From Kickoff to Customers in Under 150 Days: Cogeco Launches welo on gaiia

Business Wire

gaiia, a modern OSS/BSS platform for internet service providers, today announced that Cogeco has launched welo, its new digital-first broadband brand, in under 150 days using gaiia.

Launch Highlights:

Under 150 days from project kickoff to first live customer
20+ automated workflows at launch, spanning the full subscriber lifecycle from activation to cancellation
Fully digital customer journey: address qualification, online checkout, self-install, and account management
Plume integration for fully automated device activation and deactivation
Built-in referral program offering $100 in service credit to both the referrer and referred customer

welo, a new internet brand from Cogeco, is built on a promise of “Price for Life,” no contracts, and a digital-first customer experience built for the generation that was born online. welo operates on Cogeco’s high-capacity U.S. broadband infrastructure and was born from inside an established operator environment, with a mandate to move fast, stay lean, reuse what works, and deliver something radically simple without inheriting legacy complexity.

To meet it, Cogeco leveraged gaiia as a workflow-native platform that could integrate deeply into enterprise systems while maintaining startup-level speed. Instead of rebuilding infrastructure or creating a siloed stack, Cogeco used gaiia’s highly configurable platform to shape workflows, integrations, and lifecycle logic around the brand’s needs.

Within 150 days, welo was live in production. The first real customer account was created and activated entirely through automated workflows — with no manual handoffs and no legacy intervention points, just seamless orchestration from checkout to provisioning to activation.

“Our goal was to create something simple and transparent for customers,” said John Wowk, Senior Director, Growth Initiatives and Crew Tech Lead, Cogeco. “That simplicity on the front end only works if the backend is highly automated. gaiia gave us that orchestration layer.”

welo launched with a complete, end-to-end digital operating model built to remove friction at every stage of the customer journey. Customers can check availability, select their plan, add Wi-Fi extenders, and complete their subscription entirely through welo’s online checkout. Address qualification is handled through API calls into a welo-managed middleware, confirming serviceability before an order is ever placed, with activation and service changes triggered automatically through workflow orchestration. Device activation and deactivation are fully automated through gaiia’s integration with Plume, and self-install is supported end-to-end without requiring technician dispatch.

For Cogeco, the welo launch is an example of launching like a startup and operating like an enterprise.

For more information on gaiia, visit gaiia.com.

About gaiia

gaiia is a modern OSS/BSS platform built to replace legacy, gated systems with a flexible system of action. The platform supports billing, CRM, operations, and automation in a single solution, enabling CSPs to streamline workflows, improve customer experiences, and scale efficiently.