About Centrica

CBS is the technological arm of Centrica PLC, a global energy and services company. CBS provides all the advanced technical solutions for energy management such as device level monitoring. Through their acquisitions of market leading energy specialists ENER-G, Panoramic Power, REstore, Vista Solar, CES Energy and SmartWatt, they can provide innovative thinking as well as the energy insights, optimization and on-site generation solutions their customers need to achieve their goals.

According to CBS, 66% of business customers are concerned by the growing complexity of energy management. CBS’s combination of strategic guidance, industry expertise, innovative technology, flexible funding and full lifecycle support ensure customers make the most of new opportunities, react quickly to market changes, and eliminate complexity and risk.

Their Need

CBS provides energy expertise and distributed energy solutions to organizations around the world to improve their operational efficiency, increase resilience and drive their business vision forward. With CBS located across 34 different countries, adding the United States to the list meant a need to find the best provider for cellular connectivity. Aside from modems and routers, OptConnect also offers SIM cards that pair with the company’s managed solution. These proved useful to CBS and also gave them access to OptConnect’s managed features like 24/7 customer support, secure connections, real-time monitoring, and more.

With more and more of their business spreading to the United States, CBS needed a managed connectivity solution that would make implementation easy and monitoring simple no matter the location. CBS officially partnered with OptConnect in July of 2014.

“With OptConnect, customer support has been prompt and efficient. We feel that the level of service we get is of high value and we encourage all of our customers to engage with OptConnect."

Zarin Keydar

Head of Global Customer Success

The Solution

Using OptConnect SIM cards for connectivity and having access to OptConnect’s robust monitoring platform, Summit, has given CBS the ability to manage and monitor their customer’s connectivity. Specifically, CBS notes that Summit has been helpful in checking statuses for various modems. Each OptConnect device includes free lifetime access to Summit, OptConnect’s robust, monitoring platform that enables customers to have an in-depth view of their wireless portfolio. This online portal allows customers to get the most from their device and easily manage their connectivity from anywhere.

Some features of Summit include seeing the full device portfolio in one place, checking the signal strength of each device in real-time, receiving notifications and alerts when cellular connectivity fails and much more. “With Summit, we can see the location and when it checks in online,” said Keydar. “We’ve had a positive experience with the platform and continue to use it to monitor and manage our SIM cards.”

OptConnect Partner Program

Centrica Business Solutions is a part of OptConnect’s Partner Program. Which provides a way for companies to use OptConnect’s cellular connectivity services as a revenue stream. Companies can begin selling cellular services immediately without the need to build, buy or develop systems, technologies, plans or teams to support it. Leveraging OptConnect’s managed cellular services helps companies get to market quicker with a reputable name and quality that customers can trust.

“We're very glad to have partnered with Centrica Business Solutions. It's very apparent that they strive for the absolute best customer experience for their clients. Even prior to formalizing our partnership, Centrica Business Solutions was referring customers to the OptConnect solution, which they vetted and found to be the best fit for their clientele. With OptConnect’s help CBS was able to focus on their core business in providing quality power sensing solutions bundled with a dependable cellular connectivity provider,” said TJ Carter, Director of Partner Success.

Working with Centrica

As Centrica Business Solutions continues to grow, Keydar says he sees a continuous partnership with OptConnect carrying into the future. “As we get more customers, we refer them to OptConnect because we know it works,” said Keydar. “There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when we know that an OptConnect SIM card is reliable and works without any hassle.” With CBS’s expertise in Energy Monitoring and OptConnect’s connectivity powering their communication bridges, the two have proven to be the perfect package for energy customers.

"Centrica Business Solutions is a global leader in the Energy Monitoring industry, with an unparalleled drive to powering sustainable businesses,” said Alicia Lopez, Key Accounts Manager at OptConnect. “I enjoy working with the CBS team to continually focus on client support, reduce overhead, and provide an overall managed solution to CBS customers. Each department is extremely detail-oriented and responsive, to ensure customers are taken care of quickly and efficiently.”

“I would definitely recommend OptConnect due to continuous value, ease of use, and ease of transactions. I know at the end of the day it works. There’s no need to brainstorm or troubleshoot, it just works. We operate in a complex world and OptConnect is rock solid and delivers every single time.”