Legacy to Cloud in Under 12 Weeks: How Irish Brokers Are Migrating

Many Irish brokers still run their phones on an on-premise system bought years ago, connected over ISDN lines. It works until it doesn't: support ends, an acquired team can't be added without new hardware, or an auditor asks how card details are kept out of call recordings. The assumption is that replacing it will take a year. Recent migrations suggest otherwise.

Irish brokers are moving from on-premise contact centres to cloud platforms in 6 to 12 weeks. Campion Insurance moved 13 offices to Genesys Cloud CX in under 12 weeks, and KennCo moved its contact centre and office users to DigitalWell 360 in 6 weeks.

TL;DR

• The usual triggers are end-of-support hardware, ageing ISDN lines, payment-call compliance gaps and acquisitions the old system can't absorb.
• Speed comes from a fixed scope, a signed specification and one party owning the cutover, not from skipping steps.
• A migration is the cheapest moment to fix routing, recording and payment compliance, because every call flow is rebuilt anyway.
• Platform choice follows size: Genesys Cloud CX for large, acquisitive brokers; DigitalWell 360 for mid-sized firms wanting one platform and one support relationship.

Why are Irish brokers moving off legacy phone systems now?

Four pressures are pushing brokers to move, and most firms face at least two of them.

• End-of-support hardware. When an on-premise platform reaches end of support, there's no upgrade path and security patches stop. For a firm regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland, unsupported systems handling customer and payment data are a growing risk.
• Ageing voice lines. Many brokers still run voice over ISDN. Eircom set out its plan to move copper services to fibre and ultimately switch off the copper network in a white paper shared with ComReg in March 2021, and ComReg has been consulting on the transition framework since.
• Payment-call compliance. Brokers take premium payments by phone, and older systems often have no automatic way to keep card details out of call recordings.
• Acquisitions. Consolidation means acquired teams need to join one platform quickly. On-premise systems turn every integration into a hardware project.

How did Campion and KennCo migrate so quickly?

Both had a defined scope, a single delivery owner and a decision to redesign rather than copy.

KennCo's Director of Operations and Communications describes what the six weeks delivered:

"Migrating to DigitalWell 360 was a total, six-week transformation that delivered immediate results. The DigitalWell team didn't just move us to the cloud; they helped us redesign our operations, allowing us to implement improved, automated call routing and real-time reporting structures." Clare McDonagh, Director of Operations and Communications, KennCo Insurance

Should brokers copy their old call flows into the new platform?

No. A migration is the one point where every call flow is rebuilt, so it's the cheapest time to fix it.

KennCo's routing and reporting had been in place for a long time, and there was no automated migration path from its legacy system. DigitalWell's engineers reviewed every call flow, routing rule and report with KennCo before rebuilding them, so the new setup reflects how the business works today rather than years of incremental change.

Campion used the same principle to keep something it valued. Location-based routing sends callers to their nearest Campion office where possible, so the local service model survived the move to a central platform.

Which cloud platform should an Irish broker choose?

It depends on size, growth plans and how much the broker wants to manage. DigitalWell works across several customer experience platforms and recommends one after reviewing the operation.

How should a broker plan a 12-week migration?

A fast migration follows the same steps as a slow one, in a fixed order with no gaps between owners. This is the sequence DigitalWell used with Campion.

• Sign the order with a committed go-live date. Campion's order, signed in late 2022, carried a 12-week commitment.
• Run requirements and design workshops. Operations, compliance and IT map today's call flows and decide what changes.
• Sign off a Functional Requirements Specification. It fixes the IVR flows, agent groups, routing, recording rules and integrations.
• Order SIP and plan number porting. Set porting dates against the platform build, not separately.
• Build and test. Configure call flows, routing, recording, single sign-on and payment controls, then test them.
• Train supervisors and administrators. Train-the-Trainer sessions, plus admin training so the broker can make routine changes.
• Cut over with a runbook, then move to managed service. The runbook covers porting, switch-over and rollback; monitoring and reviews start at go-live.

Weekly project meetings and twice-weekly project manager check-ins ran alongside every stage at Campion. They're what stop a porting delay from silently moving the go-live date.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to move a broker contact centre to the cloud?

Recent Irish examples took 6 to 12 weeks. KennCo moved to DigitalWell 360 in 6 weeks; Campion moved 13 offices to Genesys Cloud CX in under 12 weeks from signed order.

Can we keep our existing phone numbers?

Yes. Numbers are ported to the new voice service at cutover, so customers keep calling the numbers they know.

What happens to ISDN lines during a migration?

They're replaced with SIP trunks. At Campion, the move to DigitalWell Direct SIP added capacity and cut monthly carrier costs by about €3,000.

How do we keep card details out of call recordings?

Build it into the migration. At Campion, DigitalWell deployed an application that pauses recording automatically when an agent opens a payment screen.

Do we need on-site engineering at every office?

No. DigitalWell delivered the full Campion deployment remotely across 13 offices, and agents use a browser-based desktop with no thick-client software.

Key Takeaways

• Irish brokers are completing legacy-to-cloud moves in 6 to 12 weeks, not the year many expect.
• End-of-support systems, ISDN lines, payment compliance and acquisitions are the usual reasons to move.
• A signed specification, one owner for connectivity, platform and cutover, and a runbook make the timeline achievable.
• Rebuilding call flows during the move fixes routing and reporting at the lowest cost.
• Genesys Cloud CX suits large, acquisitive brokers; DigitalWell 360 suits mid-sized firms wanting one platform and one support team.

Still running your phones on an on-premise system? Book an Insurance Operations Review with DigitalWell, or read the Campion Insurance and KennCo migration stories.