RALEIGH – Relay, creators of the screen-free, “smarter” phone for families, has launched a new product. It’s called Relay Pro, and according to the low-cost wireless provider, it’s going to revolutionize how businesses communicate with its workers.

Among its features: cellular push-to-talk technology, GPS tracking, panic button functionality, and software integration.

“With Relay Pro, we’ve expanded into meeting the needs of businesses whose workforce is active across a larger footprint or can not be distracted while engaged with face-to-face interactions – including hotels, stadiums, schools, and construction worksites,” explains Chris Chuang, CEO and co-founder of Republic Wireless, which owns Relay.

“While information workers enjoy ever growing productivity gains from innovative communication solutions like Google, Slack, Zoom, Salesforce, etc, there are 55 million active workers in the US alone who still must rely upon traditional walkie-talkies to communicate with each other.

“We believe Relay will connect active workers, not only with each other, but with the data and information they need to get their jobs done. For business owners, this means more productivity, more effective teams all for a lower cost.”

Chuang adds Republic is just listening to its clients’ needs.

“We’ve seen a flood of inbound demand come in from businesses for Relay these past few quarters, even before we had a website or any marketing information available,” he says.

“We saw this as a powerful signal of just how strong the need is for a solution like Relay Pro to enter the market.”

‘Positive momentum’

Originally launched as a division of Bandwidth in 2011, Republic eventually spun out with a $30 million cash infusion in 2016.

With a mission to provide affordable ways for families to stay in touch, it rolled out its device called Relay, a cell-based, nationwide device that operates essentially like a walkie-talkie, in 2018.

Chuang says it was always the plan to expand into the business enterprise segment.

“This is not a change in strategy for us,” he says. “In fact, we only expect positive impact for Relay consumer customers, as the feedback we receive from enterprises and the additional scale in our supply chain that this segment will bring only helps us improve the product faster for all our customers.”

Earlier this year, the firm was forced to lay off a significant slice of its workforce as part of a restructure.

Chuang says the company is “doing well.”

“November was our highest sales month ever, and Cyber Monday was our highest sales day ever,” he says. “Our team is excited about the positive momentum we are seeing across a number of fronts.”