for access to the system. 
And what I found was very disturbing.

Here’s the thing:
 Voice traffic must always come first. 

Browsing, streaming, and file downloads come second.
 That’s called Quality of Service (QoS) - and one of the best ways to achieve it is through a VLAN (Virtual LAN).

Picture your network like a six-lane highway. 
Each type of traffic gets its own lane. 
And guess which one gets the fast lane? 
Voice 👍

Now, remember this is a car dealership. 
A big customer waiting area. 
Customers streaming music, video, and social media on the dealership Guest Wi-Fi.

So what happens when that customer traffic ends up in the same lane as voice traffic? 
Big problems. Dropped calls. 
Bad audio. 
Delayed connections.

Within two hours, I’d confirmed the issue. The network desperately needed a traffic cop.

So I installed one - and called it #PhoneBill 🤣

After implementing QoS, separating traffic with VLANs, and making targeted improvements, voice calls immediately sharpened up.

Dropped calls disappeared. Connections were instant. Quality was crystal clear.

In less than a day, we proved our expertise and earned the client’s trust.

That’s the power of understanding what matters most: 
Voice traffic always gets the fast lane.

Do you need a traffic cop?

#PhoneBill ☎️


Networking Solutions, Inc. 
StratusDial 
UponAI

Most CIOs juggle 3+ phone platforms.

I run them all through one brain…UponAI.

In my world, single-platform purity is rare.  

Real companies grow by merger, region, and vendor.  

Result:  
One team on UCaaS A.  
Another on UCaaS B.  
A contact center on a third CCaaS stack.  

As founder of StratusDial, I learned early that forcing everyone onto one phone system creates risk.  

Vendor outage.  
Contract fight.  
Feature gap.
Buy / Sells.
Equity Investors.  

When all calls live on one platform, one bad day can shut a business down.  

So we built StratusDial around a different model:  

Risk mitigation!

No emotion, just strategy.

Multi-platform UCaaS and CCaaS for resilience and choice.  


Then I added one simple rule from UponAI:  

Many phone systems, one AI brain.  

Here is how it works in practice:  

1. StratusDial supports multiple call platforms for one client  
→ UCaaS from multiple suppliers  
→ CCaaS in a remote center  
→ A legacy PBX still in place in one branch  

2. UponAI connects to all of them through flexible SIP  
→ SIP trunk, for whole-system connection
→ SIP endpoint as a dedicated AI extension  
→ SIP URI for routing only certain calls  

3. The AI voice agent handles the heavy lifting  
→ Answers first, in any language the business needs  
→ Understands intent with natural language  
→ Uses sentiment to adapt tone  
→ Passes full context when a human must step in with a WARM transfer

4. The business keeps one AI playbook  
→ One prompt strategy  
→ One routing logic  
→ One integration into CRM, POS, ticketing systems  

The platforms stay diverse for safety.  
The AI stays unified for simplicity.  

That is how we see up to 60% of calls move from human agents to AI  
without ripping out phone systems  
without new chaos for IT  
without customers feeling lost.  

Many platforms for risk management.  
One AI brain for control.  

Thoughts on running many phone systems under one AI brain?

#PhoneBill ☎️

Unfortunately #PhoneBill will not be attending but Jody & Sean will do a great job 🙌

Make sure you stop by to see and support them 👍

See you at ITExpo! 🎤

Jody is joining the CEO Insights Panel: Agentic Voice AI in the Real World to discuss ROI, Trust, and Scaling.

🗓️ Thursday, February 12, 2026
🕐 1:00 – 1:45 PM
🎯 CEO Insights Panel

Sean will also be on-site to answer questions and chat about our AI voice solutions.

UponAi is at the cutting edge of AI, and we're excited to be back again this year to share what we're building.

Stop by and say hi! 👋

Jody Gonzales Sean Henning Bill (PhoneBill) McClain

#ITExpo #ITExpo2026 #UponAi #VoiceAI #AgenticAI #CEO #AIPanel #ArtificialIntelligence #TechConference

Businesses today don’t just need to communicate-they need to connect smarter.

I see the same pattern in companies of every size.

Teams feel busy.
Phones ring all day.
Costs keep going up.

Yet customers still wait on hold.
Messages still fall through the cracks.
Leaders still lack clear insight.

AI in business communications changes that.

Here is how we set it up at UponAI:

→ Improve communication  
AI voice agents listen, understand, and respond in real time.  
They speak in natural language, stay calm with every caller, and never forget key details from past interactions.

→ Boost efficiency  
AI handles the routine work:  
- Simple questions  
- Balance checks  
- Password resets  
- Status updates  

Your people focus on complex cases and human moments where empathy matters most.

→ Scale without new headcount  
Call volume grows?  
AI does not need more desks or parking spaces.  
You add capacity in the cloud, not on the org chart, while service stays fast and steady.

Under the hood we use:

- AI voice agents  
- Intelligent call routing  
- Analytics that show trends, sentiment, and gaps in your customer experience  

The result is a system that works 24/7, keeps quality consistent, and gives leaders clear data instead of guesswork.

I have spent my career at the crossroads of phones, networks, and now AI. I believe the next big gains for business come from how we connect, not how loud we shout. 

Actually delivering today what others promise in the future.

What is your take on using AI to handle the front line of customer communication?

#PhineBill ☎️

Yes 🙌 another AI post from #PhoneBill ☎️

Is it just me, or did every phone platform suddenly launch their own “AI voice agent”?

Here’s the thing… 
We’ve been building our ecosystem for 3 years - not weeks.

Yes, we can spin up an AI receptionist in 5 minutes. 
But then what?

💡 What if your business needs something more complex? 💡 What if you need a real solution that goes beyond just a “hello”?

Most platforms stop at simple use cases. 
We built one platform that lets you: ✅ Launch simple AI voice agents instantly ✅ Scale seamlessly to advanced, fully customized agents ✅ Integrate with any voice platform

And here’s what we’ve learned from experience -
 The second you deploy a simple solution, your customers will want more.
 We’ve seen it firsthand. We’ve built for it.

That’s why UponAI isn’t just another AI tool -
 It’s the ecosystem that grows with your business into the future.

#PhoneBill ☎️

Sarah Clay

Hello, I'm Sarah Clay

Apparently, my about section is ‘the best we’ve ever seen’!  

🟣 ARE YOU HEAD OF MARKETING, HEAD OF SALES OR CEO?
Let's make your marketing efforts go much further using your most valuable asset.
I'll help you elevate your personal profiles to elevate the status and visibility of your company. 
I  teach and empower your teams to use LinkedIn to increase the brand awareness of the company. It’s called ‘Employee advocacy on LinkedIn’. 

We also manage company pages with our full content creation service. 

🟣 ARE YOU RUNNING A CONFERENCE OR INTERNAL EVENT?
Hire me as your speaker to:    
Empower and inspire your teams to use LinkedIn to spread your company message
Help your attendees understand how they can use LinkedIn more effectively

🟣 ARE YOU LOOKING FOR YOUR NEXT BIG ROLE?
We work together to reposition you to give you the best chance of getting the best job and the best pay.

🟧🟪 Are you using my 5 step TRUST model to maximise your company message?

Find your Tribe
Build your Reputation
Understand your audience
Don’t Sell, Shake hands
Tell people how you solve their problems

If posts on personal profiles get up to 561% more engagement than on a company page - wouldn't you like to get your teams out and about on LinkedIn?

DM me, let's chat about how I can teach your team how.

🧑🏻‍🦰 ABOUT ME
I trained as a lawyer - amazing life and business skills
I Produced TV and music videos - organising, negotiating, people management
I ran marketing and PR departments then set up my own social media agency which led me to training people how to use LinkedIn

❓ WHY WORK WITH ME?
🔶 Years of Marketing, PR, social media and being a business owner means I bring many other skills to help you truly master LinkedIn: 
design
branding
marketing
communication
content creation
employee advocacy programme manager

🔶 I'm an experienced conference speaker and a regular guest on podcasts, live and on line events -delivering learning in an exciting way for you and your team.

🗣 WHAT DO MY CLIENTS SAY? 
‘Sarah worked closely with our large team on boosting our reach. Within 2 weeks my engagement and impressions stats increased by 245%'

‘Sarah was able to explain the technical elements really simply to me and then worked with me to devise a plan tailored to my needs.’

📈 ARE YOU READY TO START?
🗣 Let's chat: http://bit.ly/4r8W9lb
✍🏼DM me here
📧 sarah@sarahclaysocial.com

Social Selling
LinkedIn trainer
Keynote Speaker
Employee advocacy
Business Development
LinkedIn for corporates
C-Suite personal branding
Good at making lists look pretty

LinkedIn trainer, LinkedIn instructor

Training employees and entrepreneurs how to leverage LinkedIn for Brand awareness, personal branding, content creation and lead generation on LinkedIn.
#LinkedInSimplified
#LinkedInTraining
#LinkedInTips

Don’t you just love a chance to dress up and witness some pomp and ceremony?!

I have to say, The Worshipful Company of Marketors are so good at all that, as I experienced at The Installation dinner this week. 

Saying farewell to our outgoing master Julian Boulding and welcoming in David Elmer as our new master. Also welcoming April Cowen as our new clerk.  

It was great to spend time with
Kevin Harris , Jarmila Yu, CMktr DipM FCIM FIDM MCIPR, Annie Brooks, Martin Ashton and Peter Rees  among others. 
 
Sadly I didn’t take many photos as I was too busy enjoying the moment, but here’s a flavour of the beauty and grandeur at Painters Hall. Oh, and apparently I broke the rules by showing my shoulders! 😳

Sarah 💜

I empower you and your teams to increase your company’s brand visibility by transforming you into thought leaders and ambassadors 🟪 Author ‘Employee Advocacy on LinkedIn’ 🟧 Keynote speaker 🟪 Cyclist 🚴‍♀️ Liveryman

‘Sarah, you need to lose the orange and purple hearts if you want to succeed in the corporate world.’

Said two men to me this week. 

They told me I was ‘too bright’ and ‘too in your face’ for the corporate world. 

Honestly - please - what do you think? 

Please vote but more importantly, comment below. This is a real dilemma for many - especially me right now. 

Thank you!

Sarah 💜 (eek!)

Should we ‘tone down’ our personality and colours to appeal to a corporate audience?  Full honesty please.

The author can see how you vote. Learn more

This year I want to share my knowledge and expertise with a wider audience. I want to do this by speaking at more events, all over the world. 

What better way to kick this off than by speaking at The Indie Summit in Bangkok! 🇹🇭

Launched in 2017, The Indie Summit The One Network has become one of the leading international conferences for owners and leaders of independent agencies.

Agency leaders come together from all over the world to learn, share experiences, and explore what’s next in marketing and communications.

Huge thanks to Julian Boulding for the invitation. 

I can’t wait to bring some LinkedIn energy to Thailand, and share what’s working right now (and what’s quietly stopped working), and to share my T.R.U.S.T. Advantage TM Formula with the audience. 

If you're an agency owner, please do check out the Indie Summit - and maybe I'll see you in Thailand!

Sarah 🟪 🟧

DSMN8 - The Employee Advocacy Platform asked me for my thoughts on their latest report: The World's Biggest Employee Advocacy Study.  

It’s a very comprehensive piece of work with some illuminating findings; two of which stand out for me. 

Personal content gets 9% more engagement than company page curated posts.

That’s 9% more eyes on your company page content by empowering your employees to post on LinkedIn. 

=>> Companies should build more “people-led” content into the mix.

Not every post, but even 1/3 with a personal angle will lift engagement across ALL company content.

=>> Biggest surprise: the highest engagement rates come from employees with 5,000 to 10,000 connections.

That’s such a good takeaway for leaders and teams who think they need “influencer numbers” before it’s worth showing up.

This is a great incentive for my clients to build their following, and hopefully it will inspire you to do the same!

Sarah 🟪 🟧

Here’s some LinkedIn maths for you.
You’ve probably heard the stat that companies can increase their LinkedIn reach by 561% when employees share content authentically.

But let's take it back a step, what does that actually mean in real life?

A 561% increase means you’re not adding a tiny bit on top. You’re multiplying the outcome.

If your company page post reaches 1,000 people…

=>> Up to 561% more reach could equate to 6,610 people seeing the same message.

1,000 + (561% of 1,000) = 1,000 + 5,610 = 6,610

The interesting part is not the number.

It’s why it happens.

When a real person shares something with even a line of context, it lands differently. It feels like insight, not an announcement.

Credibility, not “content”.

That’s trust at work, and in 2026 trust is the shortcut people use to decide who to pay attention to.

If you want the practical version of how to do this without making your employees cringe, feel pressured, or using copy and paste captions, message me to get access to my FREE monthly webinar.

Sarah 🟪 🟧

Turn your leadership team into credible industry voices, without it feeling forced.

Most leaders don’t need to become “content creators”.

They just need a simple way to show up as trusted experts, consistently, in a way that fits them.

My webinar tomorrow, The T.R.U.S.T Advantage TM is a practical guide to:

~ Building authority on LinkedIn without posting every day
~ Making leader visibility feel natural (and sustainable)
~ Linking that visibility to real commercial outcomes.

🟪 Tuesday 27 January
🟧 11:30am GMT / 6.30 am EST / 12.30pm CET

=>> Register here: https://lnkd.in/emyVwX2v

**Everyone who registers will receive a replay link valid for 7 days.**

I hear this a lot - and it was reinforced in a meeting I had yesterday. 
Things like: 

'LinkedIn is full of rubbish'
'It's becoming too self-promotional'
'LinkedIn is too 'business-y'

It doesn't have to be like this; LinkedIn can be a great place to hang out, meet interesting and relevant people and, of course, begin business transactions.

It's all about how you behave on the platform. 

In the words of Richard van der Blom on his post TODAY in fact: 

"Posts from accounts you regularly engage with get 3.2x more visibility than random viral content. A smaller, highly relevant niche network now outperforms a large but disengaged one. For reach AND lead quality."

What you put in is what you get out. 

So create a strategy around your LinkedIn activity. Be intentional, proactive and organised and you can actually begin to not only ENJOY being here, but you can also start to get business! 

Know someone who needs this message today?  Just send them this post and I hope I can help shift their mindset! 

Sarah 🟧🟪

TRUST is the biggest currency in B2B sales as we enter 2026.

If people don't trust us, they won't buy. Simple.

How can we use LinkedIn to create that trust?

*** Join me on Tuesday 27 January at 11:30am GMT // 6.30 EST // 12.30pm CET ***

I will help you understand how to do this in my free webinar, The Trust Advantage.

🟪 Register here: https://lnkd.in/emyVwX2v

Don't miss out! 

Sarah 🟧 🟪

taplio

The Battle

Bill (PhoneBill) McClain

Sarah Clay

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreBill (PhoneBill) McClain's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreSarah Clay's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Bill (PhoneBill) McClain

Sarah Clay

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Bill (PhoneBill) McClain's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreSarah Clay's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreBill (PhoneBill) McClain's LinkedIn Performance