Multi-Site Retail · Phased Migration
A three-year migration, one contract at a time.
How a Canadian multi-site retailer consolidated its connectivity onto a single partner without breaking a single existing carrier agreement, by migrating each store as it came off contract.
Most case studies pretend the messy part of switching providers does not exist. They start at the signing of the contract and end at the ribbon cutting, with everything in between compressed into a tidy bullet list. The real version is harder.
In multi-site retail, the real version usually involves contracts that overlap, leases that do not, and a head-office team that cannot afford to be the reason a store goes dark. The customer in this story wanted to consolidate connectivity onto a single partner. They also did not want to pay early termination fees on a dozen existing contracts in three different regions. Those two things are not naturally compatible.
The fix was patience.
01 The customer
A Canadian multi-site retailer running close to two dozen locations across the country. The kind of retailer where every store opening is a small event, and every store closing is unthinkable. Their head-office IT team was lean and had a refresh cycle coming up: aging in-store equipment, multiple regional carriers, and a quiet desire to stop fielding finger-pointing every time a circuit went down.
They came to Frontier on a referral from a peer retailer already on the network. The first conversation was about pricing. By the second, it had become about something larger.
02 Three carriers, no leverage
Connectivity was spread across three national and regional carriers, divided up regionally rather than by design. It was the kind of setup that happens to most multi-site retailers over time: a store opens in a new region, the local carrier is the easy choice, and a few years later there are three of them on three separate billing cycles with three separate support queues.
Each contract had its own renewal date. Each carrier had its own pricing. Nobody at head office had real negotiating leverage with any of them, because the volume was always split.
The trigger was equipment. The retailer was facing a refresh cycle on aging in-store hardware and saw an opportunity to rethink the whole stack at the same time. Instead of replacing routers like-for-like, they asked whether one partner could supply the gear, the connectivity, and the support behind it, and use combined volume to bring pricing down.
03 What Frontier built
Frontier replaced the three-carrier patchwork with a single managed model, eventually covering every location. One vendor. One bill. One number to call. No finger-pointing between providers when something needs fixing.
Broadband with backup
Primary broadband with a secondary connection for backup at every site.
Managed SD-WAN
Circuit bonding, end-to-end encryption, and full visibility through Frontier's management tools.
TrueVoice and music
Canadian-hosted cloud PBX for in-store voice, plus in-store music on the same partner.
Dispatch, no charges
Field technician dispatch handled by Frontier, with no field service charges.
The differentiator was pricing. Because Frontier was bringing combined volume across broadband, voice, equipment, and managed services, the retailer got the kind of rates usually reserved for chains many times their size. That pricing leverage was the line that closed the deal.
The detail that made it work
The rest of the estate moved over store by store, each one migrating as its existing contract came up for renewal. No early termination fees. No two networks running side by side. No revenue at risk. The full estate took three years to consolidate, and that was the point. Nobody wanted to rush it.
04 How it actually went
The migration plan was deliberately patient. Frontier started with a handful of new locations that needed to come online inside six months. That gave both teams a working pilot without disrupting any existing carrier relationship.
Not every part was smooth. New store openings sometimes ran on tight timelines and shifting requirements, the kind of operational reality that any retailer expanding fast will recognize. Frontier's project team treated that as part of the brief rather than an exception, and rolled with each launch as the dates moved. Both sides understood the goal, and the work got done.
a phased migration with no early termination fees and no revenue at risk
05 The outcome
A three-carrier patchwork became one accountable partner across every store. Three bills became one. A refresh cycle on aging gear turned into a long-term operating model.
Some figures are directional estimates rather than audited measurements.
Want to consolidate without breaking what works?
This story is the pattern for a buyer who already wants to consolidate but cannot afford to break what is working. A multi-site retailer with several carrier contracts on different renewal cycles, no appetite for early termination fees, and a refresh cycle coming up that opens the door to rethink the whole stack.
Frontier runs phased migrations on the retailer's schedule, not the vendor's. One vendor. One bill. One team that runs the connectivity side of the business so the retailer can run the business. And pricing leverage that comes from putting the volume back together in one place.
