Specialist testing and assurance enabled complex telecom integrations, supported regulatory readiness and strengthened long-term testing capability.
About KCOM
KCOM is a leading UK telecommunications provider, delivering broadband and landline services to consumers and businesses. Like every provider in the UK market, KCOM was required to comply with Ofcom's One Touch Switch (OTS) regulations, a change designed to make switching broadband and landline providers simpler for consumers by putting the responsibility on providers rather than customers.
The challenge: navigating complex regulatory change
One Touch Switch required providers to establish reliable communication and integration across multiple organisations, platforms and systems. For KCOM, this meant connecting its existing technology infrastructure with the central messaging hub operated by The One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo), while ensuring compatibility with other communications providers.
KCOM needed to demonstrate that its systems could reliably exchange information, process switching requests and support the customer journey without disruption.
A two-month phase proving API connectivity against TOTSCo's technical specifications was a mandatory gateway to integrating KCOM's customer-facing and back-office systems. Failure to satisfy the required integration criteria would have delayed subsequent development and testing, putting regulatory readiness at risk.
KCOM needed specialist testing and assurance expertise to navigate these dependencies, validate complex integrations and maintain progress towards its regulatory commitments.
The 2i solution
A structured testing and assurance approach was established to support KCOM through the technical and regulatory requirements of OTS. Working closely with KCOM's technical teams and third-party providers, the project focused on validating critical integrations, identifying potential risks early and establishing reusable testing capabilities.
Establishing reliable API connectivity
The initial phase concentrated on establishing and validating API connectivity between KCOM, TOTSCo and other participating communications providers. The project team reviewed TOTSCo's technical specifications and defined testing scenarios against the required entry and exit criteria.
Configurable API payloads were developed to validate message formats, system responses and interactions across the switching lifecycle.
Both white-box and black-box testing techniques were used to assess KCOM's internal systems and interactions with external providers. This combination enabled the team to validate technical compliance while testing more complex scenarios involving multiple systems and organisations. The successful completion of this phase provided the foundation for wider integration testing.
From connectivity to lasting capability
Delivery moved through three stages:
- Establish and validate connectivity. API connectivity and message exchange were proven against TOTSCo's specifications, with scenarios defined around the mandated entry and exit criteria.
- Test end-to-end integrations. Testing expanded to cover KCOM's customer-facing systems and back-office infrastructure, including Salesforce, supporting the complete switching journey from request to provider exchange.
- Enable internal teams and future testing. Hands-on training and knowledge transfer gave KCOM's teams greater ownership of user acceptance testing, technical troubleshooting and ongoing system changes.
The testing strategy incorporated functional and integration testing, technical validation and reusable regression testing assets. Reusable JSON API payloads were developed across the OTS order lifecycle, providing a flexible regression testing foundation that could be adapted for subsequent technical changes.
Strengthening internal testing capability
Alongside technical delivery, hands-on training and knowledge transfer supported KCOM's internal teams, giving them greater ownership of user acceptance testing, technical troubleshooting and ongoing system changes.
By combining technical assurance with practical capability development, the project supported both immediate regulatory readiness and longer-term operational resilience.
Supporting technology included Postman, Insomnia, REST APIs, Azure Data Studio, Fiddler and Salesforce, helping teams investigate system behaviour, validate data exchanges and identify defects.
The outcome and benefits
- Early regulatory readiness. KCOM delivered a working One Touch Switch solution ahead of industry timelines and secured early integration approval, particularly significant given the dependencies between multiple providers across the wider telecommunications ecosystem.
- Greater confidence in complex integrations. Structured API and system integration testing helped validate critical message exchanges across KCOM's technology environment, providing evidence of system behaviour and supporting the resolution of potential issues before deployment.
- Faster validation of future changes. Reusable JSON API payloads covering the OTS order lifecycle gave KCOM a repeatable approach to validating future changes, reducing duplication of testing effort and supporting faster technical updates.
- Improved visibility and decision-making. Comprehensive test documentation, results and analysis provided visibility into system readiness and testing progress, helping KCOM assess its position against integration requirements throughout delivery.
- Greater internal independence. With greater knowledge of the OTS integration environment and reusable testing assets, internal teams were better equipped to support future UAT activities and system updates.
Assurance that goes beyond identifying defects, providing the evidence, visibility and confidence organisations need to deliver change successfully.
By establishing reliable integrations, creating reusable testing assets and strengthening internal capabilities, KCOM was better positioned to respond to future technical and regulatory developments.
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