About the Customer
SMS Energy is a leading UK provider of essential electrical, gas, and water infrastructure, supporting suppliers across residential, commercial, industrial, and utility sectors. While the company operates an installation division, its core business centres on meter ownership and long-term asset management. Trusted by major suppliers including Octopus, British Gas, and Scottish Power, SMS is recognised for its reliability, consistency, and strong customer support.
“We’re an asset business with the asset being a meter – predominantly an asset manager. The core of our business is owning and maintaining assets on the wall and the recurring rental that they bring for us.”
With millions of meters under management, SMS focuses on maintaining high-quality assets “on the wall,” generating recurring rental revenue.
In addition to technical installation and maintenance, the company delivers contact centre services on behalf of suppliers, managing planning, scheduling, and engineer utilisation to support consistent service delivery. Operations are coordinated from central hubs in Bolton and Doncaster, with regional offices across the UK.
SMS operates a permanent contact centre team that scales to around 100 agents during seasonal peaks to maintain service levels.
The Challenge
As its portfolio matured, SMS began to feel the strain of outdated and disconnected customer contact systems. While the business had successfully converted much of the easily reachable customer base, the next phase of engagement required smarter, more adaptable tools.
The legacy system relied heavily on basic outbound dialling, with no omnichannel capability and no visibility of previous customer interactions
With suppliers expecting greater transparency and customers demanding a more seamless journey, SMS recognised the need for a more integrated, digital-first approach. This required a partner capable of modernising their operations at scale, improving productivity, and laying the groundwork for future expansion.
We felt we were at risk of getting behind the curve and we knew at some point our portfolio was going to start declining, so it was going to be a harder task to convert the customers.
The Solution
After a competitive tender process, SMS selected Onecom to deliver a flexible, scalable, and fully integrated contact centre solution built on Five9 technology.
The deployment included:
• Five9 Voice Contact Centre (VCC)
• Verint Workforce Optimisation
• Five9 Quality Assurance and Quality Management
• Trialling Five9 AI Insights and Agent Assist
• Integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 for scheduling
This marked a step-change in SMS’s operational model, enabling omnichannel contact, record linking, automated appointment booking, and consistent customer tracking. As well as providing a bespoke system of Five9 technologies, the team offered strategic input and challenge at every stage – helping SMS make the most of the platform.
To ensure a smooth transition, SMS began with a pilot in Cardiff using a test-and-learn approach before rolling the system out across all operations. Onecom’s dedicated service team, led by a service delivery manager, provided ongoing support and frequent reviews to resolve issues early.
Onecom were able to help us look at what we do and challenge it – is it good, bad, or indifferent? What tools do Five9 have that we’re not using and could be? It’s not just the customer experience that has been transformed, it’s also the employee experience, enabling them to convert more appointments and therefore hit their KPIs.
The Result
The new solution has transformed SMS’s contact operations, giving the business real-time insight and a far more seamless customer experience.
• Real-Time, Actionable Data: Data can now be viewed instantly and filtered by supplier, call volume, or revenue per call. Integrated Power BI dashboards allow faster and more accurate reporting, enabling teams to make informed decisions without delay. SMS now manages around 15,000 calls per week, with real-time visibility helping the team respond with greater accuracy and predictability.
• Productivity and Efficiency: Customer journeys are fully trackable, and agents no longer need to search for information. Automated scheduling aligns appointments with engineer availability, reducing workload and minimising errors. With Five9, contact hub agents now average 44 minutes less downtime per day, significantly increasing capacity across the team.
• Enhanced Agent Performance: Access to complete contact history and tools such as Five9 Agent Assist helps agents handle objections, remain compliant, and convert appointments more effectively. Outbound conversion rates now average 3.5% from calls and around 15% from connected conversations, supported by clearer insights and improved workflows. Agents also benefit from reduced administrative pressure, with After Call Work averaging just 6%, enabling them to spend more time on meaningful customer interactions.
• Scalability and Flexibility: With seasonal peaks of up to 100 agents, the platform flexes effortlessly across multiple sites, including Bolton and the growing operation in Doncaster. The system also supports an expanding workforce, with 299 users onboarded to Five9, giving SMS the ability to rapidly scale resources as needed.
Looking Ahead
SMS Energy sees this transformation as the foundation for long-term growth. The next phase includes expanding AI-driven support, enhancing system integrations, and automating supplier-driven campaigns to further streamline operations.
The platform positions SMS to move confidently into emerging sectors such as EVs and solar batteries, while enabling expansion into new territories—supported by investment from new ownership and improved operational resilience.
We have a huge ambition to grow in different sectors and new territories. Using as much automation and integrating systems as much as possible will give us a really good foundation to grow… The key takeaway is that the solution is growing with SMS – adapting with us in response to our needs, the governance we must comply with, and giving us insights into patterns and trends.