Case Studies
Growing UK fiber internet provider LilaConnect migrated to gaiia in 16 weeks. Here’s how they made it happen, and how it paid off.
LilaConnect, the retail subsidiary of The Freedom Fibre Group, delivers full-fiber broadband to communities across the northwest of the UK. But, with a strategy of rapid growth across multiple towns and regions, the company needed a modern operations platform that could scale as fast as its network.
After challenges with an internal system that had reached its limits and a failed migration to another platform, LilaConnect turned to gaiia to modernize its operations and create a better customer experience.
Why LilaConnect chose gaiia
LilaConnect required a flexible, API-driven OSS/BSS that could integrate seamlessly with its network operator’s systems and support an efficient, scalable retail ISP experience.
Key considerations included:
- An API-first architecture for real-time provisioning and activation.
- A scalable billing and product catalog capable of supporting future growth.
- Workflow automation to eliminate manual steps and improve speed to serve.
- A modern, branded checkout and subscriber portal to enhance the customer journey.
After evaluating multiple vendors, LilaConnect chose gaiia for its open, modular architecture, proven delivery timelines, and collaborative implementation model designed for complex integration environments.
“We needed a partner who could move fast, but also give us the structure and flexibility to build the right foundation. gaiia helped us do both.”
—Phil Steed, Head of Platforms, LilaConnect
Delivering business value in 16 weeks
LilaConnect’s implementation focused on enabling a complete customer onboarding flow, connecting every step from availability check to activation. gaiia enabled LilaConnect to launch a branded online checkout that connected LilaConnect’s new website, directly with their network serviceability.
From the first customer order, the new system has significantly reduced manual work across teams, streamlining how new customers are onboarded and how in-life service changes are handled.
“The new checkout and automated workflows have significantly reduced the manual effort required to onboard customers and manage service changes.”
—Tom Ives, Head of Sales Operations, LilaConnect
The “fab 5” workflows
Both gaiia and LilaConnect teams focused on five core workflows that power daily operations: activation, suspension, reactivation, speed change, and service deactivation. Built in gaiia’s Workflow editor, each process is fully automated and configurable, giving LilaConnect control to adapt and scale as they grow.
Key integrations
The go-live included integrations with:
- LilaConnect’s network provisioning API
- Stripe and GoCardless (payments)
- Sonalake PivOTS (One Touch Switch)
- HubSpot, M365, and Twilio (CRM and communications)
The result was a fully automated onboarding and activation process that now runs through a single system, reducing delays, increasing transparency, and improving the experience for both customers and support teams.
Implementation approach: How to accelerate time to market
Beyond the technical success, LilaConnect’s project has become a model for how ISPs can bring services to market faster through clarity, iterative development, and tight scope control.
Here are the key principles that made the difference:
- Start with the “minimum viable process”
- Rather than waiting for every edge case, LilaConnect and gaiia focused on the five most critical workflows that represented 90% of customer journeys. This “Fab 5” mindset allowed the team to deliver early business value while deferring non-critical automations to Phase 2.
- Standardize early
- From the first migration dry-run, the team enforced standard data models, requiring unique property identifiers (UPRNs) and canonical product structures. This reduced friction during imports, simplified integrations, and made it easier to automate provisioning.
- Integrate through APIs, not workarounds
- With Freedom Fibre’s open-access API as the foundation, gaiia connected every major system (billing, network, appointments, and service status) through direct, authenticated API calls. No CSVs, no scripts. This ensured real-time accuracy across systems from day one.
- Use workflows as the single source of truth
- Each operational process (activation, modification, or cancellation) was designed as a self-contained, auditable workflow in gaiia. This structure allowed operations and engineering teams to collaborate in the same system without relying on custom code or manual handoffs.
- Stay aligned with a dedicated cross-functional team
- Weekly syncs across business, technical, and engineering stakeholders from both LilaConnect and gaiia created continuous feedback loops. Decisions were made fast, blockers were surfaced early, and teams shared the same real-time visibility into progress.
The results
In just 16 weeks, LilaConnect transitioned from a constrained in-house system to a fully integrated, API-driven OSS/BSS environment that connects every part of the customer journey, from online checkout to activation.
Photo provided courtesy of gaiia
The impact was immediate. The new checkout and automated workflows reduced manual intervention across teams and dramatically improved customer onboarding speed. What once required multiple systems and manual coordination now runs seamlessly within gaiia.
“Our previous fastest sale ever was 19 minutes from checkout to activation. On gaiia, we achieved it in 4 minutes.”
—Matt Ogden, Director of Sales & Marketing, LilaConnect
The LilaConnect team now has a single connected platform that:
- Processes orders and activations in real time through its network provisioning API
- Automates provisioning, billing, and service changes without manual tickets
- Provides customers with a smooth, branded digital experience from purchase to installation
With manual tasks replaced by automation, LilaConnect has strengthened operational efficiency and created a scalable model for future growth while improving the subscriber experience at every step.
This content is brought to you by gaiia.
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