Buy-and-Build Brokers: Consolidating Contact Centres After Every Acquisition

Insurance broking in Ireland and the UK has been consolidating for years, with groups buying smaller brokers and folding them into one operation. Every acquisition brings the same inheritance: a phone system, a carrier contract, a set of published numbers, call recordings, and staff who answer the phone their own way. Multiply that by ten deals and the group runs ten different customer operations under one brand.

Brokers consolidate contact centre and voice infrastructure by putting the group on one cloud platform and one carrier, then running each acquisition through the same integration playbook: numbers ported, calls routed, recordings preserved and staff trained, in planned stages after completion.

TL;DR

• The platform choice is made once. The integration playbook is used every time.
• Day one is about keeping the acquired broker's customers reaching someone. Full integration follows in stages.
• Cloud platforms turn each acquisition into user provisioning and number porting, with no hardware or site visits.
• Campion Insurance has integrated over 15 acquired brokers onto one Genesys Cloud CX platform since 2022, growing to 450+ agents.

What does each acquisition bring with it?

Every acquired broker arrives with its own communications estate. The table lists what typically comes across and how a consolidating group handles each item.

The numbers deserve the most care. Customers of the acquired broker keep ringing the number on their policy schedule for years. DigitalWell's Numbering service consolidates numbers from multiple carriers into one managed inventory, with direct porting onto its own network.

What should happen before the deal completes?

Most of the integration risk can be removed before completion, if the integration team gets access early.

Ask the target for a full list of numbers and lines, the phone system make and support status, carrier contract end dates, where recordings are stored, and how card payments are taken on the phone. Check whether the target's contact centre or communications provider counts as a critical or important outsourcing arrangement under the Central Bank's Cross-Industry Guidance on Outsourcing, because a change may need notifying.

Agree what "day one" means for customers. The minimum is simple: every published number still reaches a person or a queue, and nobody loses a recording they may need for a complaint.

What needs to work on day one?

On completion day, customers shouldn't notice anything, except perhaps a new greeting. Four things need to be ready:

1. Every number answered. Existing numbers route to the acquired team, wherever they now sit.
2. Greetings updated where the brand has changed, with regulatory status information correct.
3. Recordings continuing on every customer call, with existing archives still accessible.
4. A support route. Staff know who to call if the phones fail, and it's one number.

On a cloud platform, this can often be done by porting or redirecting numbers onto the group environment and provisioning the acquired team as users, while their old phone system stays live as a fallback.

What happens in the first 30 days?

The first month moves the acquired team onto group ways of working.

Users are provisioned on the group platform with the right skills and queues. Call flows are mapped so that the acquired broker's customers reach the same people, or the right specialists in the wider group. Supervisors get the group dashboards. Payment calls move to the group's card-safe method, such as automated pause and resume.

Training matters more than configuration here. Staff who've answered the same phones for years need to know how the group platform routes, transfers and records. Campion's original deployment used Train-the-Trainer sessions for supervisors and agents, which gives each acquired team a local person who knows the system.

When is an acquired broker fully integrated?

When the old phone system and carrier contract can be retired. A 90-day target is a practical planning horizon, though carrier contract end dates often decide the real date. By then, the acquired team works from the same call flows and reporting as everyone else, and the old hardware is gone.

Campion shows what that looks like at scale. At the point PIB Group acquired it in 2022, Campion ran a Cisco on-premise contact centre over ISDN PRI circuits costing over €4,000 a month. DigitalWell moved all 13 offices to Genesys Cloud CX in under 12 weeks and replaced the ISDN with DigitalWell Direct SIP, saving roughly €3,000 a month.

Since then, Campion has acquired over 15 broker businesses. Each one joined the same platform through user provisioning, with no hardware procurement, no on-site engineering and no lengthy procurement cycle.

"DigitalWell equipped us with a future-proof Genesys Cloud CX platform that was specifically designed to be 'acquisition-ready from day one,' providing the seamless scalability and flexibility we needed to rapidly integrate new broker businesses and confidently execute our ambitious, high-growth strategy." Ciarán Brosnan, CIO, Campion Insurance

The full story is in the Campion Insurance case study.

What are the common mistakes in contact centre consolidation?

Four mistakes are worth planning against in any acquisitive group.

The first is treating every deal as a one-off project. Without a playbook, each integration is designed from scratch, and the tenth takes as long as the first.

The second is forgetting the long tail of numbers. Old brand numbers, fax lines and numbers printed on policy documents years ago keep receiving calls. If they aren't listed and ported, customers of the acquired broker reach a dead line.

The third is switching off the old phone system before the recordings are safe. A complaint about a call made two years ago still needs that recording.

The fourth is letting acquired carrier contracts roll over. ISDN and legacy line contracts often auto-renew. Campion's legacy carrier spend of over €4,000 a month had gone without a recent market review, which can happen when nobody owns the contract after a deal.

Which platform suits a buy-and-build group?

The one that can absorb the next ten acquisitions without a new project. That usually means a cloud contact centre with multi-site, multi-entity routing, skills-based and location-based routing, and reporting that can split results by brand or office.

Campion's platform uses location-based routing as a secondary rule, sending calls to the nearest local office where possible. That preserves the local service that made each acquired broker worth buying.

Group size decides the platform. Larger groups with hundreds of agents and workforce management needs typically choose Genesys Cloud CX. Smaller groups can run on DigitalWell 360, DigitalWell's own UCaaS and CCaaS platform. The Insurance Brokers & Providers page covers both routes, and the Customer Experience page compares the platforms.

Where does AI fit into consolidation?

AI helps most once the group is on one platform, because routine calls look the same across every acquired brand. DigitalWell AI Voice Agents on the AI Voice Network handle renewal queries, mid-term adjustments, claims status and card payments end to end. For a group absorbing new books of business, that means volume can grow without headcount growing at the same rate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can we integrate an acquired broker without changing its phone numbers?

Yes. Numbers are ported to the group carrier and routed on the group platform. Customers keep dialling the number on their documents.

What happens to the acquired broker's call recordings?

They need a plan before the old system is switched off. Either migrate them or keep read access for the retention period your compliance team sets.

How long does each acquisition take to integrate?

On a cloud platform, day-one continuity can be in place quickly. Full integration and retirement of the old system depend on carrier contract terms and system access, so set a target date for each deal.

Do we need to tell the Central Bank?

Possibly. If the communications or contact centre service is a critical or important outsourcing arrangement, planned changes may need notifying under the Central Bank's outsourcing guidance. Check with compliance before completion.

Should acquired brokers keep their local identity?

Many groups keep local brands and local routing, because local relationships are part of the value. A group platform can route by brand and location while reporting across the whole group.

Key Takeaways

• Choose the group platform once, then run every acquisition through the same playbook.
• Get the numbers, lines, recordings and payment details before completion.
• Day one is about continuity: every number answered, recordings running, one support route.
• Set a target date for full integration, such as 90 days, and plan it around carrier contract end dates.
• Campion's 15+ acquisitions on one Genesys Cloud CX platform show the model working at scale.

Planning your next acquisition? Talk to DigitalWell about an integration playbook for your group's contact centre and voice estate.