Grain Connect rolls out its full fibre broadband to half a million UK premises using Zoho CRM
"Zoho CRM gave us the flexibility to design exactly what we needed"
The company
Grain Connect, headquartered in Carlisle, UK, is a growing broadband provider with ambition. Established in 2016, Grain is shaking up the telecom industry with transparent pricing, flexible contracts, and fibre optic lines designed for the future. Building out its own independent network and infrastructure, its 200-strong team "passes on value to customers through low costs and a unique service," says Richard Fletcher, Chief Information Officer.
With a strong presence across the North of England and the Midlands, this tech-forward ISP is on a mission to connect communities across the length and breadth of the UK. Accordingly, in 2021 Grain kicked off a £75 million investment cycle with the goal of scaling up its reach to 500,000 premises and growing its customer base to 40,000 and beyond. And how did it achieve this impressive penetration in a market dominated by big players? With a little help from Zoho and its implementation partner, Creative Analysis.
The challenge
When Richard Fletcher joined Grain Connect as CIO in 2021, he was met with a fragmented and inefficient tech ecosystem cobbled together from various third-party tools. The company was juggling platforms like Infusionsoft CRM, Zapier, DocuSign, QuickBooks, SendGrid, PowerBI, and LastPass—each serving a different purpose but none working in true harmony. "We'd enter the order in Infusionsoft, then manually replicate it in GoCardless to initiate the direct debit," Fletcher recalls, highlighting a tedious and error-prone workflow.
With fresh investment fueling Grain Connect's ambitions, Fletcher recognized that the company's technology needed a serious revamp to support its scale-up plans. He issued an "invitation to tender," initially centered on finding a robust, scalable CRM. However, the vision extended far beyond that—toward a unified tech stack that would streamline operations and eventually enable full customer self-service.
What they needed was clear:
- A cost-effective solution aligned with Grain Connect's lean operating model and value-driven pricing.
- A scalable system capable of managing everything—billing, support, sales, marketing, field engineering, administration, and analytics.
- Low-code flexibility to ensure rapid deployment and adaptability.
- Strong API capabilities to integrate seamlessly with existing tools such as AWS, GoCardless, Simpro, and Trustpilot.
- A long-term technology partner to support implementation, iteration, and expansion.
Fletcher explored the major players—Salesforce, HubSpot, and others—but found their pricing structures and customization requirements too steep. They also evaluated a niche ISP-focused platform, Netadmin, but ultimately deemed it too rigid in its configurability. Then came Zoho—a platform that struck the right balance. "What drew us to Zoho was the ability to build exactly what we envisioned," Fletcher explains. "Its flexibility, extensibility, and affordability made it the standout choice."
The solution
Customized asset and premises management
Grain’s infrastructure ownership model demanded complete visibility across its rapidly expanding network of properties. In collaboration with Zoho partner Creative Analysis, Grain implemented a hierarchical CRM structure to manage physical locations—organising premises into projects, which are then nested within regional build areas. This custom setup offers end-to-end oversight of network deployment, from initial planning through to live service delivery.
“We had aspirations of reaching 250,000 premises initially, and then beyond that to 500,000,” says Fletcher. “Thanks to Zoho CRM, we’re well on track to hit those goals.”
Real-time data from the CRM is also pushed via API to Grain’s public postcode checker, allowing prospective customers to instantly see network availability in their area—updated daily without any manual input.
Automated customer activation and installation
Zoho CRM orchestrates Grain's post-signup journey, from customer registration to router installation. Field engineers are scheduled directly through CRM, with automated communications and reminders sent to customers. Once installation is complete, job data from Simpro flows back into Zoho CRM, triggering device activation and billing setup—all with zero manual touchpoints.
Integrated subscription billing and payment processing
Billing is no longer a siloed or manual process. Grain extended Zoho CRM's native invoicing with custom modules to manage high-volume subscription billing—handling over 50,000 monthly transactions. Integrated with payment providers GoCardless and Stripe, the system automatically processes charges, updates account balances, and ensures financial visibility in each customer record.
Unified sales management across all channels
Grain's multichannel sales teams—field, desk, and digital—operate seamlessly in Zoho CRM. Opportunities are generated from Zoho Forms and SalesIQ (live chat), tracked by mobile field agents canvassing new network zones, and actioned by desk-based teams using a guided sales blueprint. A custom widget facilitates product selection, discounting, and contract configuration to ensure consistent customer experiences across teams.
Renewals are also automated through CRM workflows, with digital offers sent at key milestones before contract expirations, which encourages customer retention.
Simplified switching, in line with industry regulations
A key consideration for any broadband provider is its end-of-contract experience. To alleviate a frustrating process characterized by multiple phone calls, endless counter-offers, and overlapping bill cycles, OFCOM (the Office of Communications)—UK’s communications regulator introduced the "One Touch Switching" regulation in 2024. "It was a real fundamental change to the industry because it meant we had to communicate with other operators," Fletcher explains. As soon as Grain receives a new instruction from a customer, they're obliged to work with the incumbent provider to handle the switch, including notifying customers of any exit fees, contract terminations, and installation dates, to prevent any overlap.
To navigate the One Touch Switching regulation, Grain mapped each step of the process inside Zoho CRM. "All of that process has now been orchestrated using a custom widget that the sales team uses," Fletcher says. The widget guides the team through the entire switching process and is pre-populated with scripts that reps need to read to customers, plus dropdown lists of alternative broadband providers. The widget is also synced with a One Touch Switching tool on Grain's website where customers can find and match up their contracts to kick-start the process.
Customer insights via feedback and review capture
Grain uses Zoho CRM to collect customer sentiment data systematically. They send NPS surveys from the CRM monthly to random customer cohorts and record results in a custom-built module. Zoho CRM also pulls in Trustpilot reviews via an API, enabling the business to analyze and act on customer feedback from a single platform.
Zoho CRM has evolved from a simple customer management tool into a central operational platform for Grain, integrating sales, billing, installation, switching, and feedback into a single, scalable solution. It not only supports the company's current needs but is built to grow with it.
- Industry typeTelecommunications
- Employees51-200
- Type of businessB2B, B2C
Looking forward
From the outset of Grain's growth project, Fletcher sought a long-term software solution that would scale in line with the business. He also wanted a secure, long-lasting relationship with an implementation partner that could support his teams long after the initial build. With Zoho and Creative Analysis, Fletcher has laid the groundwork for a successful future, enabling Grain to grow, remain compliant, improve customer satisfaction, and more. "I'd definitely recommend Zoho; we've had a great experience with the product...and we'd definitely work with Creative again, too, and we will continue our relationship with them," beams Richard.
There's more to the story. Watch the video to see how Grain brought its vision to life—one module at a time.
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