CSP launches switching solution for UK business broadband ISPs

The Common Switching Platform (CSP), which is a UK-based technology company that helps alternative broadband networks, internet providers and MSPs to deliver customer switching solutions between providers, has expanded beyond the residential connectivity market and launched their new Switching for Business (SforB) solution.

The current consumer focused One Touch Switching (OTS) system from Ofcom is a Gaining Provider Led (GPL) process, where the customer contacts their new (“gaining“) ISP to start and manage the process on their behalf. But the new process is, technically, only a requirement for residential customers (this is handled via the One Touch Switching Company [TOTSCo]).

However, business communication providers are still required by the regulator to follow many of the same OTS rules (i.e. Ofcom simply have not specified what the process should be for business ISPs) and so, in practice, a number of groups have been developing their own platforms to help deliver a switching solution for business providers.

The CSP is one such organisation that, after four years of experience delivering OTS in the residential market, are now bringing this to the business telecoms market with the launch of their Switching for Business (SforB) service. Business switching has traditionally been a slow, costly and complex process, partly due to the wide diversity of different products and terms, so the new service will aim to simplify that as much as possible and cut costs in the process.

Marcel Horst, MD of CSP, said:

“SforB isn’t simply residential switching with more customers and bigger contracts. There are more stakeholders, more locations, more assets, more operational complexity — and more at stake. Providers can lose up to 20% of customers during the switching journey alone, and managing that process without a platform like SforB can cost up to £200 per switch.”

The source for the aforementioned 20% customer-loss and £200-per-switch figures are CSP’s own analysis of switching data, so take with the usual pinch of salt. But nevertheless, CSP’s service is designed to sit at the centre of the process, connecting providers, services and timelines. Providers can manage notifications, data, timelines, exceptions and switching progress in one place – meaning less manual work and more visibility.