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How Techgrants closed more deals with Puzzel in eight months than with any other vendor in a year, and why a genuine partnership made the difference
The difference between Puzzel and the big vendors is like the difference between a McDonald’s and your favourite family-owned restaurant. With the bigger players, you’re just a number. With Puzzel, it’s a genuine partnership, more personal, more involved, more invested in the outcome
About Techgrants
Techgrants was founded on a simple belief: the cost of change shouldn’t be a reason to stay stuck. For organisations that want to move to better technology, whether that means switching contact centre vendors, adopting AI, or simply accelerating a modernisation programme, the upfront financial burden is often the biggest obstacle.
“We’re in the business of removing obstacles for digital change,” says Thomas Reed, founder of Techgrants. “There’s no downside for organisations. It’s completely freely given, and it will help them get to where they want to go faster, either by adopting new technology earlier, or by getting them across to the vendor they’re looking for.”
The grants themselves aren’t government-funded, they come directly from Techgrants and are structured around what each organisation actually needs. Some cover deployment and onboarding costs. Others take care of early exit fees, freeing customers from legacy contracts that would otherwise delay a move. A third type, the innovation grant, helps organisations adopt new capabilities like AI without the immediate CapEx pressure.
Grant values scale with the size of the project, ranging from around £50,000 to £100,000 for a standard implementation, with innovation grants typically sitting between £25,000 and £50,000. To date, Techgrants has supported over 100 organisations, from ten-person teams to businesses with thousands of employees, across financial services, utilities, housing, and charities.
Why Puzzel
Techgrants doesn’t work with every vendor it can find. The team actively selects partners they believe will deliver long-term success for the customers they fund, which means choosing organisations with the right combination of platform quality, reputation, and support.
"Puzzel has a really good reputation within the industry. The platform is very impressive."
“We pick best of breed,” Thomas explains. “We work with a handful of organisations that are best in class, and Puzzel is one of them. Good platform, good support, and a great reputation. Those three things make for a good introduction to pretty much any of our customers.”
On the technology side, Puzzel Conversational Intelligence was a particular draw. Thomas describes it as the standout differentiator in Puzzel’s product suite, and one he actively uses when positioning Puzzel to prospective customers.
Puzzel is great as a core contact centre system, but Puzzel Conversational Intelligence is very impressive. It can overlay on pretty much any technology the customer already has. Just by inserting this one piece of Puzzel technology, you can improve their customer experience and efficiency massively
The adaptability of Conversational Intelligence, its ability to sit alongside existing infrastructure and deliver immediate value, aligns well with the kind of customers Techgrants works with: organisations at different stages of their digital journey, with varying levels of readiness and varying sizes of contact centre.
What stands out about the Puzzel team
Beyond the deal flow, Thomas is clear that the quality of the working relationship is what makes this partnership different.
"I cannot speak highly enough of our Partner Account Manager, Alison Hogg. Any query I've got, she jumps straight on it and gives me updates without me having to chase, which is incredibly rare from a vendor. And Jacob Gardiner is one of the best salespeople I've ever met. He gets genuinely invested in customers during the sales cycle, and if he thinks they're going down the wrong path, he'll challenge them on it. Because he does that, he builds trust a lot faster."
For Thomas, this isn't just good account management, it reflects something more fundamental about how Puzzel operates as a partner. Where larger vendors can feel transactional, Puzzel's smaller, more focused partner network means every relationship gets real attention. It's a two-way street: Puzzel pushes Techgrants to do more, and Techgrants brings their best customers to Puzzel. Both sides are invested in the outcome.
"The difference between Puzzel and the big vendors is like the difference between a McDonald's and your favourite family-owned restaurant. With the bigger players, you're just a number. With Puzzel, it's a genuine partnership, more personal, more involved, more invested in the outcome." Thomas Reed, Founder, Techgrants
The results so far
The tangible outcomes are visible on both sides. Techgrants has seen revenue growth and deeper customer engagement. Puzzel has been able to close business that might otherwise have stalled at the funding stage. Two joint customers tell that story clearly.
Wave Utilities, the UK’s third-largest water retailer, used Techgrants’ Transformation Fund to move from a legacy CX platform that was holding their team back. With funding in place to remove upfront costs, they implemented Puzzel’s contact centre solution and went live without any drop in call handling performance, receiving the most positive response from frontline staff they had ever seen. Conversational Intelligence is now surfacing coaching insights, and the business is well-positioned to invest in future developments.
Newmarket Holidays, one of the UK’s leading escorted tour providers, secured funding through Techgrants to make the switch to Puzzel, and added an innovation grant to explore new capabilities as they grew. Within weeks of go-live, wrap time dropped by 65% and average handling time fell by 10%. Shortly after, they recorded their best sales month in 44 years.
What both stories share is that the financial barrier was the thing standing in the way, and once that was removed, the results followed quickly.
Looking ahead
The partnership between Techgrants and Puzzel is still in its early stages, but the results speak for themselves. With a shared commitment to removing barriers and helping organisations get to better technology faster, both teams are looking forward to supporting many more businesses on that journey together.
Want to find out what a genuine partnership looks like?
