First Mortgage is a free mortgage advice service operating across the North East of England, with five high-street branches and a team of over 80 staff. The business differentiates itself from national competitors through a deliberately face-to-face, relationship-driven model: every client receives a dedicated case handler paired with a specific advisor, offering a truly holistic service that extends to protection, home insurance, and complimentary will vouchers.
With five-star ratings on Trustpilot across more than 30,000 reviews, First Mortgage’s reputation for customer service is central to its identity. To maintain that standard while scaling — the business has grown from around 15 staff to over 80 in roughly eight years, adding 15–16 people per year — its operational infrastructure needed to keep pace.
“We were paying exorbitant amounts for what we were getting. You can’t really get through to anyone when you do ring them. The service has been horrendous on that front over the years. And we just thought, right, let’s go for something where we can actually get in touch with people.” – Chris Adams, First Mortgage NE
The Challenge
First Mortgage had been with BT (Cloudwork) for its telephony since before the current Operations Manager joined eight years ago. As the business grew, the limitations of that relationship became increasingly pronounced:
- Limited system flexibility — the platform was difficult to adapt or expand as the business evolved.
- Exorbitant costs for what was being delivered — the business felt it was significantly overpaying relative to the service received.
- Poor supplier accessibility — getting through to BT for support was difficult and unpredictable, with unresolved disputes over service delivery.
- No meaningful data or reporting — the incumbent system offered little analytical capability. There was no way to review call flow snapshots, identify patterns, or make evidence-based decisions.
- No wallboard visibility — the team had no real-time view of call volumes, answer rates, or overflow behaviour.
The Solution
The most significant operational shift was the move from a black-box system to one the Operations Manager could actually interrogate and act on. He now manages Horizon hands-on — adjusting hunt groups, overflow rules, and caller settings directly — while submitting tickets to Smart IT for larger strategic changes. Real-time wallboards are now live across branches.
“Every time we need something, it’s just easy to get it sorted. There’s a difference between helping someone and hassling them — and Smart IT gets that.” – Chris Adams, First Mortgage NE
Data-Driven Call Flow Optimisation
Using Akixi’s reporting capability, the Operations Manager identified that 15-second ring times before overflow were causing unnecessary call abandonment. By reducing those intervals and adjusting the overflow logic, the results were stark:
| 25% Missed calls — Month 1 Including teething issues | ~10% Missed calls — now Company target achieved | <10% Company target Consistently met |
The business also identified that 29% of inbound web enquiries — people who had actively requested a callback — were not answering when called back. Analysis suggested this was at least partly a caller ID recognition issue, which the team is now actively working to address through branded calling solutions.
Outbound Call Intelligence
With 12,000 outbound calls made per month across the business, the Operations Manager has been able to pull consistent data showing that 80–82% of clients answer outbound calls. Of the remaining 20%, roughly 80% (around 16% total) never answer regardless of how many attempts are made — intelligence that directly informs resourcing and follow-up strategy.
Personal Hunt Groups
One of the more innovative uses of the system has been the creation of paired hunt groups — dedicated lines for each advisor/administrator pairing. Clients can call a specific number linked to their case handler, bypassing the main auto attendant entirely, with overflow back to the general admin line if both are busy.
Cost Savings
The switch to Smart IT’s telecoms solution delivered tangible monthly savings versus BT, with the leased line also coming in significantly below BT’s quoted rate. In the Operations Manager’s words, the savings broadly offset the investment in other services, making the overall commercial position favourable.
The Result
First Mortgage values responsiveness and honesty above all. The Operations Manager was candid in describing what good supplier behaviour looks like — and equally candid about where others have fallen short. Smart IT’s approach of asking “when do you want me to give you a call?” rather than hounding was explicitly called out as the right way to work.
Where issues have occurred, Smart IT’s willingness to return promptly and resolve the issue without friction was noted positively. The Operations Manager acknowledged shared responsibility for the placement decision, and the situation was resolved with good humour on both sides.
When asked whether he’d recommend Smart IT, Chris confirmed he had already done so — spontaneously, when a contact mentioned they were looking at the service.
To find out more about how Smart IT can provide tailored solutions for your business, contact us today.
